If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  
Kurt Vonnegut, though I have a feeling we’d skip dinner and cut straight to the bottle of whisky. 

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
The scariest stage in my writing is transporting a good concept onto the page, and into good, compelling writing. There are endless ideas for stories floating around in my mind – the question is always: which ones will translate well into fiction, and which ones will result in a great waste of time? And while it’s impossible to tell in the moment, the way that I always overcome that block is by remembering that there is no wasted time. If I write 9 terrible stories for every decent one, my one good story isn’t the best despite those other stories – it’s the best because of them, and the time that I spent writing all ten.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
It’s a kind of man-crush, but I’d have to go with George Orwell. His reckless idealism and embedment in the Spanish Civil War screams of the same kind of lust for adventure and stupidity that led me to jump on a 36-foot sailboat for Cape Horn. That, and 1984 might have been the first book I ever really, truly read. 

What books are on your nightstand? 
Right now, it’s The Overstory by Richard Powers and Awakening Osiris – the Egyptian “Book of the Dead.” 

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
I love the double dash. Bordering a non-essential clause with “—” is a habit I’ve yet to break, and I often have to go back through my writing and limit myself to one dash-distinguished clause per page.

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. I just read the sparknotes (and sped-read them, at that.) I regretted it so much later in life that I went back to read it, and then I read Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath AND East of Eden (which is a behemoth of a book).

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
My thermos. It followed me across three continents, and more journeys and adventures than I care to recount. While I was scrapping by during the first year of my PhD, it was how I drank my coffee slowly at coffee houses – ensuring that I could wring a good 6-8 hours out of a single 16-ounce cappuccino, without having to buy more (I am the bane of every cafe manager’s existence).

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
There are probably enough inspirational quotes for aspiring writers on twitter and Instagram. I’d probably just write what I’ve found to be true – “abandon comfort.” People adjust to their circumstances, and there’s no paved road forward. You just have to carve your own path. During the first year of my PhD, I lived off of 50 GBPs a week. Before that, I lived out of my car – travelling the country and working part-time jobs in 10 different states. I’m not saying you have to be prepared to starve in order to succeed – just that, when you find what works for you, trust it, and roll with it.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Writing fiction energizes me. Writing almost everything else drains me. (Except for this Q&A, of course.) When I’m in the middle of creating and writing a good story or scene, it becomes a force of its own. I’ll lie awake at night thinking about my characters and their journey. I’ll walk right past a giraffe in the road without looking up, I’m so engrossed in their world. And yet, it’s invigorating. Writing, and getting into flow, is one of the most life-affirming experiences that I’ve ever practiced. 

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Believing in the artist mythos. Creative geniuses don’t exist in a vacuum. Originality and craft comes from practice, experience, and study. I always told my students that writing is only 33% practice. The other 67% is reading, work-shopping, and research.

What is your writing Kryptonite?
I often get inside my own head about flow. If all I have in a day is one hour to sit down and write, I’ll sometimes convince myself that it’s not worth it. That, unless I’m able to dedicate the entire day to writing, and getting into a flow, than it might as well be a waste.
 
The truth is, however, that writing anything is better than writing nothing at all. Even answering these questions is better practice than forfeiting an afternoon to menial tasks and busy work

Have you ever gotten reader’s block?
Oh, definitely. Readers block can be tricky, because reading on some level feels like a luxury, or a past-time. If you take the morning to read, you’re wasting time that could be better spent writing or working or being productive. The reality, of course, is that reading is a crucial part of writing. And that, sometimes the best way to break through writers block is simply to read.

Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
Absolutely. See my previous comment about the artist mythos. Artists often aren’t as they’ve been portrayed by romanticists, or the eccentric “creatives” who wander production houses/advertising firms/etc. More often than not, the individuals who propagate those myths have serious insecurities about their own creative process.

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
My best “author” friends were my peers and supervisors during my PhD. And I believe it is essential to surround yourself with writers, creatives, or storytellers of any form – to learn, to listen, and to talk through your own ideas. But you don’t necessarily have to be “friends” with them. Relationships are complex, and while I thrive in creative environments, etc. I often find myself connecting more with non-writers about non-writerly things. The key, as with all things, is balance. If you’re in an MFA, and the only people you surround yourself with are writers, you’ll exist in an academic bubble. But if you have no writers in your life, you’re probably not challenging yourself or work-shopping your writing like you should be.

