tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35960575230060823182024-03-18T12:43:31.558-04:00Work-in-ProgressNC-area novelist and writer Leslie Pietrzyk on the creative process and all things literary.Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00619211671334466665noreply@blogger.comBlogger2187125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-81193723316872482102024-03-18T12:41:00.001-04:002024-03-18T12:41:49.581-04:00TBR: The Wet Wound: An Elegy in Essays by Maddie Norris<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyXGjeutc2TNyGL6Okq-AbmXdumyjlFWAYnmugg10RJkvC3LymCLcwrHdJJCqOsGcDN2EGorw7Yp5pm6-4r_-VZHPCTvcI99WlD7_qZ8Gw264hvSvOm3ym5SMnRyzGBTJsKQgeTHy7n-QmoI4QB-CCMu46COJLm3aTip4FVvQyUxfK1NsKCbFzDricvs/s4140/Wet%20Wound.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4140" data-original-width="2679" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyXGjeutc2TNyGL6Okq-AbmXdumyjlFWAYnmugg10RJkvC3LymCLcwrHdJJCqOsGcDN2EGorw7Yp5pm6-4r_-VZHPCTvcI99WlD7_qZ8Gw264hvSvOm3ym5SMnRyzGBTJsKQgeTHy7n-QmoI4QB-CCMu46COJLm3aTip4FVvQyUxfK1NsKCbFzDricvs/s320/Wet%20Wound.jpg" width="207" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>The Wet Wound</i> uses a medical lens to examine the grief
that took over me after my father died of cancer when I was seventeen. These
linked essays examine grief from different angles, resulting in a multi-layered
exploration on why, contrary to popular belief, keeping wounds open
is the best way to care for them physically and emotionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Which essay did you most enjoy writing? Why? And which
essay gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I don’t know that I had an essay I enjoyed writing more than
the others. Each essay felt like a discovery, and it was exciting and fun
trying to figure out what the material wanted to say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The opening essay, “Hyperbaric, or How to Keep a Wound
Alive,” gave me the most trouble. It went through many different drafts until I
figured out the structure and backbone of the piece. It’s one of the earliest
pieces I wrote for the book, so part of the difficulty was figuring out what to
include in it and what belonged in other essays. It also introduces the central
wound metaphor, which runs through the collection, so I wanted to get it just
right, which takes time. I had to write other pieces and then come back to it
to know how I wanted it to open the full collection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">What boundaries did you break in the writing of this
memoir? Where does that sort of courage come from?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A lot of grief memoirs follow a Western narrative arc:
someone dies, the narrator is sad, and then they move on with their lives. I
wanted to push back against that. That narrative was harmful to my psyche and doesn’t
fit the reality of grief. Grief doesn’t end; we don’t move on and let go. So
this memoir asks: What happens when, instead of following steps prescribed by
those outside loss, we let ourselves dwell in grief?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Publishing takes years, which I thought might allow for the
emotions to temper over time, but that wasn’t the case. All my emotion knobs
have been turned to 11. It’s scary and exciting having people read your
innermost thoughts. I get so much joy from sharing my dad with people who
didn’t know him, but it’s of course tied to the fact that he died. I’ve never
experienced so many heightened emotions all at once, and I don’t know that
there’s any way to prepare for it either.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In my first college workshop, my professor, Pam Durban,
said, “We all have our assigned subject matter.” It’s perhaps not direct
advice, but it gave me permission to write the thing I needed to write and to
continue doing so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I think it’s clear how life informs writing in creative
nonfiction (everything is material), but I didn’t realize before writing this
book how writing can inform your life. I’m not talking about this in terms of
my career, although writing has certainly shaped that, but I’m thinking in
terms of my deep personal relationships. Writing this book changed the way I
interacted with grief, and that changed the way I interacted with others. Since
embracing my grief, I’ve felt more love than I knew possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I am notoriously bad at titles, so I’m grateful Ander Monson
suggested “The Wet Wound” as the collection title, and together with the
subtitle “An Elegy in Essays,” it encapsulates the book’s core in key ways. Let
me break it down piece by piece.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wound: My dad was a doctor who specialized in wound healing,
and in going through his medical lectures and notes, I reconnected with him.
This archival searching was the genesis of the book. The work’s central
metaphor is an open wet wound, which facilitates healing, physically and
emotionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wet: My father studied marine biology, and his body now
rests in the ocean. In addition to the wetness of wounds, I explore other
literal wet areas in this work, like oceans and rain, but I’m also pulling from
Alexander Chee’s more metaphorical understanding, built from Clark Blaise’s
class and detailed in his introduction to <i>Best American Essays 2022</i>:
“Was the writing wet? Could you feel the rain, the blood, the tears?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Elegy: I interrogate different forms of writing (postcards,
letters, eulogies, etc.) in grappling with grief because as a writer, that’s
how I make sense of the world. And again, the origin of the book was reading
through my dad’s notes, the letters and lectures he left behind. Elegy also,
obviously, orients readers towards the subject of grief. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In Essays: “In essays” was an important addition in
orienting readers. There are many memoiristic elements to the book, but it is
not a memoir, and you’ll be disappointed if you come in wanting that. Instead,
the book moves through different subjects and lens to explore the concept of
grief. The primary mode is attempting to place the mind on the page, not
narratizing life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Pair this book with your favorite family comfort recipes.
Some of mine would be: blueberry muffins, lasagna, box brownies, key lime pie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://maddienorris.com/">https://maddienorris.com/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://ugapress.org/book/9780820366685/the-wet-wound/">https://ugapress.org/book/9780820366685/the-wet-wound/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT FROM & PLAYLIST FOR THIS BOOK: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://itslitwithphdj.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/ep-148-maddie-norris/">https://itslitwithphdj.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/ep-148-maddie-norris/</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-86476981364451598022024-02-19T12:34:00.001-05:002024-02-19T12:34:22.591-05:00TBR: A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic by Yi Shun Lai<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_OTYSfESnkHjEfJAOwyn-lHgBoytpnNNF3OI-VEoc5GShfFuYt3lLHkS3rkxRwAta4mbRj9SmpDeyQ5sLHgPNONBJGHrU_mnlmS5ssjQfuAYWXcMbzkgBHOVLkCUPQlc9S8ZoXJWWh6QLsUtV6ORkHymHFohGXsCcP_4qccC4_29SHiypBU5kPL_lhY/s2532/yi%20shun%20lai.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2532" data-original-width="1688" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_OTYSfESnkHjEfJAOwyn-lHgBoytpnNNF3OI-VEoc5GShfFuYt3lLHkS3rkxRwAta4mbRj9SmpDeyQ5sLHgPNONBJGHrU_mnlmS5ssjQfuAYWXcMbzkgBHOVLkCUPQlc9S8ZoXJWWh6QLsUtV6ORkHymHFohGXsCcP_4qccC4_29SHiypBU5kPL_lhY/s320/yi%20shun%20lai.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is an American suffragist who
decamps for the English suffrage movement, just in time to have it roll over to
support the WWI effort. In utter frustration, she signs onto a cockamamie
Antarctic expedition (her words, not mine!), thinking that, in a place with no
civilization, she can gain equity. But when the crew’s ship sinks, she’s
dismayed to see that the men have thought of her as “just a woman” all along.
Clara has to prove she can handle just as much as the men can handle, all while
trying to survive in the Antarctic. This book is Clara’s diary whilst on
expedition, and pegged to Ernest Shackleton’s <i>Endurance</i> expedition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And
which character gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The answer is the same for both of these questions: there’s
a clear villain on-board the ship, and he emerged as I was determined to stick
to the timeline and historical facts of the original <i>Endurance</i>
expedition. But the minute it became obvious that Clara was going to have
suffer some serious indignities, including a sexual assault, at the hands of
this crew member, I began to realize that I couldn’t stick to the historical
events as much as I thought I had to: I couldn’t prescribe the things Clara
goes through to any of the men I’d gotten to know through reading crew diaries
and their later recollections of life on this expedition. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">So I was really happy to get to craft this terrible creature
from wholecloth, and remind myself that I was writing fiction. This realization
gave me so much more freedom. And, at the same time, I struggled to find
inspiration for this accursed human. Finally, it occurred to me that this guy
was already lurking in my past. So I wrote him. Gleefully, and with no small
sense of vengeance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">No lows, unless you count the waiting. The waiting was damn
hard. But I have a great agent, Kate Testerman, and she knew just the right
editors to send it to. We had our first offer in two weeks and a competing
offer not long after. Then we had to make hard decisions. Then, we had to wait
for the contracts. All that was like a three-month process. Then it was another
year and a quarter before pub date. So yeah. Waiting was the absolute worst
bit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I know. I’m an irrational PollyAnna about this, but I truly
loved every bit of it, especially noodling through my editor’s notes and really
thinking about them, and puzzling through how to make the revisions that would
satisfy my editor’s rightful suggestions. I actually outright loved the
revision process. When you’ve been toiling by yourself, crafting a storyline,
having someone say, “Do you mean <i>this</i>?” is a <i>godsend.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Write what you’re curious about. I wish to hell I could
remember where I read this. I pride myself on taking pretty good notes, but um,
apparently not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The lateness with which things that should be obvious came
together. I was obviously writing a book about inequality all along. About
strong women having to prove themselves. The Antarctic was a convenient
backdrop, because I love the place and wanted to set a book there. I knew all
of this. I sent the query and completed manuscript off to my dream agent
February of 2022. It wasn’t until August of 2021 that I stumbled upon the fact
that the women’s suffrage movement was happening at the <i>exact same time</i>
as the Golden Age of Exploration, when all those men went off and did manly
things. I’d been working on the book in some form (it used to be a time-travel
book!) since early 2015. People. That is a lot of years to fail at putting some
big puzzle pieces together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">But, as you can tell from the timeline, when it came
together, it came together <i>fast</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Oh, I am so glad you asked how I got the title of my book,
because I can give proper credit to my friend and writerly BFF Roz. She nudged
me toward flexing the diary format of the manuscript to do double duty as a
guidebook that outlined my hero’s hopes for the future. Then, after dropping
that gem, she said, “You could call it ‘A Suffragist’s Guide to Antarctica,’ or
something,” That conversation unlocked everything, and I will forever be in
Roz’s debt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As I mentioned above, when you’ve been living in your head
for so long, outside voices are the best thing that can happen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Well, that’s what works for <i>my</i> brain, anyway. YMMV. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Aiya, yes. All through the Endurance expedition and a great
many other cold-weather expeditions of the time, they ate hoosh, a porridge of
melted snow, pemmican, which is a kind of dried-meat cake made with tallow or
fat, and sledging biscuits. There’s a <a href="https://www.coolantarctica.com/schools/antarctic_hoosh_recipe.php">pretty
good recipe here</a>, but I’ve gone vegetarian since I started writing this
book, so I can only tell you that the one time I made it, on my
would-not-find-in-Antarctica-in-1914-induction stove, it was…disgustingly
satisfying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Here's something I still love, though: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendal_Mint_Cake">Kendal mint cake</a>.
Sugar and mint syrup. There’s no record of this having been eaten on-board the Endurance
expedition, but I put it in my book anyway, because it is <i>delicious</i> and
well known as a food explorers and walkers of a great many hills took with them
places.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK: <a href="https://thegooddirt.org/">https://thegooddirt.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Suffragists-Guide-to-the-Antarctic/Yi-Shun-Lai/9781665937764">https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Suffragists-Guide-to-the-Antarctic/Yi-Shun-Lai/9781665937764</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-53426962967419871332024-02-12T12:06:00.000-05:002024-02-12T12:06:34.847-05:00TBR: The Blueprint: A Novel by Rae Giana Rashad<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivM76F4hCE1AugJ9mbC8GvW-xl1_izMS1Le4Xcns3kOVZpKOtEddJiOZqND0k8NZdrEMCIaMw8vOp-ctCSBXv7MX8ZtznUKN5va1rFFfxOEgQp2by2Ufe_yxF5MyR1b0UcF-u01EyFvzfKvNo6IK87DRJCk2RV-aKTDOT5Fco14P3KPXU98bMANmOID6E/s3237/The%20Blueprint.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3237" data-original-width="2144" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivM76F4hCE1AugJ9mbC8GvW-xl1_izMS1Le4Xcns3kOVZpKOtEddJiOZqND0k8NZdrEMCIaMw8vOp-ctCSBXv7MX8ZtznUKN5va1rFFfxOEgQp2by2Ufe_yxF5MyR1b0UcF-u01EyFvzfKvNo6IK87DRJCk2RV-aKTDOT5Fco14P3KPXU98bMANmOID6E/s320/The%20Blueprint.jpg" width="212" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences? </b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Blueprint</i> follows Solenne, who is coming of age
in an alternate, oppressive Texas. She becomes entangled with a white
government official, and she navigates those experiences using the stories of
her ancestor who was an enslaved concubine in 19th century Louisiana. <i>The
Blueprint</i> is rooted in history, but it’s literary speculative fiction, in
the vein of Atwood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I truly loved writing Solenne. Inspired by the lives of
enslaved girls in the Antebellum South, she emerged fully formed after initial
research. Fine tuning her into a living, breathing person took work. In early
drafts, I worried that it would be too difficult for readers to root for or
identify with a flawed Black girl, which led to a passive, dishonest, shell of
a character. Once I honored my vision, Solenne’s voice developed into something
I loved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>And which character gave you the most trouble, and why?</b>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Writing Bastien, my antagonist, posed unique challenges. He’s
a recombination of historical figures, men from slave narratives, and real-life
narcissists. Striking a balance in creating negative space—embracing the unsaid
and untold to leave room for readers to question him—without veering into a
redemptive arc was a delicate task. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have a bit of a unicorn story in that after writing for
five years, I found my agent, revised with her, and sold the manuscript within
five months. I made the mistake of thinking things would continue to be smooth
sailing. However, a month post-Harper acquisition, the HarperCollins strike hit.
After the strike ended, my editor, my champion I hoped to work with for many
more books, moved to a different publisher. I was an orphan. Losing the editor
who loved and fought for your manuscript is devastating and terrifying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Write honestly, even when it reveals ugliness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I was fully prepared to write this as historical fiction
after my initial research. But when Solenne’s character came to me, I was
surprised to see her, not in the Antebellum South, but standing on a train
platform in a world that looked like our own, desperate for emotional and
physical freedom. I went with it. Emotional resonance was my primary goal. Setting
the story in a world that looks like our own removes distance between the
characters and contemporary readers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s something about your book that you want readers to
know?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A blueprint is a set of ideas or a set of beliefs. In <i>The
Blueprint</i>, two very different characters interact. Like their ancestors,
both want things that can’t coexist. Both look to history to inform their
actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Blueprint</i> is an
acknowledgment that history designs the present.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.raegianarashad.com/">www.raegianarashad.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-blueprint-rae-giana-rashad/20297568?ean=9780063330092">https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-blueprint-rae-giana-rashad/20297568?ean=9780063330092</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-17296098343852676522024-02-05T10:01:00.000-05:002024-02-05T10:01:12.705-05:00TBR: Sex Romp Gone Wrong by Julia Ridley Smith<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pOp4IsDEMAXWN8pIbrSDGrJyCGY2FccAVxcgfZqew0Q7LXyMUYCX93HOpI7Ask9gR03FQY1MMeOWCCRFSe4nEijr1Yexvr6uaqJeXk6TmH4hu1WNEGR3ijGgS4uk7mNEcSl5fFM5SY4pkF-wg5nJdT7ZcHeRsym10JOHQLacO5IvfUPvb9YpgZ7fdlg/s540/Cover_Sex%20Romp%20Gone%20Wrong.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pOp4IsDEMAXWN8pIbrSDGrJyCGY2FccAVxcgfZqew0Q7LXyMUYCX93HOpI7Ask9gR03FQY1MMeOWCCRFSe4nEijr1Yexvr6uaqJeXk6TmH4hu1WNEGR3ijGgS4uk7mNEcSl5fFM5SY4pkF-wg5nJdT7ZcHeRsym10JOHQLacO5IvfUPvb9YpgZ7fdlg/s320/Cover_Sex%20Romp%20Gone%20Wrong.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences? <o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Sex Romp Gone Wrong</i> is a collection of 12 stories
about women and girls trying to navigate relationships, desire, love,
responsibility—and making a mess of things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And which
story gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I most enjoyed writing “The Woman Who Did Things Wrong.”
