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If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? I’d cook for Haruki Murakami, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Tommy Orange, Karen Tei Yamashita, or Sandra Cisneros. I’d probably make oko toast with avocado, homemade ramen, or kimchi jjigae because those things are hard to fuck up if you know what you’re doing and they also make you look more talented than you actually are in the kitchen. We all need shortcuts to greatness. Also, those foods can be so deeply satisfying on an emotional level and I’d want my fave author to experience joy so they know how I feel when I read their books. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Not being able to write anything, or anything that feels good to me when I read it again later on. I’m also afraid of people using my vulnerability in my writing against me. People can be such assholes when they’re trying to flex their moral education on you. When I’m afraid of something, I head right towards it because I know it’s not going to get easier by avoiding it, even though negative reinforcement is the most understandable defense mechanism there is. I guess I’d rather try and fail then not try at all. I don’t want to have regrets in my life. Also, I feel like we can always learn from our failures, but we can’t learn from the failures we didn’t make (because we were too afraid to make them). Fucking up is part of our agency I think. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? I have language crushes on Junot Diaz, Zadie Smith, Milan Kundera, Lydia Davis, Toni Morrison, Carole Maso, Sandra Cisneros, JM Coetzee, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and WG Sebald. I have idea crushes on Haruki Murakami, Karen Tei Yamashita, Jorge Luis Borges, Ted Chiang, Octavia Butler, David Mitchell, Aimee Bender, Natsuo Kirino, and Italo Calvino. And I have story crushes on Yiyun Li, Adrian Tomine, Dostoevsky, JD Salinger, Alison Bechdel, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Tayeb Salih. What books are on your nightstand? Right now, I’ve just got Bryan Washington’s Lot on my nightstand because I’m a monogamous reader. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? It’s a toss up between a period and a colon. I like the openness of the colon, the way it opens up the sentence but also insists on a forced pause. I admire the closure and the definiteness of the period. I fucking detest the semicolon, though. If a pushy editor tries to replace my punctuation with a semicolon, I do a search and destroy mission immediately. What book were you supposed to read in college, but never did? James Joyce Ulysses. I still feel guilty about it to this day. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? The sun for feeding the world, for always coming after leaving us in the dark, for its endless energy, devotion, and circularity. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Get out while you can! Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. In the initial creation phase, so unbelievably energizing I can barely sleep sometimes. But in the subsequent revision and editing stage, which is the other 80% of the writing process for me that usually takes years and years to finish, it starts to wear you down. It can feel futile, monotonous, repetitive, and unrewarding at times. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Undervaluing your work ethic and overestimating your talent. Not knowing how to revise a draft a million times until it sparkles. Forcing your workshop to clean up the shit in your draft. Not knowing how to critically and objectively evaluate your own manuscript (and then fix the issues you discovered along the way). Comparing yourself to other writers, many of them with completely different circumstances. Believing that the only way to “make it” is to get an agent, a six-figure advance from a Big-5 press, and a story published in the New Yorker. By all means, fight for that shit, but just remember that there are so many different streets that lead to Midtown (and some of them are closed for construction). What is your writing Kryptonite? Work & love for totally different reasons. At least love inspires me to write better and harder whereas work just makes me daydream about taking a bath, listening to Lana Del Rey, and playing Mass Effect on my PS4 in my bathrobe as I sip guava kombucha and snack on midnight nachos. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yeah and I try as hard as I can not to feel bad about it (especially during this goddamn pandemic). There are times I just don’t want to read at all, whether it’s my writing or someone else’s. Most of the time, though, I’m only adverse to reading when I’m hella absorbed about the manuscript I’m working on at that moment. Also, sometimes I get scared about the possibility of idea leakage between another book I’m reading and my own draft. Sometimes, I just don’t have the head space to cohabitate two different literary worlds at the same time. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes, unfortunately. There are some amazing writers who don’t seem to feel a damn thing but technically, they’re fantastic writers. I’m not hating, I’m just saying. Writers are allowed to write their books however they want and I don’t have to agree or understand either. But I will say this: most of my favorite writers seem to feel very deeply, which is probably why I love their writing so much (& also, I’d imagine, why they feel called to write out their lives in some way). What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I have friends who are writers and then I have writer friends (most of whom I’ve never met IRL) and then there’s everyone in between. I’ve been writing for a while, so I’m friends with a lot of writers, both completely unknown ones with insane talent and literary rockstars, but there’s too many to list here without doing someone a major disservice. Also, I know that I’ll obsess about who to (not) include, so I’m gonna peace out of this question before I overthink it! Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Both. I’m not aiming for thematic, stylistic, or generic continuity in my body of work, I just want each book I write to stand tall and glimmer on its own because I’m vain, industrious, perfectionistic, and crazy ambitious like that. At the same time, I hope there is overlap in content, in voice, in imagination, and in stylization. My hope is that despite the huge differences between my books, readers will be able to open up to a random page and then say, “That shit’s Blissian!” or whatever. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Well, Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments came out about two and half months ago and the longer it’s out there, the more I think about a conversation I had with my friend and mentor, Aimee Bender, who said that just knowing your work is OUT THERE for the world to read changes everything in a small but profound way, and I think she’s absolutely right. Until you publish a book, all your creative work is atomized into occasional literary journal publications at best and hiding in your hard drive at worst. But when your book is out there for readers to consider, read, and engage with, it kinda makes you feel like your art is finally real in a material sense. It feels legit, like your work can now speak for itself. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? You mean money I got from my writing, specifically, or the best money I spent in my writing life? I did a reading last month from my short story collection and when they paid me, I bought a pair of dope kicks that I probably couldn’t have afforded otherwise. That felt good, not gonna lie! What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? At first, I wasn’t really into Toni Morrison, at least not Song of Solomon. In retrospect, I kinda hijacked my reading by putting the book down over and over again, forgetting the plot structure, then rereading the parts I’d forgotten, only to put the book down again. But by the time I got to Beloved and The Bluest Eye, I was completely sold. Not only are those better novels in my opinion, but I was more patient as a reader and just in a better place, emotionally speaking, to approach the novels on their own terms. Now, I’m a huge Toni Morrison fan. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? There’s an essay in Dream Pop Origami that answers this question way better than I’m going to RN called “When Words Make You Free.” It’s about the time I translated for a Mauritanian refugee at his asylum interview with INS. Shit was intense! What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen is a quiet masterpiece, but for some reason, people always forget about it. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? My wifi network is “LanaDelReyIsMySpiritAnimal,” which is all you need to know, I think. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Well, every person I write about in Dream Pop Origami is real since it’s a memoir, so I guess I owe them a lot of gratitude for their authenticity, individuality, struggle, and hard work to exist in this cruel world and never give up. I’m indebted to them for giving me so much to write about. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Okay, I’m triggered! Seriously, though, I have two completed books that I’m trying to sell RN: a racial bildungsroman called Ninjas of My Greater Self about a mixed-race protagonist who falls in love with a suicidal movie star and later discovers that’s he part of an ancient ninja clan and a second short story collection called All the Places We Were Broken about mixed-race/hapa protagonists who get their hearts broken (and sometimes mended) all over the world that’s been longlisted at YesYes Books. I also have two early drafts of several other novels I won’t even think about touching until after Dream Pop Origami comes out in July 2022: an untitled novel about a family of mixed-race/hapa prodigies from Chicago and a second novel called We Ate Stars for Brunch that intersects with Ninjas as a counterfactual narrative exploring what happens if the protagonist makes a different major life decision. What does literary success look like to you? For me, the definition of literary success HAS to change at every stage in my writing career, otherwise I’d plateau. In the beginning, success meant publishing a piece in a literary journal. Then it meant publishing pieces in my fave literary journals like Fiction, ZYZZYVA, Guernica, Triquarterly, Boston Review, Longreads, etc., etc. Later it meant getting something in The New York Times. After that, success for me meant selling a book with a press. I was never picky about whether it was a Big-5 press or a small press, I only asked that the editors publish my book because of who I was as a writer, not despite it. In that regard, I’ve been hella lucky. Now, my new definition of success is selling my second short story collection with a readership that is already familiar with my writing, finding the perfect agent who is passionate about advocating for and selling books by BIPOC writers & getting them the kind of advance they deserve, and lastly, selling a bunch of screenplays that deal with mixed-race love, identity, and experimental forms of storytelling that center non-white characters. What’s the best way to market your books? If you can afford it, hire a freelance publicist! My other advice since I couldn't afford to hire a publicist for my first two books is this: You gotta bust the move to promote your own work because no one else is gonna do that work for you but you if you publish with a small press. No matter how good your book is, your book is not going to speak for itself if no one knows it exists and no one knows where to buy it. Those are just facts. I remember sending out hundreds of emails to literary journals, newspapers, editors, writing conferences, and bookstores just to get a couple interviews and several remote readings for Counterfactual Love Stories. It was a long slog, but what else can I do except try? What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I don’t know what this says about my gender identity (and to be honest, I don’t care how people read my gender since it’s never been completely stable or static anyway), but almost all of my fave characters in my fiction are female characters. I’ve been told by quite a few women readers that I write female characters well, maybe because I can relate with them or because I care about them so much or because many of the most important people in my life are women. Either way, I feel like if you’re devoted to creating and developing characters that are complex, multidimensional, nuanced, surprising, defiant, and profoundly human and if you give those characters agency, backstory, and vocalization, more times than not, they should be pretty damn good and fairly complex. My trick is to give characters the freedom to act in ways I don’t always understand. What did you edit out of this book? Other travel essays, other personal essays, other lists that repeated many of the same things I’d already written about in this memoir. Also, I sometimes scaled down certain essays in Dream Pop Origami since their length really affected the overall pacing and narrative flow when read collectively even if separately, the length of that particular piece was fine. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I’ve tried not writing so many times and I just don’t know how to do it. That’s the goddamn truth. So, not writing isn’t an option for me since like many poets I know, I identify with my own language and I can’t survive without it. OTOH, if someone devised a cruel neurosurgery tool that could erase the part of my brain that needs to write, that knows how to write, and that seeks companionship in language while still leaving all the other parts of my brain intact, I suppose I would probably make a living traveling and taking pictures and writing music. I think it might actually be time to start my second post-rock/downtempo EP.
 Author Q&A If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? Well I’m not much of a cook, but I’d love to make pancakes for Hanif Abdurraqib. He’s a beautifully lyrical writer but he’s also got some grit; I think he’d understand that when I was growing up we didn’t have resources–time, money, energy–to spend on gourmet meals. Not much has changed for me. Plus, pancakes are the shit. I mean, c’mon. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Everything about the writing process kind of terrifies me, to be perfectly honest. First there’s the anxiety about your idea: is it interesting to anybody besides me? Am I enough of a writer to do it justice? That kind of thing. Then there’s the act of writing: am I making beautiful sentences? Because that’s my biggest thing, I want to be beautiful on the page. But also I get scared of overwriting. Like, okay now that just reads like somebody trying to write a pretty line. It all scares me. I guess I get past it by just making myself write. I’m also fortunate to have good friends and mentors who keep me going. Especially my girl Ashley Johnson. She won’t let me cop out behind being scared, like at all, ever. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Ada Limon. She is otherworldly. I saw her read at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2020 and she absolutely floored me. She’s one of those writers who makes you feel like throwing away your pens, pencils, laptop, typewriter, whatever, because you’ll never do it like she does. She’s beautiful, too, which is something else I’ve never been. Yeah, Ada Limon, for sure. What books are on your nightstand? Right now it’s The Limits of Critique by Rita Felski, Subjects in Poetry by Daniel Brown, Ten Windows by Jane Hirschfield, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, and Heating and Cooling, micro memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly. I’m just getting hip to Fennelly’s work and she’s amazing. I think I have a crush on her, too. To quote James Tate: hell, I love everybody. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Semicolon. It’s fantastically versatile and it bedevils the hell out of people who try to use it, which makes me giggle. Also, it’s a symbol for suicide prevention which is obviously very dear to me. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Beowulf. Which is funny because I love it now. Seamus Heaney’s translation, especially. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I love this. My wireless headphones. I don’t usually write with music on, but I draft a lot in my head; while that’s going on I’m constantly listening to something. Noise cancellation is a great thing too. Or just giving the illusion that you’re listening to music so people don’t talk to you, like at a coffee shop. Thanks, Bose Quiet Comfort. I love you. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Somebody actually did something like this for me. “It doesn’t need to be perfect, or polished, or published. It needs to be written.” I think that’s from TheWritingManifesto.org, so I want to give them credit. Richard Hugo has a credo that I love too. It goes something like “Don’t try to make music conform to truth, set your truth to music.” Like I said, I want to be beautiful on the page. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Yes. Yes it does. The act is fucking exhausting. Accomplishing something, even as modest as a first paragraph or the scene that’s been fighting you like a pissed off rattlesnake, is invigorating. But especially as a nonficitonist it’s truly taxing to make new work. You’re basically ripping your guts out and turning them into a sculpture. It hurts. I love it, but it hurts. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Oh man. I think a big one in nonfiction is the trope of the shock memoir. Or, to rephrase, the impulse to “be brave”. Take my first book, for example. It’s about my father’s suicide. For a lot of folks who want to write, there’s an expectation that just because you have this awful thing that happened you have a memoir. And you do, but it isn’t going to be good just because you have a traumatic event to write about. If you read enough reviews of memoirs, you’ll see what I mean. Stuff like “this book is so courageous” or “the writer shares their tragic story”. That’s part of it, sure, being gutsy enough to confront the hard things in your life. But it’s a trap to think that just because you write down the painful moments you’ve lived through that you’ve done them, or yourself, justice. A companion to this is the trope of the victorious recovery memoir, or the survival narrative. Something like this: the writer had X bad thing happen; they were severely affected in Y ways; Z is that they survived it. That’s a base formula for what could be a successful piece of nonfiction, but it can’t just be that. I think that’s especially true for writing about addiction or illness. If someone wants to write about getting sober, there has to be some compelling narrative beyond successfully doing so. Our truest stories are always about more than the surface truths. Aspiring writers should be willing–scratch that–should be eager to find the inner narratives, however tangential they seem. That’s often where the real substance of a good memoir lives. Start with your personal tragedy, but look beyond it. There’s so much more out there. What is your writing Kryptonite? Self-doubt. I struggle with crippling depression. Always have. Sometimes my mental health deteriorates to the point where I just don’t work. Writers have famously fragile egos and I’m certainly not exempt from that. Convincing myself I can do this thing and do it reasonably well is my lifelong fight. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Oh hell yes. I think I’m weird on this one, but I sometimes can’t read books that are really good because their goodness makes me feel inadequate. I can’t tell you how many tries it took for me to get through Joy Harjo’s memoir Crazy Brave. It’s so fucking good. Heartbreakingly, astonishingly, make me curse under my breath good. So a lot of times, especially when I’m having trouble writing, I’ll also have trouble reading. It’s vicious. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Hard no. I think it’s necessary to be able to remove yourself from the rawness of your emotions to some degree in order to make your experiences into art, but I’ll die with Wordsworth’s credo in my heart: Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Philip Gerard wrote one of my favorite essays of all time, “What They Don’t Tell You About Hurricanes.” I read somewhere that he worked on that piece for like five years because it took him that long to write past his anger. While he finally managed to get some perspective and write beyond visceral rage, that anger is still very much a part of the essay. Without the original emotion he couldn’t have gotten to the final product. No one can. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Anne-Marie Oomen, a memoirist and poet from Michigan. She is the best teacher and mentor I’ve ever had. She’s an expert at knowing what each project needs and helping me calm down when I can’t find my through the drafting/outlining process. She’s also just a wonderful friend. She understands me when I don’t. Randall Horton, poet and memoirist. The only full professor in America with seven felony convictions. Randall’s always there to remind me that it’s not enough to write for other writers; you have to write for regular folks. Because when we strip off the armor of our writerly persona, that’s all we are: folks. He’s also a genius at identifying spots where you can get lyrical and poetical and whimsical. “Make it sing,” he always says. He also has an eye for what hat to wear to a reading. He’s made me cooler than I am several times. Mark Jednaszewski, fiction writer from Tampa. Mark and I write in different modes or styles and he’s never the kind of reader/editor to overly impose his own sensibilities on my work. He’s someone I can send a messy draft to and say “What the hell is this?” and he’ll come back with a smart, compassionate answer. One of his many strengths is concision, so he is a great help at trimming the fat; one of my weaknesses is being verbose in pursuit of being lyrical or beautiful. But he’s also preternaturally gifted at seeing a piece’s “aboutness”, helping me figure out what I’m really writing about and stripping away the protective membrane around it to make my stuff more poignant. And he can work a hockey metaphor into anything, which is surprisingly useful. I also owe him a giant debt of gratitude for sponsoring me during my struggles with sobriety. Ashley Johnson, my best good friend from my CNF cohort at Solstice. She loves to get wild and experimental. One of my favorite things to do is use blind juxtaposition in my work, try to make readers take logical leaps and make connections without transitions. Ashley is like that too and she’s the best reader and writer I’ve ever known at knowing when a jump is too much to ask from a reader. Contrastingly, she’s also totally unafraid to say I’m holding the reader’s hand too much. When I need to know how my structure is holding, she’s my go-to. She’s also a sincere and gifted sensitivity reader with regard to race and gender. And hip-hop lyrics; she can find the right quote for any occasion. You know the expression “the world is too much with us”? She can find the sweet spot for being in the world and also keeping artistic distance. Robert Lopez, fiction writer from Brooklyn. “The Lopez”, as I affectionately call him, is just a good dude. He’s always encouraging other writers to be fearless. He’s very commercially successful and his work is well-received by critics, but he’s not a slave to that success. He loves funky, genre-bending, and occasionally bizarre stuff. If there’s a convention I truly need to buck in order to make the art I’m trying to make, he’s all for it. I also treasure his advice on what to read. He’s possibly the most intuitive reader out there and I appreciate his reading recommendations. Steve Kuusisto, poet and memoirist from New York by way of Finland. Steve is blind, physically, but his work sees everything. Like Lopez, Steve is fearless when it comes to language. One of my favorite quotes of his: “If there’s no metaphor for what I see in my mind, I make shit up. What is blindness? I see fine.” He also gave me a piece of advice that I’ll cherish forever: lyrical prose will take whatever you throw at it. You can take two—or more–disparate things and make them do whatever you want. What else is writing but destroying the barriers between worlds? Lastly, Jericho Brown. I can’t rightly call him a friend since I only met him once, but that encounter left me breathless and undyingly grateful. The biggest thing Jericho taught me in the few minutes we spent together on the bookfair floor at AWP in Portland was this: be kind. Be generous. Be gracious with what you know and what you do. He took the time to sign a couple books and have a chat with me, a guy he didn’t know from a crack in the sidewalk. And it was beautiful, just like his work. I try to embody that same attitude and pass on my own riff on his energy: don’t be an asshole. We’re all in this lunatic world together so let’s be together. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? All writers have preoccupations that show up over the course of their careers. My dad’s suicide–and suicide in general–is one of mine. So that’ll always have a presence and an impact on my stuff. But I want each book to be its own achievement, have a life of its own. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Honestly I’m not sure it did. Maybe in imperceptible ways. But my projects tend to be different enough from one another that I necessarily have to change my process to fit each one. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? My MFA. There are a lot of fully-funded programs out there and if you get into one of those: congratulations. But I think there’s a toxic shaming of people who take on student loans in order to pursue their education, especially for an advanced degree in the arts. Obviously getting an MFA isn’t going to make you a good writer automatically. And not all good writers have one. But I got so much out of my time in grad school: time to write, a community of people to share and discuss work with, new experiences with language and forms. It was more than worth it. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Sad story, but I’m kind of impossible to convert. If I’m not into someone or something, I’m probably just not going to be. I was really hesitant about fragmentation as a form, though, and I’ve completely reversed myself on that. Well, not completely, but I’ve embraced it much more openly. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was growing up, cable TV was brand new and the internet didn’t exist. What we saw and heard on television was pretty bland, linguistically. Images could be risque but the verbiage was pretty tightly controlled. Radio was a little different. Howard Stern came around when I was in elementary school, I think, and the way he terrified people with his raunchiness and irreverence just fascinated me. I think that really tipped me off that words were a big deal–that you could weaponize them in a lot of ways. Trying to figure out why certain words scared the hell out of people was fun. It still is. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Gustav Hasford’s The Short Timers. It’s the novel Full Metal Jacket is based on. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? A blue horse. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Everything. Literally. As a memoirist, even though I take some liberties and conflate or camouflage individuals, I’m always writing about real people. It’s a minefield or a gold mine, depending on how you walk it. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Not many, surprisingly. Unless you want to talk about my poems. Dear lord I’ve got a lot of disembodied poems and abandoned drafts thereof floating around in my cloud storage. You know when a writer dies and their “Previously Uncollected Poems” comes out? How it’s always like the size of a phonebook? Yeah, I totally understand that. What does literary success look like to you? Ha. It changes every time I accomplish something. First it was getting published. Anything, anywhere, just once. If I could do that, I thought I would be happy and satisfied. So I got an unremarkable story published in a now-defunct online mag and, to my dismay, I was not overly happy or content. And it keeps up like that ad nauseum. I’m delighted to be ushering my first book into the world and I consider it a great success. But there’s more to it. What that is, unfortunately, I’ll just have to find out as I go. Maybe to be a successful writer you just have to keep writing as true and hard as you can until your time is up. My old teacher Michael Steinberg did that and I don’t think anybody could argue that he wasn’t hugely successful. What’s the best way to market your books? I think it depends on the writer, the book, the target audience, the circumstances. For instance, I think–and this has historically held true especially for poets–that doing readings is a great way to do PR. But right now is obviously a challenging time to try to do that kind of thing; Zoom is great and all but it’s not going to sell as many books as the old fashioned way. I think having an agent is probably a really good idea from a marketing standpoint. Those folks are pros at reading the literary landscape and trying to situate your work within it. A lot of people are big on social media, too, and maybe that works well for them. That’s not my favorite place to be, so I couldn’t say for sure. What did you edit out of this book?” All direct quotes from Full Metal Jacket. Never, ever, under any circumstances, use copyrighted material without getting permissions first. Rewriting a whole book after the fact is unfun. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well writing doesn’t pay my bills, as least not yet. I work in hospitality. It’s almost as much of a lunatic profession as being a writer, so I fit right in. Don't Forget to Get Your Copy If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? I know this is a little on the nose, but I’d make chicken and sausage gumbo. And I would make it for Toni Morrison. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? It’s important to me to include many different identities and voices in my stories. I live with fear that I will write in a way that leads to silencing someone with an identity different from my own. I combat it by reading other authors with the identity of the character I want to portray and talking to friends with that identity. I’ve learned if I broaden my own understanding and continually chip away at my biases, my characters become more authentic and realistic. I get to be a better person in the process. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? My literary crush is Jesmin Ward. How she is able to create so much life, loving, and sadness wrapped in earth shattering metaphors is beyond my comprehension (but not my awe). What books are on your nightstand? So… I’m not going to tell you all of them. And not because I’m ashamed or anything. There’s just too many to name and you have a life to live. I’m currently reading New World Coming from Torrey House Press. Also adorning my obscene stack is Whiteness of a Different Color, Native Son, and Where All the Light Tends to Go. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Semi-colon. It’s so rogue. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? The Great Gatsby. Never read it after high school either. And from what I’ve heard, I didn’t miss much. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I’d like to thank trees for always listening to me when I was a lonely kid. Oh, and thanks for the oxygen and shade, too. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? I’d say the same thing I tell my kids in the acknowledgments of Dark Roux: Lache pas la patate. Never give up. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Most days it energizes me. When I treat writing as the joy it is (the way it is supposed to be treated, my wife reminds me) it is wonderful. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think “aspiring” is a trap. As I write this I am still aspiring. On one hand it keeps me in this insecure place, believing I will always be becoming and will never arrive. On the other hand it keeps me growing, improving, and digging deeper until I reach my truth and the words in which to dress it. To me that is a trap because one inevitably and endlessly leads to the other and I stay stuck in that cycle. As I see-saw between them I can lose track of the “writer” in me. What is your writing Kryptonite? I overthink things way too much. I lose the story, the characters, everything. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes. I didn’t know that’s what it was (and am now so glad there is a term for it). It happened recently. In hindsight it always happens to me when I’m doing a lot of living but not enough processing. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? My therapist self says this is not possible. I think how we’ve been taught to treat our emotions determines how/how much we express and understand that emotion. Writing is one of the best ways I’ve found to access those feelings. The more I write, the more I feel, and the more I understand. So I guess I’m saying writing is one of the keys to accessing the power of our emotions and to feel them more fully. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Maria Timm (another “aspiring” writer) is a constant source of inspiration. She does so naturally what I have to work for. Her writing is a constant inspiration and challenge to improve my work. I got to meet Johnnie Bernard early in this process. She, too, inspires me to push harder and make good work. Johnnie has also made what all goes into being an author much clearer. Lastly, Aurora Whittet has been such a wonderful beta reader and critique partner. Our writing and our audiences are so different that it always makes me look at characters and scenes in a completely different light. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Both? I have thoughts for a follow up to Dark Roux. I have a finished short story collection based in the future after climate change intensifies that I’ve also been considering expanding on in a whole other collection. However, I have a couple of other novels cooking that are definitely standalone. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Before publishing my audience was very much myself. I’ve heard some writers say that is who you’re supposed to write for. But publishing made writing much more of a relationship with a reader. It feels like a conversation now. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? I joined the Writer’s League of Texas ten years ago. They offer amazing classes that might make some MFA programs blush (or at least I imagine so since I don’t have a MFA). It is my pleasure to renew my membership every year. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Eudora Welty and Cormac McCarthy. Though I’ve fallen a bit out of love with the latter. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I remember saying certain things in Cajun French as a kid that would hit completely different than the English translation. One conveyed meaning. While the other conveyed meaning and feeling. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I recently read Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. It intertwined anthropology with philosophy, all laid over a story. I love books that do many things like that. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I choose a vulture. First, I was obsessed with them as a kid and would watch a recorded nature special about them over and over. Second, I think they live a writer’s life. They are always riding above things, taking in the whole picture. They are the first to see where something has happened; something most people are afraid of and don’t want to touch. The role they play is to digest it so it does not spoil the community and instead restores it. On my best day I think I am a writing vulture. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Surely everything. I owe them my respect and abiding love. I owe them my sense of justice, but also my anger because of it. I owe them continued curiosity. Then there is the disappointment they’ve left me with. Their legacy creates many contradictions, but the turbulence of those always facilitates depth in me as well as my characters. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Four currently. What does literary success look like to you? I love this question. In my wildest dreams literary success looks like conversations with readers who are as excited about these stories as I am. Then we’d have coffee. Or whiskey. Or coffee and whiskey. It would make us talk a lot about the stories but our conversations would make less and less sense. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? There are always the different large life experiences between genders: childbirth, prostate problems, discrimation from sexism, toxic masculinity (even though they are part of their respective coins), etc. With enough imagination, propped up by lots of very vulnerable conversations with people of a differing gender identity and reading writers with that identity, I think those experiences can be written about respectfully and realistically. But it’s the little things that are harder to get. Or the things we do in secret. I’ve never had to think deeply about what I would wear based on how people with power might perceive me, except for the very occasional suit. I’ve never soaked my feet after hours in heels (though I think I may have just created a challenge for myself). On the flip side, I’ve never been a woman expressing negative emotion to other women without the fear they would not think I’m man enough. What did you edit out of this book?” I may have edited out an entire book’s worth. There were several scenes which did not serve the plot despite how they were representative of the characters or the culture they are a part of. I edited out speech which was superfluous or perhaps too painful. Because the book is in very close first person, the characters would often get lost in their head and lose their purpose and reasoning. All of that had to be taken out. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? If we are taking my current work as a Licensed Professional Counselor off of the table, I think I’d end up a farmer. My internal clock gets me up early every day. The satisfaction I feel from working outside is pretty epic. That gene from my ancestors doesn’t go away easily, I guess.  Toby LeBlanc is a mental health therapist in Austin, TX. Writing is a way his own tales can have life alongside the countless stories of courage and strength of his clients. While he and his family sleep under the Texas stars, he will always say he's from Louisiana. He enjoys wearing period-specific pirate costumes and fishing. His dream is to one day do both at the same time.
