Interview With the Author of Queen Klutz

For those of you who love to laugh, Marti Lawrence of Grain Valley, Missouri will deliver a laugh a minute with her new book of humor titled “Queen Klutz”. Follow along with her as she has an unusual experience at the DMV, find out how a McDonald’s French Fry cost her $2,000.00 Meet her wacky kids and find out how she deals with two broken ankles and a house full of cats. It is real life at it funniest and she will have you laughing out loud with every turn of the page.

Leeuna: Marti, how did you come up with the title “Queen Klutz”?

Marti: My family has always called me, The Royal Klutz because I’m so hideously clumsy. The first thing a cousin of mine said when she met my husband was, “Is she still a klutz?”

Leeuna: How long have you been a writer?

Marti: “I’ve been writing humorous articles since I was on my high school newspaper staff (back in the Neolithic Era). I was always sending family and friends funny stories in letters, and when I learned to use the internet, I discovered message boards, and would leave long narrative posts for strangers to read. Kindly (and sometimes inebriated) friends suggested I try writing an Erma Bombeck-style newspaper column, so I started freelancing those. Some of the essays in the book are previous columns, some are blog posts and some are material I written specifically for the book.”

Leeuna: What did you find the most difficult about writing the book?

Marti: “Editing was a challenge because my family didn’t want to end up in the witness protection program. I think they were afraid I was going to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets. Which was silly. That’s the next book.”

“Of course I think everyone will love it! *snicker* Anyone who is clumsy can empathize. I think parents will enjoy the stories because many of them encompass not slaughtering our children when they do something awful like setting the yard on fire, or wrecking your car. The stories are about the things people endure every day – car trouble or visits to the DMV. I think putting a funny spin on these things can make them easier for everybody to go through.”

Leeuna: Was it difficult getting your book published? Can you tell us a little about the process?

Marti: “I’m publishing through Lulu, a publish on demand company. The hardest thing for me was setting up my file to convert to PDF. I had full control, which was a good thing, but all the responsibility, which was a hard thing.”

“Formatting the Word document with headers, footers, justified margins and page breaks was something I had never done, and that was tough! But Lulu itself has been great! I asked a lot of questions at the forums, and a few times from the live help, and always got good responses. I actually had the live help guys laughing a few times! I purchased a draft copy to see how the book would actually look, and discovered I’d made a lot of mistakes.”

“I reworked the material, and sent it through the process again. I was pleased with the second copy so I put it on the market. Lulu offers authors the option of selling just through their storefront, or purchasing a global distribution plan which includes a galley proof of your book. When you approve the galley then you are assigned an ISBN and bar code, which allows it to be distributed through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. Overall, it’s been quite a learning experience for this ol’ gal! “

Leeuna: Where can folks buy the book?

Marti: “For now, I am selling it through my Lulu storefront on the internet at lulu.com. Personally signed copies can be ordered directly.

For anyone who loves to laugh and enjoys good solid writing, “Queen Klutz” by Marti Lawrence is the recipe for a complete laughter buffet.