It’s kind of a twisted fairy tale, and it was cathartic and fun to write. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Et tu, Miss Jones?” went through countless drafts, over
many years. It was the first time I was consciously using autobiographical
material in my fiction in a way that might be recognizable to people who knew
me. Now I’ve published a memoir, so when I recall my worry about showing up too
transparently in that story, it seems a bit absurd. But then, I’m highly
proficient at worrying about absurd things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The road was paved with rejection—a pretty common experience
for writers. Many of the dozen stories were rejected multiple times before they
appeared in literary journals. Once I had enough stories to make a collection,
I started sending the book manuscript to contests. It would lose, I’d write a
new story, put that into the collection, take out an old story, and send the
collection to another contest. That went on for a few years. Then I got connected
with my agent, and after my memoir <i>The Sum of Trifles</i> was published, she
agreed to send out <i>Sex Romp Gone Wrong</i>. When Blair wanted to publish it,
I was over the moon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Anne Lamott’s “shitty first drafts” and “short assignments”
from <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/bird-by-bird-some-instructions-on-writing-and-life-anne-lamott/8649952?ean=9780385480017&gclid=CjwKCAiA_OetBhAtEiwAPTeQZwc0CfX3U4E92UTVz92VWNOelzeVGrBlTcaFEUFM_L9_uEONKJKD6xoC2wcQAvD_BwE">Bird
by Bird</a>.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The shorter, weirder stories like “Tooth” and “Hot Lesbian
Vampire Magic School.” I felt so free writing them—they were such larks—and
then the final surprise was that they actually turned out to be viable stories.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The title is also the title of one of the stories in the
book. Google that phrase at your own peril.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?) <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I LOVE to eat, but I don’t cook much. Left to my own
devices, I’ll graze on leftovers and snack food, like the mother does in my
story “Mrs. DeVry, Hanging out the Wash.” My recipes are pretty much: Put
cheese on cracker. Put butter on toast. Put one found food on top of another
and hope it tastes good. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.juliaridleysmith.com/">www.juliaridleysmith.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <a href="https://blairpub.com/shop/p/sex-romp-gone-wrong">https://blairpub.com/shop/p/sex-romp-gone-wrong</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">READ A SHORT STORY FROM THIS BOOK, “The Woman Who Did Things
Wrong”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://copper-nickel.org/the-woman-who-did-things-wrong/">https://copper-nickel.org/the-woman-who-did-things-wrong/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-78856102083755467242024-01-29T10:09:00.000-05:002024-01-29T10:09:06.793-05:00TBR: Mom in Space by Lisa Ampleman<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">TBR
[to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors
of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their
new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz,
and from time to time, a recipe.</span></i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBi3gu9ZWFLQV68C5cEZEHgIEXVPS2Ud3L_2WbFCyQM4ZVFqaUEFPM9GR_i3L5VIWPOO5YzArWQVOCNObRgm7O-lWZcFoVHQJEL1jhMPAckGtYG51jNRfToBLsuk1fK8aHqafeenck3JhWtBs-x-CzhwUbdn6wuTeYOaEUnD3M10AICBFJ3cpFEZqTLPM/s2560/cover%20LISA%20A.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1707" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBi3gu9ZWFLQV68C5cEZEHgIEXVPS2Ud3L_2WbFCyQM4ZVFqaUEFPM9GR_i3L5VIWPOO5YzArWQVOCNObRgm7O-lWZcFoVHQJEL1jhMPAckGtYG51jNRfToBLsuk1fK8aHqafeenck3JhWtBs-x-CzhwUbdn6wuTeYOaEUnD3M10AICBFJ3cpFEZqTLPM/s320/cover%20LISA%20A.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In poems and a few lyric essays, <i>Mom in Space</i>
addresses infertility, parenting, and chronic illness through the perspective
of a woman interested in the history and biology of spaceflight. With an eye on
both the intergalactic and the terrestrial, these poems take place on an Earth
affected by climate change, nuclear waste, and racism: “We don’t have enough
rare-earth / metals to build a fleet of starships. // We just have the rare
Earth” (“Calamity Days”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which essay or poem did you most enjoy writing? Why? And,
which essay or poem gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I enjoyed writing a lot of the book—when I tell people about
the writing that happened in 2020 and 2021 in particular, I often just say in
amazement, “It was so fun!” Of course, some of the poems tapped into
emotionally challenging experiences (see below), but “Alpha,” for example, felt
like wordplay and spending time with concepts that fascinate me, like the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/stories/van-allen-belts/">Van
Allen belts</a> of radiation and the radio waves that come from <a href="https://public.nrao.edu/radio-astronomy/pulsars/">pulsar stars</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Lava Tubes on the Moon” gave me the most trouble, in a way.
I’d been wanting to write a poem with that title for quite a while, but that’s
not usually how my creative process works, so I had a lot of false starts. Then
I started writing a poem about my experience of miscarriage with my husband,
thinking about what <i>he</i> might have felt, since so much of the book is me
processing that and other things. I struggled to have those two concepts live
in the same space together for a while, I struggled to revisit that moment in
the hospital, and I struggled to figure out the poem’s form until I thought
about really long lines (that would still fit on a 6 x 9 page of poetry)
alternating with emptiness, gaps—tubes, if you will. Until the speaker brought
out sweatpants and spinach dip, the poem felt very inert as well. I’m happy
with how it turned out in the end, though I don’t know if it’ll be one I choose
for readings because of how it brings me back there to that hospital bed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Because I published my second book at LSU Press and they had
first right of refusal for my next project, I knew there was a strong chance to
work with them again—but that I had to do the work as if I was pitching to them
for the first time. I loved working with them and was interested in doing so
again. Once I felt like the book was ready, I sent it to James Long, curator of
the poetry series. They sent it to a peer reviewer (university press!), who
recommended to publish it with a few small suggestions for revision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, in my case, publication wasn’t as difficult as getting
to the book itself—that’s more like the low point. After my son was born in
2015, I didn’t do much new writing. I kept submitting what became <a href="https://lsupress.org/9780807171196/"><i>Romances</i></a>, but individual
poem drafts often failed. Then in 2019, I got notified by the Hermitage Artist
Retreat that I’d been awarded a residency there—the kick is that I <i>had never
applied</i>; they choose their residents differently. I was floored and
flummoxed. I wasn’t sure at first I could take time away from my family. But I
did, in February 2020, and I brought along a book about the Apollo program I’d
been wanting to read since we’d visited an Apollo 11 capsule exhibit at the
Cincinnati Museum Center. I got hooked and started writing space poems and
reading more about spaceflight. Two weeks after I got home from Florida, the
pandemic lockdown began, and the combination of time, fear (about the pandemic
as well as a spinal arthritis I’d just developed), and space obsession put the
book into motion at last. As I say in “Neil and Me and Work and the Body,” an
essay in the book, “A pandemic raged, my body hurt, but I could escape to
space.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That a fallow period—which somehow <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fallow%20period">is even
listed in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary</a>!—is okay. I’m loosely in such a
place now, dabbling with a few things but between focused work. As I mentioned
above, I was in a fallow period for years before things kicked into gear in
2020. Just till the soil and fill the well with reading, beauty, contentment,
and perhaps other kinds of creative work until it’s time to enter an active
time again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">At times while I worked on this book, I found myself writing
down things I wouldn’t say out loud or bring up in conversation. I loved the
rhythm of “My mother never taught me / to hover over the / public bathroom
toilet” (the opening of “Public Intimacies”), but I was surprised that I’d put
it into words, then in a poem, then submitted that poem to magazines, then
included the poem in a book I knew might get published. I’m vulnerable in this
book in ways that surprise me still. I wonder if part of that vulnerability
stems from how much of the writing happened in the first year of the pandemic,
when I had more time to be alone and introspective and feel like I wasn’t in
the public sphere.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">During the early days of the pandemic, my husband, son, and
I spent a lot of time relaxing on couches together. I don’t remember exactly
when, but at some point in that era, my son (then four or five), was talking as
he is wont to do while he plays games on his tablet. He knows I like space—I
was probably reading a book about SkyLab or the shuttle program—and among the
other slightly singsong-y things he said was “a mom in space.” I typed it into
the notes app on my phone right away. So, I knew fairly early in the process
what the title <i>could</i> be, and it probably shaped some of the work that
happened after that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Well, since I mentioned spinach dip above, <a href="https://www.food.com/recipe/spinach-artichoke-dip-1209">here’s a pretty
simple version</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://lisaampleman.com/">https://lisaampleman.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK~~<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">PUBLISHER SITE: <a href="https://lsupress.org/9780807181256/mom-in-space/">https://lsupress.org/9780807181256/mom-in-space/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">SIGNED COPIES: <a href="https://downboundbooks.com/ampleman">Downbound Books</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ 2 POEMS FROM THIS BOOK: <a href="https://therumpus.net/2021/12/21/rumpus-original-poetry-two-poems-by-lisa-ampleman/">https://therumpus.net/2021/12/21/rumpus-original-poetry-two-poems-by-lisa-ampleman/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-23337662683131370702024-01-22T09:23:00.001-05:002024-01-22T09:26:26.198-05:00AWP24: Survival Guide!<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">And away we go! AWP24 is about to descend upon Kansas City,
and maybe we won’t be as adorable as Taylor Swift cheering on the Chiefs from a
toasty luxury box, but I'm pretty sure 10,000 writers can cut a wide
swath through a town….</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Time to update my AWP survival tips, honed after (yikes!)
20ish years of attending AWP conferences. "Survival guide" takes on a
different feel in what is being called a "post-pandemic world," so my
main point is to do what you need to feel safe personally and to take actions
to protect the safety of others. For me, the risk of eating in a restaurant
might feel personally worth it, but then how hard is it to sit quietly in a
large room, listening to other people speak and wear a mask? My main tip here
is to be thoughtful with regard to mask etiquette. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ten thousand writers is a lot of angst, need, and glory to pack
into one convention center…here are my tried & true & freshly updated
tips for success, based on my experience at past conferences:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wear comfortable shoes, at least most of the day. There’s
lots of traipsing around long hallways and the long (sometimes uncarpeted)
aisles of the book fair. It’s also inevitable that the one panel you really,
really, really want to see will be in a teeny-tiny room and you’ll have to
stand in the back…or sit on the floor; see the following tip:<br />
<br />
Wear comfortable clothes, preferably taking a layer approach. Wherever you go,
you will end up either in A) an incredibly stuffy room that will make you melt,
or B) a room with an arctic blast directed at you. Bulk up and strip down as
needed. Also, as noted above, despite their best efforts, the AWP conference
staff has a knack for consistently misjudging the size of room required for a
subject matter/speakers (i.e. Famous Writer in room with 30 chairs; grad
student panel on Use of Dashes in Obscure Ancient Greek Poet in room with 300
chairs). I suppose it’s hard to determine who is “famous” and so on…in any
event, you don’t want to find yourself scrunched into a 2’x2’ square on the
carpet, and so see the following tip:<br />
<br />
To avoid being stuck sitting on the floor, arrive early to panels you really,
really want to attend. And, in fact, official AWP does not sanction sitting on
the floor because it’s a fire hazard and you’ll be creating a barrier to
those who have accessibility needs. Not sure how they feel about standing
in a herd in the back? The point is, don’t sit on the floor—be mindful of
others if there’s a herd of standees, and arrive early.<br />
<br />
If a panel is bad, ditch it. Yes, it’s rude. Yes, everyone does it. (Be better
than the rest by at least waiting for an appropriate break, but if you must go
mid-word, GO.) I can’t tell you the high caliber of presenters that I have
walked out on, but think Very High. Remember that there are a thousand other
options, and you have choices. The only time you have to stick it out is if A)
the dull panel participant is your personal friend or B) the dull panel
participant is/was your teacher or C) the dull panel participant is your
editor/publisher. Those people will notice (and remember) that you abandoned
them mid-drone and punish you accordingly (i.e. your glowing letters of rec
will flicker and fade). Undoubtedly this is why I have never been published in
Unnamed Very High Caliber Magazine, having walked out on that editor’s panel.<br />
<br />
There are zillions of panels. And there's an app. Sadly for me, I dislike apps
and I miss the massive tome of information and the smaller printed guide. BUT!
Time marches on. If you're not an app person, and maybe even if you are, I
suggest taking the time NOW to go to AWP’s website and scroll through the
schedule and select EVERY panel that sounds even moderately interesting, and
load those into the “my schedule” feature. Keep that stored on your favorite
technology (mine is a sheaf of printed paper…which may be smart since I often
forget how/where to re-access “my schedule,” which requires logging in and
somehow finding “my account”; I assume app people are more adept than I
am). Anyway…no point waking up early on Friday if there’s nothing you
want to attend. I checkmark panels I might go to if nothing better is going on
and star those that I will make a supreme effort to attend. Give yourself a
couple of options at each time slot so that if a room is too crowded, you have
an interesting alternative.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial;">I like to choose a variety of panels: people I know, people
I’ve heard of, genres I don’t write but am curious about, topics I want to
educate myself on. Stretch yourself. I also like to go to a reading in which I
don’t know any of the readers, just to have a lovely sense of discovery! And
don’t forget the ninety-trillion off-site events! (I suspect you’ll end up
depressed if </span><b style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>every single panel</u></i></b><span style="font-family: arial;"> you attend is
How To Get Published…remember, the way to get published, really, is to be an
amazing writer. You’ll be better off going to some panels that will help you in
that pursuit.)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
<br />
Someone will always ask a 20-minute question that is not so much a question but
a way of showing off their own (imagined) immense knowledge of the subject and
an attempt to erase the (endlessly lingering) sting of bitterness about having
their panel on the same topic rejected. <i>Don’t be that person.</i> Keep
your question succinct and relevant. Also, everyone is groaning inwardly
anytime someone says, “I have a question and a comment” or anytime someone
starts out by saying, “Well, in my work-in-progress, the main character is….”<br />
<br />
Don’t say anything gossipy on the elevator, unless you want the whole
(literary) world to know it. Do listen up to the conversations of others on the
elevator, and tell your friends absolutely everything you’ve overheard during
your offsite dinner.<br />
<br />
Same advice above exactly applies to the overpriced hotel bar. Also, if
you happen to get a chair at the bar, or, goodness, EVEN A REAL LIVE TABLE,
hang on to it!! People will join you if they see you’ve got a spot!
Famous people! I mean it: the only reason to ever give up a table in the hotel
bar is because the bar has shut down, you’ve consumed every bit of liquid in
the clutter of glasses, and a beefy bouncer is headed your way. (Also, here’s a
fun fact: AWP alcohol consumption often breaks sales records at hotels.) (Also,
related, don’t forget that Sober AWP offers meetings.)</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of famous people or former teachers or friends…do
not say something like this in one long breathless opening sentence right after
hugging/fist-bumping hello:
“Great-to-see-you-can-you-write-a-blurb-letter-of-rec-piece-for-my-anthology?”