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?
A little bit of both, I think. From the Land of Genesis was actually the catalyst for my idea behind Hell or High Seas, the documentary that set me sailing for Cape Horn two years straight. While FTLOG explores a variety of narratives from various veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Hell or High Seas is a deeper, more involved investigation of a single non-combat veteran, former-navy-rescue-swimmer Taylor Grieger. The two compliment each other, I believe, and moving forward I might build on those themes. But I’m also working on projects that are completely outside of the military experience, and I’m really looking forward to fleshing those out.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Publishing my first book has been really helpful in terms of affirmation. It took over two years from when I completed From the Land of Genesis to when heard back from my first publisher. After two years of crickets, I got offers from three different publishers… within the same week! Before that week, I was really struggling with self-doubt and whether I should abandon my efforts to publish FTLOG and just move on to my next book. And I did move on from FTLOG, and I began writing for the documentary and for magazines about our journey, and I started writing a memoir of our sailing journey around Cape Horn. But I didn’t stop querying agents or submitting to publishers. So I learned that you don’t have to give up on one book in order to move on to the next. 

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
When I got accepted to the post-graduate creative writing program in Glasgow, Scotland, I received a scholarship that covered my tuition for the first year. It was a gamble, because accommodation alone in downtown Glasgow was going to cost more than I’d ever had in my bank account. But I sold my car, bought a one-way flight, and signed a year-long lease with graduate-student housing. It took me three months to find a job bartending in Glasgow, and even afterwards I was only earning minimum wage. I scraped by that first year, working weekends, teaching undergrad courses, and completing mandatory courses for my masters of research course. Then I received a studentship with an additional living stipend to complete my PhD. Those three years ended up being the most formative in my life. So I think the best money I ever spent was that one-way flight to Scotland. 

What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
Oh, there are plenty of those. Shakespeare and Chaucer, to start. Then there was Hemingway, who I despised at first, then idolized, then eventually settled on the middle-ground of respect. Steinbeck was another I grew to love. Stephen King I grew to admire, though I think I was only ever put-off by the genre of horror and not really his style as a writer. Countless short story authors. I think the trick is to give them a chance. Once you get into the rhythm and style of their writing—especially the more traditional, historical authors—the craft itself falls to the side and you’re able to absorb and appreciate the message and themes at the core.

What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
It must’ve been my junior year of high school, when I started taking my English assignments seriously. We learned the ethos, pathos, and logos of arguments, and at that time I thought the powers of persuasion were limitless. It didn’t take long for that view to falter, and so I returned to writing stories to expand the mind, rather than trying to change it. 

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
Probably “Treats” by Laura Williams. I bought the book from a small, independent publisher based out of Glasgow that has since gone out of business, and I bought it for about five quid. I really didn’t expect to like it, and then I was instantly pulled in by the humor, wit, and sharpness of tone. The book itself was a collection of vignettes and flash fiction, and I can’t tell you what half of them were about, but I remember savouring the entire book. 

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
I had to ask my fiancé about this one, since I don’t know much about spirit animals or avatars. She said my spirit animal is a brown bear, though I was kind of hoping she’d say “turtle duck,” in reference to The Legend of Korra cartoon series.

What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters?
More than most authors, I imagine. My situation is unique, since most of the inspiration for my characters and their experiences are drawn directly from interviews that I conducted with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. To them, I owe my sincerest gratitude: for being who they are, for enlist to serve on our behalf, and for sitting down to help me, and all of you, better understand what they’ve endured, and how their difficulties in transitioning home have been disregarded and misunderstood by the public at large. 

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
Fortunately, just two. One of which I wrote while I was in middle-school (yes, it’s a 600-page handwritten fantasy novel). The other is underway, and the rest are still incubating.

What does literary success look like to you?
Being able to tell meaningful stories as my career.

What’s the best way to market your books?
No idea. I imagine, most of the time, that’s the publisher’s responsibility. I think as an author, maybe the best marketing technique is to be kind and gracious, to express gratitude to the people who have supported you, and to be proud and confident in – not bashful of – your book. A large part of your early audience is going to be your community. And the best way to reach your community is to serve them.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?
Not allowing my own biases or diction to slip into the prose. But, honestly, it’s no different than writing any character that’s from a different background or culture than yourself. As an author, you must constantly be exercising empathy, immersed in backstory, and reminded of the subtle cues that give yourself away.

What did you edit out of this book?”
More than half of the stories that I wrote. That, and a lot of clichés and adjectives. 

If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?
Anything that allowed me to create. Stories, ideally, in whatever medium I could. But if not film / writing / radio, I’d probably be an architect or craftsman of some kind.

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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 have to say Edgar Allen Poe, because he had so much tragedy and sadness in his life, and I think I’d like to provide him with a moment of warmth and kindness. No better way of doing that than with good food. I’d probably cook him some nice Hungarian goulash, if only because it’s delicious and hearty and he likely wouldn’t have had it before.


What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
The inner critic is merciless. Makes you wonder if everything you’re doing is crap. I keep thinking about that scene in Funny Farm (starring Chevy Chase) in which his character hands a copy of his novel manuscript to his wife to read, and she reads it and then starts crying. My wife is my first and best editor, and so that reaction is something I dread, almost irrationally. Plus, some of my ideas are a bit out there and are largely execution-dependent. I get past it by recognizing that I have to be true to my own imagination and aesthetic, and just doing it--if I blow it, I either start over or fix it. 


Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
This is probably a somewhat obscure reference, but the most recent crush I had on a character was Mrs. Singh, Ray Singh’s mother in The Lovely Bones. She’s a peripheral character, not really that important to the plot, but she’s a beautiful, elegant character who carries herself with incredible grace even as her life is falling apart.


What books are on your nightstand? 
Too many—one at a time would be better, but I like to sample and flit. David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Karen Russell’s story collection Vampires In The Lemon Grove, the reissued Miracleman series by Alan Moore (a revisionist super-hero series wherein the titular character ends up setting up a theocracy with himself as God), and Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s collected edition of Monstress (a fantasy comic that is very dark and strange and features talking cats). This will probably tell you a lot about me.


Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
I get ideas from so many places—sometimes it’s things my wife tells me about her work day, or my interactions with students and/or other faculty. My son, who is what you’d call high-functioning on the autism spectrum but who will probably have close to a normal life, has given me tons of material to work with—“The Sound Of His Voice” was directly inspired by some of the early intervention we did with him, and my current novel project is largely inspired by him and the life I want/foresee for him, but transformed into subte science-fictiony terms . And sometimes it’s a combination of a great many things—“Minutes Of The Pine Valley Residents’ Board” came about at a time when I was a committee secretary (a pretty typical service activity for new professors) and was also very actively annoyed by my neighbors’ children (seriously, I was thinking of setting up glue traps for them on my back porch). Really, they can come from anywhere.


Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
I try to avoid too much fancy punctuation simply because it feels too much like diagramming sentencings to me. So while I do like the semicolon and the em dash, I’d have to say the period, because there’s nothing like a simple, short, declarative sentence that falls like a hammer blow. Case in point, from Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily”:
“The man himself lay on the bed.”
It’s creepy, and there’s a finality to it because it confirms what we were already led to believe.


What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
The Grapes Of Wrath. Sorry, Mrs. Thome. I did read it as an adult…and still didn’t care for it.


What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
My height-adjustable swivel chair. Not only am I tall and so need the increased height, but sometimes when I get stuck on a particular passage I spin around in it like a small child. Helps clear the noggin.


Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
To exorcise my bountiful demons.


If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
Two words: “Commit Yourself.”
          
This is what sets publishing writers apart from those who merely call themselves writers and have umpteen unfinished manuscripts in their desk drawers or flash drives. You really do have to commit to a project fully and wholeheartedly, even when enthusiasm for it wanes (it will), even when you think what you’re writing is absolute shit (some of it is), when it seems too daunting (it often is). You have to power through and finish a draft first, even a shitty one, then go back and make it less shitty, then hit it again and actually make it good. Each draft teaches you how to write the next one—you have to let it.

​

​If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  

I would choose Parijaat, a Nepali author (Blue Mimosa). I would make aloo paratha (potato stuffed roti).

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
Not saying something important in an original, crystal clear way. I also feel like anytime I am not writing, I am thinking about writing again while being scared of the process at the same time. I read good poems, edit my poems that have been rejected, and most often, I look for submission calls and one theme or another triggers me to write. 

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
Currently, Francie Nolan of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my most favorite character. Her flaws, strength, ordinariness and endurance moves me.

What books are on your nightstand? 
Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet” and  Layli Long Soldier’s “Whereas” 

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
I think the sources of inspiration keep changing yet remaining the same for me. Politics, life events, (after motherhood) big questions about raising children, and some signs from the universe give me ideas for poems. Sometimes, it is as clear as a conversation with a neighbor about her recently deceased mother, a mute man in the grocery store begging for cash, or a news headline about a pedophile abusing children in Nepal. Listening to the universe inspires me.

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
I like commas because they can link the unexpected together sometimes. 

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
I don’t have one. But, I was told everyone cries upon reading this lyric book Gauri and my tears didn’t come.

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
My Macbook. My husband gave it to me as a gift after our second child was born. I have composed, edited, and submitted most of my poems while having it on my lap. My corner in the couch where I sit with my Mac are definitely on my acknowledgement list.

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
To feel and record life

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
The way you remember the world matters.

KATHMANDU is available for preorder on August 1, 2020 and releases on September 8, 2020. Copies are available directly through the publisher or wherever books are sold. An ebook is available directly from Amazon.

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  

I would begin by preparing brunch for Maya Angelou. I have eaten her quiche lorraine, and I would like to return her kindness. When I was a girl, my parents brought me with them to an epic loft party in San Francisco that lasted for three days with musicians, poets, artists, and activists. We celebrated all day, slept at night, and it would kick off again the next morning like a train with different stops. During the party she read from And Still I Rise. I should say, she sang it. Witnessing her recite, dance, and cook made me believe that growing up to be a woman could be a phenomenal thing. She danced with me, and whispered “If I was still teaching dance, I would teach you for free!” The words we say to each other can do tremendous good. Their ripple effect can go on, long beyond the living. 