His book, DARK ROUX, releases on August 9, 2022. Order it today. We love our authors. That sounds silly, but it's true. We love them so much we like to annoy them by asking questions about their writing lives. Today we bring you an updated interview with Francis Daulerio, one of the most "breath of fresh air" poets you'll ever read. We invite you to read the interview, and if you have a buck or two, support Francis by purchasing his upcoming poetry collection, JOY.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Oh jeez, I’ve been a massive fan of Anthony Bourdain’s work for a good long time. I always admired how easily he was able to navigate the really complicated elements of culture and religion and politics and distill it all down to a palatable examination that didn’t feel like it was being swayed by anything other than reality. I’m absolute shit in the kitchen, but it’d be a real honor to share a bowl of home-grown garlic scape pesto my wife and I make each spring. It’s no culinary masterpiece, but I think he’d like it fine. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I worry a lot about the headspace I’m creating for my readers. My first book was so sad (too sad, if I’m honest), that I’ve subsequently tried to layer in large helpings of hope wherever possible. It’s important to recognize how difficult life can be, but there’s no sense in wallowing, and I certainly don’t want my writing to take anybody to an unhealthy or even dangerous place. When I write now, I try to remind myself that there is hope to be found, and I try to aim for it whenever I can. What books are on your nightstand? We have books all over the house, so we eventually started turning different rooms into different sections. Philosophy and art in the living room, fiction and poetry in the study. You get it the idea. The nightstand serves as our nonfiction section. Stuff like Matt Haig’s Reasons To Stay Alive, Ross Gay’s Book of Delights, Maggie Smith’s Keep Moving. Good books to grab if you wake up with the scaries. The Buddhism section also lives there along with a few random books on gardening. It’s very zen. All the vibes. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The em dash. I’m a poet ffs. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Many of them, actually. I was a pretty lousy student in high school. I probably could’ve used some meds, but early aughts catholic school wasn’t the place to talk about mental health or medication (imagine that!). What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I’m actually a little mad at myself for not thanking Lexapro in the acknowledgements page of the new book. What a life-saver! I wrote 3/4 of Joy from my typical, unmedicated state of constant anxiety and then finished and edited it feeling like a totally new person. I know medication isn’t for everyone, but it drastically improved my daily life. Does writing energize or exhaust you? The first stages of writing a new poem are totally energizing, and the editing process can be, too, if it’s enlightening or transformative. Generally though I do get exhausted by the tedious nature of editing. Once that spark of creativity is gone and I’m left with a heap of words to move around, things get a bit less exciting. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think social media makes it easy for an aspiring writer to feel excruciatingly inadequate. You see all these people dropping links to new publications and it can quickly start to feel like you’re the only one striking out, when in reality we’re all getting bombarded with rejections all the time. It can be difficult to learn how to interact in the writing community before you’ve really gotten your feet wet, which is why I think that space has turned into such a shitstorm. The good news is, once you get some publications under your belt, you get to take imposter syndrome for a spin. So there’s that… What is your writing Kryptonite? Any and every other thing. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I don’t think I’ve gotten traditional reader’s block, but there are definitely long stretches where I simply can’t find time to sit down and read at length. I try to take advantage of gaps between projects and time off work, but life with young children doesn’t make for loads of free time. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? This feels similar to the “do artists need to experience pain to create” question, and while I think the answer is probably no, I can’t help but think that the difficulties I’ve lived through have made me better equipped to write the way I do. Maybe that’s just me trying to make myself feel better. I’ve had panic attacks, and afterwords tried to tell myself that living like this isn’t all bad because it somehow helps me create. I don’t think that’s true, but in the moments I want to feel like I’m earning my spot by suffering. I’m sure there are folks who can do this without feeling intense emotions, but I’m not sure how. I definitely couldn’t. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I couldn’t write anything without my friend Rich Appel. He’s an incredible poet and editor, and he’s the first person I email when I’ve written something new. Honestly there’s not a poem in any of my books that he didn’t help with. I also get a lot of inspiration from my MFA friends Nick Gregorio and Daniel DiFranco, and I’ve learned a lot about how to exist in this community from Maggie Smith. I feel quite lucky to be surrounded by such incredibly creative people. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Books! What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I have a very vivid memory of playing cards with my older cousin in the trunk of my aunt’s Chevy Blazer. Our parents were all in the house, and while he beat me in each game, he taught me how to curse, which words meant what, and how to drop them in at the appropriate times. Looking back, it was a pretty transformative experience (I’m only half kidding). How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Zero. I’ve got some ideas for a few different books, but nothing started yet. I’m thinking about trying out comedic nonfiction essays, but we’ll see where that leads. There also some poem ideas rattling around up there. Who knows. What does literary success look like to you? Mega yachts and piles and piles of cocaine. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
I am a huge fan of Miriam Toews. I would love to have dinner with her and, like a leech, I’d pick her brain about her writing process and ask for advice; however, my cooking is not nearly as awesome as her writing, so I’d ask her what she wanted to eat, and then I’d practice making said meal until it was go time, and, realistically, I’d probably mess the meal up and end up ordering out. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I think I have a huge case of imposter syndrome. I wish I could say that I combat that by putting my head down and continuing to write despite my insecurities, but sometimes it gets the better of me. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? I love the character Jenny Fields from John Irving’s The World According to Garp. She is a badass who can do it all. What books are on your nightstand? There are two books on my nightstand right now. The first is This Bright River by Patrick Sommerville. I love his work on Station 11 and other shows, so I grabbed his novel to read. The other book on my nightstand is Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. I haven’t read it, and I probably never will. My sister passed away at the age of 36, and it was her favorite book, so by not ever reading it, I feel like there’s something that I can still learn about her, even 10 years later. I find it strangely comforting. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I love the ellipsis. I think it invites engagement from the reader. It kind of forces them to fill in the blanks… What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? The assignment was to independently read a Shakespeare play and do a report on it. I was a lazy high-school student who avoided work whenever possible, so my choice was Shakespeare’s King John. I picked that one because I figured it was one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays, and there was a pretty good chance that my teacher had not read it. I was right! If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? "You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it." - Octavia E. Butler Does writing energize or exhaust you? It energizes me. I get in the zone, and I lose track of time when I’m writing. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think aspiring writers don’t realize how much time and energy it takes to write. Writing is a craft with limitless room for improvement. If you want to write, you’d better be prepared to never be satisfied. What is your writing Kryptonite? I have to be careful of what I read while I am writing fiction because it frequently seeps into my writing, and the writing ends up feeling forced and lifeless. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I usually do not have reader’s block. I do, sometimes, have difficulty figuring which book to read from my list of to-read books. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I believe that it’s possible, but not the norm. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Ben Tanzer comes to mind. Through Ben, I have met a lot of other awesome writers from Chicago: Mark Brand, Joseph G. Peterson, Peter Anderson, Giano Cromley, and Jerry Brennan to name a few. For me it’s nice to know that there are like-minded people out there. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I want each of my books to stand on its own. Honestly, I cringe when I read my past work. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Buying a computer solely for my writing was the best money I’ve ever spent as a writer. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? This is a surprisingly difficult question for me to answer. There are so many more authors who I liked at first, but I’ve grown to dislike over the years than there are authors who I have grown to like. I think Stephan King might be the best answer to go with here. For me, he is so hit or miss that it took a while for me to find something in his repertoire that I liked. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I came home from school one day to find that my younger sister had ratted me out for swearing at school. I got in a lot of trouble for that. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Dave Newman’s Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children is an underappreciated favorite of mine. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? A seagull. They are capable of beauty, but they also spend most of their time fighting for scraps and picking through the trash. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Not all characters in The Craigslist Incident were based on real people (I need some plausible deniability, here), but for those characters who are loosely based on real people, I will defer to Anne Lamont: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” What does literary success look like to you? Every time I achieve a literary goal, I set another one. I just keep plugging away. I don’t think I will ever feel successful. What’s the best way to market your books? I believe that after all has been said and done, the best way to market a book is through word of mouth; therefore, I believe it is important for me to get my book out to as many readers as possible. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I am petrified that I will get something wrong, and that mistake that will take the reader out of that fragile, magic, fiction bubble that I worked so hard to create. What did you edit out of this book? I think a better question for me would be: What have you edited into your novel? For years, my focus was poetry, so I focused on condensing a narrative into as few words as possible, and, unfortunately, that habit followed me into my prose writing. When I worked with the Unsolicited editing team, I found that I was adding scenes to the plot rather than cutting scenes. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I think I would be working somewhere in the field of psychology. I also love teaching, so I would for sure be teaching.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Well, I’m not a very good cook. I’d eat breakfast with Craig Lancaster as long as he made it. I’d eat leftovers from Mary Karr’s fridge and whatever Alexandra Fuller wanted me to eat! Basically I’d do whatever those women wanted me to! What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? It’s terrifying to just start. It’s terrifying when I’ve gone weeks with no new ideas, and it’s terrifying when I get ALL the ideas at once because I worry that they’ll go away! I think the best thing I do is scribble ideas in a notebook, whether it becomes pages and pages or it’s just a doodle or some sort of outline. I have come to terms with the idea that sometimes my notes just aren’t meant to see the light of day. I have also worked hard to just take a breath and send my work out there. Rejection hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. There’s a great anecdote from Stephen King from his early years in which he uses a railroad spike to tack all the rejection letters to his wall. It happens to, quite literally, the most prolific of them all. We indie authors aren’t alone! Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Janet Fitch is one of my most favorite authors, and her first novel White Oleander really changed the way I viewed characters. They don’t have to have linear or neat, clean growth. They can have an ugliness, a rawness that almost hurts to read. I felt that about her characters in Paint It Black, but I have an absolute obsession with Marina Makarova in The Revolution of Marina M and Chimes of a Lost Cathedral. I can’t find the right adjectives to do her justice. What books are on your nightstand? My dad listens to “books on tape.” (He does use a streaming service but hasn’t broken into modern lingo yet.) He talks a lot about this Louisiana ex-cop called Dave Robicheaux, and he’s so animated and uses this terrible accent when talking about it. He gets so excited about these books, so I’ve been checking out James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series from the public library. I could lie and say it’s War and Peace on my nightstand, but it’s a stack of good ol’ boy mysteries. A bad guy gets eaten by his own pigs, people! That’s bedtime entertainment! Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I’m an Oxford comma girl. I love a good semicolon; I don’t, however, use it a lot in fiction. But I can’t stop using exclamation points! I just have a ton of excitement! What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I used CliffsNotes (does that date me?!) to get through The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Great Expectations…I read so much that the librarians waived the 3-book maximum, but I couldn’t read anything I was assigned. I didn’t read The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye until I was in college. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Oh, definitely my lifelong companion Brown Bear. I used to call him Winnie the Pooh, even though he’s not the yellow honey fiend. I dropped him in the street when I was about two, and my mom put an ad in the paper: “Lost. Little brown bear.” My earliest memory is of going to a woman’s house to retrieve him. He’s been everywhere with me. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? “If you don’t write it, who will? Just do the damn thing!” Seriously, though. Just write it. If it’s in you, get it out. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Oh, it’s energizing. Sometimes manic. I never feel like I’m “done,” but I’m not exhausted by it. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think we all have a level of hubris, but it’s important to recognize that. Not everyone’s first book is picked up by, say, Random House. And that’s more than okay. Better than okay! Also, guard your work. Blogs and other easy-to-publish sources don’t protect your work the way it deserves to be protected. Don’t give up. Yes, you may have to work a “real” job. You may not write for three years. You may choose to attend nine thousand writer’s retreats and never come out with a single idea. All of it is okay. Do you write? You’re a writer. Is your grandma your only reader? She’s proud of you. What is your writing Kryptonite? Does this question mean I’m Super Man? I’m so easily distracted by whatever I find on the internet. I’ll take a break, fall into the proverbial rabbit hole, and emerge 2 hours later. Were those cat videos worth it? Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Ooh, good one. Nope. I will read books multiple times until they become part of my soul. I am never not reading something. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure. Tell that story!! I guarantee that someone else has a similar experience as that author. Writing should come from every single experience. There’s no “one size fits all” for emotion. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I’m internet friends with several Montana writers, and just seeing them working (and succeeding, and failing sometimes, and living, and feeling) gives me an understanding that we’re all in this together. Not one of us is this hermit who lives on an island of self-importance, rolling around in stacks of cash. It’s a small community of folks who support each other through (often inappropriate) humor and the much-needed encouragement to just keep writing. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I write short stories, and sometimes one story is connected to another but told through different narrators. The one connection I think I will always have is Montana, but I’m in the stand-alone camp. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? It encouraged me! The thought that other people will see my words in print gives me the motivation to do more. It’s such a dang process though, but I haven’t changed it. I do what works for me, which is long-hand notes and notebook scribbles. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Any money spent at a book store, a book sale, library overdue fines…reading makes a writer, and it’s the one thing that consistently encourages me. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I always had a hard time with the ones I was “supposed” to read. I eventually came around to Faulkner. I’ve never been into reading just to say I’ve read a certain book or author. I still don’t like Dickens. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was young, my best friend and I said this: “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can really hurt!” I remember being made fun of at the time and realizing that the things that come out of people’s mouths can cut deeply. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Plain Bad Heroines by emily danforth. She had huge success with her first novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but her second is just this intense noir/mystery/queer/magical/mystical piece of genius that involves a real Montana woman (Mary MacLane) who was so controversial and outspoken and outrageous in a time when women were decidedly not. The moon, because the writing process certainly follows an ebb and flow. Sometimes it’s full and rich and bright and super, and other times it’s dark and absent (but still spinning around there somewhere). What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters?! I owe them the assurance that I am not intentionally basing characters on them, even though they think otherwise. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? A million? What does literary success look like to you? Honestly, I’ve written for so long. I’ve never tried to make it a “career.” Success, for me, is handing a real, bound, published book to my parents and saying “I did it.” Having an actual book. Maybe two. But something that other people read, something that stands alone. That’s success. It’s not the finish line. What’s the best way to market your books? Who likes to toot their own horn? I like the simple “post online” method and hope it spreads like wildfire! Not the most effective. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Bodies. I don’t know how a man settles into his body. I can only guess and observe and put a little of what I know about those around me into male characters. It’s really hard to avoid stereotypes. What did you edit out of this book? A lot of swear words! If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I am currently a librarian and 8th grade teacher. I love working at our middle school. We own a cattle ranch. It’s an amazing privilege to work outside. I’d love to create art full time. Honestly? I’d be pretty good at being a professional nap-taker. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? Spicy enchiladas for Daphne Du Maurier – the greatest suspense writer of all time. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I’m scared that I won’t have the time in my life to write all of the projects that I want to, and/or that I will start a piece and then never finish it. The best way to combat that, I think, is to work according to your own schedule, but make sure you put in work every day, even if that work is only conceptualizing the project(s). Also, respect the editing process: once the first draft is finished, that’s when the bulk of the work begins and the piece really starts to take shape. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? I mentioned Daphne du Maurier above, but in terms of literary characters I’m obsessed with, I’ll say Villanelle from Jeannette Winterson’s The Passion, one of my favorite novels. What books are on your nightstand? Currently, Class, Politics, and Ideology in the Iranian Revolution by Mansoor Moaddel (partially as research for an upcoming book) and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. (I always try to maintain an eclectic reading list.) Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The ellipsis. So much mystery and angst is contained within those three dots. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I couldn’t get through The Scarlet Letter the first time around. I’ve since tried to reread it with slightly more success. (As far as Hawthorne goes, “Young Goodman Brown” is my favorite.) What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My record player, which accompanies nearly all my writing sessions. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? “Conquering self-doubt is the first step to being the writer you want to be.” Does writing energize or exhaust you? Writing energizes me but editing exhausts me. What are common traps for aspiring writers? I think writing what you expect other people want to read (or what you think publishers or marketers want to sell) is the worst trap. That inevitably leads to uninspired or generic writing. Any artist can only create the work that speaks to them – that they themselves would want to read or watch or listen to. What is your writing Kryptonite? Stress. Exhaustion from my day job or social obligations makes me too distracted to focus on the work the way I should. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Not really. I have a plan in my head for what book is next on the docket. (Although I do worry that I won’t have enough time to read all the great books out there. It’s a good problem to have, in my opinion.) Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? No. Thinking critically about the world is also a must, but it’s not enough to only be conceptual - there must be passion to your ideas. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I’m friends with several fiction writers based (or formerly based) in the Twin Cities, either published or unpublished; and with numerous international film critics and theorists. There’s not enough time to list all the ways they help me become a better writer! It is indispensable for artists to have a community and a discourse to share ideas, support each other, constructively criticize them, commiserate through the rough periods, and get excited about the work they admire. In particular, I used to be part of a group of horror and sci-fi writers in Minneapolis that would share their ideas and early drafts of work on Google Docs. This was important because we would also frequently talk about how speculative genres are underrecognized for their artistic and subversive potential. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Both. That might be a cop-out answer, but it’s true. Every work should stand on its own, but an artist should have a collective body of work with at least thematic connections between them. I do also admire sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and other works that expand the universe of a work of art, not simply to capitalize on a familiar name. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? It increased my confidence. From starting to write the book to publication was about nine years. If you put in the work and have faith throughout the process, then the end goal really is achievable. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? This may sound like paid promotion (it’s not!) but about six years ago I spent almost $1,000 to work with Mark Malatesta, a professional literary coach (and former agent). He helped me write my query letter and synopsis and compile a list of agents to reach out to, along with providing insight into what I could expect from the querying process. He landed me my first agent, and even though a publishing deal didn’t come directly from that, it was indispensable experience. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? J.G. Ballard is the first author that comes to mind. I don’t love his early book The Drowned World (which was the first thing I read by him), but have really admired almost everything else. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Weirdly enough, I remember the O.J. Simpson trial being televised when I was about ten years old, and it’s one of the first major public discourses I can remember. Even at the time, I noticed that the way people talked about it (especially as it related to their racial identity) was especially charged. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of the best British novels of the 19th century. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? The bur oak tree. It’s a majestic tree native to the American Midwest that grows slowly but lives a very long time – an apt metaphor for the writing process. It also is not outwardly beautiful (it doesn’t have dazzling fall colors) but the leaves often have a faint golden hue in the autumn, which is a kind of understated glamor I admire. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? An attempt to make those characters as complex, genuine, and rooted in sympathetic motivations as possible. That should describe every character, but especially those based on real people. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? About five (and even more unfinished screenplays). I used to feel very anxious about these unfinished or unpublished works, but now I think it’s constant motivation – a reminder of how many other stories I want to tell. What does literary success look like to you? To have my work read by strangers (no matter the number, but the more the better) who connect with it in some way is the ultimate goal. To write a novel (and edit it numerous times until it’s “final”) is incredibly gratifying, but the book doesn’t really come alive until it’s read by people who simply want to read it because they love literature. The true epitome of success would be to make enough money from writing and editing that it could be my full-time job and I could focus on my art as much as I think it deserves, without relying on a day job. But no matter how financially lucrative it is, I’ll continue writing regardless. What’s the best way to market your books? I’ve always thought that word of mouth is the best strategy no matter the art form. So getting the book out there to critics, readers, and writers who also respect genres like horror and believe that great work can be made within that format is my ideal approach. If the work is good enough, word of mouth will be spread (through social media, conversation, interviews, etc.) and the book will gain a following, even if it takes some time. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I think writing any character is extremely challenging, no matter their sex, racial identity, sexual orientation, etc., but it’s the most exhilarating challenge in writing fiction. You have to fully inhabit each character, whether their identity is relatively similar or totally different from your own, and try to understand them inside and out; develop a backstory for them, envision their hopes and fears, even if you don’t necessarily write about that in the novel. So the most difficult thing is to try to know them and empathize with them completely but convey that succinctly. That’s a challenge even with people we know in real life: human beings are always mysteries, and that’s what makes them so compelling. (I do think that writers need to basically be empaths, though. I can’t imagine writing a compelling character if you’re not radically empathetic to them.) What did you edit out of this book?” SO MUCH. Hollow went through at least six rounds of edits, including an early round with a New York editor named John Paine who really helped improve the novel and allowed me to recognize its early weaknesses. I cut out a scene in which the protagonist investigates the central mystery by visiting a hospital in Grange, the town in which the novel is set. I also cut out some horrific scenes involving the witch in the novel, since they were somewhat repetitive. More beneficial, though, were the scenes I added, including more backstory about the Ben and Amy characters, and the scene in which Ben goes to visit his estranged wife and then leaves in shame at the last moment, which is now one of my favorite scenes in the novel. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I currently do have a day job in the marketing department of an educational theater company. I’ve also worked at restaurants, movie theaters, art museums, coffeeshops, you name it. Writing is my passion and the thing I want to dedicate my life to, so I’ll keep working day jobs as long as I have to to support that passion. But ideally that work would involve the creative arts somehow; film is my other great passion, so I’ve also really enjoyed working at theaters and film festivals.
