Yolanda Shoshana Talks to Anita Liberty

Anita Liberty is the poster girl for bitterness! Liberty burst into the literary scene with her hit book "How to Heal the Hurt by Hating," which chronicled how her boyfriend Mitchell dumped her for woman named Heather and how she devoted herself to humiliating him in public. While life has taken a sweeter turn for Liberty, she is still clinging to her bitterness in her latest book "How to Stay Bitter through the Happiest Times in Your Life."

Yolanda Shoshana: Your life seems to be an open book. Is there an area of your life that you will not discuss?

Anita Liberty: Yes. But I prefer not to discuss it.

Okay, seriously, probably not. I mean, I don’t write about everything that happens to me or everything that I feel, but everything is pretty much fair game. It’s true that I do tend to exaggerate or refine or edit the stories of my life so that I can maximize the humor. A lot of the occurrences in my life that I’ve written about (e.g., being dumped on my ass, going on bad dates, feeling like I was losing my hair, getting yelled at by an A-List director, didn’t seem at all amusing when I was in the middle of experiencing them. It was only after a certain amount of time had passed that I was able to transform my pain into anecdotal riffs.

Yolanda Shoshana: So, has the bitter part of Anita Liberty lost some of her edge?

Anita Liberty: Oh yeah. I’ve got to be honest about that. It’s hard to be that bitter when you find yourself in a functioning and happy and healthy relationship with someone who’s emotionally stable. Life still pisses me off, to be sure. For instance, I was feeling pretty good about myself yesterday. I have a trip planned to Los Angeles to have some meetings with important people about television and film development based on my book and my book seems to be getting a pretty good response and complete strangers seem to be enjoying it. So I was having a pretty good day. Then I get a call from a woman who tells me that she desperately needs to talk to me about a number of exciting opportunities she has planned for me. So I call her back and she tells me that the first thing she’s got planned for me is a chance to conduct a comedy and humor workshop for the elderly. I mean, it didn’t necessarily make me bitter, but I don’t think that it’s necessarily gonna take me to the top of my game either. Oh, but I’m gonna do it. I mean, talk about an opportunity for material! And I bet there will be donuts!

Yolanda Shoshana: Can you tell me more about the television pilot you are working on?

Anita Liberty: I’ve actually written four pilots: two for NBC; one for CBS; and one for ABC. None of them ever got past the script stage. I’ve never worked a day in television, but because of my books and my point-of-view and my writing, I’ve been able to pitch ideas to the networks and get script deals. I sort of can’t believe I’m going into the fray again, but I am. This time, I’m hoping to partner up with an established showrunner or production entity or an actress so that whatever script I write actually has a chance of getting made.

Yolanda Shoshana: You are becoming an icon, how does that make you feel?

Anita Liberty: It makes me feel like I should have a better wardrobe.

To find out more about Anita Liberty: www.anitaliberty.com and www.myspace.com/anitaliberty