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?

Writing is a practice. I write everyday, and am not afraid to do it. Turning writing into something for other humans to read is more challenging. That’s when fear can creep in. I can be afraid of how my writing might be received. Do I want people to know this about me? Is it something that should be shared?  I can’t reason with fear. Fear would always win. Instead, I tell myself that fear may, or may not, be accurate. Avoiding taking risks would prevent me from experiencing the unknown. Write anyway, I tell myself, even if you are afraid. Especially if you are afraid. 

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 

Crush is exactly the word. When it comes to writers, my crushability is polyamorous. I don’t always know how to act around writers I’ve crushed on literarily. I kissed Sonia Sanchez’s hair once at a book signing. Inappropriate. I’ve taken selfies with Eileen Myles and Patricia Smith because it turned out we had friends in common. Not so bad. When Donika Kelly complimented my shoes after a reading I swooned right in front of her partner. Relax. I almost levitated during a reading by Terrance Hayes, Ocean Vuong, and Rita Dove. Pure enthusiasm. When Nikky Finney and Natalie Diaz read at AWP I positioned myself in front of the podium. Face the music. I hugged Naomi Shihab Nye after one of her readings. Necessary. How to deal with a literary crush? Remind yourself — just because you’ve read someone does not mean you know them. It just means that a total stranger was able to reach you in a very personal way. 

What books are on your nightstand? 

Toni Morrison’s The Source of Self Regard has been a kind of torah for me. I’ve dreamed many nights with Adrienne Rich’s Collected Poems, Lucille Clifton’s Collected Poems, Eileen Myles’ I Must be Living Twice, and Mary Oliver’s Devotions close at hand. I like to read different things simultaneously. Poetry and prose. The current stack is Camille Dungy’s Black Nature, Arecelis Girmay’s Teeth, Billy Ray Belcourt’s NDN Coping Mechanisms, and Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste. The books are mixed with notebooks, one arm’s distance from my pillow. 

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  

I love this question. It makes me think of Aracelis Girmay and the ampersand. It belongs to her. She also used dots like bullet holes in The Black Maria which was painful and visceral. Girmay made me reconsider what punctuation can do emotionally, and, also, graphically. I love the hand-slash-space-making-movement of a good em dash. S.A. Sukop turned me on to em dashes. An em dash is a gesture that the Orisha Ogun would make while dancing. It slices the line without stopping the flow. It is more assertive than a comma. If I had to choose just one, I’d settle on the simplicity of the period for its finality. It is a hole, a circle, and the end. 

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 

In high school I learned that literature was the materia prima for theater, music, and social change. My English teacher, Peter Sawaya, was also my Theater teacher. Once he taught a rock poetry class where we analyzed lyrics. John Prince asked us to blow up our TVs and eat peaches. Find the simple pleasures. Create a home to nourish your family on things that you all make. That’s what I did with my kids. Home became an antidote to the world outside where women and children were not often taken seriously, and where racism and patriarchy were consistently troubling. 

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 

Blue ink. 

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 

“Write. I want to read you.”

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Writing humbles and excites me. Stepping up to the page is like accepting a dance with the eldest salsero on the dance floor, and knowing you have to fully commit to keep up. Listen in 360 degrees. Flow. Editing is more laborious, and can be exhausting. When the work is finally done, and it reaches readers, it re-energizes me again. Re-energizes sounds too mechanical. It feels more like glow. Writing is the glow left inside my body after the words come through. 

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

There are myriad traps. Self sabotage. Lack of time. When I was a young artist, I made a bonfire and burned a stack of diaries as tall as my body. I turned my voice into ash. This event inspired the last poem in the collection “esh.” At the time, I was afraid that writing was distracting me from being a serious dancer. I’d bought into the limiting notion that I could not do more than one thing. The burning was an act of violence against my creative self. I burnt the languages and collages I’d made on the train riding from home to rehearsal and back again. Now, I know better. Don’t start fires, especially not inside yourself. Many years later, a friend taught me a new word. “You are a polymath,” he said. Over time, I have relaxed into my multiplicity. What I could not burn out of me became a defining trait. 

What is your writing Kryptonite?

That would be time. The pull between living and making a living. My creative life has always had to coexist with the responsibilities of being independent, and heading a household. I’ve been the trunk of the tree. This next phase of my life will include more time to write, and more of my sustainability derived from writing related pursuits. 

Have you ever gotten reader’s block?

Yes. I will put a book down and leave it, but I’m learning to give books a chance. Be patient with them. Once I set down Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things until my daughter told me it was one of her favorites. My daughter is a bibliophile, and one of my favorite writers. I trust her opinion, so I picked it up again and read it with new eyes. The icky orangedrink lemondrink man made the book one of my all time favorites. 

Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?