 Join us on Wednesday to celebrate the poetry of Maureen Sherbondy and Megan Mary Moore. Same time: 5:30PM Pac Time. Same place: Zoom Same people: Managing editor hosting You can log onto the event here. Megan Mary Moore is passionate about horror and poetry. She holds an MFA in poetry from Miami University. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Rogue Agent, Haunted are These Houses by Unnerving Press. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio where she teaches dance and talks to ghosts. Maureen Sherbondy has been published in Calyx, European Judaism, The Oakland Review, Prelude, and other journals. Her poetry books include Eulogy for an Imperfect Man, Beyond Fairy Tales, The Art of Departure, and six chapbooks. LINES IN OPPOSITION by Maureen Sherbondy
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Poet Maureen Sherbondy has had enough. Her eleventh collection, Lines in Opposition, explores our need to set limits in times of conflict and confusion. These poems of defiance range from the artistic to the political to the familial, from Basho to Godot, Gretel to Ashbery, the Rockettes to Bubble Yum. At times wry and whimsical, at other times acutely serious, Sherbondy's poems testify to the importance of knowing when and how to draw the line. Book Details Genre: Poetry ISBN:978-1-956692-10-5 Publication Date:4/12/2022 If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? T. S. Eliot. I would make a roast chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? That I will run out of interesting things to write about. I combat my fears by reading work by other writers. I also spend a lot of time listening to the world around me and paying attention. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? F. Scott Fitzgerald What books are on your nightstand? Greasy Lake (T.C. Boyle), The Immortalists (Chloe Benjamin), By the Wayside (Anne Leigh Parrish). I carry around books by Robert Bly and John Ashbery for poetry inspiration. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? : I like lists. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I was an obedient student. I read every single assigned book. And I loved to read. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My coffee pot. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Don’t give up. Only writers who give up never get published. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Writing energizes me and keeps me balanced. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Trying to chase trends. Trying to write like the masters. What is your writing Kryptonite? A negative political climate. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No. I have a very active imagination. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes, but their work might be terrible and distant. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Sharon Kurtzman, Jacob Appel, Therese Fowler, Elaine Orr, Crystal Simone Smith, Diane Chamberlain, Barry Peters. Yes, they nourish me as a writer. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Some of my books work together. Some stand alone. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Not at all, but I took myself more seriously as a writer. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Buying more books and attending writers’ conferences What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I like all authors. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? My first words to my mother: “Let me do it myself” What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? This Side of Paradise. Gatsby gets all the attention. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? A horse or a frog. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? I make my characters up. What does literary success look like to you? I write one new poem or story a week that I am pleased with. What’s the best way to market your books? I give readings, appear on NPR, and teach workshops. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I do better writing characters from the opposite sex because I have been surrounded by brothers and sons my whole life. I have much male energy. What did you edit out of this book?” I deleted a few poems that felt weaker. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I teach full-time. I sold workers’ compensation before. I think I would study rocks.  Maureen Sherbondy is the author of LINES IN OPPOSITION, a poetry collection.
In Lines in Opposition, Sherbondy explores our need to set limits in times of conflict and confusion. These poems of defiance range from the artistic to the political to the familial, from Basho to Godot, Gretel to Ashbery, the Rockettes to Bubble Yum. At times wry and whimsical, at other times acutely serious, Sherbondy's poems testify to the importance of knowing when and how to draw the line.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? John Irving. The Hotel New Hampshire made me want to be a writer. He lives in Toronto which is only a couple hours from Buffalo, so he could hop on QEW and be here in no time. I’d cook a big Greek meal for him: salad, dolmades, spanokopita, pastichio, roast lamb, lemon potatoes, and galaktoboureko for dessert. Then we’d clear the dishes, move the table and chairs, and wrestle best two out of three. Ouzo for the winner. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Honestly, nothing scares me about the writing process. It’s the outcome of the process that scares me. What if this book isn’t as good as the last one? What if it gets bad reviews? What if it doesn’t sell? Those are the things that scare me. How do I combat those fears? I try to write the best book I can. Then the book goes out in the world and out of my control and I hope for the best. Ouzo also helps. What books are on your nightstand? The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi and The Fountain by David Scott Hay. I highly recommend both. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I don’t have a favorite or least favorite punctuation mark. I do have an unnatural attraction to italics, however. I love to italicize everything. I’m sure it drives my copy editors nuts. The funny thing is, I know the rules for italicizing, but I go ahead and italicize for no apparent reason. It’s a sickness, I tell ya. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Don’t tell Mrs. Prince from Kenmore West Senior High School, but I never read The Taming of The Shrew in 11th Grade. I don’t think I even started it. I took one look at the cover and decided that the play was untameable. Now I feel guilty and will have to read it. Hell, I bet I still owe Mrs. P a paper, too. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? The MacBook Pro. Sure, the old Remingtons and Royals are cool looking and romantic, but no spell check? No cut and paste? Wite-Out, for God’s sake?? Plus, I do a lot of writing in bed. There’s no way I could balance a typewriter on my chest. The Mac definitely deserves a shout out. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Well, first off, sneaking into other people’s steamy bathrooms is a little weird. But if I did, and I didn’t get caught, shot, or arrested, I’d simply write, ‘Don’t quit’. That’s it. Just a simple reminder that nothing will be published, read, or reviewed if you decide you’re not good enough or that writing is too hard. So, don’t quit. Does writing energize or exhaust you? It energizes me for a while, but then when that high wears off I need a nap. I’m an excellent napper. That’s not bragging. If napping was an Olympic sport, I’m definitely up on that medal stand. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Self-doubt is a big one. It can paralyze a writer to such a degree that they can’t write a single word. Then the frustration sets in and they throw up their arms and decide it’s easier to binge something on Netflix than it is to be brave and write something–anything– and risk failure. The opposite is also true. Aspiring writers sometimes think publication will come more quickly than it does. They don’t understand that you got to play the long game when it comes to writing. You have to live and learn and go through all the shit–heartbreak, sickness, divorce, deaths. And you have to go through the good stuff, too–the births, the weddings, the successes, the friendships, the love affairs. Then once you know a little bit about life, you have to practice your craft, improve your skills, learn how to write. All that doesn’t come quickly for most of us. Sometimes inspiring writers are too impatient to wait for all that and they end up pressing that Netflix button on the remote, too. What is your writing Kryptonite? Late nights. I write from five to seven in the morning. If I’m out late, the chances of me answering that 4:45 bell is pretty slim and then I’m in a crappy mood all day. Luckily, I’m getting older and the late nights aren’t that much of a problem anymore. But every once in a while… Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I used to travel for my day job. I was a real road warrior, hopping on a plane almost every Monday morning. I did most of my reading in airports, on planes, and in hotel rooms. When I switched jobs about six years ago, travel wasn’t required as much in my new role and for the first time in my life I had to make time to read. This did not stop me from buying books and the To Be Read pile grew higher and higher… Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Technical writers can get away with it, I guess, but not fiction writers. A fiction writer needs to create characters that readers care about. If readers don’t care, they’ll stop reading and pick up another book written by a different author. If an author doesn’t feel emotions strongly, they can’t convey them. How can they expect their readers to feel anything if they can’t? It can’t be done. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? This is an easy one. Carla Damron, Dartinia Hull, Beth Uznis Johnson, and Ashley Warlick. We’ve had a group text thread going for ten years. I’d say 90% of those texts have absolutely nothing to do with writing, but we do critique each other's work, share information about agents, publicists, and editors, gossip about other writers, and complain passionately about our publishers. It’s a hell of a lot of fun. And I couldn’t even begin to quantify how they’ve made me a better writer or a better person. They’re family. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Each book has to stand on its own and make its own way in the world. But I’ve staked out my turf. Buffalo, New York is my hometown, and this is the place I want to write about, the place I want to explore. I’m fascinated by the stories and architecture here. This town feeds my imagination and inspires me to write. So, while each book will stand alone, they’ll be connected by a sense of place, a mythical Buffalo that’s known economic booms and financial busts and is rich with stories about bootleggers, bank robbers, and even the birth of The Lone Ranger, not to mention my own family history. It’s going to be a lot of fun to continue writing about this city and its characters. Oh, and Go Bills! How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t think publishing changed my process, but age certainly has. For years, the alarm would sound, and I’d go up to my attic office and start writing by 5am. Then one day about four years ago, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was awake, but I couldn’t kick the covers off and go to work. It was a mental thing. I remember it was early November, the house was cold, and I just couldn’t physically get out of bed at 4:45. I missed three or four writing days in a row, and was really beating myself up about it, calling myself weak and lazy and just generally hating myself. Then I realized something: laptops are portable. If I couldn’t go to my laptop that early, my laptop would come to me. Since that realization, I’ve put my fully-charged laptop next to my bed at night and when I wake at 4:45, I just grab it and start writing propped on pillows. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Tuition for Queens University of Charlotte’s MFA program. Going there was a game changer. Before that, I had been writing for over twenty years with just a handful of published short stories to show for my efforts. I approached Queens as my last shot of ever having any sort of successful writing life. Something clicked while I was there. The concept of ‘story’ became more clear. My writing became cleaner. I graduated ten years ago and have written four books since then. An MFA might not be for everybody, but for me it changed everything. I owe Fred LeBron and his faculty a great deal. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? You know, it’s probably odd to think that a Pulitzer Prize winner is under-appreciated, but I think William Kennedy falls into that category. Do people in their twenties, thirties or forties even know Kennedy? Do they read Ironweed? Those Albany novels–Ironweed, Legs, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game–made a huge impact on me. I want to do for Buffalo what he did for Albany. Actually, I think I need to go back and re-read those books, to re-learn from the master of historical fiction with a strong sense of place. Hell, I think everyone should. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I have a one-eyed Shi Tzu named Coco. She’s actually my daughter’s dog, but I’m home all the time so she spends a lot of the day with me. Coco has a bed in my office and has claimed the foot of my bed as her own. She’s been at my side or feet for the writing of all my books. If she’s not my spirit animal, she may very well be my muse. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Man, I owe them everything: for the inspiration to write about them, for the curiosity to learn more about them and the times they lived in, for giving me a story to flesh out and make my own. I’ve spent so much time with the characters from Rook–Al, Lolly, and Bobby–as that book evolved from a novella, to a trilogy of novellas, to my first novel that when I was done, I actually missed them, even psychotic Bobby. I liked spending all that time with them. I liked getting to know them. In a way, I was sorry that it ended. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I think I have three early, really sucky novels that were unpublishable. I took one, Slip Kid, and distilled that into a short story that appears in my collection, Muscle Cars. The other two are unsalvageable, I think, but I haven’t looked at those in a long time. Maybe there’s something in them that I can steal. I also have a manuscript that I just finished. I’m calling it my pandemic novel because I started it when we were locked down. I need to revise that one. So, we’ll call it four altogether. What does literary success look like to you? Well, that’s an interesting question. I think my answer to that has evolved over the years. First, success was just to get published, and I accomplished that with the publication of my story collection, Muscle Cars. Then success became getting a novel published. Rook is my debut novel, so that definition of success has become moot. So, at least for now, literary success has become the desire to create a body of published work that when read in its entirety people will say to a friend, “That kid had a hell of a career.” What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Developing fully developed characters is the same regardless of the character’s gender, so in that respect it’s not any harder or easier for me to write a female character. And the same rules also apply: be original, don’t be cliched, don’t be lazy in the descriptions, etc. Having said that, I’m blessed that the writers personally closest to me are all women and will call me out if I get something wrong about a female character. Carla Damron, Dartinia Hull, Beth Uznis Johnson, and Ashley Warlick are my secret weapons when writing female characters, What did you edit out of this book? Rook evolved from a trilogy of novellas to a novel. The second novella in the trilogy concentrated on Al’s time in federal prison. I had obtained Al’s prison record under The Freedom of Information Act, so I had an understanding of his time behind bars. In addition, he was writing then so I knew what he was writing and where he was being published. He even wrote an account of when Johnny Cash came and gave a concert for the inmates. Plus, I knew about his correspondence and relationship with his writing mentor Dan Marlowe thanks to Charles Kelly’s fine book Gunshots In Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan. J. Marlowe. So, I had a lot to draw from from that period of Al’s life. But as the novel came into focus, those prison years no longer fit in Lolly’s and Al’s story. Those ninety pages were cut. It was actually a pretty easy decision once I figured out what the book was about. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I can’t imagine not writing.  Stephen G. Eoannou is the author of ROOK, a novel based on the true story of Al Nussbaum. To his unsuspecting wife, Lolly, Al is a loving, chess playing, family man. To J. Edgar Hoover, he is the most cunning fugitive alive. Al is the mastermind behind a string of east coast robberies that has stumped law enforcement.
