Photo Content from Ilana Long
Ilana Long first heard about pickleball when her sporty friend confessed that she was addicted to a game that was “like ping-pong but standing on the table.” Shortly after, Long joined the pickleball craze despite her utter lack of hand-eye coordination. A stand-up and sketch comedy writer and actor, Long studied improv and performed at The Second City in Chicago. She is the author of Pickleballers, her debut romcom, the picture book, Ziggy’s Big Idea, and her essays appear in multiple books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.
When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
There were a few pivotal moments, the earliest being my first attempt at book writing at the age of nine. I wrote a children’s book called “What am I Missing” about a train in need of a conductor. It had a suspicious similarity to “The Little Train That Could”.
When I was in middle school, my parents took me to the doctor (I found the after-care note recently) because they were concerned I spent “too much time alone in my room reading.” That was around the same time I wrote to my favorite author, Zilpha Keatley Snyder and told her I wanted to be a writer. She replied in a lovely handwritten note, “If you want to be, you will be. You already are.”
I devoted myself to other pursuits for many years. But once my twins were born, I found solace and humor in writing for a monthly twin-mom newsletter. There, I found the funny side of parenting and remembered my fondness for writing.
Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
My favorite read is Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” because the characters are theatrical, and the writing is elegant and evocative.
But from a more contemporary standpoint, I really enjoy science fiction, especially anything about AI, time travel, and speculative fiction like Naomi Alderman’s “The Power” and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”.
Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
I have to say it is finding and feeling a sense of belonging in a community of writers. Here in the Pacific Northwest, I meet up with other writers of all genres for a monthly brunch, and also have gotten to know some of my Berkley cohort of romance writers. It feels good to talk about writing and laugh and commiserate about the process.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Be persistent. I sent 143 letters to agencies before receiving a yes. PICKLEBALLERS is my third completed novel, and the first to be published. It is a steep and challenging hill, and I spent many years writing as a hopeful side gig. But it only takes one agent to believe in your work, and one publisher to choose it.
If you could have written one book in history, what book would that be?
Macbeth. It’s fucking brilliant.
What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
I’m going to cheat here and offer two distractions:
My family. Somone always wants to know where I hid the ketchup. (For god’s sake, it’s on the door of the refrigerator, where we’ve always kept it.)
Pickleball. And... pickleball. And more pickleball.
What chapter was the most memorable to write and why?
I love to write broad, situational comedy—hijinks and slapstick. My favorite scene to write was the sexy seatbelt scene in which Meg Bloomberg struggles to yank open a stuck seatbelt while straddling Ethan’s lap. And perhaps the strip-club wannabe Pickledance scene. I wrote both during the final revisions after I thought the book was complete. But when they came to me, the comedy flowed, and I think they are pretty funny.
Can you tell us when you started PICKLEBALLERS, how that came about?
The YA sci-fi novel I had written, the one about a tragic pandemic, ran into some bad timing when my agent sent it out in the spring of 2020. “I think people need a lift right now,” she had said. And knowing my background in stand-up and improvisational comedy at Second City in Chicago, she suggested, “Why don’t you write something funny about something you love?”
So I thought, What do I love?
Well. I love Love. And I love...pickleball! It’s like tennis but smaller, or like ping-pong…if you got to stand on the table. My own obsession with the sport actually began during the pandemic, when it was the perfect social and athletic way to play outside while standing 6 feet apart. And there are so many different sorts of folks on the courts, all ages and all walks, and people looking for friendship and companionship and love, and some really kooky behaviors that come out when the adrenaline is running high. So, naturally, it was the obvious choice for a topic, and I got very lucky with the timing, because I think a lot of other folks became pickleball-obsessed during the pandemic for the same reason.
What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
I remember I was in my classroom in Costa Rica, in between my high school English classes. My agent called with the news that Berkley Publishing had made a two-book offer, and I was so excited I shrieked and jumped up and down, laughing. A student from the classroom next door popped in to check on me because the teacher in the next room was concerned!
Immediately after, I called everybody in my family and shared the news. I could hardly teach the rest of the day, but my students shared in my excitement, and I’m sure they didn’t mind a little brain break!
WRITING BEHIND THE SCENSS
I love to do my meta-writing while swimming; in a swimming pool, or even better, in the still, cool waters of Phantom Lake near my house. Swimming gives me an uninterrupted forty-five minutes or more of thinking-time when I know I will not face disruptions.
During my swims, I like to run a scene forward like I’m watching a play. I have a background in improvisational comedy and in theater, and I studied improv at Second City in Chicago. My biggest take-away from my training and performances was that improvisation is not about acting. It is about reacting.
