Website: http://whathecanexpect.com/
Q&A with Marc Sedaka
Question: What inspired you to write What He Can Expect When She's Not Expecting?
Answer: Plain and simple, it was the book I wish I had read when my wife and I were suffering with infertility (for 7 years). As I’m sure you know, there are plenty of books geared towards women, but none at the time were geared towards men. And since we represent 50% of married sufferers, I thought it was high time someone did something about that. It was also a way to impart my wisdom and, quite frankly, let other husbands learn from my mistakes.
Question: Was writing the book different in any way from your experiences writing for TV and film?
Answer: In many ways it was more fun and more rewarding. Not only did I have a great deal of passion for the subject, but I knew that, in the end, I would be helping people overcome a major life crisis. Also, even though it was a “serious” book, I still tried to infuse as much of my comedy background as possible. My wife likes to describe it as the written equivalent of taking a guy to a bar and telling him everything he needs to know (and probably never wanted to know) about infertility.
Question: What was the toughest part of your infertility journey?
Answer: Without question, seeing my wife lose her sense of self. With every failure it was as if a part of her died, and that was very difficult to take.
Question: What is your favorite advice to give to men dealing with the craziness of trying to get pregnant?
Answer: Men should know that they can play a role in all this even if it doesn’t always seem like they can. Even something as simple as going to the appointments with your wife shows your support and your solidarity. This isn’t HER problem and she should never be made to feel like it is.
Question: You wrote a children’s book with your dad. How did that come about and what was that experience like?
Answer: The project actually started out as a children’s album when my girls were about two years old. My father (Neil Sedaka) decided he wanted to write children’s lyrics for some of his early hits and I agreed to collaborate. Shortly thereafter, a publisher approached us about turning some of the lyrics into books, and from that, Dinosaur Pet (based on my father’s song “Calendar Girl”) was born. The whole project has really been a joy. My kids sang background vocals on the original album and we still go to signings and reading whenever we can.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Sedaka has written scripts for Disney, New Line, Fox, Paramount, and Warner Bros. His most notable feature credit is the romantic comedy “Overnight Delivery”, which stars Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd. On the TV front, he has written for such shows as NBC’s “Inside Schwartz” and CBS’s “King Of Queens.” He is also an award-winning New York Times best-selling author of children’s and self-help books. When not writing, Marc teaches screenwriting at UCLA, Columbia College, and Laureate University. Learn more about Marc at whathecanexpect.com.