Ask for favors AFTER the conference! I mean, unless you enjoy that
uncomfortable moment and awkward triumph of trapping someone into saying
reluctantly yes in the hopes that then you'll go away.<br />
<br />
Support the publications at the bookfair. Set a budget for yourself in advance
and spend some money on literary journals and books and subscriptions, being
sure to break your budget. Do this, and then you won’t feel bad picking up the
stuff that’s been heavily discounted or being given away free on the last day
of the conference. But, please, definitely do spend some money! These journals
and presses rely on OUR support.<br />
<br />
Just because something is free, you don’t have to take it. Unless you drove,
you’ll have to find a way to bring home all those heavy books/journals on an
airplane. Or you’ll have to wait in line at the hotel’s business center or the
UPS store at the convention center to ship them home. So, be as discerning as
you can when you see that magic markered “free” sign on top of a pile of
sad-looking journals, abandoned by the grad students who didn’t feel like
dealing with their university's bookfair table.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Try not to approach the table of each journal at the
bookfair with this question: “How can I get published in your journal?” Also, I
recommend avoiding this one: “How come you didn’t publish my
poem/story/essay/screed?” Try instead: “What a beautiful journal. Please
tell me more about it.” Even better: “I’m thinking about subscribing.”<br />
<br />
It may be too late for some of you, but it’s inevitable that you will see every
writer you’ve ever met in the aisle of the bookfair at one AWP or another…so I
hope you were nice to all of them and never screwed anyone over. Because, yes,
they will remember, and it’s not fun reliving all that drama as the editors
of <i>The Georgia Review</i> gaze on.<br />
<br />
Pre-arrange some get-togethers with friends/teachers/grad student buddies, but
don’t over-schedule. You’ll run into people, or meet people, or be invited to a
party, or find an amazing off-the-beaten-track bar. Save some time
for spontaneity! (Yes, I realize that I’m saying “plan” for spontaneity.)<br />
<br />
Don’t laugh at this, but bring along Purell and USE IT often. Even before
Covid, post-AWP social media updates are filled with writers bemoaning the
deathly cold/sore throat/lingering and mysterious illness they picked up at
AWP. We’re a sniffly, sneezy, wheezy, germy bunch, and the thought of 10,000
of us packed together breathing on each other, shaking hands, and giving
fake hugs of glee gives what’s left of the CDC nightmares.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial;">Along the lines of healthcare, don’t forget to drink a lot
of water and pop an Advil before going to sleep if (haha…if!) you’ve been
drinking a little more than usual. (Also note that AWP offers a daily 12-step
meeting open to all in recovery. Please take care of yourself.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Escape! Whether it’s offsite dinners/drinks/museums/walks
through park/mindless shopping or whatever, do leave at some point. You will
implode if you don’t. Also, the food on the convention floor is
consistently overpriced and icky…you will starve if this is your entire diet. KC is the home of legendary barbecue! An awesome art museum! Baseball's Negro League Hall of Fame! <i>Please leave the convention center!</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bring your cellphone charger and maybe even a portable
charger. Or maybe you like huddling around electrical outlets?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial;">I can’t believe I’m writing this: I miss the Dance Party. It
was a good way to work off stress and reenergize after a long, sometimes
daunting day after too many snubs, imagined and real. I mean, I’m sure there
are all kinds of interesting undercurrents and nuances out there in the depths
of that packed dance floor…but also, on the surface, it can just be FUN. I
would love to see it return. In the meantime, look for ways to handle YOUR
stress that do not include camping at the hotel bar: the quiet room/s, prompt
writing, a long walk, yoga.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This is a super-secret tip that I never share, but I’ll
share it as a reward for those who have read this far: there will be a
bathroom that’s off the beaten track and therefore is never crowded. Scope out
this bathroom early on. Don’t tell anyone except your closest friends the
location of this bathroom. Wear your mask in every public bathroom, and if you
doubt me, google "toilet plumes."<br />
<br />
Finally, take a deep breath. You’re just as much of a writer as the other
9,999 people around you. Don’t let them get to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-38423242778893971212024-01-15T12:26:00.002-05:002024-01-15T12:27:33.854-05:00TBR: Greenwood by Mark Morrow<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><u>Editor's note</u>: I'm making an exception to the site's policy of excluding self-published books, because Mark is a dear friend and a long-time member of my prompt writing group of 15 years and because he's a fantastic writer and because I think his journey toward self-publishing is illuminating for all of us, with an honest discussion of the biz side of agents/NYC editors. (If you would like to read more about our prompt group, you can check this <a href="https://www.awpwriter.org/magazine_media/writers_notebook_view/39/prompt_writing_not_just_for_workshop">link</a>.)</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUb0XPE9ME9Mtl00DQfbAAlXppQ2W2GxUx-lCdtRl1fvoTQzu-E3L7gnasSTcO5j2Lxogo5kcy_Il_6cvfBLpa39EjNMxMUaSV7C-jHuqygBwJiu_8ZuTnUEvKfDC1sx4dFywqrj5mYfnPjV4PL6K6vcFjgdByDnHU3QYfZyauOwYw2YiIEFpZe3ayWw/s2727/mark%20morrow.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2727" data-original-width="1998" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUb0XPE9ME9Mtl00DQfbAAlXppQ2W2GxUx-lCdtRl1fvoTQzu-E3L7gnasSTcO5j2Lxogo5kcy_Il_6cvfBLpa39EjNMxMUaSV7C-jHuqygBwJiu_8ZuTnUEvKfDC1sx4dFywqrj5mYfnPjV4PL6K6vcFjgdByDnHU3QYfZyauOwYw2YiIEFpZe3ayWw/s320/mark%20morrow.jpg" width="234" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Unlike Carol Kennicott in Sinclair Lewis’ <i>Main Street</i>,
the characters in this book of connected short stories are perfectly happy to
live in their hometown and to fully embrace the quirky, baffling and often contradictory
behaviors of their fellow citizens. It’s a book that celebrates human connection
and the hope found in the simple act of accepting we are all part of a mostly well-meaning
but flawed collective humanity. It’s a book that is ultimately an open
invitation for its readers, no matter their origins, to come home again for a
long overdue visit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
story gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Marilee’s Fishpond” is ostensibly the story of a goal-oriented
and insistent wife who wants her habitually procrastinating husband to “get off
the dime” and build the fishpond he had been promising to build in their generous
backyard. It’s a story that reflects the 37-year relationship I had with my
strong-willed and goal-oriented wife. It’s a thinly viewed nod to my wife’s
ebullient and get-it-done personality that close friends who have read the book
noted without any prompting from me. Especially in this passage:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For Stewart’s part, he didn’t think of himself as a
procrastinator, but as someone who gave things what he called “due
consideration.” It was a fine point they had long ago agreed to disagree on. As
for Marilee, she thought of herself as a doer: someone who put important tasks
on a punch list in her head where they stayed, spinning around like a
ham-and-cheese sandwich order clipped to a short order cook’s ticket wheel,
insistently spinning and endlessly worrying until the order was pulled down,
cooked, and plated.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It’s a story that celebrates how a deep and abiding love can
exist between two people who approach life in such fundamentally different ways.
This dynamic of the couple’s seemingly divergent personalities is layered upon
the clear devotion Marilee and her husband Stewart have for one another. It is
what makes this a sweet and loving story. And also, one of my favorites in the
collection. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The story that was hardest to write was the signature story,
“Greenwood.” What began as a story to put a frame around the town and its
history, traditions, and governing societal structures quickly grew into
novella dimensions. Scaling the story back to a more reasonable length was a
challenge requiring me to leave behind many refined and well-crafted manuscript
pages. As always, the cutting was a blessing in disguise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Greenwood</i> was originally written to fulfill a
long-promised request by my friends who had enjoyed my posts on social media,
mainly about my travels and life’s many adventures and misadventures, mostly
taken with my adventurous wife. It was also written to fulfill a promise to my
writing group who, much like Stewart in “Marilee’s Fishpond”, had insisted it
was time that I “finished something,” although this prodding was done less insistently,
and a bit gentler than Marilee could ever muster. When Covid happened, I took it
as my best opportunity to make good on my years of promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I wrote throughout the Covid years and ended up with 12
completed, loosely connected stories – this idea of connecting them dawned on
me after completing perhaps three stories. Once the stories were completed, I
spent a few months refining these connections and linkages and sent the
manuscript to an agent friend who I simply asked to “let me know if this is any
good.” After about a week, she called me back and excitedly told me she “loved”
the book and wanted to represent it. This was not something I expected at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After a few months of reworking the book and a professional
editing of the manuscript, my agent began sending query letters to her editor
list. I was surprised how relatively quickly – just a few weeks – the editors
got back to my agent. I was also surprised that they had actually read it and even
better gave me thoughtful feedback, most of it positive. Unfortunately, after a
few sentences of praise and/or light criticism, came the “take a pass” let
down. Here is a good example.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Thanks so much for sharing Mark Morrow’s collection GREENWOOD.
Morrow strikes a wonderful balance of levity, pathos, and wit, echoing some of
the best Southern fiction writers of the fifty years. He has great success in
portraying the town of Greenwood as a physical location, a spiritual condition,
and a strong extended metaphor. That said, we’re going to pass on this. It’s a
wonderful collection but we’re not looking to acquire short fiction at the
moment. We’re really just targeting memoirs and novels. Thanks again for
thinking of us for this. We’re certain it will find the right home. Please keep
in touch if there’s anything else you think we might be interested in!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One of the New York editors I classified as clearly
aspirational at the outset, said the collection was “well-crafted, poignant …
and thoughtfully composed.” Another New York editor “appreciated” the “earnest
sensibilities” of the characters and “abundant Southern mood” and in general
all liked the book. However, these positives positive impressions were followed
by well-warranted criticism, mainly that the stories needed more cohesion and
momentum or in one case “were not perfect.” The editor’s <i>take a pass </i>sendoff
came soon after.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My agent had better luck with a well-regarded regional
publisher who called my agent within a few days to schedule a meeting to talk
about getting the book before the editorial board. This was exciting and I
thought we’d found a home for the book, but as it goes, this round of
encouraging news ended with a <i>take a pass</i> judgment as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It was all very disappointing, but at the same time I was
buoyed by the positive reactions I’d gotten, and so I returned to my original
plan – self publishing. I called an independent designer I’d used for years when
I was a developmental editor who had walked many of my clients through the
process. I turned the project over to her. She arranged editing by an excellent
editor who offer excellent suggestions for improvement. I made the changes and
two months later the book was published on Amazon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My first writing teacher told us that “ideas are a dime a
dozen, that’s the easy part. Starting and finishing a book based on your idea …
well, there’s the rub. It’s harder than you think.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The most surprising (and satisfying) aspect of the process
was what I learned by facing down the many moments when I thought I had
“nothing” and “nowhere to go” with a story line. Not so much the classic
writers block where the author is in complete despair and worried that it’s all
been a waste of time, but more the “lost in the wilderness” feeling. When this happened,
I simply put the story aside and determined to come back to it later. And of
course, something always did come to me eventually. I thought it was a good
lesson for living life, as well as useful in the finishing of a book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Choosing the title of the book, <i>Greenwood</i>, was
somewhat random and the decision was made out of necessity. Most of the stories
in the collection were begun as prompts in my writing group. I would often
write about characters who lived in a small town, but I’d never really
specified a town where the characters lived. When I began bringing the stories together,
I mentally clicked off familiar towns from my native South Carolina and I
simply chose the town of Greenwood because I liked how it sounded. Just like
that, the characters had a hometown.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sorry, no Ritz Cracker casserole recipes to share.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK: <a href="http://www.greenwoodthebook.com/">www.greenwoodthebook.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">BUY THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Greenwood-Mark-Morrow/dp/B0CMWMVSVF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CJFRNSLH6ZGX&keywords=greenwood+mark+morrow&qid=1704834194&s=books&sprefix=greenwood+mark+morrow%2Cstripbooks%2C84&sr=1-1">https://www.amazon.com/Greenwood-Mark-Morrow</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ AN EXCERPT FROM THIS BOOK: <a href="http://www.greenwoodthebook.com/">www.greenwoodthebook.com</a>, and click on
“Read the Preface.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-43530489024693783092024-01-08T14:01:00.000-05:002024-01-08T14:01:31.984-05:00TBR: The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of Integration by David Nicholson<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wtkexzAhUPhOJe2XuaAfLh00EtEo-DY4nLisbhVp-gA3-w7YAVB-IHdSuJsdZRpSZ5KUZGmctz28QFxQe2CsZN_O7PomCdh95qvLSL7BVJ7QOylTQco-vTPSwLDDNMGuTc4deVBxqMS-9_QJaPI6ibNikYeyaI_m2SAvQQgWaMARhi5NrFJfRdQS-1Q/s2700/Nicholson_cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wtkexzAhUPhOJe2XuaAfLh00EtEo-DY4nLisbhVp-gA3-w7YAVB-IHdSuJsdZRpSZ5KUZGmctz28QFxQe2CsZN_O7PomCdh95qvLSL7BVJ7QOylTQco-vTPSwLDDNMGuTc4deVBxqMS-9_QJaPI6ibNikYeyaI_m2SAvQQgWaMARhi5NrFJfRdQS-1Q/s320/Nicholson_cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Garretts of Columbia</i> is a warts-and-all family
history that begins with an African who bought his freedom in 1819 and continues
with the stories of my great-grandfather and his family. “Papa,” as I call him in
the book, was a lawyer, newspaper editor, and teacher. Oft-sued for libel, he was
a quixotic idealist once dubbed black South Carolina’s “most respected disliked
man.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What boundaries did you break in the writing of this
memoir? Where does that sort of courage come from?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The introduction, titled “Confessions of a Weary
Integrationist” is as close to memoir as “The Garretts of Columbia” gets. That
said, I often tell the reader what people in the book thought or felt, so
there’s a fair amount of imagination and interpretation. If I broke any boundaries,
it was in recounting family stories told at the holiday table when certain
older relatives were a little tipsy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Courage? Nah. I waited till anyone who might complain was
gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Publication was relatively easy: The first university press
I sent it to accepted it. But “The Garretts of Columbia” was decades in the
making. Sometimes I thought I’d never finish. I spent time in many archives and
countless hours online, grateful that so much had been digitized. At one point,
the MS was more than 200,000 words—much too long! Part of it’s now another book
that begins with my grandparents’ courtship and their move to Washington, D.C.,
as part of the Great Migration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Must I choose one? The bulletin board above my writing desk
is feathered with index cards and scrawled notes. Flannery O’Connor said, “You
can do anything you can get away with, but nobody has ever gotten away with
much.” Edgar Allen Poe said, essentially, make every word count. And Katherine
Anne Porter and Miles Davis gave me hope. She assured me that, while writing
can’t be taught, it can be learned. And he said, “Man, sometimes it takes you a
long time to sound like yourself.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes the insights I came to, such as the notion that my
great-grandparents were Black Victorians. Sometimes what I discovered about
them. Papa, my great-grandfather, was a pugnacious sort—he was twice attacked
on the street because of his editorials, and he once punched an AME bishop during
a dispute! Some sources say he was the first person sued after South Carolina
revised its libel laws. Not surprisingly, he was fired from his teaching job
and his wife—I call her Mama in the book—had to go to work. She became supervisor
of her county’s rural colored schools (as they were called then), driving from
hamlet to hamlet to evaluate teachers, conduct literacy drives, teach home ec
to farm wives, and oversee the construction of schoolhouses. At age 51, she learned
to drive, braving narrow, rutted roads in a Ford “touring car” because she had
so many schools to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And their children: One wrote a musical with Langston Hughes
in the 1920s. (It was never produced.) Another taught for nearly two years in
Haiti during World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s something about your book that you want readers to
know?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is a book about men and women who believed in the
possibility of America, even when America did not believe in them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Apart from a description of two Thanksgiving dinners early
in the book, there’s no food to be found. Sorry!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.davidnicholson.info/">www.davidnicholson.info</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK: <a href="https://uscpress.com/The-Garretts-of-Columbia">https://uscpress.com/The-Garretts-of-Columbia</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <a href="https://www.politics-prose.com/online-ordering">https://www.politics-prose.com/online-ordering</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"> </span>OR <a href="https://www.sankofa.com/">https://www.sankofa.com</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-60161208875222753432023-12-04T11:09:00.007-05:002023-12-04T11:11:25.749-05:002023: Best Books (I Read)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeppx0l2gp6w3aATUnoOgxplLiiLRRb-0cGiaLAbTT65wF3HdEC-Htg231S91bOA-C4ZaxVq24NWxvzlvpdv1VCeeZ7IGrv9L0bMKwcKYwe8UoKAjjs-_bC6kMFwkzWlEJFelmyUek81wvnMNrLTn0A4udZs_5YvIsx706y9qMpGi7EsksyOojmuh0uXo/s3899/bookcase%20split%20lip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3899" data-original-width="2617" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeppx0l2gp6w3aATUnoOgxplLiiLRRb-0cGiaLAbTT65wF3HdEC-Htg231S91bOA-C4ZaxVq24NWxvzlvpdv1VCeeZ7IGrv9L0bMKwcKYwe8UoKAjjs-_bC6kMFwkzWlEJFelmyUek81wvnMNrLTn0A4udZs_5YvIsx706y9qMpGi7EsksyOojmuh0uXo/s320/bookcase%20split%20lip.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Time for my annual list, along with the accompanying list of
caveats: these are, simply put, the best books I read over the course of the
year. I try to narrow things down to 10ish books, which is awfully hard. I
definitely read (and ADORE!) books by my writer friends , but I try to keep
those books off this list. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it, that ALL
lists are subjective. In my personal definition of “best,” I mean some magical
alchemy of<i> this</i> book at <i>this</i> time that hit me <i>this</i> way.
The order is chronological, so don’t spend time parsing out why one book is
first, another last. Also, I had to eliminated some VERY EXCELLENT books to
keep my list tidy, and YES, I feel terrible about doing so.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Night of the Living Rez</i> by Morgan Talty (short
stories)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This collection of stories is perhaps my most recommended
book of the year, tied with <i>The Disappeared</i> (below). I read a lot of linked
story collections this year. I especially love loosely linked stories that feel
in conversation with each other vs. stories marching out a plot. These are set
on and around a Native community in Maine, and yes, there’s much heartbreak and
hardship, but mostly there’s perseverance and depth and compassion. I defy
anyone to slide on by that first story without feeling gripped by the throat. Highly
accomplished collection, and if you want to feel depressed, I’ll drop in that
the author was 31 years old when this book was published.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist
Abortion Service</i> by Laura Kaplan (nonfiction)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">An immersive, well-organized account of the underground
women’s collective in Chicago known as “Jane” that provided safe (but illegal)
abortions before Roe v. Wade. Maybe not the most elegantly written book, but
given the vastness and complexities of the topic, it does an excellent job at
ferreting out the group’s historical origins and at helping us understand why
these women would risk so much to help other women eliminate an unwanted
pregnancy. The tone is very matter-of-fact, which does make for some grim
moments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and
Heroism in Colonial Africa</i> by Adam Hochschild (nonfiction)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I don’t know enough about African history, and this book
does an excellent job showing the horrors of colonialism as seen through the
Belgians’ exploitive rampage through the Belgian Congo (now known as The
Democratic Republic of the Congo), in East Africa. Greed, abuse, hearts of utter
darkness…and some folks along the way who stood up to try to correct the
situation as best they could. Reads like a novel…and if only it were fiction.
(Also, given exploitative mining and other abuses continuing in the DRC, if
only this were all in the past.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 88.3pt;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Deer Season</i> by Erin
Flanagan (novel)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This book (and its foreboding cover) called to me from the
shelves of the Elliot Bay Book Company while I was in Seattle for AWP. Billed
as a “literary mystery,” a teenage girl goes missing and everyone leaps to
conclusions about the intellectually disabled farmhand. My Iowa-girl-self loved
that the book was set in Nebraska with tiny midwestern details I appreciated.