Emotions are powerful, disobedient things. Strong feelings can make for empathy, care, and good storytelling. Like many writers and artists, I have a rich emotional life. Writing and performance have given me an outlet to express strong emotions in a fruitful way. Meditation practice has also been centering for me. I was raised in an immigrant household where you were supposed to be strong and not let anything stop you, much less feelings. My friend Michelle Talley taught me that one can’t rationalize emotions into submission. They are what they are. Feel them. Find the message. They are important information. I’ve learned how to move around inside them, and let them flow through me. Your emotions are there for a reason, and can help guide you toward a more fulfilling life. 

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

Glenis Redmond had a catalytic effect on my writing life. I met her in the state capitol when I was doing advocacy work. I don’t know how a poet wound up at an arts advocacy conference, but there she was. She had us harvesting words from gemstones and trees in her workshop. She wanted to make us rich with language. After class, she came over to me and said, “so, you are a poet.” I always had been, but I was undercover. She saw me, and said something. That sparked a pivot in my life, and we’ve stayed in contact ever since. 

Gayle Brandeis has been a catalytic force in my writing life. I worked with her during my MFA studies. After graduation, she pushed me into the ring and published my work. She is an outstanding teacher. As an educator myself, I know great teachers when I see them. I have learned a tremendous amount from her as a writer, activist, mother, and a mentor. 

Adrian Cepeda has been my poetry buddy for the past five years. We read and provide editorial support for each other, and are in each other’s writing corner. 

Deena Metzger is a writer, and auntie, who reminds me of the bigger picture of writing and living. I sit in her writing circle each month with writers who are my elders. This helps me imagine a life in writing over time, and how I can grow into myself as a small elder. In her presence, I feel I am sitting at her feet and learning how to age as a writer and facilitator.

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 mother is a visual artist who worked in series, so I know what that looks like. You knead the materials for years until you have had enough, or you get excited by something else, and then you shift. I pay attention to what wants to come through me. I’ve written about family and parenting, teaching and learning, immigration and migration, polylingualism and diaspora. My imagination wants to trouble overly simplistic narratives about family, identity, nationalism, and belonging that never fit me or mine. 

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
 
Putting together this poetry collection placed a microscope on a specific period of my life. Selecting and sequencing the work was an existential process that revealed a larger journey. Each poem is its own experience, but, together, I noticed the story of a single mother raising her kids, and herself, in an intercultural, multifaith, transnational family. My daughter told me she saw the book as a story of radical truth and self acceptance. I can see that. It is a book I needed to get out of me to welcome the next phase of living. 

Dance and writing use different materials, but they are similar. The process of choreographing a full length concert resembles the making of a book. You take what you have been making, and spread it out. You listen to what the different works might want to say to each other. In dance, a standard mainstage performance lasts 90 minutes. You have two 45 minute acts to fill with work with an intermission in between. In the book, I divided the collection into sections. In performance, you experience the journey of the story with the audience at the same time. In writing, it’s a delayed response from readers that is spread out geographically. Different times. Different spaces. In dance, the art object is your body and you remake the work anew every performance. You can’t hold it and reread it, like you can a book. There are no flipping of pages back and forth. There are no margins to write notes in. 

I did try something that resembles performance publishing once. It lasted seven days. Placeholder Press published a flashbulb chapbook I made during the pandemic called Endless Bowls of Sky. It was available in print internationally for one week only. People posted photographs of the chapbook on social media, and I got to see the chapbook travel all over the world like I wished I could. It was fun watching people receive their special editions in the mail during quarantine. 

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

The best money I’ve ever spent as a writer has been every tax dollar invested in our public library system. Public libraries made it possible for me to raise my kids to become literate and curious. They made it possible for me to keep studying and learning. I do daily walking meditations listening to audiobooks on the LA Public Library App. I appreciate the added benefit of hearing writers read their own work. Toni Morrison. Thich Naht Hahn. Kiese Laymon. Sandra Cisneros. Louise Erdrich. Amazing. 

My son is a musician and an audio engineer. He was able to turn Even the Milky Way is Undocumented into a sound object — an audiobook. I hope that listeners enjoy the print and audio versions, and I’m happy that the audiobook will make the work more accessible.

What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

Participating in theater taught me that language has power. Once I was cast as Alice in a school production of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. I remember looking out across the checkerboard stage at a boy pretending to be a Caterpillar smoking a hookah. “Who are you?” he asked. My voice left my body and floated out into the space. The audience was listening. Rows and rows of blue plastic chairs with human beings inside them, listening. That was my first memory of ever feeling like I was heard as a child. It is so important to listen to kids. The arts can do that. 

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

I am a dragon. It chose me. 

What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters?

Their forgiveness. 

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I try to finish what I begin. I have a list of book ideas written in blue light on the inside of my skull. I keep track of them in my sleep. I’m slow, but persistent. The next one up is a collection of essays that is nearly done. I can’t wait for them to live next to each other inside of one book. 