Order Here.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
I don’t cook! I would take Paul Celan to a drive-thru fast food and then sit in the car and eat fries with him. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? That I will fail. Tell myself that I will fail. Walk through the fire. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Oh! Ingeborg Bachmann or Anne Carson. Hard to decide! What books are on your nightstand? I can’t read in bed. I have books piled all around my work area and work space. But right next to me now are ALCOOLS (Apollinaire), A POET IN THE WORLD (Levertov), and New Urge Reader 4:Erotic Fiction by New Women Writers (New Urge Editions) Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Holy God the colon: it is a masterpiece of announcement. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My laptop If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Don’t fuck up! Does writing energize or exhaust you? I am unstoppable when doing vispo and asemics. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Do not follow others, or dress like others! You don’t have to wear a scarf or glasses! What is your writing Kryptonite? People shuffling and rooting in the kitchen while I am working Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I am not good at reading. I have to do it my own way, on my own time. I don’t get how people can just sit down and read an entire book. It is super work for me. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes. The work can take that over, or not. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? For visual work, lots of folks on Facebook. They push me and encourage me and love me. Sylvia Van Nooten, Amanda Earl, Dona Mayoora, Terri Witek, goes on and on. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? It is what it will be. I believe that they are all connected. By spirit at least! But my work is definitely a building. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? It encouraged me to stay the same! Do what is best for you, always. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Used bookstores. You should spend $100s even if you don’t have it. Find a way. Give Plasma. There is a great one in Jacksonville, Fl. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? There are so many. I have reactionary moments that dislodge any presence of mind or thoughtfulness, so I have to go back to lots of things. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Oh! Writing letters to my parents asking for things like kittens! As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Rasputin What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? No one is real. I owe everyone my best and respect. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have lots of projects in the works. It is a cycle. What does literary success look like to you? Well, I think there is an iconic notion to success these days. A cult of personality. For me, it is making a lot of projects with a lot of people. What’s the best way to market your books? I dislike the word “network”, but make friends. Always. Be giving; give your work to people for free in a vital way. They will give back to you by buying your work, books, posting and sharing your work, writing reviews and interviews. Don’t be cheap. Love everyone. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I don’t know. I don’t like the opposite sex! What did you edit out of this book? LOTS of glitches. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Art, art, art, performance, art, art. Sex work. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
For sure, the late Eve Babitz (preferably pre-sobriety Eve Babitz/Eve Babitz during her sowing-wild-oats prime). I guess I’d blend up some cauliflower soup as a first course before stir frying noodles and veggies in sesame oil and oyster sauce because I’m a lazy cook and these are two of my quickest and easiest hot and homemade crowd-pleasers, healthy enough for a lifelong Southern Californian, yet starchy enough for a lifelong-maverick Southern Californian. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Revisiting incredibly unpleasant memories. I combat this fear by taking my sweet time when it comes to putting a longform piece of personal writing together. Procrastinating and distracting myself with as much as possible for weeks or months on end. Which helps to explain why it took me 11 or so years to write a book that’s not even 200 pages. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Anne Shirley, although I confess that I saw/fell for the 1980s PBS adaptation of Anne of Green Gables before reading any of the books in the series (and that I didn’t take to the books as much). What books are on your nightstand? Nadia Owusu’s Aftershocks, Eric Nguyen’s Things We Lost to the Water, and Gabrielle Union’s We’re Going to Need More Wine. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The slash (it even sounds so take-no-prisoners). You’ll notice I’ve already used it more than once within these responses. As an indecisive Libra, I’m often torn between which of two words to go with and ultimately can’t/won’t commit to just one. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I vaguely remember skimming a lot of the tail end (and maybe parts of the middle section too?) of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina - which I (for some reason) chose to read for some kind of an independent study-esque assignment. It didn’t grab me and was too long. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I have two: (1) pens/pencils; and (2) paper. For much of my adulthood, I’ve gone out of my way to keep both within reach at almost all times. So much of my personal writing pops into my head, and then gets written down before I forget, when I’m far away from my computer or at home but the computer isn’t on. I also use the Notes app on my phone to jot things down, but I can handwrite sentences/paragraphs much quicker than I can peck out the letters (while fighting off autocorrection attempts) on my keypad. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? “You’re living a writer’s life.” A local acquaintance once said this to me as we ate our Wendy’s takeout in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on my lunch hour from a low-paying temp job, during one of my “woe is me/why is my life like this at my age” eras. I’ll always remember him saying “You’re living a writer’s life” in a very matter-of-fact/why don’t you get this? tone that instantly made me feel better and still does. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both (75 percent energize, 25 percent exhaust), the same way everything and everyone I deeply care about does. What is your writing Kryptonite? Overuse of alliteration. Not everyone is as charmed with it as I am. Same problem with the slash. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes, during periods of extreme exhaustion. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure, but this someone isn’t as likely to move the masses the way writers deeply in touch with their emotions (and aren’t afraid to show it) will. There’s a noticeable difference between the creatively sensitive wordsmiths and those who aren’t much more than competent grammarians who play by all the technical rules. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? So far, nobody. I have very strong first impressions. When I don’t click with someone’s vibe or voice from the jump, it rarely has gotten much better for me from there. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Although I don’t remember the actual incident itself, my late mom was always tickled to tell me about a time when she and I (in my toddler days) walked past a huge puddle, after a rainstorm. I apparently pointed at the puddle and yelled “RIVER!” to the delight of at least one onlooker. Just later hearing that story and absorbing how much joy the comparison brought to my mom and this random person passing by (before I ever truly thought of myself as a writer) taught me about how effective the deployment of metaphors and analogies can be, in both creative writing and daily conversation. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Terry Reed’s The Full Cleveland As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? As I say at one point in my book, all animals are my spirit animals! What does literary success look like to you? This, right here - getting invited to answer these kinds of questions and finally reaching the ranks of book author! What did you edit out of this book? As a longtime proponent of Less Is More, I generally tried cutting content that didn’t seem to add anything new or particularly useful to the storytelling. I cut and reworded many sentences to better protect people’s (including my own, at times) privacy. I also replaced many instances of gratuitous snarkiness, judgment, and/or anger with more compassion because, on and off the page, empathy is the attribute I would most like to be remembered for. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I would be an editor – which is what I already do. It’s been my day-job career for almost 20 years. What books are on your nightstand? Perfect Fools by John Saward, Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall, Up North in Michigan by Jerry Dennis, and A Fine Canopy by Alison Swan. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energizes! What are common traps for aspiring writers? Clinging to unnecessary words and lines. As Stephen King says, “Kill your darlings.” What is your writing Kryptonite? Laundry, cooking, cleaning, and driving my kid to and from basketball practice. I can’t wait until he gets his driver’s license. And then maybe I can figure out how to swing a maid. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? During the first months of the pandemic I couldn’t concentrate enough to read. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure, but I doubt their work would be interesting and worth reading. Readers want to feel something when they read a book. A lack of emotional energy will be conveyed in the narrative, the characters, and the writing will be flat. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I belong to a group of women poets and writers whose work I greatly admire. Taking in their comments, questions, and insights over the years has not only kept me humble, it’s sharpened my skills and helped me think even more critically about my writing. There is something powerful in being part of a community of writers where you are not only receiving, but giving feedback, and helping to shape, in some small way, other’s work as well. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I want each book—just like I want each poem or essay in one of my books—to stand on its own. However, that doesn’t keep readers from seeing connections between them. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t think it so much changed my writing process as much as it has made me recognize the collaborative aspect of the writing business. Working with publishers and editors is most definitely a partnership and with each of my published books, I’ve appreciated that back-and-forth experience. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? A few years back, I spent (my husband says, “wasted”) twenty-five dollars on a mannequin I named Gladys. She moved from a neighbor’s garage to our living room. As I started decoupaging her, she became quite the muse. Gladys, along with some of the poems she inspired, recently took a trip to the Lowell Art Gallery to be part of their WordView exhibit. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? This will probably sound cold, but I don’t like it when people or books waste my time. If I don’t engage with a book early on, I set it down and move on. While there might have been one or two authors in the bunch who could have grown on me, none have because I’ve abandoned them before our potential relationship could even bloom. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was about seven, I painted some rocks and then walked down Creston Street to Mrs. McHugh’s house. She was always giving us kids in the Westnedge Hill neighborhood candy and I wanted to give her something. “Rocks for sale,” I told her when she appeared. I mistakenly thought that “for sale” meant “free.” She gave me a quarter and after that I knocked on a lot of doors. I made a slew of money that day, maybe three or four dollars, and realized that words matter. When I returned home, I also learned that it is bad business to take money for rocks. My mother was quite upset and sent me back outside to return all the money. At that moment, Missy Martin came flying around the corner on her bike. As I couldn’t remember who gave me what, I just gave it all to Missy Martin. She took it, no questions asked. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? You not only have to have a thick shell, but you have to be steadfast and persevere to be a writer. So I would choose a turtle. I have always loved them. In fact, one of the first things I remember writing about involved turtles. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? “This family is a gold mine of stories,” my mother has told me throughout the years. I’m glad I finally listened to her and wrote Kissing the World Goodbye. So to my family members whom I unapologetically mined for this book, I owe them a copy of Kissing the World Goodbye. Al Haley is the nonfiction editor of Concho River Review. When he accepted the essay which also is the title of the book, he said of my sister, “She may be one of the best things that could happen to a writer and you get to be sisters to boot!” He’s right, and my sister probably deserves two copies. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have one unpublished 25,000-word manuscript that is geared to middle school readers who enjoy edgy fiction. While I have no half-finished books, I’m working on a poetry book about saints that is almost finished. I’ve also been chiseling away at another book but haven’t reached the half-way point with that one. What does literary success look like to you? Being able to write. Period. Krishna said something like, “You have a right to your labor, but not to the fruits of your labor.” Okay, now that’s weird. Krishna ended up surprising me and slipping into my book (the “Butter Love” essay) and now he’s making an appearance in this interview! What is going on? What’s the best way to market your books? I’ll let you know once this book becomes a best-seller. What did you edit out of this book? Some swear words. My sister has quite a mouth on her. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I’d be a hairstylist, funeral director, or a brick pointer. Books by Jennifer ClarkIf you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
It seems most writers, or at least the twentieth century sort I’m familiar with, have a tendency to put off dinner in favor of a prolonged cocktail hour. So maybe not so much cooking, but mixing and pouring… That said, I’d love to chat with Paul Theroux. He’s been everywhere and written so much and so eloquently. As for all the dead ones, nah. They’d likely resent being dragged back to this overheated realm just to hang out with me. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I’m not sure anything about the writing process scares me, per se, but failing to do justice to a great character or idea is certainly a worry: bobbling what should’ve been a slam-dunk, I mean. To combat this, I remind myself that writing is revision, and that time isn’t always the enemy. What doesn’t quite work today may well find its natural footing tomorrow. What books are on your nightstand? The Rock Cycle: Essays by Kevin Honold American Copper by Shann Ray Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser Having and Being Had by Eula Biss Favorite punctuation mark? Why? As a writer of nonfiction who seeks to gain new understanding of the world as observer and participant, I’d have to go with the question mark, as it succinctly embodies the form. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Unfortunately, there are too many neglected books to name. As a kid, I was obsessed with basketball and being an athlete. It wasn’t until all of that ended that I became a dedicated reader. On the plus side, the discipline that you learn playing sports is good training for being a writer. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? The coffee-maker, first off. But also the beer fridge. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…? No, just kidding. But if aspiring writers have the correct mindset, they won’t put much stock in easy inspiration. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. The energized feeling is wonderful, that buzz of flowing words, the escape into the self. But the exhausting part is trickier. It never lets up, even as you improve. The reason? Because to continue improving as a writer, you have to push your boundaries and constantly work at the edge of your talent. So even though you have gotten demonstrably better, the act of writing never gets much easier. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Booze, most notoriously. That and material ambitions. And not reading enough, or trying to duck the classics, the difficult and time-consuming stuff. What is your writing Kryptonite? Like most writers, my writing Kryptonite is all the non-writing work that’s necessary to support my writing habit. Then again, that stuff is also grist for the mill. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No. I’m skeptical of the diagnosis. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Probably not, or at least not a writer of quality fiction or memoir. That’s not to say a writer couldn’t be very reserved, very private, but genuinely cold? I doubt it. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Interesting question, as it seems that one author writing multiple books, unless those books were vastly different in subject and scope, almost couldn’t help but leave some overlap, some connections. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Growing up, my parents operated and published a small-town newspaper in the rural Midwest, and it seemed our neighbors were always either chuckling over my mother’s lighthearted column about our home life, or cursing about my father’s hardheaded political editorials. So I’ve always known that words have power, though I view it somewhat differently now, more personally. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I don’t know if we can rightly call Russell Banks under-appreciated, considering his name is known and he publishes widely, but his novel Continental Drift should be read by more people. It’s extraordinary. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? A black cat, as these animals seem to keep finding their way into my life. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Anonymity, for sure. And quite possibly a beer and a private talk, depending. But not much else. Fiction is fiction; end of story. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Three currently, sadly, crushingly. What does literary success look like to you? That’s somewhat difficult to answer amid a wider culture that seems to view writing books as an esoteric hobby at best, not to mention a publishing industry with ever-narrower tastes and ever-tightening purse strings. If pressed, I’d point to the internal. If you’re consistently writing and publishing, and if you’re proud of your work line-by-line and as a whole, that’s success. What did you edit out of this book? A number of accounts of visits to very good breweries, where unfortunately no one did or said anything particularly weird, shocking, or funny, and also a ton of fascinating stuff from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy that I couldn’t figure out how to shoehorn in. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, I write and I work, so I suppose I’d continue to be a teacher and a bartender, though probably a less interesting, less dynamic version of both. Without writing, the real question would be: how in the hell to spend my mornings? If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
The ghost of Clarice Lispector. Although, whatever I make, she rejects. So, we call out for delivery and she orders something -- apple turnovers -- that aren’t on the menu, and lots of them! The restaurant is terrified, but they comply. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? That the thing will suck, after I’ve written it, and after I’ve revised it. I often combat my fears by drinking a stout or two. In all seriousness, there is no combatting this particular fear -- except to keep on writing. The more chances you give yourself -- to not suck -- the greater your chances are of not sucking. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? I can’t answer this question honestly. The safe answer would be the character Anna Karenina. Is that crazy or what? Maybe Faye Greener from The Day of the Locust. The fiction writer Lucia Berlin, maybe. There is a living writer, (at least I think she’s still alive), who nearly jumped off my old rooftop, but I can’t say what her name is, fml. What books are on your nightstand? Margaret Walker’s novel Jubilee. Sandra Simonds’ poetry collection Warsaw Bikini. A good friend sent me some Japanese novels. Carl Sandburg’s folk music collection The American Songbag. Well, that’s not quite true. It’s a PDF, that’s on my computer, which is on my nightstand. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The parentheses because they’re very suggestive. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? There were quite a few. MacBeth was one. I read it later. It’s a blast. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I couldn’t think of anything and then for some reason my mind said “Potato masher.” Why not? Love the “puree.” If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? That’s a lot of mirrors. I’d probably keep it short, to save time: “You Are Closer Than You Actually Appear.” Does writing energize or exhaust you? Writing is exhausting, but revision is energizing. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Defensiveness. Especially the one that goes “This really happened.” Just because it may have transpired doesn’t necessarily make it a good piece of writing. What is your writing Kryptonite? My colossal weakness for mischief-making. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes and no. Yes, because they could feel those emotions for, say, a “colder” thing like language, which would actually make language warm, ha ha. But if they felt no emotions at all, that would be pretty tough. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I used to know only, like, poets and fiction writers. But in the past couple years, I’ve become friends with people who’ve written scholarship books, and this form of writing turns out to be incredibly difficult and admirable. But to answer the question, let’s take my friend Rod Smith, the nutty experimental poet. The key thing about Rod, though, is that every so often, he gets serious and it’s surprising, and effective. He says “doot doo” and he sneaks up on you, and gets you good. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Each book has to stand on its own. Occasionally, you need to pick it up and fend off some kind of avant garde attack. It’s good to have a sturdy book, in hand. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? A first book is a real treasure, because it’s amazing to have something in your hands, to show friends and family. At the same time, you put yourself out there, and if it’s not perfect, which it isn’t, you’re sort of baring your soul, publicly. So, what happens is, the next books become a quest to master the form of the book, if that’s even possible. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? My mind said things like Coltrane records and fresh ginger. Wtf? You’d have to say Coltrane records, but ginger is very good, mmmmm. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Virtually all of them. The thing is, you have to be skeptical, because if you do the opposite, if you just love everything, then you might as well strip off your clothes and run amok in the middle of the big city. Perhaps it was the language poets, though, most of all. I thought that was bullshit at first, but then some of the writing really struck me as being -- precisely the kind of thing -- that enables language to evolve. And that really is the work of poetry. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Well, it’s mostly about rejection. I mean, the language of rejection is powerful. Debilitating, really, but it’s also powerful to agitate against rejection. Lots of electricity in that dynamic. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? That’s a tough one. Maybe Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan? As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? The fox. I actually have a fox friend. During the pandemic, this happened. She used to wait for me every evening when I’d go out for a run or a walk. She’d just be waiting near the woods, with that big tail curled behind her. Just brilliant stuff. And then we’d jog along together for a little while until she drifted off. Once, I got within a few feet of her and she nibbled my hand, briefly. Magic. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Absolutely nothing, hahahaha. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Too many to count. Most writers are like this. You’ve just got to be practical and keep pressing forward, take chunks of this and bits of that, and fashion it all together in the best combinations. “Be ruthless in your practicality.” What does literary success look like to you? Too many people associate success with money and in the end that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. The vast majority of big money books really blow, but I guess the authors are comfortable. The answer is -- a risk-taking book that’s really tight. Very hard to come by. What’s the best way to market your books? Readings. Be a performer! What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? You start to desire them, romantically. It gets kind of frustrating. What did you edit out of this book? Mostly, what you guys didn’t like. Hahaha. No, I think we dropped some loose language and vague kind of stuff. I really appreciated the feedback! If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Something that involves robes and lotions. No, in all seriousness, I’d probably be a professional potato masher. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character?