And the sense of place was powerful—close-knit? Or utterly claustrophobic?
Alternating POVs worked perfectly which is hard to pull off IMO.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Training School for Negro Girls</i> by Camille Acker
(short stories)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stories set in Washington, DC…given my most recent book of
stories set in DC, how could I not be intrigued? Complex, nuanced,
well-observed, these stories show us Black culture in the city, starting with a
story that prickled the hair on the back of my neck. The final story was a
lovely echo and elegy to DC that made me nostalgic and homesick, though I’ve
never known that place or been part of that community. For old-time DC folks,
there’s a wonderful novella in which Len Bias plays a role. (IYKYK: no happy
ending there.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Tinkers</i> by Paul Harding (novel)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I believe that books come along at the right time. Of course,
I’d heard of this book, the small press book “no one heard of” that won the
Pulitzer in 2010, but I hadn’t felt the desire to read it until A) seeing a
random tweet talking about how excellent it was; followed by B) finding a nice
copy for sale for $2 at the annual used book sale I attend. Wow! A stunner. I’m
not always a big fan of densely lyrical books, but I was promptly won over. The
“plot” of thinking back over a life makes <i>Tinkers</i> feel more like a poem
than a novel—in a good way. I wish I’d been able to read this short novel in a
day, as I imagine that would be a richer experience, but alas. Here’s one of my
favorite lines: “The wonder of anything is that it was made in the first
place.” Very aggravating to think of mainstream publishers passing on this
masterpiece!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Family Happiness</i> by Laurie Colwin (novel)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’ve long adored Laurie Colwin’s food writing and her short
stories and am among the legions who wish she had lived much, much, much longer
than her 48 years. In shuffling around books when arranging my new shelves, I
came across <i>Family Happiness</i>, which I couldn’t remember reading. In the
mood for a New York-y story (which hers almost inevitably are), I dug in. What
a quietly subversive book about a woman who’s expected to be and beloved for
being “perfect.” Yet, she’s having an extra-marital affair. Yet, the reader is
GLAD she is! Yet, her life is so amazing and she loves her husband! How to
write a resolution that will be true to this emotionally complicated set-up? Laurie
Colwin is brave. Bonus: lots of food!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Disappeared</i> by Andrew Porter (short stories)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What an exquisite collection! Each story was virtually
perfect. Infused with longing and existential loss, with cigarettes and wine,
with mid-life couples searching for something. That description may speak to a
certain similarity, but I found that each story felt separate and unique. As
noted above, this was probably one of my two most recommended books of the
year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Barbarians at the Gates: The Fall of RJR Nabisco</i>
by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar (nonfiction)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You can’t expect to “know” my new home of Winston-Salem, NC,
without understanding the role Reynolds Tobacco and the company’s founder, R.J.
Reynolds, played in creating the town. Streets, schools, hospital wings, etc…it
feels like everything is named after Reynolds or people who ran the company
after the founder died. As I grappled with learning this history, every single
person I spoke to told me to read <i>Barbarians at the Gates</i>. The 500+
page-length scared me off initially, but once I picked it up, this book MOVES.
It’s about tobacco and Winston-Salem, but mostly it’s about corporate greed and
Wall Street and how the financial things that went down in the go-go eighties
are still reverberating today. (Only the language changes: today we say, “private
equity firm,” not, “corporate raider.”) This town has not forgiven F. Ross
Johnson for packing up the company’s headquarters, for setting in motion the
leveraged buyout to haul in a bajillion dollars…and I better understand why not
now, despite the cash payout many locals and employees got from having to sell their
stock in the takeover.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Mama Said</i> by Kristen Gentry (short stories)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Linked stories set in Louisville, Kentucky, about the
members of a tangled Black family, about staying vs. going, about loving each
other when it feels hard to do so. If you’re trying to write a story with a
large cast of characters, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A Satisfying
Meal,” set during two stressful Thanksgivings, will show you how to do it well.
Also, how is it possible that a bat swooping through the house is horrifying
and perfectly comic?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The
Surreal Heart of the New Russia</i> by Peter Pomerantsev (nonfiction)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Published in 2014, this must be one of the most prescient
books around. The author, son of Russian emigrees, settled in London, but moves
to Russia for nine years as the country is settling into itself after the
break-up of the USSR. Jillionaire oligarchs, pretty blonde models, an elaborate
web of corruption and bribery…we think we know about all that. Beyond is a
surreal life that mirrors reality television (the author’s a filmmaker, working
for state-sponsored networks), where the story is always shaped, forming and
reforming, and no one knows what the truth is, or really cares. Reading this
was a window into the rise of authoritarianism and nationalism and wealth
funneling to a few—in Russia, because that’s where the book takes place. But
really, right here and right now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Mrs. Dalloway</i> by Virginia Woolf (novel) & <i>Virginia
Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway</i> by Robin Black (nonfiction)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This was a sublime reading experience! I had never read <i>Mrs.
Dalloway</i> (I know, I know). I’ll admit that reading stream-of-consciousness
is not necessarily the thing I most wanted to do at the end of a long day, but
perseverance was rewarded. This book, “about” a day in 1920s London, in which a
woman throws a party and a war veteran dies by suicide, shows that the ordinary
can be extraordinary, because this book is really “about” life and loss and
mental health and regrets and PTSD and love and thwarted love and London and
time and about a million more things. Woolf doesn’t need me to note she’s a
master of this complicated POV, even as she makes it look simple. I’ve also
read <i>Ulysess</i> (a fact I love wedging into conversation!), and comparing
the two is ridiculous…this book is by far the greater achievement IMO. A short
time after finishing the novel, I read Robin Black’s nonfiction book, an
appreciation of and exploration of <i>Mrs. Dalloway</i>, character and novel.
Black writes as a writer, looking closely at craft and authorial choices. Even
more importantly, she writes as a reader, bringing in her own experiences
through passages of memoir to explore how and why a book, this book, might
connect us across time. Juxtaposing these two books was a most excellent way to
end a lovely twelve months of reading!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">But before I go:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Once a week, I schedule writing by hand in a secluded spot,
and I always start my session by reading several poems to align my mind. It’s
clarifying to copy down lines and phrases I love in my little notebook. I
thought I’d share the books I’ve been dipping into during this past year of
writing/reading. I’ve found much inspiration in these pages and am deeply grateful
for and in utter admiration of poets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Fixed Star</i> by Suzanne Frischkorn<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Badass Brontes</i> by Jane Satterfield<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Thresh & Hold</i> by Marlanda Dekine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>All These Hungers</i> by Rick Mulkey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times</i> by Taylor Byas<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>What Light Leaves Hidden</i> by Terry Kennedy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Here’s to continued excellent reading in 2024!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-26964809357510646742023-11-13T12:19:00.000-05:002023-11-13T12:19:07.525-05:00TBR: All Things Edible, Random and Odd: Essays on Grief, Love and Food by Sheila Squillante<p> <b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIOvkfFSppBRgjafRAFWbahlPUzsBpj4-WdD-XLoQUfKsoq4vaRxCBmEGXiYcFIyNDbVJweT66ZsAROg7KW-J6Vg42fsk8mVyg21nNcaEcoef79MXnrZ5M2GV-RU5Av3LqnOdiSG7b9jIqRfMXTpJnWgpshSHcwKg339v-am4b8EZ219RPGs2eDeL2_8/s1216/squillante%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIOvkfFSppBRgjafRAFWbahlPUzsBpj4-WdD-XLoQUfKsoq4vaRxCBmEGXiYcFIyNDbVJweT66ZsAROg7KW-J6Vg42fsk8mVyg21nNcaEcoef79MXnrZ5M2GV-RU5Av3LqnOdiSG7b9jIqRfMXTpJnWgpshSHcwKg339v-am4b8EZ219RPGs2eDeL2_8/s320/squillante%20cover.jpg" width="218" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>All Things Edible</i> expresses the complexities of
unresolved relationships, the importance of shared experiences, and how family
and food make us who we are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which essay did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
essay gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I had such fun writing “The Greenland Shark” because I
borrowed the format from a Wikipedia entry and included much more research than
is typical of my largely memoiristic essays. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“On Crying” was toughest to write because I was still raw
from my mother’s death from cancer earlier that year. While there are many
essays in the book about my father’s death, they were all written years later,
when I had emotional and narrative distance. I cried through the writing of “On
Crying,” and I cried the only time I’ve read it out loud. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This book has taken 20 years to find a publisher. This is
not an exaggeration. The earliest of these essays was written in 2003. When I
began, I expected it would be what I was calling a “mosaic” memoir focused only
on my relationship with my father, who died when I was in college, through the
lens of food and the meals we shared (when it was hard to share much else). But
the memoir market is fickle, and agents and publishers kept telling me it was
too fragmented/episodic. Too much like a linked short story collection when it
needed to be more like a novel in terms of development and arc. Well, that’s
not and clearly never was going to be what this book is. While it was painful
to keep getting told the writing was beautiful but the project unsellable over and
over, in the end I’m glad it took the time it did to find a home because it
allowed me to capture a much richer, more expansive portrait of my life. And most
of it still through the lens of food. It’s a far better book for having been
made to wait.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Don’t write what you know; write what you’re willing to
discover.”—the poet Yusef Komunyakaa<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Humor surprised me. I don’t think of myself as particularly
funny? And certainly the subject matter throughout is pretty heavy. So, it was
a nice surprise to find, and be told others found, moments of lightness or
laughter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My publisher, Christoph Paul of CLASH Books, finally found
the title, which is shared with the lead essay in the book, and which we both
love. But, funny thing: it’s also the name of the blog I started when I first
began writing about food and my father back in the early 2000’s. So,
pre-destined! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Oh yes! Come in hungry because we’ve got manicotti, meat
ragu, fermented shark, lamb shanks, chana daal, Christmas cookies coated with
Elmer’s Glue and at least three kinds of turtle soup. [See excerpt link below for
a recipe within an essay!]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: <a href="http://www.clashbooks.com/">www.clashbooks.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.clashbooks.com/new-products-2/sheila-squillante-all-things-edible-random-odd-preorder">https://www.clashbooks.com/new-products-2/sheila-squillante-all-things-edible-random-odd-preorder</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ AN ESSAY [IN THE FORM OF A RECIPE] FROM THIS BOOK, “Meat
Ragu a la Squillante”: <a href="https://sweetlit.com/5.1/proseSquillante.php">https://sweetlit.com/5.1/proseSquillante.php</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-66451188595142789022023-11-06T14:41:00.000-05:002023-11-06T14:41:57.073-05:00TBR: I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Kiyo Ito<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oUgwPfzer3cvhlW1I6YKGWyFkXVDyDLi5tlFb5ubrk_xTTwfOHbLZbZKKyy7rA2pACnGqn6mt6uRCdohnHaK31YHGTubgw1YBKnlCHKTZqR-PXxXo6ZYk7bQQaXOSx3Cy3f_7OHtzqigz2W9nAN1XBJu8AIPh_9wuQ7xB7aCpHFlJsmW8Yf6CBObeas/s2550/ITO%20COVER.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oUgwPfzer3cvhlW1I6YKGWyFkXVDyDLi5tlFb5ubrk_xTTwfOHbLZbZKKyy7rA2pACnGqn6mt6uRCdohnHaK31YHGTubgw1YBKnlCHKTZqR-PXxXo6ZYk7bQQaXOSx3Cy3f_7OHtzqigz2W9nAN1XBJu8AIPh_9wuQ7xB7aCpHFlJsmW8Yf6CBObeas/s320/ITO%20COVER.jpg" width="207" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My book is about being biracial, adopted and Japanese
American, seeking my birth family but discovering even more about identity,
family and belonging.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What boundaries did you break in the writing of this
memoir? Where does that sort of courage come from?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I broke a decades-long boundary of secrecy, of being held to
the idea that I had no right to tell this story. I wrote a poem at the age of
20, called “Living In Someone Else’s Closet,” about the being my birth mother’s
most deeply held secret. That feeling has pervaded my life for over 40 years
and I finally felt that I needed to break out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The courage, if it can be called that, came in large part
from feeling that enough was enough. I am now in my sixties. I’m a grandmother.
And to be tethered to someone else’s historic shame from the 1950s – I just
couldn’t do it anymore. At the same time, I respect my birth mother’s need for
privacy, and I did my best to maintain her anonymity in telling this story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It took so much longer (30 years!) than I had ever imagined.
When I first began it, in 1992, my MFA thesis advisor suggested that I was too
much in the middle of it, and it might need some time to marinate before I was
ready to share it with the world. My husband tried to reassure me by reminding
me that Frank McCourt was 65 when he published <i>Angela’s Ashes</i>, and I had
an absolute tantrum. There was no WAY I wanted that to happen to me. But in
hindsight, it’s better for me, and I truly believe it’s a better book. I wrote
so many different versions of it over the years. I wrote it as a novel, but in
trying to disguise it, my own voice and story were muffled. I’ve written memoir
versions in many formats. Thousands and thousands of pages, and many years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One of the highs has been my publisher’s immense patience
and belief in me. We started a conversation around this book about ten years
ago and they never pushed me, only encouraged and supported me. It took much
longer than I ever expected to get to this final draft, but they never gave up
on me or told me it was taking too long. I feel like this was a tremendous
gift.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Write what scares you.” I kind of love and hate and also
fully believe this. This is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How long it took, and that the arc of the story kept moving
further and further. But when it was finally finished, I knew it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>How did you find the title of your book?</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I had a number of really terrible or confusing titles, and
none of them felt right to me. But the title comes from the opening chapter,
from the moment before I met my birth mother. I started thinking a rhyme, kind
of along the lines of <i>Green Eggs & Ham</i>: “I would meet you in a box.
I would meet you with a fox. I would meet you.. anywhere.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My writing group suggested it to me after I’d submitted the
final manuscript, and the publisher agreed that it was the best one. I love it
because it starts out in reference to my birth mother, but throughout the book,
the “I” and the “you” shift in meaning. Sometimes it’s about myself and how I
come to understand my sense of identity. Sometimes it’s about my adoptive
family, or my paternal birth family. It’s about my newborn grandchild. It’s so
many things, and I feel like it encompasses the whole story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Haha, there’s a lot of ice cream references in this book,
specifically coffee chip ice cream (Haagen-Dasz!) and hot fudge sundaes. This
story once existed as a solo performance show called The Ice Cream Gene, and I
used to serve coffee chip ice cream after the show!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sushi and sashimi also appear more than once.