What does literary success look like to you?

Literary success means living a life nourished by reading and writing, and being able to participate in the world of publishing and performance as a creator and collaborator. It means having writing in the center of my creative process, what I do for a living, and my activism and public service. Literary success means being able to speak to these times and be heard, to help other people find and use their own voices, and to generate better futures for our children, grandchildren, and the planet. 

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

I don’t see genders as opposites. I prefer the notion of gender identity as personally inscribed along a spectrum. Do it your own way. That is true to my experience. I have never felt that I quite performed my gender correctly. I learned this at six when I was called a tom boy because I wanted to play ball during recess. Once a grandfather gave me a Barbie. I cried. I exchanged it for a football and was happy again. Gender norms have always seemed a bit absurd to me. I am the kind of woman who likes to move, sweat, think, and play. 

I aim to write compassionately about all living things. My writing has focused on the worlds of women and children. My son appears as a male character in Milky Way. I write about his sound. His form. He is depicted as a possibility, as beloved, as a loving brother, as a person in danger of racist violence, and as an inventor of music. My father also has a cameo in the book. He walks across the page with a granny smith apple. There are male spectres in the book. They have ghostly presence. 

I don’t like corruption and our future depends on disrupting dominant hierarchies. In “Naked Congress” I ask the senate to undress. I use a similar approach in an essay about my paternal grandmother where I introduce the dead members of the House Un-American Activities Committee in a courtroom scene. I wanted to dispel the negative spectre that McCarthyism and xenophobia staged around my family, and countless innocent people. I wrote about their bodies, their pencils, their coffee, and their XY chromosomes. These white men were empowered by Jim Crow, and were not held accountable for the damage they did through any process of reconciliation. In this case, I didn’t care much what the characters might think of my depictions of them. I did hope that my grandma would find it funny. I laughed while I typed. It was a kind of literary vengeance.
 
What did you edit out of this book?”

The seed prayers and meditations I wrote to myself to help me keep going, and grant my imagination  permission to continue. 

If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?

Not writing isn’t an option for me, at least not now. I wrote quietly. Now I write publicly. I will keep on writing, and creating spaces for more people to do so.  

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Amy Shimshon-Santo is the author of EVEN THE MILKY WAY IS UNDOCUMENTED. You can purchase a copy in print, as an ebook, or an audiobook today. 

Caleb Nichols is the author of 22 Lunes, a poetry chapbook.

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  
Right now I’d probably say Marilynne Robinson. Of course, if you asked me any other day you’d get any other number of answers: Cormac McCarthy, David Foster Wallace, Michel Faber. But I just read an interview where Marilynne Robinson said something to the effect of, “You have to live with your mind your whole life, so you ought to make it a good place to be,” and I find that such a profound and beautiful and necessary thing. I feel like I would benefit from that. 

As far as what I’m cooking, I think I know myself well enough to admit I’d fall back on grilling something, steak tacos maybe, or doing that awful thing where I tried to pass off whatever I’d made as something I “just threw together,” even though I hate that. Religieuse for dessert, maybe, though it would probably take me three tries. 

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
There’s definitely a fear of finality, and the inevitable disappointing reality that what ends up on the page falls short of what began in your soul. In response to this, I’m a devotee of what Anne Lamotte calls “shitty first drafts,” where I’ll do dozens and dozens of passes over a given piece, which more or less tricks my brain into always believing there will be another opportunity to make it less lame. 

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
There’s a character I’m working on right now who seems to keep echoing my wife. I keep discovering facets of her in the way this character behaves. She’s a fire, for sure. 

What books are on your nightstand? 
Right now, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (no relation) and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road seems to always be there, and The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence isn’t, but ought to be. 

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
Madeleine L’Engle likened the creative process to a pregnancy, and that rings true for me (at least I imagine, having never been pregnant). I’m not sure the point of genesis for any ideas, but I often feel it as something within that gradually takes on size and shape until it’s ready to take its place in the world. 

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
The em dash—it feels clean, and more organically similar to our natural speech and thought patterns.  

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
Frankenstein, which I now teach, ironically. 

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
The author would like to thank the barstool at his kitchen island, whose backlessness prevented him from getting comfortable to the point of sleepiness while writing and editing these pieces. 

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
Because art shapes our lives. 

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
“Make a place to sit down. Sit down.” From “How to be a Poet” by Wendell Berry​

Tyler James Russell is the author of TO DROWN A MAN, a collection of poetry available on August 4, 2020.

Cameron Miller is the author of CAIRN: POEMS AND ESSAYS and THOUGHTWALL CAFE. Both book are available through our website and through all major retailers.