The same goes for writing. In the dream state of swimming, my mind is free to learn how the characters react naturally to a situation. Sometimes I feel like I’m following them around to see what they’ll do. The only thing is, I have to work hard to remember what came to me during a swim, because it takes some mental repetition of an idea to ensure that I can still recall it by the time I towel off and get to my phone to voice-record my thoughts.
What is the first job you have had?
I’ll tell you about my worst jobs; Two “acting” jobs I took: One as a mascot for a publishing company in which I was inside a very hot furry bear costume for way too many hours, and also as the mascot for Mail Boxes Etc., in which the mail slot was right at chest level.
What is your happiest childhood memory?
Traveling in a motorhome and a rented van with my whole family around the US and Europe. The six of us packed into the tiniest vehicles possible, with my brother, the youngest, sleeping around the gear shift. It was miserable and wonderful, and we saw a lot of the world and I am now bitten by the travel bug.
What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why?
Drama, because I am a total ham.
What is your greatest adventure?
Adventure is a necessary spark in my life, and I try to reach out of my comfort zone as often as I can. One of my recent favorites was hiking in Guatemala to the top of Volcan Acatenango. There, I spent the night in a tent at base camp. All night, I listened to the thundering roar while I watched nearby Volcan Fuego explode in bright red showers. In the morning, we summited to Acatenango’s freezing pinnacle, and shivered, mesmerized by the sunrise over the expansive vista.
What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh?
Recently my husband Steve and I were checking into a flight, and I was lagging behind. The gate agent said, “Are you two together?”
Of course my incorrigible husband who has no respect for nada says, “I’ve never seen this woman before in my life.”
Well, clearly, we were together as we were wearing matching t-shirts a la Amazing Race, which I wore intentionally to annoy him. Gotta keep a marriage alive somehow.
The gentleman in line behind us said, “If you don’t want her, I’ll take her.”
By now the gate agents were chuckling and my husband said, “Okay, but she has expensive taste. And she can eat a lot,” which were both true statements.
Everybody grinned, happy to have made some light in a long day and we proceeded into the waiting area which was packed with passengers. We lollygagged around until we found two seats miraculously available.
Steve elbowed me and nodded at the guy from the gate agent line, who happened to be sitting across from us. Loudly, Steve said, “She’s right over here if you still want her.”
The guy looked up and made eye contact with us. A bewildered expression crossed his face.
“Honey.” I noted. “That’s not the same guy.”
Oh, how we laughed.
Or, for a more concise response to that same question:
I’m a big board and card game player, and I have a goofy sense of humor. I love to have friends over for drinks or dessert and pull out the silliest, raunchiest games and laugh our heads off.
What is your most memorable travel experience?
I sailed on a small boat around the Galapagos Islands and saw blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, giant tortoises, and had a run-in with a bull sea lion. The latter incident was super scary, but fortunately, a boatload of tourists pulled up behind us in the ocean and clapped and shouted until it backed off.
Any Camp stories you would like to share?
Oh yes. I was a camp counselor and drama specialist for many years, and one year, after the kids left, the camp hosted a nudist camp. The director asked me to take on the position of the boating instructor. With rowboats full of naked people. Need I say more? I plan to use this experience as fodder for my future writing, you can be sure.
I sailed on a small boat around the Galapagos Islands and saw blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, giant tortoises, and had a run-in with a bull sea lion. The latter incident was super scary, but fortunately, a boatload of tourists pulled up behind us in the ocean and clapped and shouted until it backed off.
Any Camp stories you would like to share?
Oh yes. I was a camp counselor and drama specialist for many years, and one year, after the kids left, the camp hosted a nudist camp. The director asked me to take on the position of the boating instructor. With rowboats full of naked people. Need I say more? I plan to use this experience as fodder for my future writing, you can be sure.
Meg Bloomberg is in a pickle. When Meg’s ex turns out to be a total player, she and her bestie take off for a mood-lifting pickleball excursion to Bainbridge Island. It’s supposed to be an easy lob, a way to heal, not the opening serve to a new courtside romance that’s doomed to spin out.
No matter how Meg tries, she can’t shake her feelings for Ethan Fine. A charismatic environmental consultant and Bainbridge local, Ethan seems like the real dill. But when Meg discovers that Ethan is sabotaging her home court, she decides the match is over.
It’s time for Meg to take control of her own game. And maybe, just maybe…love will bounce back.
You can purchase Pickleballers at the following Retailers:
And now, The Giveaways.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of Pickleballers by Ilana Long.
Please comment below/share on Instagram to enter and tag JeanBookNerd.
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