Here’s a recipe for my favorite salmon: (which we caught on a family fishing
trip the day before my wedding)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Ito Family Salmon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Large salmon filet<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Teriyaki sauce (either bottled or homemade)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Furikake, any flavor<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Slather filet generously with teriyaki sauce (our favorite
is Soy Vey’s Very Very Teriyaki, but any can be used, or a combination of soy
sauce and sugar, to taste).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sprinkle liberally with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furikake">furikake</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Roast in 425 oven for 20 minutes or until thickest part of
salmon is done. Can also be wrapped in tin foil and broiled on a gas or
barbecue grill. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Serve with white sushi-grade medium grain rice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://www.thesusanito.com/">https://www.thesusanito.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-would-meet-you-anywhere-a-memoir-susan-kiyo-ito/20027134?ean=9780814258835">https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-would-meet-you-anywhere-a-memoir-susan-kiyo-ito/20027134?ean=9780814258835</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-22554613634838104822023-10-23T11:28:00.000-04:002023-10-23T11:28:35.204-04:00TBR: Piano in the Dark by Nancy Naomi Carlson<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a
semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly
released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work
as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from
time to time, a recipe.</i></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFoLe-9x9h9LxcPqDDAIpiB0qke_HNTyX8Gh6dDh2p4BadCNhD5uoGntLRoQssnp0WBB-e3xsQANuMSpnly5gB3_4IH7O2fR7JgyNesfkMRzSWZIHG7Z19O3Ovt3i5xddNYxaczmGBiQtORf93_SjP0Dxqmpa4HdI983yN1-gUMBCpx08ePVoak6vpvK0/s2764/Piano%20in%20the%20Dark_Cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2764" data-original-width="1868" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFoLe-9x9h9LxcPqDDAIpiB0qke_HNTyX8Gh6dDh2p4BadCNhD5uoGntLRoQssnp0WBB-e3xsQANuMSpnly5gB3_4IH7O2fR7JgyNesfkMRzSWZIHG7Z19O3Ovt3i5xddNYxaczmGBiQtORf93_SjP0Dxqmpa4HdI983yN1-gUMBCpx08ePVoak6vpvK0/s320/Piano%20in%20the%20Dark_Cover.jpg" width="216" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />We don’t expect an elevator
pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences? <o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’m so glad you mentioned that
poets don’t really do elevator pitches, as the answer to “what’s this book
about” is often nebulous. To borrow verbiage from the jacket copy, this book
“fixes upon one of the few defenses we have to confront the body’s
betrayals—our words…though in the end, even the world’s last word ‘forgets its
name…has no word for this forgetting…” In a world scarred by pandemics, wars,
and violent tribalism, the givens are gone—'talismans we clung to, believing/
we might be spared in some way/ by marking our doors/ with our own sacrificial
blood.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What boundaries did you break
in the writing of this book? Where does that sort of courage come from? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’ve never before been asked this
question, but YES, boundaries were broken on many fronts in the making of this
book. Perhaps the biggest one was my decision to include a subtle theme of
abortion in a poem, and a not-so-subtle poem about abortion itself. I hoped my
story of making the decision to abort a pregnancy with a known inherited birth
defect, not compatible with life, might help others understand why a woman
might choose this option. With my day job training clinical mental health
graduate students, we talk about how trust is key to any counseling
relationship, and I felt that by including this topic near the end of the book
I may have banked up enough trust from the reader to be willing to consider
what I had to say about the topic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs
and lows of your book’s road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am very fortunate to have developed
a close and meaningful relationship with Naveen Kishore, the founder and
publisher of Seagull Books, located in Kolkata, and distributed by the
University of Chicago Press, who not only has published the majority of my nine
translations, but also my second full-length collection of poems, <i>An
Infusion of Violets</i> (Seagull, 2019). We consider one another “family,” and
when I approached him with this third full-length poetry volume, he
enthusiastically agreed to publish it. Honestly, I can’t think of any lows
here, and I never considered any other press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of
writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There are so many mantras running
through my head. “The more you write the more you write” gets me through any
writer’s block I may experience. Regarding managing expectations, I embrace the
“don’t expect it” approach. For example, if you expect you’ll get something
published/win a prize or a grant/ be invited to speak somewhere and it doesn’t
come to pass, you can end up crushed, and sometimes to the point of never
“putting yourself out there” again. If you expect something and it happens,
you’re delighted, but since you expected it, the pleasure is somehow muted. If
you don’t expect something and it doesn’t happen, you’re disappointed, but the
disappointment is also muted, since you expected it wouldn’t happen. The
greatest “high” for me is not expecting something that actually materializes! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is
“write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this
book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yes, this piece of advice also
resonates with me. If you don’t discover something by the end of a poem,
neither will the reader, and they might suspect you knew the ending before
you’d even gotten into the poem. Similarly, they say the last poem of any book
is the orchestration of the poems—how they unfurl over the course of the book. I’ve
always considered myself a poet who explores dark themes, so the fact that I
wrote several upbeat poems during the pandemic really surprised and pleased me.
There’s even a poem about joy!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of
your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Titles are one of the most
difficult things for me to write. They need to be “in the same key” with
everything that follows. I believe it was Ellen Bryant Voigt who said a title
for a poem must be like a hat that fits every line. I originally was drawn to
“Warden Heart” as a title, as it appeared in one of my poems and I remember
Stanley Plumly particularly liking it for that poem, but in the end, I landed
on “Playing Piano in the Dark” which turned into “Piano in the Dark.” The title
comes from the poems, where I mention how my mother would play Chopin nocturnes
for me as lullabies, and how Chopin himself preferred to play piano in the
dark, even with an <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>audience present. (I
could never do this, as I am never able to memorize any piano pieces I play,
nor even poems I’ve written.) Since <i>Piano in the Dark</i> is dedicated to my
mother, who died during the pandemic, I felt the title worked on a variety of
levels.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry
book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hmmm….well, there’s “My Goyishe
Ex-Husband,” with “For eighteen years he was the chosen/ one to knead the
challah dough:/ yeast and sugar dissolved in a tepid bath,/ oil mixed with
eggs, flour sifted on top./ Flour dusted his hands like pollen…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.nancynaomicarlson.com/">www.nancynaomicarlson.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN
TBR STACK: <a href="https://www.seagullbooks.org/piano-in-the-dark/">https://www.seagullbooks.org/piano-in-the-dark/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ A POEM FROM THIS BOOK, “In
Other Words”:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://poems.com/poem/in-other-words/">https://poems.com/poem/in-other-words/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-69211916747915597832023-10-16T12:06:00.000-04:002023-10-16T12:06:36.564-04:00TBR: Melt With Me: Coming of Age and Other ‘80s Perils by Paul Crenshaw<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNrRww1Hw7biIduPWanqnpiDr45k2a7YsSItuhiusYMnrH2r5E75X_KzfcI1gYX7wqA0nOEzVoqPTtDuvdhdp6V7MjVB2L3x37yD7F1WR5paGJ3vRo1dq5zufMfcCXxDKKu4Dg9n0AQepiAfMomNg-oxb5tu7TIDtPxuYSVjizBsE2ttqs2fl7Sr_UQRo/s817/Melt%20With%20Me.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="532" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNrRww1Hw7biIduPWanqnpiDr45k2a7YsSItuhiusYMnrH2r5E75X_KzfcI1gYX7wqA0nOEzVoqPTtDuvdhdp6V7MjVB2L3x37yD7F1WR5paGJ3vRo1dq5zufMfcCXxDKKu4Dg9n0AQepiAfMomNg-oxb5tu7TIDtPxuYSVjizBsE2ttqs2fl7Sr_UQRo/s320/Melt%20With%20Me.jpg" width="208" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How the fears of the 1980s—nuclear war, serial killers, Satanists—got
inside those of us who lived through it, and how those fears are not only reflected
in the pop culture of the time—the music and movies and video games—but we
still carry them around with us today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Which essay did you most enjoy writing</b>? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Choose Your Own Adventure for ‘80s Kids” was a lot of fun
to write, at least until the end. I started thinking about all the dangers that
supposedly existed in the ‘80s, like quicksand, strangers in vans, Satanists,
drug-pushers hiding out in the park. I asked Twitter and got many of the same
answers. It seemed we had all heard the same stories, that these fears had
become collective, as if so many of us shared them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also learned how many of those fears were unwarranted. The
Satanic Panic, which I write about in the 2<sup>nd</sup> essay, was based on
fear, inaccurate reporting, and false allegations. I’ve never once seen a
drug-pusher in any park, and it seems quicksand is incredibly rare in nature,
and actually quite easy to extract yourself from, allaying all those ‘80s fears
of drowning, or suffocating—I was never sure which it would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So I spent a lot of time playing with those fears. Like
watching a horror movie for entertainment. It seemed we were always being told
to watch out for strangers in vans. That at anytime someone could grab us off
the street. The nightly news was always talking about nuclear war, and we knew,
even at our small ages, that a nuclear war would end everything. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But I know now the Satanic Panic was a moral panic, caused
by a too-quickly changing world. We were learning about all the dangers out
there: the serial killers and Satanists and Soviets, so every news story stuck.
Every child custody case became an abduction. Every drug story was repeated
again and again until parents were seeing drug-pushers in every park. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In that atmosphere, it almost seemed inevitable that the
world would end. That someone we knew would be kidnapped. Acid rain would fall
from the sky. The missiles would, finally, start to fly. So I made all the
choices bad, the way it seemed we had little hope in a world waiting for the
end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The real choice comes at the end, though. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">[See below for a link to this essay.]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Some of the essays are older, written before I even had the
idea for a collection. “Left Turn at Albuquerque,” for example, was dropped from
my first collection, because it didn’t quite fit in with the other essays, so I
shelved it. But then I wrote a few more essays—“The Full Moon,” comes to mind,
as well as “Candy Cigarettes”—and started to see a pattern. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The last two essays I wrote were “Choose Your Own Adventure
for ‘80s Kids,” and “The Satanic Panic.” I had planned for the whole collection
to be about the Cold War and our nuclear fears, but after those two essays I
realized there was a lot more fear going around—or maybe a better way to say it
would be that the fear of nuclear war made us so much more afraid of everything
else as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, very late in the game, I slightly shifted the focus,
going from mainly a fear of nuclear war, to a fear of everything. The Cold War
is the big shadow over everything, but there were all these other fears as
well. I don’t really have a high or low publication story, but it was strange
to be very nearly finished, and then rethink the whole thing again, with
publication already in sight. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To me the only piece of writing advice that matters is to
keep writing. Without that, no other advice really means anything. Voice,
structure, whatever—doesn’t matter if you aren’t writing. My undergrad
professor, Michael Gills, told me writing had to be a habit, just like smoking
or drinking—something you can’t quite quit. I’ve always remembered that. It’s a
workmanlike attitude toward writing that felt like the correct way to approach
it—if I just worked hard enough, I would make it. That was important for me as
a young writer, the idea that persistence will get you there, because at the
time I certainly didn’t have anything going for me except persistence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I say this only a little jokingly—I’m surprised we survived
the ‘80s. I am answering these questions on the morning of September 11<sup>th</sup>,
[2023], which I briefly mention in the essay “When Buckwheat Got Shot.” That
essay is a list of all the tragic events we watched, either live or on replay
shortly afterward—the Challenger disaster, the Berlin Wall coming down, the
First Gulf War. The Oklahoma City bombing, the Atlantic Olympic bombing, 9/11,
the “Shock and Awe” of the Second Gulf War. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What surprises me is how so many of us share a collective
memory—the same fears and hopes and dreams. It surprises me how many tragic
events we have all witnessed. It surprises me how many of us are messed up
because of all the things we’ve seen in our short lifespans, and it surprises
me that many more of us are not also messed up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But what is the most surprising—and I realized this through
the process of writing, because while I am writing about our collective ‘80s
fears, there is hope in the writing process—is that I still remain hopeful. Why
else write, if there’s no hope?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>How did you find the title of your book?</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The title comes from the Modern English song “I Melt With
You.” It’s a song about a couple making love as nuclear war begins. I’m not
asking the reader to make love to me, but what is more intimate than the end of
the world? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We’re also in this together. If one of us melts, we all
melt. I am asking the reader to relive all the meltdowns of the 80s—the wars
and rumors of wars, the shows and movies about the end of the world, the way
the nightly news told us all the things to be afraid of. How the pop culture we
consumed kept us afraid. How those fears are still inside us today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That last part is the most important. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: </b></span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://linktr.ee/paulcrenshaw">https://linktr.ee/paulcrenshaw</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR PILE: <a href="https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814258828.html#:~:text=Blending%20the%20personal%20with%20the,guy%2C%20how%20Bugs%20Bunny%20cartoons">https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814258828.html#:~:text=Blending%20the%20personal%20with%20the,guy%2C%20how%20Bugs%20Bunny%20cartoons</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ AN ESSAY FROM THIS BOOK, “Choose Your Own Adventure For
’80s Kids”: </b></span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.craftliterary.com/2021/12/08/choose-your-own-adventure-paul-crenshaw/">https://www.craftliterary.com/2021/12/08/choose-your-own-adventure-paul-crenshaw/</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-72462826432149620792023-10-09T13:39:00.000-04:002023-10-09T13:39:20.023-04:00TBR: Brutalities by Margo Steines<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3As8EgEIfo4otXRcpU3C8Us_pUGvWFEZPH4AXS6tFo678S9C2XkTK9higfmnXLerdjS_BcNbD6zQnXlMuTYP3Wiay-_5CBnihBaPkgGPciQ5nL0GGQUtFPZm8b__ertDPIi9N8rIi0nv960K5oKwR6DKYIdRrq2ShlQCFi8nVP9jlBDoRfSTKWEM5bg/s1200/BRUTALITIES%20hi%20res.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="796" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3As8EgEIfo4otXRcpU3C8Us_pUGvWFEZPH4AXS6tFo678S9C2XkTK9higfmnXLerdjS_BcNbD6zQnXlMuTYP3Wiay-_5CBnihBaPkgGPciQ5nL0GGQUtFPZm8b__ertDPIi9N8rIi0nv960K5oKwR6DKYIdRrq2ShlQCFi8nVP9jlBDoRfSTKWEM5bg/s320/BRUTALITIES%20hi%20res.jpeg" width="212" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My book is about the roughest things I’ve done to and with
my body. It’s also about the nature of pain, and about masculinity and power<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, all
of which is </span>explored through my past experiences with various forms of
violence and extremity: weird sex, compulsive athletics, farming for people who
are not farmers, fighting in cages, sex work, interpersonal violence, chronic
illness, pregnancy. Together, they describe an interface of roughness and
tenderness, and a complicated sort of triumph over the desire to suffer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which “character” did you most enjoy creating? Why? And
which “character” gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That’s a hard question, because it’s nonfiction, so I didn’t
create any characters per se. But if you’re asking which human person I most
enjoyed rendering in two dimensions on the page, it would definitely be my
boyfriend, N. The era of our lives that the book covers was such a magical and
tender and special time for us, and he really represented a fundamentally new
way to connect with a person, for me. And he is such a specific and impressive
person, so bringing all of his highly idiosyncratic practices and ways of being
to the page was really a delight, a chance to share with the reader this person
that I am so delighted by. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In terms of the second question I suppose it would be my ex,
who is named Dean in the book. I had to do a lot of grappling with how I wanted
to present him—I don’t think he is an evil person, and I wish him no harm, but
also he harmed me deeply and irrevocably and, in many cases, intentionally. So
there was no way to write him truthfully without including some of the harms he
caused, and I felt a strange sort of desire to protect him from those truths.