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  
I would like to have dinner with Mary Oliver -- one where we go to the nearest farmer’s market together to buy fruit, vegetables, and meat we wished to eat. Then we would cook something delicious together, such as a thick stew with mushrooms, lamb, and beans. For dessert, perhaps we might have blackberries drizzled with coconut milk and honey. I would want Mary to be very happy, so I base the bulk this menu off a poem; how better to determine what meal to serve a beloved poet?

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
I write drafts of poems in a Mead composition notebooks. After I fill a notebook, I read through it to look for poems I want to develop further. I am always afraid to read through my notebooks, perhaps because I worry I will not find anything I value. My fear embarrasses me, but it is real and powerful. I compel myself to work through it somehow, but it never leaves me.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
Since I already mentioned Mary Oliver, I will say Sylvia Plath for her imagery and craft.

What books are on your nightstand? 
I was reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry collection Book of Hours (Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy) and Maurice Manning’s collection Bucolics nearly every day that I was working on this manuscript. Both collections are still on my night-stand for regular reference along with Hafiz, Elizabeth Bishop, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, as well as whatever novel my book club is reading, psychology text-books, the Bible, and probably some Brene Brown and Louise Hay. When on vacation, I will read fantasy novels. I am currently obsessed with NK Jemisin. Since my night-stand is a shelf on the headboard just above our pillows, my husband often worries my book stack is becoming too tall and might fall on our heads while we sleep. I thin out the stack occasionally, but many of the same books migrate back again eventually.

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
People inspire me with their messy, mean, and gorgeous lives. Complicated feelings inspire me. Pain inspires me. I suppose I am deeply influenced by the romantic poets, whether I acknowledge it consciously or not, in that the external world tends to reflect my internal state of being. Sometimes the prospect of an audience inspires me, but that can terrify me as well. 

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
The dash may be my favorite punctuation mark because of Emily Dickinson, my first poetic love. Although, I also have a deep love for the semi-colon.

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
I rarely read my any of my text books for classes in high school. (except the English literature text books -- I read all of those.) I’d rather tell you what book I wasn’t supposed to read, which was Sibyl. It was the only book that I recall my parents banned me from reading in high school. I promptly found it on my grandmother’s basement bookshelf and read it one afternoon after school. I tended to be a fairly compliant daughter in most areas of life, but apparently not when it came to books.

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
I would like to thank my tea pot, which may have held more green tea than all the lakes in Minnesota.

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
To understand my existence.

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
“What I can do -- I will -- / Though it be little as a Daffodil -- / That I cannot -- must be / Unknown to possibility --” --  Emily Dickinson

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Borrowings of the Shan Van Vocht by Catherine Moore is set to release on April 14, 2020 and we are excited about it! Who wouldn't be? It's about bog bodies. Given the upcoming release, we'd like you to get to know Ms. Moore a bit better, so we interviewed her, and here is what she had to say:

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  
Despite my book’s subject matter, I don’t find dining with a dead person appealing. This narrows the field to the alive, which should make it an easier choice, but it does not. After much too much reflection, I would invite Margaret Atwood to dinner. She is seemingly a genius in every genre and she’s fierceless in her approach. I will dazzle her with my chicken curry and, most liking, bore her with my pedestrian observations on her poetry.

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
I’m not sure I experience fear about the process. The most difficult part of it for me is in the final editing—when to stop pruning and polishing, and call it done. Having an honest and encouraging critique partner helps.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
Is this a guilty-pleasure question? A first literary crush was Robin Hood. Brave, generous, daring—a master of archery, disguises, and dashes through forest thickets (without even getting a run in the tights.) This crush probably remains and extends to all Robin Hood-esk characters, outliers who defend the common good, roguish fighters of injustice, altruistic rebels.

What books are on your nightstand? 
All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr), The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield), and Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary.

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
The ordinary. The weird. Mostly, the weirdness in the ordinary.

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
The em-dash—it connects—leaves room for breath—and thought.

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
Wuthering Heights. I’d already seen the BBC version on television and could pass the quizzes, so I skimmed the novel. I know there are not the same, and I make an effort to read the book first nowadays. Though, sometimes I come across a story and watch it before knowing a book existed first, such as in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
The bog bodies, naturally. Once living, once of spirit, of warm human experience. My intention is to honor them; to give them voice.

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
It is like fresh air.

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
Live in the “place” of which you write.​

Raki Kopernik is the author of THE THINGS YOU LEFT, a thirty-seven story collection built on magical realism and seemingly inconsequential moments between sweet and strange loners that meet in the space between the heart and the mind. 

Margaret DeRitter is the poet and author of Singing Back to the Sirens, a collection that explores the many ways that desire and love, loss and grief, can shape a woman’s life. The poems in this two-part collection look at the loneliness of a newborn for her sick mother, the first stirrings of sexual desire for a best friend, the treacherous leap from a sheltered world of faith into lesbian life, the frustrations of falling for straight women, the alchemy of falling in love, the aftermath of losing it. In the first section, the poet sings back to the many women she has loved. In the second, she sings back to the one who sang the sweetest and the saddest songs.