Muriel Spark is my idol, she is funny and lyrical and everything a writer should be. What books are on your nightstand? P.G. Wodehouse for laughter. And lots of poetry-- from Shakespeare to Robert Frost to Louise Gluck. My heroine quotes a lot or poetry, and so do I when I’m not writing it. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? SEMICOLON because it’s rarely used these day. I don’t admire short choppy sentences all that much. . If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Read as much as possible, and then read more. Don’t think, don’t take a course, just write. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Wordiness and trying to use fancy words when plain ones work fine. What is your writing Kryptonite? READING! And also listening to music. Have you ever gotten writer’s block? No, I just write something different. Sometimes, writing needs to be put aside, and I work on a completely different sort of piece. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I assume we’re talking fiction. I don’t think all fiction is highly emotional-- science fiction, for example, often depends on ideas, not feelings. But my kind of writing does depend on feeling. I often laugh and cry as I am writing dialogue. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? On its own, I hope. I write in many different genres, including poetry, but astute readers can find links-- movies, for example, flow through everything. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Agatha Christie. I hated her as a young woman, but now I enjoy her tight plots and wonderful sense of humor. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? My older brother read me Edgar Allen Poe at bedtime, and wow, that was it. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Oooh, many, but I highly recommend MISS MOLE by E.H. Young, which is feminist, and soulful, and also, bravely has an optimistic ending. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I enjoy writing men, and feel sort gender-fluid when I am writing from a male POV. I think all fiction writers have this gender-switching trick in their brain. I think many male writers like Henry James write terrific women. What did you edit out of this book? This book was shortened considerably from its original version. I took out a lot of chapters that were funny, yes, but didn’t move the plot along. I’m ruthless when it comes to editing. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I did work successfully as a market researcher, and I enjoyed it very much. Like Bella in Closet Feminist, I have an analytical mind, and like using it. Market research involves understanding people, just in a different way from fiction writing. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Oooh, I would host a garden party and invite my favorite authors from everywhere in the world: Anna Akhmatova, Sylvia Plath, Charles Simic, Tomas Tranströmer, Andrei Codrescu, Sharon Mesmer, Mircea Cartarescu, Ioan Es. Pop, Cristian Popescu, Walt Whitman, James Wright, Stanley Kunitz, William Carlos Williams, Anne Sexton, Peter Balakian, Mircea Eliade, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Milan Kundera, Vladimir Nabokov, Herta Muller. My husband would make pomegranate cocktails and beautiful steaks. We’d serve some delicious Romanian appetizers as well, icre, zacusca, salata de vinete, crumbly telemea with fresh bread and gorgeous ripe tomatoes. The red wine would flow, and we’d get drunk, that’s for sure. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? A lot of things scare me and get in the way: The lack of time to write or edit. The fear of commitment to produce longer pieces, or to write prose. How long it takes to publish a book and losing the initial enthusiasm for a project along the way. Impostor syndrome. I don’t have solutions for these fears. My answer is to progress slower, to let time resolve some of these problems. Sometimes just a slower pace helps, or just to take a break, do some gardening, watch the dahlias bloom. Who is your biggest literary crush, author, or character? Hmm, not a crush, but someone I admire greatly is Charles Simic. I read almost everything he wrote and didn’t find one book that didn’t speak to me. But my favorite of all time is The World Never Ends, the book that opened my eyes to prose poetry, to surrealism, weirdness, and dark humor, and how these devices can help to come to terms with history, oppression, and all the horrors invented by humans. We share the same Eastern European dark soul, that’s why. What books are on your nightstand? My favorite books this year: In the Lateness of the World by Carolyn Forché; Jane Hirshfield’s Ledger; Music for the Dead and Resurrected by Valzhyna Mort; Rules for Rearrangement by Julie Babcock; Carnation and Tenebrae Candle by Marosa Di Giorgio, next to an old favorite, Sad Days of Light by Peter Balakian. Next to a few collections by Romanian poets I got in Bucharest this year: new books by Svetlana Carstean, Nora Iuga, and Mihail Vakulovski. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? It has to be the comma because it signifies the pause when you take a breath. Everyone should know when they can breathe, right? I read aloud my poems to find out where the line breaks and commas should be, a technique I learned from William Carlos Williams and my poetry workshop teacher, Jim Klein, who is a big fan and enforcer of commas. Sometimes I get a little crazy about commas, too, lol. Especially the serial comma. It’s a really important punctuation mark. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I went to high school in Romania under the communist regime, and I read everything I could, required and not required. I exhausted my city’s central library and the very nice librarian who used to put books aside for me and allow me to check out unlimited stacks of books. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I would like to thank the New Jersey Transit Bus 190 where I wrote most of my poems. I used to commute daily between Rutherford, New Jersey, and New York City, 1 hour each way. It was my only time to read and write poems, my writing routine for 18 years before the pandemic. I never thought I would say this, but I miss my commute. I miss that time dedicated to thinking, daydreaming, and writing without interruptions. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Don’t write for anyone else but for yourself. The crazier, the better. Does writing energizes or exhausts you? Writing is exhilarating—but editing is exhausting. I work in bursts, short periods of energy and inspiration, followed by long, procrastinating periods of revising. It’s cyclical, but I always crave to write more and care less about editing or style. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Too much learning about poetry and not enough honest writing. Chasing trends in topics, form, or techniques, instead of just letting go on the page. Trying too hard instead of using a light touch. What is your writing Kryptonite? Being at home during the pandemic. Like I said, I used to write on my bus commute, and I was so productive and focused, churning out new work every week at a high pace for years. The pandemic changed that, and I’m still trying to get into a new writing routine, but it doesn’t work the same way. I haven’t been able to focus any longer from home. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No. I always have exciting things to read. I have writer’s block many times, that’s another story. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes, there are clever ways to plan, structure, and develop your piece around a concept that can be very interesting, new, or exciting. If it’s done well, it’s possible. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I belong to the group The Red Wheelbarrow Poets, a terrific group of poets from Northern New Jersey who hold a poetry workshop every week. It’s very valuable to workshop a poem or piece to see what works and what doesn’t, and frankly just to keep writing something new every week. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I don’t want to bore my readers, so I always strive to make each book different, stronger, and better than the last one. I love surprises, so I hide some inside each book. There are, of course, common themes, like history, immigration, and family—but each book tells a different story. I don’t want to be one of those poets who write the same poem or book all their life. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? My first collection was the chapbook Eternity’s Orthography published by Finishing Line Press in 2007. It encouraged me tremendously. I had just started to write poems in English, and I was timid, with a minimalistic style that reflected my apprehension towards the language. When that tiny chapbook got published, it told me that I could do this. I felt that I conquered language, I conquered English, ladies and gentlemen! It was a great victory. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? On poetry books! I usually get poetry books for Christmas and for my birthday. I’m addicted to poetry books. There are so many great poets living and writing today, and it’s so exciting to discover them. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? James Joyce comes to mind. Emily Dickinson and her m-dashes that I found pretentious. Even William Carlos Williams—I didn’t get his poetry at first, but then I felt so lucky to have moved to his hometown in NJ and encountered this group of poets who carry on his legacy. It just happened by accident. How lucky to immigrate from Romania and stumble into so much great poetry in Rutherford, NJ, of all places. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I started to write poems in high school, and no one read them but my best friend, Ioana. In my first year of college, I read my poems for the first time to my roommates in the girls’ dorm. One of the girls, Florina, liked them so much that she wrote my poems by hand in black marker all over our cupboards, effectively defacing them with love poems. A few days later, the guy I liked visited me in that dorm room, read my poems on the cupboards, and fell in love with me. We are still together and married today. I tell this story in the title poem of Writing on the Walls at Night. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. It’s one of my favorite movies, too. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I’d like to be a bird, maybe a mockingbird that has gray feathers but sings beautifully. I would also like to be a tree, not an animal, but I really connect to trees. My daughter once said if I were a tree, I’d be a yellow maple, glowing in the fall. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Nothing. The characters are figments of my imagination. In Writing on the Walls at Night, there are numerous characters I invented, and only a handful are based on real life people who have stories so absurd or unreal, they belong in my poems. I bet the reader couldn’t tell the real people from the fictional ones. I also write a lot about my father and my daughter in general, but I view them as versions of myself. So no, I don’t think I owe anyone anything. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Ah, that’s a good question. I have an almost-finished poetry manuscript I put together during the pandemic and which will probably become my next book; a half-finished collection of poems inspired by children’s games; an ongoing collaboration with my friend the artist Mike Markham, which will become a collection of poetry and photography inspired by New York City at some point; and a pandemic journal which could become a memoir or an autobiographical novel. What does literary success look like to you? It would be great to see my books in stores and know that people read them, which is really improbable since I write mostly poetry. What’s the best way to market your books? I love reading at poetry events. There is so much energy in a room full of people that can fuel me for days and make this entire writing process so exciting. I miss that connection with an audience and hope to get back to in-person events soon. I’m planning some in NYC in the spring. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Getting in their heads and making them funny and believable. It’s much easier to do that with female characters that become my alter egos. What did you edit out of this book? I had some prose poems written in the style of ads on Craig’s List. Funny and surreal, but they didn’t have that personal connection. I didn’t think they belonged in the book. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? In another life, I’d own a flower shop.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
RAE: Neil Gaiman, and I would serve charcuterie and wine, so we could eat slowly and have conversation without a goal in mind. MARK: Adolf Hitler and I would serve death cap mushroom bouillabaisse. Okay, that’s too dark. Actually, let me go with Isaac Newton. And I would serve bangers and mash, with apple pie for dessert. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? RAE: I don’t find the writing process terribly scary… the worst is probably thinking that no one would read it; that it’s no good. That’s when I have to remind myself that I am writing for me, my own joy and my own pleasure! MARK: Finding the time to do it - fear that it will never get done. I am not sure if this is the healthy solution to that problem, but I bully myself into carving out the time and try to block out the world so that I can progress bit by bit. It helps being stubborn. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? RAE: I weirdly love Jack Reacher – I love a serial character and I’ve been getting to know him since high school. But my favorite is probably Calvin, the boy in Frank Schaeffer’s ‘Portofino’. Having grown up in a religious family, I see so much of myself in him, and he is so damn funny. I have read that book a dozen times and Calvin cracks me up! MARK: Chekov. In particular, his short story “The Kiss.” I first read it when I was in highschool, and though it was written a century prior to that, it so perfectly captured the feelings of a boy that age. It made me feel known. What books are on your nightstand? RAE: Lilith’s Brood – Octavia Butler Broken – In the Best Possible Way – Jenny Lawson Me and White Supremacy – Layla F Saad MARK: Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe - Steven Strogatz Two Kindle readers containing an array of books by Patrick Rothfuss, Ursula Le Guin, MARK Twain, J.F. Lewis, George R.R. Martin, Christopher Moore, and others The Devil’s Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce Favorite punctuation mark? Why? RAE: The ellipsis… it’s how my brain works. Never really a whole thought on it’s own… always a pogo stick jumping from on thing to the next, but always connected… MARK: I wish I could say semicolon, because they seem so sophisticated, but I never know when to use them properly, so I’ll just say comma. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? RAE: I always read what I was supposed to… and then some. Even the driest, worst books … western Canada is full of months where the only thing you can do is stay inside and read books. Add to that a kid who wants to please the teacher, and no page was left unturned. MARK: I know there were some I skipped out on, but I don’t recall what they were. Presumably if I had read them, I’d remember. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? RAE: The internet, 100%. I got to know Mark entirely online – through hundreds of instant messages and emails. We were back and forth close to a hundred times a day, I’m sure, for months and months. It allowed an immediacy and closeness that made Oregon to North Carolina irrelevant. MARK: Rae has a good point on this one, but I would argue that the internet is nearly animate (or will be soon...). For me it would be the [Delete] key. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? RAE: It’s much easier once you start. MARK: Writing is never easy, but is sometimes worth it. Does writing energize or exhaust you? RAE: Writing energizes me, but the activation energy it takes to get started feels exhausting and overwhelming. I start feeling tired, and then get more and more engaged as words hit the page, even if they’re the wrong ones or I need to delete whole chunks. I love it. MARK: Writing energizes me when I have the time for it. Editing is like trying to kill all the ants in your kitchen with a hammer - it is frustrating as hell and often does more damage than good. What are common traps for aspiring writers? MARK: I am going to answer this like an engineer (because that’s what I am, really). The first trap I fall into is starting to tell the story before I have the scenes properly mapped out. I need a completed storyboard before I can start writing the story. Start with the key scenes you want to show and map out the rest before putting pen to paper (or finger to macbook). What is your writing Kryptonite? RAE: The internet, 100%. Instant distraction, time suck, brain numbing and addictive. Sigh. MARK: Anxiety. Anxiety about anything and everything. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? RAE: Reader’s block? Like where I can’t finish a book? Sometimes… not often. Even if I skim the ending, I like to know how things end. I rarely go long periods without a book on the go. MARK: All the time. My reading time is at the end of the day usually, and when work demands are too much I just don’t have the mental energy for reading. Especially if I don’t have my teeth into something good. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? RAE: Actually, I think do, particularly maybe with fiction? The pure imaginative creativity to weave and unravel a story… I think you could write an amazing story with vast imagination, without necessarily feeling passionate. It would depend on the type of writing, I think. MARK: What about people who bury their emotions behind an analytical wall of science and reason? What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? RAE: Just Mark... and he makes me a better writer because he reminds me to do it! MARK: My biological brother Vinny, and a dear friend Amanda. Neither of whom are exactly published (at least the way they would like). Both of whom are better writers than I, and both of whom directly helped me with the editing of this book! What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? RAE: I have a very clear memory of sitting at the dinner table and my dad teaching us “p” words – propitious and pulchritude. That’s when I realized how specific and strange and exotic words could be! What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? RAE: Probably The Princess Bride, which was written into a novel after the movie. It’s so fully realized, and has so much in it! I love that book – I have given away and lent more copies of it than I can count, and always replace it. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? MARK: Just one - a YA book I started writing with and for my daughters. What does literary success look like to you? RAE: To have someone read my writing and feel it, have it raise questions or conversations, not to just have it skimmed over. What did you edit out of this book?” RAE: Nothing. MARK: Many letters and several chapters written by Vinny, my biological brother. Those chapters were beautifully written, but distractions from the main theme of the book.  (c) Photo by Dean Davis If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? If I could cook dinner for any author, I’d cook for Albert Einstein. I’d slow cook a couple of racks of St. Louis style ribs, I’d make my own rub and my own sauce to finish off those ribs. I’d make my mother’s mustard/egg potato salad and roast some asparagus. For dessert I’d make a tart Granny Smith apple pie, which is the first pie my grandmother taught me. I’d whip some cream for the topping. And we’d either have Earl Grey Supreme iced tea or some Peet’s Sumatra coffee. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Nothing really scares me about the whole writing process. I can move left brain to right brain activities pretty quickly. And, if I’m not writing I’m concentrating on the business of writing. Sending out poems or manuscripts, updating my websites, editing. That is my rule. I have to be doing one or the other but never nothing. If I fear I’ve run out of ideas to write about well then I certainly can submit and visa versa. Once I’m in either sphere then either creativity or process creeps back in so that I am always in a state of forward motion with my writing career. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Margaret Atwood is my biggest author crush. I love how she weaves different writing worlds together seamlessly. Science fiction (my first love) and poetry (my true love). She believes in her readers, is fearless in the subjects she tackles and how she writes them. Her writing is layered perfection. Quirky. What books are on your nightstand? The Army of Darkness, Smoke, Shadow, and Raven, who appeared as wee black kittens underneath my office window on Halloween, control what is on my nightstand. There are no books on my nightstand; only a sleeping device and its requisite accessories. And a light. Finally, there is a facedown remote (see cats) for my bed. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? My very favorite punctuation mark is the pipe | . It is a variable symbol, depending on what you are doing or saying and is used in mathematics, computing, and typography. It allows me to have several layered tropes within a poem. Some might read it as an end stop like a period, or a pause like a comma, or for the mathematically inclined the placement of the pipe might read as conditional or as a variable. It allows people to enter the poem in a variety of ways. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Sadly, I was that geeky girl who read everything she was supposed to read in high school and then a bunch more that she wasn’t supposed to read at all. I was the girl reading the dictionary for fun. I was the girl ecstatic to miss gym, in order to read. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following inanimate object(s) that have sustained and inspired me over the years while this book took shape:
If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Aspiring writers should take advice from these words uttered by Mathesar from the film Galaxy Quest “never give up, never surrender.” Writing is all about learning the craft which means trying a zillion different things and learning by them. You won’t know if you don’t try. Go outside your normal routine, try a short line, a long line, a fractalated poem. It’s about getting muscle memory in your brain. It’s about taking chances. Never giving in, even in the face of negative feedback from critique groups or a mountain of rejections. It’s about honing your craft and then putting it out there. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Writing both energizes and exhausts me. If I am in the writing zone, nothing else matters and sleep is for the weak. Though, sleep does eventually have to catch up. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Writing is a business. Writers need to act like that. Go to the job, do the work, do some extra, have the correct equipment/tools to do the job. Common traps for aspiring writers are:
What is your writing Kryptonite? My Kryptonite is research. I would love nothing more than to research well anything, everything, the tangents I can go off on when looking up something particular, the further dive for more information, better details. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Reader’s block, is an interesting question. I find it harder to read after cataract surgery. I have to have lots of light, dark enough print. Sometimes it's exhausting to find the pinnacle way to read. Still I manage just fine, it’s just more time consuming. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure a person could be a writer if they don’t have strong emotions. Their work will come out fluffy and one dimensional but there are plenty of markets for that, it’s just not something I’d personally like to read or to write. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? When I first started writing my friends were 75% from tech and 25% authors and artists. Now that I’ve been writing for ~20 years my friends are 75% authors and artists and 25% tech. Author friends include poets, essayists, fiction, science fiction, fantasy, murder mystery, noir, script writers, and musicians. This breadth of writer friends bleeds into my work all the time, it affords me opportunities to have someone to read and comment on what I am writing and to offer up suggestions or kudos. And, by reading their work I learn by what they are doing. I can ask why they did a particular thing like their line breaks or or why they didn’t make the poem into a short fiction. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? The intertwining of life and death, fairy tales, math and science, dementia and alcoholism, abuse, murder/noir myteries. Each of my books stand on its own.Within each book there is ultimately a thread connecting the books so that they could have well gone into another, different book. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Publishing my first book didn’t change my writing process. Publishing my 5th book I began to see conjure whole books published rather than each poem published. I began slowing down to figure the arc. Still writing what needs to be written but also visioning how it fits into the next book(s). What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? No doubt about it the best money I ever spent as a writer was to get my MFA. For the most part I have a poem in my head, title, form, words when I go to write it. Going to Grad School taught me how to write the smaller poem, the one not formed in my head. It taught me to read my poetry out loud and it taught me form. My second best thing I ever spent money on is residency fees to get a residency. Residencies freed me up to organize without interruption my manuscripts that are floating in my head. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? This will be a very unpopular answer. Originally, I never liked Mary Oliver. To me her work was so quiet. Too quiet. It made me impatient. I hated that everyone insisted she was the one author I was missing out on. I tried and tried and tried. So many people gifted me her books. People I love and respect. Eventually, though, the books she wrote after her partner died resonated with me and I was able to grok Mary Oliver. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was in 7th grade my mother drove by and caught me smoking cigarettes on the corner with my girlfriends. She rolled down her window and said “do you really think that that is the smart thing to do, to smoke?” She rolled up her window, drove home and never said another word to me about it. It was in that instant when I realized a-my mother was right, it wasn’t a smart thing to do and b-my mother used words to get the action she wanted. I never smoked again. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I would love to say China Mieville’s The City and the City because it is vastly underappreciated but it receives a lot of press and book groups seem to love to discuss it. I love it because it's both literary and science fiction and the two don’t often collide. That said the book I come back to and re-read, is Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy, it’s philosophical, it’s funny, it's charming. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? You don’t get to choose a spirit animal any more than you get to choose a cat, they just show up. Hawk. It has been guiding me my whole life. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? I owe the real people I’ve based poems on a real truth. Telling their story but edited, perhaps, to keep the heart of the story real. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Currently I have 1 unpublished, completed manuscripts that I am seeking a publisher for. I also have 2 half-finished books, possibly they are really chapbooks that I am still working on. What does literary success look like to you? I’ll see it when I believe it. What’s the best way to market your books? Readings. Readings. Readings. But also workshops and networking. Talking about it on social media. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Staying in that POV and then double checking with my partner to be sure that my character is correct. What did you edit out of this book? The odd poems that didn’t really work. The ones I still like but couldn’t connect them internally. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? As a poet I actually do have a job that makes money. I started out in tech a forever ago. In 1997 I founded, with my now ex-husband, Deer Run Associates, Inc. which provides Computer Forensic investigations and Information Security consulting services to select clients across the United States, and throughout the world working with law enforcement and commercial organizations on some of the largest and most high-profile cybercrime cases in recent years.  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Nicola Griffih and P. Djèlí Clark. We could talk about using history in our writing, and the stories we’ve found while doing research for our work. I think I’d find some kind of interesting menu or recipes from historical sources to try--maybe using The Historical Cooking Project (http://www.historicalcookingproject.com/). What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Losing files or ideas. Lots of backups and lots of making notes as I go through the day. I keep a notebook on my nightstand for those late-night or dream-source ideas, of which I have a fair number. I think I’m often working out ideas in my subconscious as I sleep. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? I’ve been going through my library trying to come up with a good answer to this, but...plenty of characters and authors I love, but none I could say I had a crush on. I would, though, happily spend time with the Rabbi’s Cat from the books of the same name, or the Disreputable Dog from Garth NIx’s Old Kingdom series. What books are on your nightstand? I always have a bunch of to-read books on my Kindle because I review for NetGalley. Recent favorites have included Binnie Kirshenbaum’s Rabbits for Food; Michael Zapata’s The Lost Book of Adana Moreau; Orlando Ortega-Medina’s The Death of Baseball; and Charlotte Nicole Davis’s The Good Luck Girls. I read widely in terms of genre. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I love the semi-colon; it lets me join together all sorts of things and create clarity at the same time. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I was That Student in school, who not only read everything assigned but often read different editions or translations and critical commentary so I could be a plague and/or delight to my teachers, depending on the teacher. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Coca-Cola. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Just write. It doesn’t have to be good or polished or pretty, but in order to get there you have to commit some time--even tiny amounts will do--and write. I used to call this the Put Ass in Chair (PAIC) method of writing, but I’m looking for more elegant phrasing. See? It’s a continual process. ;) Does writing energize or exhaust you? I enjoy writing, not just having written. On good days, when my hands are cooperative or the dictation software is working well, it energizes me to put the right words on the page. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Not reading enough because of the fear of imitating other writers. We learn through imitation and thinking about what other writers do; reading is essential for writing. What is your writing Kryptonite? Nothing, really: I always have projects to work on and sometimes moving from scholarly work to creative work or vice versa let s my brain work on one thing in the background while I do another more consciously. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? What is that? No. I’m always reading. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? This is a really interesting question, and there is an easy answer in that a lot of writing is the craft of passing--as an expert, as a person of a different race or gender or sexuality or religion, as someone writing about lived experience. But there is a more complex answer if you read this question as one that is asking about autism and the fact that autism is framed (wrongly) as a lack or deficit of emotional capability compared to neurotypical people. As an autistic writer, I think I engage with language in ways that neurotypical writers don’t, but I don’t lack an understanding emotion or what society deems appropriate emotional responses to situations; rather, I simply write about emotion or from a point of emotion differently. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Elizabeth Keenan (Rebel Girls) has offered me good advice about the writing world, and making the jump from scholarly writing to fiction, and has been a great role model for how things are done. Michelle Lee has also offered me insight into balancing scholarly work and fiction. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? My work will always be interconnected--as the sole author, how can it not? I think it would be very difficult for a writer to create such disparate works that they would not have any connections at all. From the perspective of creating deliberate connections, I think that the themes and issues that concern me and figure in my writing are consistent, and I’d certainly like readers to read my work with the idea of connectedness in mind, but I’m not developing writing projects that are connected to the point that readers can’t understand later books or pieces without having read earlier ones. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? My first book was scholarly. From going through the publishing process with it I learned about being very clear about audiences and approaches, creating a framework and explaining it (if necessary) at the beginning, and reifying that structure throughout without being tedious. I’ve also worked in publishing and had been a developmental editor before I began publishing my own work, both scholarly and creative, and that helped me create processes of working through difficult or complex text and ideas. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Possibly my first typewriter, an Underwood No. 5 manual, which I took to boarding school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. When I was very young, I could never write as quickly as I thought, and often became frustrated by having trouble getting my words down fast enough. The manual typewriter--which cost $10--gave me the ability to write much more quickly than I could with handwriting, allowing me to write more fluidly. More recently, dictation software has been a good investment. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Kate Atkinson. I just wasn’t a fan until I read her non-Jackson Brodie novels and was utterly transfixed. I went back and have been enjoying the Brodie books much more. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I remember the sweetness of learning to read and, as a child, using that to gain knowledge no one else among my friends or family had, and that was power. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Cassandra Clarke’s Our Lady of the Ice is a stellar novel that asks essential questions about humanity, family, and loyalty in a beautifully developed and fascinating alternate Earth. Megan Campisi’s Sin Eater goes beyond creating an altered early modern period that loosely mirrors our own and is a thriller that is also an examination of women’s labor and relationships. I also want there to be more love for Michael Zapata’s The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, a gorgeous celebration of Latinx SFF writers and traditions. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? My spouse says my daemon (a la Philip Pullman) is a raven: curious, determined, attracted to shiny things--meaning always finding new things to be interested in--and always collecting new information and ideas. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Friendship, good music, pride. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I two and a half chapters of a novel that I doubt I’ll ever finish. I might be able to use sections of it in future project, though. What does literary success look like to you? Does my work move the reader? Does it give them reason to laugh or cry or think or relate? If it does, that’s success. When I’m writing lyrics or libretti, success is when a performer tells me that they enjoyed singing my words, that the words I chose were good ones for the scene or emotion, and I think it’s similar for Protectress and my other work as well--I chose good words. What’s the best way to market your books? I’m still learning about this! Digital and print promotions to indie bookstores, co-ops, feminist bookstores, women-owned bookstore, and book clubs; to local libraries and poetry and fiction organizations, like Lone Star Literary Life; ads/sponsorship on podcasts involved with books, poetry, mythology, and so on; Goodreads giveaways, maybe. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Gender isn’t binary, but a spectrum. I try to avoid gender essentialism and stereotyped concepts of gender. It can be painful and enraging, though, to write about the power of toxic masculinity and to consider how characters infected with it might think and act. What did you edit out of this book? A song about Athena and Pallas written in the style of Lucinda Williams and sung by Aphrodite. It was fun to write and I could hear it as a nice ballad, but ultimately it wasn’t necessary for the story or character development/explication. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? This is hard, because so many of the careers I’d be drawn to require writing in some way. But if I really couldn’t write, I think I’d be an interpreter. I’d learn lots of languages and get to study a wide variety of topics so that I could serve as an interpreter in fields that interested me. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be What would you make? The evil side of me would ask Hemingway and I would serve him raw oysters. I would expect him to explain his choices while he watched the recent documentary about his life. The ambitious streak in me would ask Lydia Davis; I’d ply her with wine, prosciutto and a zillion questions about her writing process while swearing on the life of my grandchildren that I wouldn’t reveal any of it. The spiritual part of me would ask Mary Oliver, to whom I would serve sweet tea and macaroons while hoping beyond hope that she would explain her mystical self. My authentic writer-self would entertain Alice Munro with chicken and dumplings (the only thing I cook really well). I would kiss her ‘pope’s ring’ in gratitude. I would sincerely desire to ask Eudora, but I would be far too nervous. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? The Very Blank Page terrifies and especially if I simultaneously have file cabinets devoid of any recent work that is decent. I fight this situation by piddling and tidying, denying and doing all I can to tell myself: it doesn’t matter. If I gather up courage, I try to sneak up on some phrase/word/idea that’s been niggling. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Good grief: only ONE???? Alice Munro, Marilynne Robinson, Tolstoy (short stories), David Jauss, Mary Oliver …. The list is endless. What books are on your nightstand? Jack by Robinson Music for Hard Times by Clint McGowan Ambition and Survival by C Wimon Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver The Americans, by Robert Frank On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Audible) Mary Sutter by R Oliveria (Audible) People We Meet on Vacation by Henry (Audible) Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The dash – tho I know it isn’t loved by editors much. I like it because I think in tangents and dashes help me insert those musings (before I delete or move them). Also the interabang – because a wonderful Dallas bookstore is named for it. What book were you supposed to read in high school but never did? Actually, I read what I was supposed to back then; I especially gobbled up all the literature and that was when I knew I was addicted to it. In graduate school tho, I avoided Cost Accounting. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My secret office. It is attached to my garage in such a way that no one would ever know it is here unless they were invited and no one is ever invited. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers what would you write? “Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.” Albert Einstein Or this: “Extreme brevity,” from Chekhov in his ‘six principles of a good story.’ Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energize What are common traps for aspiring writers? Paying attention to things outside the page in front of them. Not working on their own soul, thereby projecting too many of their own issues onto the page. Not finding paid work that will not allow enough energy and focus for the page. What is your writing Kryptonite? Over-commitment to energy-sapping activities. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes. It is an absolute nightmare. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I believe very much in Holy Detachment – allowing pretty much everything to be what it authentically is on its own and in the present moment. This is especially true of allowing the story on the page to be itself without me making using it for therapy or anything other than what it is, with its own voice. My emotions should therefore be entirely irrelevant …. I cannot judge for any other writers; everyone has their own process and the demands of that process. What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer? I’m blessed with some wonderful friends who are writers: Robin Underdahl Gropp, Ben Fountain, Robin Oliveria and all the members of a writing retreat that I lead at my church. So many others – some I see regularly and some seldom. They encourage me to persevere, and they also comfort me when I despair about something I’m working on. When I get to see their works from inception to completion, I know that with some effort, I might make work what is clumsy, inarticulate and unclear. Do you want each book to stand on its own or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? It is probably true that when we look at a writer’s entire body of work, we see connections either with characters or with themes. However, I do not believe I can be deliberate in that regard. Some of my characters appear in multiple stories but overall, each story and certainly each book, are stand alones. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Since I’ve just now sold my first book of stories, I can’t really answer that; I’m just too early in the process. I will say I have an increased respect for the non-writing parts of the process of getting a book from my office to readers. I will say that when I first began having individual stories taken by literary journals, I felt validated in terms of writing skill and sometimes validation of the life in the story. One of my earliest stories was published by a teacher of mine – and that was a ground-breaking validation because when I wrote it, I had zero interest or investment in anyone even liking it. I wrote it my own way and for myself. My realization of the story having its own life changed my work a lot. What is the best money you ever spent as a writer? I paid a writer-friend to send out my stories so that I could remain disconnected from everything in the writing life except what was on the page. This freed me from illusory ambition and fantasy expectations and kept my mind on the page. Also, for many years, I’ve given myself an annual writing retreat away from home and family, always for at least a week. I’ve been many places, but in recent years, I check into Dairy Hollow Writers Colony; they house us, feed us and leave us alone. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? James Joyce Lydia Davis What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I grew up in a ‘high church’ of the Episcopal denomination and we had the King James’ version read to us A LOT every week. The church was small, poor and dark with a formal liturgy. I learned mystery from all that … and the mystery was circumscribed by the language itself even when my finite mind couldn’t understand. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? We all need to study Alice Munro’s stories which are so complex that they certainly rival any novel written. I do believe the Marilynne Robinson’s work will stand the test of time both in literary communities and the general population. I hope too it will be seriously studied among religious people for its theological sophistication and moral confrontation about social issues. David Jauss’ work is under-read in my opinion – he is a writer’s writer and anyone can learn a great from him about the imagination. Plus, despite his knowledge, his stories are fantastic reads. As a writer what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? The Border Collie – herding what is alive and important. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? I’m pretty sure no one will ever recognize themselves. If they do, of course, I am grateful that they let peek out their authentic selves and especially their contradictions. Contradictions make stories come alive. What does literary success to you? Language with its own legs, its own force/energy to connect with readers. What is the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Probably the testosterone factor which I’m supposing is behind thought patterns and consciousness, especially for quite young males. I really love writing from male POV and have done a lot of that, but honestly I never give gender much thought because I believe the POV of a story is demanded by the actual story. What did you edit out of this book? I chose the stories from my stash that seemed to group around an intuitive sense of the human experiences of looking for love, explaining their experiences of that search to themselves, and then making choices about it all. Most of the stories had been revised to death though already. The ones I originally chose are in the book today. I did not use any of the stories I’d written when I was trying to be Eudora. It occurred to me after the book got to final draft that in writing each of them, I had cut out the absolute maximum so as to be left with what was essential to describe what was critical in a particular moment --- as if I was trying to minimize the description of that moment and still have on the page the human experience OF that moment. If you didn’t write what would you do for work? I cannot imagine not writing seriously, but for me, it’s never been about work. Writing is a spiritual journey, a longing toward truth. CYNTHIA C. SAMPLE is a the author of the short story collection Forms of Defiance. Order a Copy TodayTrevor J. Houser lives with his family in Seattle. He has published stories in Zyzzyva, Story Quarterly and The Doctor TJ Eckleburg Review, among others. Three of his stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His novel Pacific is about a father who is tested to the limits to save his son. Copies can be purchased HERE. But before you buy a copy, get to know Trevor through this quirky Q+A: If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Henry Miller. Cassoulet. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Not having enough time. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Lady Brett Ashley from THE SUN ALSO RISES. What books are on your nightstand? WHY DID I EVER, Mary Robison THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, Norman Mailer SPEEDBOAT, Renata Adler THE ART OF FICTION, John Gardner Favorite punctuation mark? Why? A question mark can feel surprising, sometimes even interactive. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? I was supposed to read The Grapes of Wrath, but I remember we read it so slowly I think I just gave up and skimmed the back half. And I really like Steinbeck. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My pillow. I do my best writing with my head on it. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? You found something you love. Does writing energize or exhaust you? It’s both. I’m energized in the moment and exhausted when I think how far away the last page is. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Wanting too much to be like your heroes and thinking it will happen the same way it did for them. What is your writing Kryptonite? Time. Also movies. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? When I’m in the middle of writing something I find myself reading very little. I look at books for inspiration, but I don’t really enjoy them. They become little more than blueprints or maybe talismans. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I’m not sure. Camus and Tao Lin convey very little emotion and they are two of my favorites. Of course, that doesn’t mean they didn’t/don’t feel emotions strongly as they wrote/write. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Out of college I worked at a Little, Brown where everyone wanted to be a great novelist or playwright. When people you know are working on something it makes you want to be working on something, too. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I’d like each book to stand on its own, but that’s not to say there aren’t connections I’m making subconsciously. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I’m not sure it changed my process although it probably made me write with less desperation. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Whatever a used paperback of On the Road cost. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I wanted to hate Dave Eggers after reading the title of his first book, but that didn’t last long. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Probably my dad giving a speech. All the references and word play. The topic wasn’t exactly exciting, but he elevated it through language. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Paradise by Donald Barthelme As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? A very sad number. What does literary success look like to you? I want readers, critics and especially other writers to think it is good work. What’s the best way to market your books? Great reviews seem like the best bet. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I can trust my instincts with male characters. With female characters I need to tap into something that is mostly outside of myself. What did you edit out of this book? I mostly edit as I go so rarely do I have to cut out huge chunks once I’m finished. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Winemaker If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Anne Carson. I wouldn’t cook. I would make my boyfriend do the cooking. He is a much better cook than I am. I’d probably have him do a charcuterie board, a salad with his homemade dressing (he makes the best dressing), and seafood chowder, with lobster of course. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? That I don’t have the self discipline to sit down and ever actually finish anything substantial. I wouldn’t say this fear has been combated. It’s alive and well. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Vasya Petrovna from The Winternight Trilogy What books are on your nightstand? “Adventures in Tandem Nursing” by Hilary Flower “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The em dash. It helps make sense of the way my mind works—too many thoughts going on all at once that are constantly interrupting one another. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Too many to count. I’ve always been a slow reader. I like to take my time. As with every aspect of my life, I abhor being rushed. I started most of the books I was supposed to read, but never finished them as quickly as I was expected too. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? Coffee Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. Writing something new is always exhilarating. Revising it is exhausting. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Believing that nothing you write is, or will ever be good enough. Which is what I feel about my writing all the time. I don’t really have a solution, except to just keep writing anyway. What is your writing Kryptonite? Having my phone anywhere near me. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? For sure. The human brain can only process so much input. When my life feels calm, I like to read books that are dense and complex, and require all of my attention. But when I’m stressed out and have a lot going on, I like to read books that are easy, and don’t require a lot of effort. For example, when I was studying abroad in France my sophomore year of high school, I felt so tired all the time trying to learn and process a new language everyday all day. This is super embarrassing, but my host family had the Twilight Series in English, so I read all four of them in 3 weeks. I’d read them back in middle school, so there was absolutely no reason for me to re-read them except for the fact that I was homesick, and they were a nice little getaway for my brain. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? I suppose they could be a writer, I just don’t know that they would be one I would have any particular interest in reading. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin. Maybe it’s not underappreciated, but absolutely everyone should read it, because it’s one of the best novels ever written. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Nothing. In the words of Anne Lamott, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should’ve behaved better.” How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have one half-finished novel that I’ve been working on, on and off for the past ten years. Parts of it appear in this collection. I hope to finish it someday. What does literary success look like to you? J.K. Rowling. Stephen King. I set the bar low for myself. What’s the best way to market your books? I have absolutely no idea. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Wanting them to feel authentic, but knowing that they probably never will. What did you edit out of this book? Things I was embarrassed about having written. Things that didn’t need to be there. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, right now I’m a full time mom with a one year old boy, and a baby girl on the way, and that’s a whole lot of work. I think I’d like to teach writing classes some day, if I ever get to go back to school. I’d also like to do a lot of my own writing. Writing is really the only thing that makes sense to me to do, as far as having a career goes. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? Leonard Cohen. Cigarettes for him. Peach jam and a spoon for me. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Running out of ideas. I just do my best anyway. When you put in the time, something always comes. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Leonard Cohen and Anne from Anne of Green Gables. What books are on your nightstand? The Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid, To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and some Mark Strand collections are in another room somewhere. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The space. The words are only there to remind us of the space. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn. Lots of books. I faked a lot of reading in college, too. Shakespeare was my worst grade in college. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgments? The baby swing. Coffee. The trampoline. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? You are not your writing. It’s just something you do. Take a class or join a writers’ group if you get lazy like me. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energizes me for sure. I like writing when I first wake up. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Thinking poetry is hard and full of rules. It’s the opposite. What is your writing Kryptonite? Talking about ideas before writing them. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? No, there are a million good things to read. I just don’t do it. I love reading work from author friends and the Nearby Universe, my writers’ group. I enjoy reading my students’ work, and I am lucky enough to get paid for that. But in my spare time, I am more likely playing outside with my kids. Like I said, we have a trampoline. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Who doesn’t feel emotions strongly? No, I guess there are people whose energy goes mostly in thinking instead of feeling. Maybe they are plotting strategies for getting more money or power, like politicians. They could be successful in writing books for other people like themselves, strategy books. Or maybe there are thinkers who don’t want kids or lovers or friends or cats, they just want to philosophize all day. They could write books for each other too. Their job is easier: thinking is already in words. But I wouldn’t want to read their poetry. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? It’s always feedback, laughter, commiseration and encouragement, like any friendship. The poet Kelli Allen, who began as my professor. Carrie Cook. Carina Bissett and Amie Sharp and everyone in my writers’ group. My husband has given me some wonderful feedback too. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Voice happens, I guess, but I want each book to have its own flavor, like Nicholas Samaras or Pink Floyd. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I never knew revising so many times could help so much. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Getting my MFA in Creative Writing online at Lindenwood University. I thought I just needed the deadlines, but I learned a lot and grew a lot. About half the pieces in Only Flying were first written in my classes there. “Chapter Twenty-six: The Map,” is an excerpt from the novel I began in the program. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Rush. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? My mom used to whip an egg and add it to ramen for nutrition, but my little sister Robin wouldn’t eat it if she knew it was in there, so my mom told me not to tell her. I did, and she didn’t eat that ramen, and I marvelled at my power. There’s a better story, though, about that 70s song, “Dust in the Wind.” I must have been about five when it came on the radio and I told my parents it was about us, about my baby brother who died the day he was born--Dustin, the wind. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Medicine Woman by Lynn V. Andrews. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I choose the tiger but the salamander chose me. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? It depends on the person. Most of my characters are not based on anyone. My grandma in the book is my real grandma, and she’s the reason I became a writer. And my beloved in the book is my real beloved, my husband. But I owe them everything not because of that, but because of how they have loved me. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? One complete early readers chapter book, about two little kids in India; ¾ of a literary fantasy novel; ½ a new poetry collection; and one secret idea. What does literary success look like to you? Success in all fields is measured the same way: either you’ve been a guest on Sesame Street or you haven’t. What’s the best way to market your books? My favorite way would be word of mouth. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? Not using words like “auburn.” What did you edit out of this book? “Bella is Suzanne,” for Leonard Cohen and my friend from college. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I love teaching. I loved being a gardener, and I loved painting houses. If I could get paid for it, I could be an artist or illustrate children’s books. I was working on a book of poetry for children with my grandmother when she died, her poems and my paintings of animals. I hope to still finish it one day.
If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?
Grace Paley, and for purposes of dinner, conversation, etc., preferably alive. I’d make borscht, a chicken pie, a salad from our garden. My guiding adjectives would be fresh, substantial, unpretentious. I’d look forward most of all to the post-meal stroll, the pleasure of watching her meet the neighbors’ dogs, the kids on trikes, the singular peach tree on Laughlin Road. I’d want to absorb a bit of her faith and humor and strength in this horrible time, as the powers that be draw us closer toward destruction. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? Taking a stupid turn into a swamp. Save, rename, press on. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? When I was 13 and listening to Jackson Browne, I’d hold the album in my hands, study his eyes, his perfect hair. Maybe get back to me on this one. What books are on your nightstand? It’s so tempting to make up a lie here. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logicos Philosophicus. No, Roddy Doyle’s The Woman Who Walked into Doors. The Best American Short Stories 2019. Cornel West’s Black Prophetic Fire. Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask is in the bathroom. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Period. That’s all I want to say about it. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Nearly everything. The only books I remember finishing were Of Mice and Men and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? First, the rake, stirrer of partially desiccated oak leaves, memories. Second, the rolling pin, essential for pie making, which in turn is essential for keeping friends who read my early drafts. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? Surprise yourself. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Certainly both. When it is going well, when visions and voices are competing for space in my head and space on the page, it offers a surge of energy. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Over-narration, trying to tell the reader what to feel. Speechifying dialogue. All, I think stem from a lack of trust in readers’ intelligence. What is your writing Kryptonite? Bulleit. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes, often. I read and edit a lot of student writing. Seems every semester I hit a kind of wall – like where do my opinions come from? Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Tough one. Strong emotions can be as much a hindrance as a help, I think. One must care. To paraphrase Heidegger, caring precedes experience. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? So many of my friendships are with fellow writers, too many to list, but I’ve put a few in my acknowledgments. How do they help? In a number of ways, but most important – they offer honest responses to my work, and sometimes very creative suggestions. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? Separation Anxiety is my third collection of stories. Each is organized by theme, but they have some common elements. Neuroses manifests in work relationships, in families, in romantic encounters. My characters are often in search of identity, stability, courage and love. My stories, as whole, might make a good companion to the DSM-5. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t know that it changed my process. It gave me a boost in confidence. I loved (and still love) doing readings. Perhaps I wrote more 1,000-word pieces with that in mind. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? My first book was published through a contest. I suppose that fee, whatever it was, was well worth it. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Heavily descriptive writers like Nabakov, Conrad and Bellow are difficult for me. My mind wanders. But in the right state of mind, I can be enamored with the richness of the prose. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? In high school I read William Carlos Williams’ Poem As the cat climbed over the top of the jamcloset first the right forefoot carefully then the hind stepped down into the pit of the empty flowerpot It seemed like magic the way the words put the picture in my mind, the way I could feel the movement of the cat in the movement of the lines. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Peter Handke. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Osprey, aka, river hawk. It circles, it glides, it sees into the depths, and when it strikes there is no hesitation. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Plausible deniability. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Two half-baked novels and half a dozen stories. What does literary success look like to you? I happen to have a long answer for this one: http://losangelesreview.org/daniel-coshnear-the-balanced-life-of-a-successful-writer/ What’s the best way to market your books? Strong reviews, readings, lots of readings, online and god willing, in person. Radio appearances. I wish I could say there is a niche audience for this book. Mental health workers. Mental illness sufferers. Members of families. Short story readers. Worriers. Bedwetters. Comedians. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? The difficulty arises if I dwell on this idea of “opposite sex.” Are we not each a composite of those we have known? We are a concert of voices; the fiction is this thing we call self. That said, I know nothing about dress sizes. What did you edit out of this book?” A couple of stories that seemed too similar to others. A few quirky short pieces that didn’t pertain to the theme. A mock daytime TV drama. An interactive story that presented a formatting nightmare. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, I guess I’m doing it. I work at a group home for homeless, mentally ill folks. And I teach. Both at times draw from the wells of the writer in me. When I was a child, I wanted to be Gale Sayers. |
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