The Footnote
Alisha Miranda is Secretly Amazing at Organizing Legos
An index revealing all the minute details of how your favorite authors work
The Footnote is a column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write in which prominent writers give us the lowdown on their work habits — no matter how messy or mundane.
This week’s installment features Alisha Miranda, Zibby Books author, CEO, philanthropy advisor, and mother. Alisha’s forthcoming memoir, The 40-Year-Old Intern, details her year of unpaid internships in the dream jobs of her childhood and follows Alisha on her quest to figure out what might have happened if her life had taken a different path.
Learn more about Zibby Books here!
Early riser or night owl?
Neither by choice, but an early riser by force thanks to school drop-off. In an ideal world, I would be able to sleep until 10 a.m. and be in bed by 11 p.m.
Writing on an empty stomach or a full breakfast before you sit down at the desk?
Empty stomach, but coffee is a must. At least two cappuccinos are imbibed before my brain functions at all.
Long-hand or computer?
Computer. I am a fast typer, as evidenced by my 1997 MAST Academy Keyboarding Student of the Year Award.
Silence is golden or music for inspiration?
Silence, please! I can do lots of ambient noise, like in a coffee shop, but not just one sound wave.
Favorite magazine/literary journal?
I know I should say The New Yorker, but People is my guilty pleasure.
Avoid or devour reviews of your own work?
There haven’t been many as of yet but when they come I’m sure I’ll devour them and immediately disregard all bad ones as being jealous.
Frequency of checking Amazon ranking?
Not a daily activity yet, but it probably will be one day!
If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
For most of my career, I was not a writer! I built my professional experience working in the non-profit and philanthropy space, with a focus on women and girls.
But my next career will most definitely be as a wedding singer. What could be better than being with people on the happiest day of their life?
If you could be any other author, who would you be? Why?
I am a massive rom-com fan and have been steadily working my way through everything Emily Henry has written. I think it would be extremely pleasant to spend a day inside her brain.
How many cups of coffee or tea per day?
I sensibly limit myself to three coffees, all before noon.
Favorite snack/meal while writing?
At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s definitely coffee. There’s something about a hot beverage that really gets my creative juices flowing. However, I am also partial to an afternoon tangerine.
Trick for avoiding writer’s block?
I’ll look up a prompt (e.g., “Start a story with: I heard a loud noise downstairs”) and free write about it. What comes out is not the point — although I have surprised myself before — but it definitely helps loosen whatever might be stuck.
Last charge you’ll admit to on your credit card?
I’m traveling in New York this week, so my last charge was actually to Shakespeare and Co., an independent bookstore, which makes me feel very smug.
It’s a good thing you didn’t ask about the charge before (which was an obscene amount of money on cupcakes).
Book you’ve pretended to have read but haven’t?
In my youth, it was Moby Dick, which we had to read for school but I could not finish a full chapter without literally falling asleep. But in my adult life, I’d say anything by Malcolm Gladwell. Sorry, Malcolm!
As a business person, I am supposed to have read them, but they are not nearly as entertaining to me as a juicy novel.
Word you always misspell?
I grew up in the U.S. but have lived in the U.K. for the last fourteen years, so I often get confused about which version of a word I’m supposed to use based on who I am talking to. Probably favorite, because I’ve become so accustomed to adding in a “u.”
Go-to outfit for a day of writing at home?
Gym clothes, in the hope that I’ll get inspired to work out pre- or post-writing merely by my sartorial choice. It works only sometimes.
Edits: love or hate doing them?
Hate the process but love the result.
Largest number of rejections you’ve gotten for a book or essay before it was sold?
I queried forty-one agents to get representation for The 40-Year-Old Intern.
Number of unsold manuscripts in a drawer?
The 40-Year-Old Intern is my first book, but I have some ideas bubbling up in that drawer, just waiting to be written.
Career goal you still haven’t hit?
Have Mindy Kaling star as me in the movie of my book.
Places on your travel wishlist?
Being stuck in the U.K. for so long during the pandemic, all I wanted to do was come back to the U.S. to see friends and family. But now that travel is opening up more I’m dreaming of far-flung locales.
Thailand is probably number one— we had a family trip booked for March 2020 that has now been rescheduled four times. But in spring 2022, we’re coming for you.
Number of times you check your word count when writing?
Too many. I write fast but often long, so I feel like I am constantly having to cut things.
Where do you get your news?
The Guardian for U.K. news (and The Times for a political counterbalance), The New York Times and The Miami Herald in the U.S., and Edinburgh Live for a healthy dose of local gossip.
Favorite place to write?
I love writing in coffee shops, which will come as no surprise if you’ve read this far down. But my home office on the Isle of Skye is a close second. It is mercifully the quietest room in my house and I put a bird feeder outside the window so I can receive small visitors when I’m lonely.
Last book you couldn’t put down?
I read Bess Kalb’s Nobody Will Tell You This But Me and laugh-cried through it without stopping. I lost my own grandmother a few months after I read it, and it meant even more to me then. It’s wonderful.
Someone whose book recommendations you respect?
Zibby!
I read her recommendations for Katie Couric Media and file them away for my TBR list. There is also a local bookstore in Edinburgh called Rare Birds Books that sells only books by women — I have not just liked but loved all of the book club selections they have sent me.
I hope no one finds out that….
I’m not a natural blonde (just don’t look at my roots).
My secret dream is to….
Climb a mountain and then sing “Climb Every Mountain” when I get to the top.
Most useless skill I have is….
I am genuinely amazing at organizing Legos but the fruits of my labor never last more than an hour.