Margaret sat down with our team and revealed some of the intimate details about her writerly world. Read on!

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  
Emily Dickinson, because I’d want to be able to tell her how important she has become in American literature and in the lives of so many poets, including myself. I’d serve her anything she’d ask for, since she never got what she wanted from the literary world during her lifetime.

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
I don’t think it scares me, but I do get frustrated if I feel I can’t come up with words that do justice to an idea I want to express in a poem. What I do then is just keep revising and doing the best I can, or I let the poem sit for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 
The casino worker Ann Childs in “Desert of the Heart.” by Jane Rule. She’s wild, sexy and full of life and not afraid to pursue the woman she wants. And Patricia Charbonneau, the woman who plays her character (albeit with a different name, Cay Rivers) in the movie “Desert Hearts,” is so beautiful that I found myself keeping an eye out for her on a vacation in my early 30s after finding out she lived in New York State. She never did materialize there, but I did see her once on TV.

What books are on your nightstand? 
The Hours,” by Michael Cunningham; “Mrs. Dalloway,” by Virginia Woolf; and “Delights & Shadows,” Ted Kooser’s poetry collection. “The Hours” made me want to read “Mrs. Dalloway,” and I was not disappointed.. The writing style was different from anything I’d ever encountered, and many of the sentences read like poetry. Kooser blew me away with his ability to imbue everyday objects and activities with a sense of the sacred.

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?
I get my ideas mainly from incidents that make an emotional impact on me. I also get ideas from observing the natural world outside my windows or on woods walks. Really good writing, like that of my first poetry-writing teacher, Diane Seuss, inspires me to push myself harder as a writer. The women in my writing group, Poetry Dawgs, which I’ve been part of for 20 years or so, also inspire me with their enduring friendship, good humor and astute feedback.

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  
My favorite punctuation mark is the comma. It has so many uses, and its addition to or omission from a sentence can vastly change its meaning, as in “Now I must go and get on, my lover” vs. “Now I must go and get on my lover.”

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 
I was a good girl then and always did my required reading. Now some friends seem to think I’m required to read the Harry Potter books, but I’m really not interested.

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 
My Macbook Air, so light I can take it anywhere to write.

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 
To survive and make a mark. OK, that’s six.

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." — William Faulkner​

Author Q&A If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  

I would cook dinner for Sappho. I would make mustard-brushed salmon and roast potatoes with lemon dressing. 

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?

This is probably just a specific case of fear of not being good enough: I have these enormous visions—often beautiful, but sometimes not. In order to write them down, I typically have to sacrifice the enormity of what I first envisioned to something lesser, more ordinary, possibly mediocre, when I'd really rather hold on to the original magnificence.
To combat that, I tell myself to do it anyway and to simply hope that some readers somewhere will contribute their own magnificence and connect it to what's now an ordinary string of words.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 

This changes over time of course. At the moment my biggest literary crush is Edouard de Chavigny in Sally Beauman's novel Destiny. 
What books are on your nightstand? 

Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early.
Margot Anand, The Art of Everyday Ecstasy. 

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?

Most of my ideas come from personal experience and stories other people tell me. 
Literally, I get many of my ideas when I am out on my almost daily walks or jogs in nature – mountain paths at home, paths by the sea when I am lucky enough to be near an ocean.

What inspires me most of all is the hope that we can reclaim a balanced world in which women and their values are more powerful than they are now. 

After that I am inspired by the following, in no particular order: Fairy tales, nature, mythology, current events (though they frequently deflate rather than inspire, sad to say). 

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  

The question mark. I love questions. And the mere shape of the question mark is so interesting. Half circle and period all in one. 

What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? 

Wuthering Heights. 
I managed to write an acceptable essay about it without reading it. I did manage to read it later on in college and it was remarkably good. 


What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 

My horned lizard pendant. 

Why do you write? The first 5 words that come to mind. Go. 

I want to. 
Be. 
Heard.

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 

Trust yourself. Just do it.

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The author of numerous published short stories as well as the novella In the Service of the Boyar (Strange Fictions Press, 2016), Jason Graff loves both reading and producing writing that has a strong, clear voice and conveys a deep connection to the characters. In high school, his passion for the written word was well and truly ignited when he took a sucker punch for writing his crush a poem. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Bowling Green State University and later, his MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College. The intense nature of that program allowed him to be mentored by a diverse group of talented writers which included: Sarah Schulman, Richard Panek, Darcey Steinke, and Rachel Pollack.

Jason currently lives in Richardson, Texas with his wife, son, and their cat. He is currently working on a science fiction novel about the beginning of the end of the universe and another about a romancing con-man. You can follow him on Twitter at @JasonGraff1 , on Facebook at Author Jason Graff and/or visit his website: www.jasongraff.wordpress.com.
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