1.What led you to write your book and was there a pivotal event you can share with our readers?
It was a story that was within my psyche and my soul that was just dying to burst out onto paper. We all have a story inside of us. In the end we all have our own personal hell, our own struggles, that are no more or less exceptional than anybody else's. But I wanted my future generations to understand where they came from. Most off all, Alzheimer's disease is such a lousy process, it affects 5 million, and one of the worst parts about it, is the isolation is causes in families. I thought the book might actually help somebody and cut down on that isolation. It's hard for me to really imagine any huge endeavor without maybe benefiting someone, and that pushed me to finally get it done.
2.How do you approach the creative process ?
It seems to approach me, more than I approach it. When it does and I don't know what the predisposing factors are exactly, but it is a beautiful thing. When I have to find it, it is labor intensive, requires a ton of focus, and too many other things like responsibility and a certain exhaustion from expending energy and spirit in most other areas of life, compete strongly and usually beat the hell of the creative process I am trying to find.
3.Are there any influentials in your life that have encouraged you to stay the course as an author?
No one is really discouraging, but the whole process of staying with it comes from within. Writing is deeply a intimate and an introspective process, no matter what genre, as far as not giving up, I think my parents taught me that. As the saying goes, "to thy own self be true"
4. Can you clarify the basic premise of your book?
It is a memoir that traces the process of Alzheimer's disease thought the eyes of a teenager and years later those same eyes as an adult and physician. It also covers some of the struggles it take to become a doctor that most people think they understand but don't, and a general commentary on health care, society, our aging population and a bunch of other sociological issues.
5.What do you hope to teach your readers?
Start treating the elderly with honor and respect they deserve. Start talking about Alzheimer's for real, even if it does not affect your family, you can't catch it by understanding it, and for those affected, you are not alone.
6. Apart from writing, what other endeavors, or hobbies are you involved in?
I like to travel, anywhere, exploring any new places, cultures, learning and absorbing. I like staring up at mountains, then of course wine tasting, tango, watching football, working out, reading.
7. What would you say to someone thinking about becoming a writer?
Write because you love to write, because you need to write. Your writing be it fiction or memoir or whatever is a deeply personal and intimate look into your heart and psyche. Don't expect anybody else to see it that way. Selling books and giving a part of yourself and your toil and effort and creativity etc are two disconnected things. Don't give up if you truly need to have a published work, there are many ways to do that now more than ever. Most importantly, keep perfecting your craft of writing.
8. Do you have any plans for the future- work related and/or personal?
I am working on a novel about psychiatric residency.
9. Describe a typical day in your writing life.
Most days wishing I had the creative energy to put it together and longing to write, when I get it or it comes to me, sitting down, reviewing what I have, sometimes being inspired sometimes annoyed, and then moving on, thinking about my characters, looking for symmetry, and letting the story flow from my psyche through my hands to the keyboard and onto the screen. sometimes I like it, sometimes, it was more well meaning when it was still in my head.
10.Tell us something about yourself outside of the job of writing- your interests, an experience you want to share, something you are proud of / or have overcome
Well I pour out a lot of that in the memoir......
but I guess sometimes I feel really fulfilled, when I am out in nature for like more than a couple days, have not shaved, have no real contact with industrialized and digitalized civilization, connect with the campfire and the stars, then I feel really connected to the earth, and to humankind back through all the ages, sort of you conscious mind merging more easily with the collective unconscious, and that is a pretty fulfilling thing.
Book Info:
The true life account of a young man living with the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in a parent. The disease was diagnosed in his mother when the author was seventeen years old in 1979, long before Alzheimer's disease was a household term.
The book candidly traces with graphic detailed description and dialogue the course of the fatal illness.
The emotional issues of such pivotal events as the loss of autonomy of driving a car and entry into a nursing home are experienced through the eyes of a young son. From a concurrent viewpoint Alzheimer's is explained with the wisdom of a 21st century physician who has personally experienced the emotional anguish, and thus the fact-based journey is a truly unique dual-perspective Alzheimer's memoir. The story juxtaposes the active uphill battle to become a doctor set against the backdrop of
the passive helpless struggle of losing a parent to the disease.
The narrative provides explicit commentary on the modern plight of the physician and the global connection family members of an Alzheimer's victim painstakingly share. The unusual, seldom before elicited insights of the dual-perspective vigorously address universal issues such as coping, hope, futility, humiliation and societal bias toward the disease throughout the text.
About Joe Sivak:
Joseph J. Sivak MD is a board certified adult psychiatrist with twenty years of experience in direct patient care. He has taught and lectured in the United States and internationally in the areas of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mood disorders, and chronic suicidal ideation. He completed medical school at Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and Residency Training at the University of Rochester. Dr. Sivak has served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Alzheimer's Association and the Northland Chapter of the American Red Cross and hosted a weekly mental health Radio Program for eight years on KUWS- Wisconsin Public Radio. Currently Dr. Sivak serves on the legislative committee of
the Minnesota Medical Association, is a assistant professor at the University of
Minnesota-Duluth College of Pharmacy and is in full time private psychiatric in Duluth.
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