Which probably is a topic for therapy, but you asked. On a craft level, though,
working to show nuance—to say, this is not a terrible person, this is a person
who treated me terribly—felt like the biggest ask of the book, and arguably one
of the most important ones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Well I did not get to purchase the vintage lifted Bronco
that I had been hoping to squander my advance on, so I guess that’s a low? I
don’t know, I’ve had a pretty great experience so far and the team of people
working on the book, from my editor to my publicists, have been amazing. Working
with my agent has definitely been a high—he has been such a steady source of
guidance and good taste from day one and I really trust his sense of care for
the book. Writing a book is such a lonely and self-oriented thing, especially a
book about yourself, that having an ally like that really feels very good. I
think now I’m in a place where I’m kind of bracing for the publicness of it
all, and that’s obviously what I wanted—to be read, to be perceived, to reach
people—but also it is fundamentally horrifying that I don’t get to choose WHICH
people, you know?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I gotta give this one to “write how you talk.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I was really surprised by how little I felt during the
actual writing process. I write heavily about trauma, really painful shit that
was devastating in the living and which people always imagine is like a
tearfest to sit down and write about. And I just felt...nothing. And then
later, after I had done most of my editing and the book felt like something
that was now separate from me (I’ve birthed an actual child so I don’t really
get into the book-birthing metaphors, but you get my drift), something in me
just cracked. The idea of everything I have been through, everything I’ve put
myself through, just suddenly felt so real and sad. I don’t know if it was the
accumulation of it all, or that it felt separate from me for the first time, or
maybe that I’m a parent now and I wasn’t when I started writing it, but I just
felt so desperately sad over all the lost time, all the suffering, and a real
sense of grief, of sadness and tenderness and care for my young self, settled
around me. And that didn’t feel good, but it did feel sort of commensurate with
the experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It’s the title of two of the essays in the book, and I’ve
had the title rattling around my head for almost ten years. It came to me while
I was sleeping and I can totally still remember waking up and being like, this
is the name of a thing I have to make. Which is....not an experience I have a
lot. Usually I write something and either pull a title from a line, or just
sort of land on one. I’ve never just had it come to me like this. And so I gave
it to an essay (which later became two essays in a split series), but it always
felt like it was a bigger title than just the essay. And then I forgot about it
and I was struggling to title the book—I had a working title that was okay, but
I kept feeling embarrassed when I said it out loud, which didn’t feel like a
good sign—until I remembered that moment waking up with the title just sitting
in my mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://www.margosteines.com/">https://www.margosteines.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">GET THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324050872">https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324050872</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ AN EARLIER VERSION OF AN ANCHOR ESSAY FROM THIS
BOOK, “A Very Brutal Game”: <a href="https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/539/a-very-brutal-game">https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/539/a-very-brutal-game</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-19088464564737161202023-10-01T10:23:00.002-04:002023-10-01T10:23:34.895-04:00TBR: Mama Said: Stories by Kristen Gentry<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWVgXVQrCEBgkp89CJ2_K_S3750XMqNMcWTK24_UHBkvS2Go4Mc52cKf5hic2tzsK3GFIr7AG7piJf-VZjmXetDJMfXj09Wy00wbG7TzW1_by7t-aKlpm3WcMvZY5yf1YsbqvPx5tCKLEjcwFoKMhVSCTr-k578oa1zW0t2a8cQVF-BsZi6NfJbv6rKuw" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWVgXVQrCEBgkp89CJ2_K_S3750XMqNMcWTK24_UHBkvS2Go4Mc52cKf5hic2tzsK3GFIr7AG7piJf-VZjmXetDJMfXj09Wy00wbG7TzW1_by7t-aKlpm3WcMvZY5yf1YsbqvPx5tCKLEjcwFoKMhVSCTr-k578oa1zW0t2a8cQVF-BsZi6NfJbv6rKuw=w200-h320" width="200" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Mama Said</i> is set in Louisville, Kentucky at the tail
end of the crack epidemic and the rise of the opioid crisis. It follows three
daughters–cousins in the same family–who come of age struggling against their
mothers’ drug addictions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
story gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I had a lot of fun writing “Animal Kingdom.” It’s set on
Derby, back when you could still cruise through West Louisville. The Kentucky
Derby on TV is big hats, mint juleps, and rich white people. Derby to me, and a
lot of black Louisvillians, is cruising on Broadway, barbecues, and music. It’s
basically a miles-long block party. Capturing that on the page required a lot
of reminiscing on Derby days of my past and made me feel like I was back in
Louisville in all of the energy and excitement though I was bundled up in my
house or cupping a a mug of tea in a coffee shop in cold, gray Rochester, New
York. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Although it was also fun creating Bryce’s character, that
man gave me truh-ble! Actually, my boyfriend and I got into a fight about
Bryce’s character. I generally have a hard time writing male characters, so I
always run them by him. I read him some bits and he said Bryce’s interaction
with Angel wasn’t believable given his age (thirty), her age (seventeen), and
the setting (half-naked girls shaking ass for men pointing camcorders). But I
knew Bryce’s heart, as the old folks say, and I fought, quite literally, off
the page with my boyfriend and on the page to bring that to life and make it
real.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It took me a looong time to write <i>Mama Said.</i> Fourteen
years. Part of the reason why it took so long and what had happened was… (😂)
that I didn’t really begin writing the collection until I left grad school. The
book’s overarching mother-daughter conflict rooted in the mother’s addiction is
pulled from personal conflict that played out between me and my mother. I’d
avoided addressing that in my writing until my thesis deadline was approaching
and I needed more pages to meet the minimum. I wrote what was at the top of my
mind and ended up with the first draft of “A Satisfying Meal,” in which the
protagonist, JayLynn, takes her boyfriend to Thanksgiving dinner and is
mortified as her family’s dysfunction, that she could easily hide two hours
away at school in Bloomington, Indiana, unfolds before both of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another reason why it took so long to write the book is
because I wasn’t writing for months at a time. You know how people say you have
to carve out your writing time and be ruthless about maintaining it? I was
doing none of that. I let the responsibilities of my job as a professor
completely take over my life–for years! There was no work-life balance. I often
graded in the time I had scheduled to write because I was<i> always</i> behind
on grading. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yet another reason why it took so long to write the book is
because I’m a slow writer, largely because I’m a perfectionist. I don’t know
why I put so much pressure on myself, especially in first drafts, when I know
I’m going to revise the sugar honey iced tea out of it, but I do. I’m working
on it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So it took a while to write but once the manuscript was
ready, it only took three months before it was accepted at West Virginia
University Press. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Remember what I said above about people saying you have to
carve out your writing time and be ruthless about it? What those people said,
that’s my favorite piece of writing advice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, it has taken me years to understand that I
have to schedule my writing time–whether it’s ten minutes or two hours–and
guard it fiercely because no one but me is going to do it because no one but me
cares about it (well, maybe they do. I’m a moody heifer when I’m not writing),
and the work–whatever the work may be–will never stop and grant me the reprieve
to write. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Many of the climactic moments in each of the stories
surprised me because I don’t outline stories (maybe that’s another reason why
it took me so long to finish the collection) and also follow this advice. I
like to realize a character’s worst fear and see how they react. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Patricia, the protagonist in “A Sort of Winning,” was an
especially surprising addition to the collection. She came out of nowhere. I
hadn’t been reminiscing about P.E. class in high school or P.E. teachers at
all. I was minding my own business and BOOP! the opening scene of her watching
the kids while they take a test popped up while I was writing, and I wanted to
see where it would go. Patricia’s story offers another perspective of JayLynn
that further complicates her character, and Patricia’s frustration with the way
her terminally ill mother still swoons over her estranged husband adds variety
to the collection’s mother-daughter conflicts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>How did you find the title of your book? </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The book’s title comes from the title story. In “Mama Said,”
JayLynn is haunted by her depressed mother’s confession that she wishes she
could drive off of the JFK Bridge. This disclosure from mother to daughter
sends JayLynn reeling, unsure whether her time and effort should be spent at
home helping her mother or on campus raising her plummeting grades. This
uncertainty of how to navigate the world with their mother’s words and actions
playing in their minds also plagues JayLynn’s cousins, Zaria and Angel. The
conflict that the title story highlights is relevant throughout the collection
so it seemed fitting as the book’s title. I also like the colloquial sound of <i>Mama
Said</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In “A Satisfying Meal,” there’s much ado about JayLynn’s mother’s
greens, ”spiced with a soft heat and seasoned to the edge of too salty with
enough jowl bacon that a bowl of them can be a satisfying meal.” Those greens
described are my mama’s greens, and her recipe is simple. Throw some greens
(what kind really doesn’t matter. Could be collards, kale, mustard, turnip or a
mix of all of them), jowl bacon, water, and some salt in a pot and simmer until
tender.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I learned how to make these greens myself, substituting
cooked bacon and bacon grease for the jowl bacon and adding onion and yellow
mustard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But I’m vegan now, so I use vegan chicken broth, onion,
salt, and yellow mustard. I also don’t simmer them as long. You really don’t
need to cook them more than thirty minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://kristengentry.com/">https://kristengentry.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/mama-said-stories-kristen-gentry/19967868?ean=9781952271984">https://bookshop.org/p/books/mama-said-stories-kristen-gentry/19967868?ean=9781952271984</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ A STORY FROM THIS BOOK, “Introduction”: <a href="https://www.spectermagazine.com/three/gentry/">https://www.spectermagazine.com/three/gentry/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-40031877582657193102023-09-11T13:30:00.000-04:002023-09-11T13:30:08.839-04:00TBR: Wonder Travels: A Memoir by Josh Barkan<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTW5-cw35J9wsRT3Afkjqe3u1_j7gnWRBUrHoLaOwz-Z4VPHYKDLX3mX3VCnjiIVeQHBFZMMPm6V0uUS3o6TuqrOpcJ65hd-PCJt2NZdTOuFpwa4607uCWebXyzlpeCJ-NzMAH2oK6Y8rJnIdE9pmOz6TiQ0-2i8-1Loaglo9p-JEXTH-TIoTmQszkN-Y/s2700/Josh%20Barkan%20Wonder%20Travels%20Book%20Cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTW5-cw35J9wsRT3Afkjqe3u1_j7gnWRBUrHoLaOwz-Z4VPHYKDLX3mX3VCnjiIVeQHBFZMMPm6V0uUS3o6TuqrOpcJ65hd-PCJt2NZdTOuFpwa4607uCWebXyzlpeCJ-NzMAH2oK6Y8rJnIdE9pmOz6TiQ0-2i8-1Loaglo9p-JEXTH-TIoTmQszkN-Y/s320/Josh%20Barkan%20Wonder%20Travels%20Book%20Cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give
us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After
fifteen years of marriage, my wife had an affair with a man she met on the
beach in Morocco—during a six-month voyage she took around the world. She went
back to see him, telling me she was going to Spain to see her sister have a
baby, but instead went to be with the same man Muhammad, and our marriage was
over. <i>Wonder Travels</i> is the story of my process of healing from this
shock, floundering at first in New York City, then traveling to Mexico City,
where I fell in love with a painter, living with her in her studio and making
extensive journeys to remote parts of Mexico together, before continuing on, a
year later, to Morocco, where I met the man my wife had her affair with.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
boundaries did you break in the writing of this memoir? Where does that sort of
courage come from?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Writers
such as Andre Dubus III have called this memoir “brave” and “remarkable.” By
its very nature, memoir requires a willingness to be tremendously honest, to
portray events as accurately as possible about how they happened, and the
willingness to portray one’s own flaws as well as whatever conflicts and flaws
there might be in others. But I think this book pushes the boundaries in terms
of the level of honesty—a willingness, for example, to describe feelings of
impotence I had after the end of my marriage, a willingness to try to examine
the ways my wife was unhappy with me in our marriage and what her motivations
might have been for leaving the marriage. But, generally, just a level of
honesty about the ways I fell apart initially before I could begin the process
of building myself up again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
also broke boundaries choosing to begin writing my memoir when only a third of
the events told in the book had already taken place. I wanted a sense of
immediacy, a sense I was living events just before I was writing about them,
rather than the long lens of looking back. I felt this was necessary to capture
the emotional pain of the moment and also to use the writing of the memoir as a
vehicle for my search for happiness. Typically, writers believe you should wait
to write a memoir until you have had a chance to get some distance on the
events so you can fully understand their meaning and convey it. But sometimes
the “wisdom” of deep retrospective narrative distance can seem phony,
all-knowing in a way we don’t feel in the actual moments of a life lived. So I
wanted to narrow that distance. Andre Dubus III also felt the book breaks
boundaries in terms of joining “<span style="color: black;">the edifying power of
the travelogue with the emotional truth-seeking promise of the memoir.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">I always feel I need to find the courage to try something new with
form in each book, which I haven’t encountered elsewhere. Otherwise, it seems
there is no point in writing my own work.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell
us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
high came when my agent read the manuscript and he called me to tell me he was
eager to represent it—this would have been my second book published with him.
But I was in the hospital with the painter from Mexico for a very serious
health problem when my agent called, (by that time we were married), and my
focus on helping Monica recover from her health crisis meant I had to put the
memoir aside for more than three years. By the time I was able to return to the
memoir, my agent was no longer in a position with his own health, mentally, to
be able to represent the book. So the memoir was orphaned, without someone to
represent it in submissions to the large publisher where I had published my
previous book (Hogarth/Penguin Random House). Because of this series of health
interventions, it took a full ten years after the initial writing of the book
to get it published. The one upside of this passage of time is that I was able
to go back into editing the book to make it as perfect as I could and to give
it a little more of the distance that does allow for the full retrospective
look at the events of the past, while maintaining the immediacy of the primary narrative
of the events.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s
your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are different pieces of advice for writers at different stages of their writing
experience. When writers are just starting out, the need to let yourself write
without initially editing your work as you write and the need for concision are
vital. But with more advanced writers the need to focus on the rhythm and sound
of writing is most important along with the idea to write “what you, yourself,
would want to read.” Often writers write things that they think others <i>should
</i>want to read but that they, themself, would not be interested in. It’s
vital for writers to not allow the reader to be bored. And that requires brutal
honesty about whether you are boring the reader, and the need to surprise the
reader. Making sure there is enough conflict in your writing, and understanding
the depths of the conflicts you are writing about, is also a central place for
writers to look at in the process of revision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My
favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What
surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just
about everything. I’m always surprised to see my actual motivations written on
the page. In writing memoir honestly, it’s like seeing yourself revealed before
you, like watching a photo in a bath of chemicals where the image slowly
appears (in pre-digital photography). You discover who you are as you write
about yourself, what your real motivations and fears have been. I suppose I
discovered how vulnerable and resilient I am, at the same time. And by writing
memoir, I discovered the way I think, the nature of my thought process and how
I try to make sense of what I have lived and experienced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s
something about your book that you want readers to know?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
want readers to know that while this book is a memoir about my lived
experience, I think it will provide comfort for the millions of people out
there who have suffered heartbreak or who have had their marriage end in
divorce. It is easy to feel like nothing, when someone has left you. And it is
almost inevitable, initially, to fall apart. But it is possible to fall in love
again, deeply, and perhaps as it was in my case, in a better way than in my
earlier marriage. I did not write this book as some kind of guidebook. It is a
literary memoir written, I hope, in an artistic way. But I think it does provide
the kind of hope I was looking for, when I felt so completely all alone in New
York City, isolated, abandoned, and feeling depressed and lost after the end of
my marriage. Travel, for me, became the means out of that low point. Making
radical changes to my life (leaving where I lived, trying to examine why I was
so unhappy at the time, and allowing myself to take action) gave me a way to
healing. But I don’t want to diminish the slow process of that recovery—it
takes time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring
foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your
book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Wonder
Travels</i>
is a book filled with food delights, as I traveled widely. In Mexico City, I
began to really experience the profound flavors of Mexican cuisine—the pipian
dishes, made with pumpkin seeds, from Puebla, the moles of Oaxaca. There is a
section of the book that conveys my trips through the state of Oaxaca, the food
I ate in the markets there and in the excellent restaurants. The tagines of
Morocco are also a strong memory. And then there is the food of Rome and Paris,
in the later sections of the book. I have maintained a strong relationship with
Mexico, since the years I initially lived there, which are described in <i>Wonder
Travels</i>. So while difficult to choose, I will select one food to share and
pick a black mole recipe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Black-Mole-Sauce/">https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Black-Mole-Sauce/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ
MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.joshbarkan.com/">https://www.joshbarkan.com/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER
THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.roundaboutpress.com/rp-books/wonder-travels">https://www.roundaboutpress.com/rp-books/wonder-travels</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">READ
AN EXCERPT OF THIS BOOK:</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.ilanotreview.com/letters/from-wonder-travels-betrayal-divorce-adventure/" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>http://www.ilanotreview.com/letters/from-wonder-travels-betrayal-divorce-adventure</b>/</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-5464143671575910792023-09-05T14:41:00.000-04:002023-09-05T14:41:42.872-04:00TBR: Flat Water by Jeremy Broyles<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular,
invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming,
interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips
on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhhn1sN6N5wDF6V3CpkWhZI507r3_16U1p8x01AEXItxnQfAGAUl7KANSfq1HDo07jNkg2lDpKawGL8-Vt6IKnOgftSv6JNZjnfMq3AsITSjLbBqRInABthkUSnT_0TkLj10-fzfLQvP6R97ZtXfJO6j34GLiN3IS-59iF6jzj2vmnQrg82U7K1ArHJuY/s654/Flat%20Water%20Cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="438" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhhn1sN6N5wDF6V3CpkWhZI507r3_16U1p8x01AEXItxnQfAGAUl7KANSfq1HDo07jNkg2lDpKawGL8-Vt6IKnOgftSv6JNZjnfMq3AsITSjLbBqRInABthkUSnT_0TkLj10-fzfLQvP6R97ZtXfJO6j34GLiN3IS-59iF6jzj2vmnQrg82U7K1ArHJuY/s320/Flat%20Water%20Cover.jpg" width="214" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Flat Water</i> is the story of siblings, surfing, and
sharks and what happens when those things come together both in the water and
out of it. The novel is one part road trip, three parts unresolved grief, and a
dash of shark-headed hallucination monstrosities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And
which character gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I most enjoyed writing Kay, the mother in the novel. She is
modeled after my own late mother, René. It was wonderfully fulfilling starting
with the base of this woman I had known for the first thirty-seven years of my
life she had stuck around and then imagining how she could change in this
fictitious world. And though I certainly recognize my mom in the character of
Kay, I found such great fun in writing a line while saying to myself, “My mom
would never say that.” I don’t know precisely why such moments delighted me so;
I just know they did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The character that gave me the gnarliest headache was Max,
the older brother who—with the exception of a handful of flashbacks—is dead
throughout the novel. He is the ghost that haunts this story. Because of the
setup—beloved older brother dies tragically at the age of nineteen—I ended up
turning Max into a faultless martyr of sorts in the novel’s earliest iteration.
I needed his character to be craggier and flawed but never to the extent that
Monty’s grief at losing him ever felt misplaced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I believed in this book right from the jump. The publishing
world around me, however, was less enthusiastic. Usually, rejection doesn’t
faze me. It was the way the book was so roundly and thoroughly dismissed. As Stephen
King articulated for us, getting personalized rejections means you’re getting
close. I got nowhere. For months. Then Meagan Lucas, an author I very much
admire—and who wrote <i>Songbirds and Stray Dogs</i> and recently released her
collection <i>Here in the Dark</i>—got her hands on the book and reached out to
me to say how much she enjoyed it. Knowing she thought I was on to something
too helped propel me forward in finding a home for the book at Main Street Rag.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As a grad student, I had this short story I liked, but I was
concerned it was just another relationship story. My mentor, Jane Armstrong,
chuckled and said, “Jeremy, they’re all relationship stories.” I have co-opted
that advice ever since. We should, all of us, write relationship stories. They
are fundamentally human and, therefore, matter most.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The off-roads I got to take in this novel which, at its
core, is a very California story. Even so, the narrative visits a café in Flagstaff,
a winery in Cottonwood, Arizona, a casino in Vegas. I remain shocked—and
delighted—that a road trip found its way into the book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I knew my title very early on, and it’s an example of
something I write primarily for myself. Though the final acts of the novel play
out in California, this novel was also, at least in part, my love song to
Nebraska. Nebraska is taken from an Oto word which translates to, perhaps
unsurprisingly, flat water. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Absolutely. As a hungry hypoglycemic and food fan myself, I
put food throughout this novel—one of the first scenes is set in a restaurant.
My personal favorite, however, is when the protagonist and his wife visit a hot
dog joint from his past. I’m vegan, so I indulged my previous meat-eating self
in building out the menu they order from. That scene was the most fun I had
while writing the novel. But as I come back to my vegan self, I like to think
even the hot dog joint would approve of a dill potato salad I think would be
right at home on that menu. (Scroll below for recipe!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****</b></span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://www.jeremybroylesauthor.com/">https://www.jeremybroylesauthor.com</a>
<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/">https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/</a>
<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/">https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/</a>
<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ AN EXCERPT OF THIS NOVEL (click on “samples”): <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/">https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/flat-water-jeremy-broyles/</a>
(the “Samples” button leads to the novel’s first chapter)<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Vegan Dill Potato
Salad</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*<b><i>Ingredients</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Russet potatoes,
five pounds (peeled and diced)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Vegan Mayonnaise,
approximately one cup (I almost always go with Follow Your Heart)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yellow mustard, two
tablespoons<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fresh dill, one
package or approximately twenty sprigs (finely chopped)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dill pickles, two
(cubed)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Celery,
approximately four stalks<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Salt (kosher
works best)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pepper (freshly
ground is my go-to)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*One
of the advantages of this recipe is its adjustability. For example, upping the
amount of mayo used makes for a creamier salad reminiscent of deviled egg
varieties. The keys, and there are two, that will help push the dish beyond the
reputation (sometimes earned) of bland vegan food are these: salt and acid.
Salt the water before bringing it to a boil. Salt the potatoes once they are
cooked. Don’t be shy with either the mustard or the pickles. That’s the acid
that brightens this salad up. And it’s hard to put too much dill in there.
Seriously. Kill it with dill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Preparation<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Bring a large
stock or soup pot to a boil. Aim for the pot to be approximately ¾ full,
depending on the pot, as you need room for the potatoes. Salt the water
with two heavy pinches of kosher salt.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Peel and dice the
potatoes. At least two rinsings are suggested—once after they’re peeled
and again after they’re diced.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Carefully place
the potatoes into the boiling water. A large mixing spoon works well as a
vehicle to place the potatoes in the water to avoid splashing.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As the potatoes
boil, rinse and chop the celery. Dice the pickles. Finely chop the dill.
Make sure to remove the leaves from the stem. We appreciate the stem’s
contribution, but we’ll be eating only the tasty leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stir and check
the potatoes regularly. To know when they are cooked, retrieve the large
mixing spoon. Trap a single cube against the side of the pot using the
spoon’s backside. If the potato just yields under gentle pressure, it is
done. If you have to force the issue to get the potato to break, then it
needs more time. If it squishes to mush when you press it, then you are on
you way to making mashed potatoes.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Once the potatoes
are cooked, drain thoroughly and place into a large mixing bowl. Add salt
again (two healthy pinches of kosher). This is also a good time to grind
pepper over the top to taste.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Add the previously
prepared celery, pickles, and dill. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Add the mayo and
mustard.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stir to bring the
ingredients together. If the mixture is looser than preferred, don’t
hesitate to add more mayo. To give it even more punch, though, add a
spoonful or two of the pickles’ brining liquid.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Serve immediately
warm or chill overnight for the ideal picnic or cookout accompaniment. The
salad kills at potlucks too.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-67298204443656184872023-08-28T12:42:00.000-04:002023-08-28T12:42:31.147-04:00TBR: Trick of the Porch Light: Stories by Jessica Barksdale Inclán<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBm8kUnBfZHZoVFLPyagYZj9excUkTj8Bdp3SUzF4UlB0ZifWsoxaomh-Y-mrmRuZCgw0A7BvsaFWrQn6XiOszUjA8rzNFhaA1QXBD3bBTcK5pMlFSOGhy7xkWJkE-eBRbQ6FYLhGmt6O6lM8wgS-R3AOSqY4PH0mlwe0g5mYZjip6yjqV8EYM_lq/s2250/IMG_6542.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2250" data-original-width="1410" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBm8kUnBfZHZoVFLPyagYZj9excUkTj8Bdp3SUzF4UlB0ZifWsoxaomh-Y-mrmRuZCgw0A7BvsaFWrQn6XiOszUjA8rzNFhaA1QXBD3bBTcK5pMlFSOGhy7xkWJkE-eBRbQ6FYLhGmt6O6lM8wgS-R3AOSqY4PH0mlwe0g5mYZjip6yjqV8EYM_lq/s320/IMG_6542.jpg" width="201" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Trick of the Porch Light</i> is a story collection full
of small, odd situations populated with people who really want to understand
their lives. Of course, they go about trying to uncover truths in ways that
cause them more pain and perhaps less clarity, though at the end of it all,
there is the glimmer for them, hanging just out of reach.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
story gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’m not sure enjoy is the word I use when I am “into”
writing something. It seems more like being embroiled or consumed or taken over
by an idea or character or situation. I often come up with a character with a
problem, and then I want to see how they can get out of it or recover in some
way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The story I feel so satisfied with is “I Would See
Everything.” It’s a story I started a very long time ago, one that encompasses
some of the issues I had as a younger mother, one with small children. My
character, though, is recently widowed and trying to come to terms with the
problems in her marriage (now forever unsolved) and the issues with her
youngest child. She doesn’t know how she will figure anything out, but then, a
glimmer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The stories that caused me the most trouble were the titular
story “Trick of the Porch Light” and “Murder House” because they are linked
through setting and, fleetingly, characters. The larger story is in “Trick,”
and “Murder” is actually a short story one of the characters in “Trick” is
writing. It’s all very meta, but I wanted each story to stand on their own. I’m
not prone to meta anything, so I spent a lot of time working on both.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For over twelve years, this collection of stories—in various
states, with various stories, in certain and very different orders and with
different titles—was a finalist, semi-finalist, and honorable mention (not to
mention short and long-listed) fourteen times, and those were the contests I
actually wrote down. All of these stories have been published, some very well,
many have won prizes that have included money, a rare thing indeed. A couple
were nominated for Pushcart prizes; another other academic awards. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And yet, I could not push this collection through to
publication.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">During this process, I received many lovely notes from
editors. Some notes were not so lovely. One editor wrote me a very long letter
about how my characters needed to get a grip! After all, he himself had lost an
arm in Vietnam and still managed to have a good life. <i>What is your issue,
lady writer</i>, he seemed to be saying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What sustained me over the years were my readers, those
people who helped me with various iterations and my faith in the individual
stories. I also published novels and poems and individual short stories. But
after a long while, I decided to give this collection one more serious push. For
one, I considered all the comments from readers over the years, including the
one from the man who lost an arm. I took out one story that he mentioned
specifically, something I don’t regret. Then I gave the collection to two faithful
readers for final comments, revised a bit more, retitled a few of the stories
and the collection itself, and sent it out on its final voyage. This time, it
all worked. Maria Maloney from Mouthfeel Press is giving <i>Trick of the Porch</i>
light a home. Case closed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My first fiction teacher was Anne Lamott, back in the day
when she was teaching out of Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. I took
two of her night classes and wrote the first draft of “I Would See Everything”
for one of those classes (I still have the draft she read, and she wrote on the
top “You are the real deal.” I should frame it). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One night when she was lecturing, she said, “Three hundred
words a day, and in a year you have a novel.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There is a math problem in there that works. She made sure
to let us know that the first draft would be really horrible, but it would be a
draft, something whole. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Three hundred words is doable, even during illness and upset
and odd times. Also, often 300 words turns into more, sometimes many. But it
can also just be 300. An obtainable goal that works. It wasn’t too many years
after her class that I wrote my first novel <i>Her Daughter’s Eyes</i>, using
her exact formula, this during a time when I was teaching five classes a
semester, raising two small children, and trying to scratch out a writing life.
And I think about her advice every day when getting ready to write.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It wasn’t until I changed the title of “Trick of the Porch
Light” from another, lesser title that I realized how the new title spoke to
the entire collection. These stories are typically about home, a place that is
familiar, and yet, look at the sleights of hand, the tricks, the mysteries
right there in front of us in the places we call home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also loved the play on the old saying <i>trick of the
light.</i> Adding <i>porch</i> in there really changed things. Maybe it’s a bit
clever, too, which feels nice. But again, how many titles has this collection
had? One was <i>Tuna for the Apocalypse,</i> but that short story no longer
appears. Good title, though, right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One story that once appeared in the collection is titled <i>Starving</i>,
and it is really about food or sustenance: a woman stands in front of her
fridge and thinks about meals and food. She also thinks about her baby that
died. There were recipes in that story, but not too many in the stories that
remain in the collection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am a vegetarian, and I have to adapt many, many recipes
for my purposes. Here is a chili that I make topped with cornmeal biscuits that
uses Impossible Burger—Beyond Burger works, too. My husband and I cook a lot,
and he has most of our favorites on his recipe website. Here is the Cast Iron
Chili and Cheddar Biscuit Recipe link but feel free to look around!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://recipes.uptakeblue.com/detail/jessicas-cast-iron-chili-and-cheddar-biscuits">https://recipes.uptakeblue.com/detail/jessicas-cast-iron-chili-and-cheddar-biscuits</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR:</b> <a href="https://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com/">https://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com/</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: </b><a href="https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/">https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>BUY THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: </b><a href="https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/product/trick-of-the-porch-light/52?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false">https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/product/trick-of-the-porch-light/52?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ A SHORT STORY, “Monsters in the Agapanthus”:</b> <a href="https://medium.com/the-coil/monsters-in-the-agapanthus-fiction-jessica-barksdale-d51239e3c1ad">https://medium.com/the-coil/monsters-in-the-agapanthus-fiction-jessica-barksdale-d51239e3c1ad</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-38087529640156042932023-08-22T12:42:00.000-04:002023-08-22T12:42:31.761-04:00TBR: Come with Me by Erin Flanagan<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphIWInFKWzCu34zS-sWSOh3FWjeVBTGwARBrSFxIlojKSEkuGLdsy_N2HFqcLlObOyQ1K1GNjGsRMUrJWHsQcaoHwBaRIRGNpKjvvfIWFd28rkyU_R6kqLRUpX0WXnhXNheeMBDEkUUZyUFhRjHWh6R_9tdYvLpNXnWHyuPXNzuwu6Pxy1ZYQnbgE/s500/CWM%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphIWInFKWzCu34zS-sWSOh3FWjeVBTGwARBrSFxIlojKSEkuGLdsy_N2HFqcLlObOyQ1K1GNjGsRMUrJWHsQcaoHwBaRIRGNpKjvvfIWFd28rkyU_R6kqLRUpX0WXnhXNheeMBDEkUUZyUFhRjHWh6R_9tdYvLpNXnWHyuPXNzuwu6Pxy1ZYQnbgE/s320/CWM%20cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">COME WITH ME is about a newly widowed mother who falls under
the sway of an old acquaintance whose friends have a history of disappearing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There are two point-of-view characters in the book—Gwen
Maner and Nicola Kimmel. Gwen is the protagonist and came pretty easily to
me—she lacks self-confidence, an affliction I also suffer from—while Nicola was
harder to figure out, and ultimately, more fun to write. Nicola is one of those
friends who gets a little too close, a little too fast, and I had to write her
three different ways before she really came together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the first version, her chapters were in the “now” of the
story, and I really loved her snarky interior voice, but she wasn’t magnetic
enough to have so much sway over Gwen. It occurred to me that the voice of hers
that I loved was only in her head, so in the second version of her chapters, I
wrote her saying all the snarky things she’d only been thinking and she became
way more charismatic. The problem then was that, once she said everything she
was thinking, her chapters just became a rehashing of what had already
happened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It wasn’t until the third round—when I started writing
chapters from Nicola’s past—that things started to crystalize, not only from a
narrative standpoint, but as a way for me to understand and empathize with
Nicola and see what she really wanted and what her pain was. This resulted in a
much more interesting character arc and moved her from just being an antagonist
to, I hope, something more interesting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is the first time in my career that I wrote a book
after it was under contract so I had a pretty strict deadline. It was
exhilarating knowing someone wanted the book, but terrifying too. I had six
months to write it, and three of those months were when I was teaching full
time, so there were no days off. I had a sense the book would take me about 350
hours based on previous novels, so I broke it down and got to work. But I’m
definitely a bit of a <a href="https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published/what-is-a-pantser-in-writing">pantser</a>,
so it was a lot of cutting and writing more, cutting and writing more before I
really figured out the story. So for this novel, it was mainly “highs” not
lows, but there were a lot of nights I just laid awake running the story
through my head, hoping I could make it work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I know most people offer the best advice they’ve been given
and not their own advice, but I’ve found a secret that’s so transformed my writing
that I’m going to break protocol and share my own favorite hack. As I said, I
often lack self-confidence, so the fact I’m giving my own advice rather than
someone else’s should give you a sense how much I believe in it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That said, it’s probably not the sexiest answer you’ll ever get,
but my favorite piece of writing advice is to track your writing, both time and
task: what you are working on, and for how long each day. After a while, you’ll
start to see patterns—how long things take you, where you tend to
procrastinate, how you can become more efficient, even how you can ward off
despair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For instance, when I wrote the novel <i>Blackout</i>, the
first draft took 88 hours, but I wrote that over 13 or so months. The entire
book, through beta-readers, research, and edits was 497 hours over 21 months. In
other words, only 18% of the writing time took over well over half the months
of writing. What did I learn? That I hate writing first drafts and will
procrastinate like hell. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So when I started <i>Come with Me</i>, which I mentioned was
under deadline, I decided I’d write 1k words a day during the semester, and as
soon as summer hit, I’d raise it to 2k. I finished that first draft in two and
half months, and it clocked in at 91 hours. So I shaved off months and months
but spent about the same amount of time with my ass in the chair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also know now that a big edit takes me about 60 hours and
I usually have to do a few rounds of that, but again, now that I know how long
it takes, I can chip away as needed. When I start to despair how a project is
going I think, lady, you’re only 150 hours in! Of course it’s rough! You’ve got
200 hours to go to make it better! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I honestly feel like knowing this about my writing habits
has become a secret weapon that I use only against myself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I love this! It’s such great advice. I love love love being
surprised by a story. I think in this book, the thing that surprised me the
most was how empathetic I felt toward the antagonist. I knew I didn’t want to
demonize her, and I was well-prepared to be charmed by her, but I didn’t think
I’d end up feeling her desperate need for love on such a visceral level. I
wrote this book partly to explore how smart women end up in these
less-than-healthy friendships, but what I discovered was why some people want
to control others. It was eye opening to say the least. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Who is your ideal reader? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My sister, Kelly Hansen. She’s a smart-ass woman who reads
constantly and widely, but most deeply in crime fiction and thrillers. She is
ready to be delighted by a book and has little to no interest in being a
fiction writer, so while she’s willing to be wowed by a great sentence, she’s
reading mainly for story. Also, since she’s been in my life since day one, she
gets every Easter egg I put in my books—those little details that probably
don’t really make a difference to most readers beyond rounding out the
believability of the story, but that she knows intimately. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For instance when Clyle Costagen drinks a Lord Calvert and
Sprite in <i>Deer Season</i>, she knows that’s our dad’s drink. Or when Nicola
wants to have “matchies” in <i>Come with Me</i>, that’s because I’m always
delighted when Kelly and I have the same purse or notebook. Or when Gwen says
salmon has the “wow factor” that’s me talking about how every road-trip lunch
needs a surprise. These little things delight us both to no end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #7030a0;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It’s surprising how little food there is in this book
considering how much I ate at my computer trying to figure out plot problems.
But Nicola eats a chicken Caesar salad for lunch every day at work, and Gwen
begins to do this too. It’s a throwaway detail, but one I thought spoke to the
character. There’s something sad about someone eating the same thing every day.
It says something about the level of control she has over her food intake and shows
she takes no real pleasure in eating, which strikes me as pretty sad. In the
book, Nicola orders this salad from a deli, but here’s my cheat recipe for a
super quick and tasty chicken Caesar:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Romaine hearts – cut don’t tear to save time<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Store-bought Caesar dressing (Marzetti is my favorite)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Store-bought croutons (which you should eat as you’re
assembling)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pre-shredded Parmesan (not grated)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Meat from a rotisserie chicken (preferably Costco)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Boom, that’s it. Gwen would probably recommend you open the
rotisserie chicken in the Costco parking lot and eat at least one leg while
crying in your car.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #7030a0;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="https://erinflanagan.net/">https://erinflanagan.net/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Come-Me-Erin-Flanagan/dp/1662510322/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1681502239&sr=8-1">Amazon</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ AN EXCERPT OF THIS BOOK: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Come-Me-Erin-Flanagan-ebook/dp/B0BSVLG5G8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IK496JO0QF2K&keywords=come+with+me+erin+flanagan&qid=1681824221&sprefix=come+with+me+erin+flanagan%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-1">excerpt
of book</a> [click on "read sample"]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-80158339673664041772023-08-14T11:37:00.001-04:002023-08-14T11:37:36.755-04:00TBR: The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs by George Singleton<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="border: none;">TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview
series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will
tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about
the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</span></i></b><span style="border: none;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJu54HdTrYoIoOOJUF1qqtRol1-8fS5qvqz8WDWL_4VOx6r7-Ck9UQMgJ0gclVywo31Ntwou3p3ywZKlqGq1w__wtoPAGxlCKh9wBDA1hrLk1rchlvHsww5ThNXyCS_qYVVptDp8SY18FCb-3gETmFY0QiL7YtSqin_3eUET04mSvsf97cUcPmxg21Qw/s320/Martyrs-COVER.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="206" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJu54HdTrYoIoOOJUF1qqtRol1-8fS5qvqz8WDWL_4VOx6r7-Ck9UQMgJ0gclVywo31Ntwou3p3ywZKlqGq1w__wtoPAGxlCKh9wBDA1hrLk1rchlvHsww5ThNXyCS_qYVVptDp8SY18FCb-3gETmFY0QiL7YtSqin_3eUET04mSvsf97cUcPmxg21Qw/s1600/Martyrs-COVER.jpeg" width="206" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what</b><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><b><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></b><b>s
your book about in 2-3 sentences?</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span><p></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It’s a collection of stories. Most of
the characters work in some kind of made-up non-profit. Some of the characters
appear and re-appear in subsequent stories, so it’s thinly linked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Which character did you most enjoy
creating? Why? </b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I invented this guy named Julian
Walker—whose father calls him Cock Walker (as in “cock of the walk”). Julian’s
father makes the family go to polo events. He introduces himself to wealthy
polo-goers as a painter—they assume he’s a visual artist, but indeed he’s a
housepainter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Julian’s mom get a little
too drunk, his father disappears, and Julian has to drive the family car some
40 miles home. <span color="windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I like to write dad-and-lad stories,
with an adult narrator looking back at a time when his parents acted curiously,
or questionable in terms of ethics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Tell us a bit about the highs and lows
of your book</b><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><b><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></b><b>s road to publication.</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A slew of these stories were written
at the beginning of the pandemic. I was on a real tear there for a short
while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t really have any low
points. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>What</b><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><b><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></b><b>s
your favorite piece of writing advice?</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">From Shannon Ravenel: “A great story’s
ending kisses the beginning.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>My favorite writing advice is </b><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><b><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span></b><b>write until something surprises you.” What
surprised you in the writing of this book?</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I didn’t know how difficult it would
be to come up with viable, mostly-believable nonprofits.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Who is your ideal reader? </b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I think my ideal reader is a
college-educated, slightly liberal, person with a sense of humor. It might be
important to own that “willing suspension of disbelief.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Inquiring foodies and hungry book
clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might
share?)</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No real recipes, but one story is
narrated by a chef/restauranteur who runs a place called Periodic Farm-to-Table
and Chairs. He’s big into gumbo and étouffée, plus makes kimchi out behind the
restaurant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: <a href="https://www.dzancbooks.org/">https://www.dzancbooks.org/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="Default"><span lang="DE"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK
FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://bookshop.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIofDKp9bA_wIVwZ9MCh0EwwvAEAAYASAAEgIEHPD_BwE">https://bookshop.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIofDKp9bA_wIVwZ9MCh0EwwvAEAAYASAAEgIEHPD_BwE</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ A STORY FROM THIS BOOK, “What a
Dime Costs”: </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.storymagazine.org/what-a-dime-costs/"><b>https://www.storymagazine.org/what-a-dime-costs/</b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-66684437666923083752023-07-24T12:22:00.002-04:002023-07-24T12:22:36.601-04:00TBR: Liveability by Claire Orchard<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a
semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly
released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work
as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from
time to time, a recipe.</i></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoTHk--PLnZ-MvtXU_de-pXXtDpxwWb7Qp3QLC3styBlRlGm7amewdKYlpfTT2K01m-0-kS9xevQ2nmO80BqN8oOkrDKLKZx1z6wmh_RC5DmMZUCBfzIWi0d105A8IsiCsSdCr0oQw-revCUyIpWMaEsyk3ZWx2yMtmuGiJIoLYcZ8gM2cbnspxN4Kwc/s1200/Liveability_front_cover_web__34962%20(1).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="846" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoTHk--PLnZ-MvtXU_de-pXXtDpxwWb7Qp3QLC3styBlRlGm7amewdKYlpfTT2K01m-0-kS9xevQ2nmO80BqN8oOkrDKLKZx1z6wmh_RC5DmMZUCBfzIWi0d105A8IsiCsSdCr0oQw-revCUyIpWMaEsyk3ZWx2yMtmuGiJIoLYcZ8gM2cbnspxN4Kwc/s320/Liveability_front_cover_web__34962%20(1).jpg" width="226" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />We don’t expect an elevator
pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">An ode to the eccentricities and occasional
sorrows of the everyday, <em>Liveability</em> is
also a joyous and witty celebration of the otherworldly.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which poem/s did you most enjoy
writing? Why? And, which poem/s gave you the most trouble, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Given its subject matter, “When
I bring up advance care planning” was surprisingly entertaining to write. I enjoyed
capturing the voice of the older woman, having to deal with being badgered
about what she wants or doesn’t want for her end-of-life experience. The
increasing exasperation of the adult child was fun to write too. The poem was inspired
by multiple conversations I’ve had with my mother. Who, I might add, despite my
best efforts, has an advance care plan that remains too sketchy by far! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A number of the poems had their
challenging moments, but the one I worried about most when publication rolled
around was “Unravelling things.” It’s a bit of a rambler of a poem, with long
lines I wasn’t sure were going to fit across the page. In the end, we managed
to shoehorn it in!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs
and lows of your book’s road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With my first book, I spent a
lot of time obsessing over organizing the poems so they worked together as a
coherent whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Liveability,
</span></i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">in
contrast, came together much more organically. I think with the passage of time
I’ve become more confident to just keep on with the writing and not concern
myself so much with how poems will sit alongside each other. I can honestly say
I haven’t had any lows with this collection, which has been refreshing!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of
writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I like Grace Paley’s characterisation
of the writer as “nothing but a questioner”. It serves as a useful reminder that
it’s not my job to neatly tie up every loose end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is
“write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of
this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The way a pile of poems written, in
some cases, several years apart came together to function as a collection
without extensive scheming on my part. I’m a planner from way back, and was
startled when this book quietly managed to arrange itself.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of
your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My original title was <i>The
Great Outdoors</i>, a smug in-joke about my loathing of the enforced hiking and
camping trips I endured as a child. No doubt it would have led potential
readers to expect a book about the joys of hiking and/or mountaineering. They
would have been sadly disappointed. Ashleigh Young, an extraordinary writer I
was lucky enough to have on my editorial team, gently suggested <i>Liveability</i>,
which is a far better choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry
book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I
might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I mention gingernuts in the
first poem in the book, which I think may be similar to ginger snaps in the US?
They are a small, super hard biscuit you need to dunk in a cup of hot tea to soften,
or risk breaking teeth! I grew up not far from the local Griffins biscuit
factory and the advertising tagline went “There’s no gingernuts taste quite the
same, ask for Griffin’s Gingernuts by name!” I tried this recipe, and it comes
pretty close:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="https://thisnzlife.co.nz/recipe-topp-secret-gingernut-recipe/" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">https://thisnzlife.co.nz/recipe-topp-secret-gingernut-recipe/</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS WRITER: <a href="http://www.claireorchardpoet.com/">www.claireorchardpoet.com</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR
STACK: <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/liveability/">https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/liveability/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">READ A POEM FROM THIS BOOK, “Shooting
Rats”:</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/readingroom/school-holidays-with-gun"><b>https://www.newsroom.co.nz/readingroom/school-holidays-with-gun</b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-44651062009282459842023-07-17T11:34:00.000-04:002023-07-17T11:34:27.832-04:00TBR: Off to Join the Circus by Deborah Kalb<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><i>TBR [to be read] is a
semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly
released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work
as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from
time to time, a recipe.</i></b> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcjvgiR1R0RzNKoDwXfZKwrmWo7306gMn01IbRaOvhLiDh0Ea7OKnCO2BTNtUxU88DQgKBXqf48qpyo0UjHUn7HJ2v5gp8PAb24fbpwNujWGanHWBzmXkBx2O8AKeFDs87kQtegq6VMHRJCoHU8YyChYhkyIsGCeic5zXcYOqTm9sZpP31XN1Tspy/s1280/circus%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="831" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcjvgiR1R0RzNKoDwXfZKwrmWo7306gMn01IbRaOvhLiDh0Ea7OKnCO2BTNtUxU88DQgKBXqf48qpyo0UjHUn7HJ2v5gp8PAb24fbpwNujWGanHWBzmXkBx2O8AKeFDs87kQtegq6VMHRJCoHU8YyChYhkyIsGCeic5zXcYOqTm9sZpP31XN1Tspy/s320/circus%20cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">OFF TO JOIN THE CIRCUS is about an overly enmeshed, neurotic
Jewish family in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, and what happens when a
legendary relative returns after 64 years. Adele Pinsky ran away at 16 from her
home in West Orange, New Jersey, perhaps to join a circus, and she reappears
when her younger brother, Howard, is turning 75. The book features Howard’s
family—wife Marilyn, daughters Sarah, Diana, and Lucy, and grandsons Max and
Will—as they prepare for a bar mitzvah and the birth of a baby, and deal with
Adele’s (re)entry into their midst.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’d like to say that I most enjoyed creating Adele. She’s a
woman of mystery, and for that reason I never tell any of the story from her
perspective. The seven other family members, who are all point-of-view
characters, are absorbing her arrival and what it means for them—they’ve
created an entire mythology given her lengthy absence--and finding that she’s
shifted their perspectives about family and what really matters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Howard and Marilyn’s oldest daughter, Sarah, perhaps gave me
the most trouble because her worried state of mind reminded me too much of
myself. It was harder to make the chapters from her point of view as funny as
the others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The highs: finding a publisher, Apprentice House, based at
Loyola University in Maryland. I was absolutely delighted when they agreed to
publish it, and have enjoyed working with them. The lows probably center around
sending the novel to dozens of agents who all rejected it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Keep on trying! I know it can be discouraging to get
rejections from agents or publishers, but I believe persistence will pay off in
the end. Something I’m still telling myself about a mystery novel I’ve been
working on for literally decades now! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Great question! My character Lucy, the youngest of the three
daughters, is recovering from a divorce. I thought Lucy and ex-husband Jeff’s
marriage ended for one reason, and then Lucy and I discovered together that
actually it was another reason entirely! I won’t give anything away here, but
it was one of those moments when you shake your head and wonder why that hadn’t
occurred to either of you before! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I’m not usually great at coming up with titles (and when I was
a journalist, I wasn’t great at coming up with headlines). But this title made
sense to me immediately. When Adele first leaves, 11-year-old Howie asks his
dad where she went, and the dad waves his hands in the air and says, “Off to
join the circus, Howie.” Being 11, Howie takes it literally, and even when he’s
older, he wonders if perhaps the missing Adele could have joined the circus.
The circus, and the idea of being someone who even possibly could join a
circus, becomes part of Pinsky family folklore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One of my characters, Diana’s husband, Philippe, is a chef.
He’s from Belgium, and runs a restaurant called Diana’s that serves various
Belgian specialties. Knowing very little about chefs, Belgian food, and how to
run a restaurant, I consulted a chef friend. All errors in this regard are my
own. Philippe turned out to be one of my favorite characters. Marilyn, who is a
retired English professor rather than a chef, also seems to spend a great deal
of time cooking for huge groups of relatives who descend on her. She makes an
impromptu vegan stir-fry that she finds quite delicious.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.deborahkalb.com/">http://www.deborahkalb.com/</a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Off-Join-Circus-Deborah-Kalb/dp/1627204490/ref=sr_1_2?crid=20W5AOS8I2VHT&keywords=deborah+kalb&qid=1683736289&sprefix=deborah+kalb%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-2">https://www.amazon.com/Off-Join-Circus-Deborah-Kalb/dp/1627204490/ref=sr_1_2?crid=20W5AOS8I2VHT&keywords=deborah+kalb&qid=1683736289&sprefix=deborah+kalb%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-2</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-32780471513503453812023-07-10T13:31:00.000-04:002023-07-10T13:31:17.627-04:00TBR: Half-Life of a Stolen Sister by Rachel Cantor<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyf0TKLEmguEFyVaG6NsD3v1_p9s149TmkVV6iPyhz_eLUA_JOoh6E97MeWT92gILCWZOwo4bgTfLg7pjnIwe_TApkB_jqjim0IyLq1jHlxqAA9NM0yXiatOlSNLVOD2mfFLNYhnvEjcLNcVKEK5blrHT8jZByCDkxlgStxWcSsTBDwclEJVzcIOJ/s3300/Half-Life%20of%20a%20Stolen%20Sister%20Jacket%20(fin).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3300" data-original-width="2200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyf0TKLEmguEFyVaG6NsD3v1_p9s149TmkVV6iPyhz_eLUA_JOoh6E97MeWT92gILCWZOwo4bgTfLg7pjnIwe_TApkB_jqjim0IyLq1jHlxqAA9NM0yXiatOlSNLVOD2mfFLNYhnvEjcLNcVKEK5blrHT8jZByCDkxlgStxWcSsTBDwclEJVzcIOJ/s320/Half-Life%20of%20a%20Stolen%20Sister%20Jacket%20(fin).jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Half-Life of a Stolen
Sister</i> is an imaginative retelling of the life of the Brontë siblings in a
time and place much like our own. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Half-Life</i>
is about siblings—their bonds and how they collectively and individually
understand their lives; it is also about the creative impulse and how we manage
terrible loss.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I didn’t have to create my characters, really, because
they’re based on real people. My task (self-imposed) was instead to imagine and
understand them. It was probably easier to imagine Charlotte than it was Emily
because Charlotte left so many personal writings and met so many more people
(who then remembered her) while Emily left almost no writings and had no
interest in meeting anyone ever! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The book took ten years for me to write—lots of time for
highs and lows! At one point, my former agent told me she would only go out
with the book if I cut it by more than one-third; she offered no roadmap,
however, for how I might do so! That was definitely a low! Highs included
writing every piece in the book, and also finding an editor who truly
appreciated what I was trying to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Alice McDermott and Jim Crace both offered similar advice at
different points which I now, with <i>Half-Life, </i>possibly follow to an
extreme! Alice read a story about young people traversing Asia in a Magic Bus
in 1960 and told me to keep those kids, and their drama, on the bus! Jim read
an early version of the opening of my first novel, <i>Good on Paper</i>, and
said that the love interest’s bookstore should not be many blocks away, but
visible from the narrator’s window. Spatial unity! I like it! My Brontës are
homebodies: in my imagining, virtually all their drama takes place in their
much too small, rent-controlled apartment!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I had intended to write four <i>realistic</i> long stories,
each from the point of view of a different Brontë sibling; collectively, these
long stories would comprise a novel, telling us something more or less
comprehensive about their lives. Imagine my surprise when before I’d written
even five pages, the Brontë children were jumping on and off subways, and
running from their doorman. This was not going to be a realistic version of their
lives!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The title of the book came out of that first piece, which by
some crazy miracle already contained so much that would be important in the
book. The stolen sisters refer, at first, to the two oldest Brontë girls, Maria
and Elizabeth, who die at age 11 and 10, respectively (when Charlotte, the
oldest of the remaining children, is barely nine); later it could be said that
Emily and Anne, who die at age 30 and 29, respectively, are also “stolen.” In
my imagining, these deaths haunt Charlotte. What is the half-life of this kind
of haunting? Does it diminish over time? What are its effects? These are (some
of) the questions this book explores.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Emily, it seems, is constantly making stew. By all accounts her
stew is excellent, though it is in no way exceptional. Definitely it wasn’t
made with wine because Emily wouldn’t want alcohol of any kind in the house to
tempt her brother; also, she can’t be using a crockpot or pressure cooker,
because she seems to always be stirring … I haven’t tried this recipe, so can’t
vouch for it, but this is very much like the stew Emily might have made: <a href="https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25678/beef-stew-vi/">https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25678/beef-stew-vi/</a>.
Hearty, ordinary cut of beef, plenty of veg to make the beef go further! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR</b>: <a href="http://www.rachelcantor.com/">www.rachelcantor.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.greenlightbookstore.com/book/9781641294645" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc;">https://www.greenlightbookstore.com/book/9781641294645</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>READ “Dead Dresses,” AN EXCERPT FROM THIS BOOK: </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://kenyonreview.org/wp-content/uploads/KenyonArchive/2015/37/1/i24240425/24242260/24242260.pdf">https://kenyonreview.org/wp-content/uploads/KenyonArchive/2015/37/1/i24240425/24242260/24242260.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-21950605585378466632023-06-26T12:48:00.003-04:002023-06-26T12:48:44.795-04:00TBR: A Brief Natural History of Women by Sarah Freligh<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvIIhoE_IEWMM3DkgpctOBSZABphqGrzgB3BCNqOeX6BLvvMvRxyE8_bBviZSIgtTqWn8ng79Uvlgg6k6akvbUqoQo0ocVdULsAtIw8_cd0FgsBsueyMHJx7JNI45rf7QMJAgnH4t-LJASXGKoYy2M4ceFpGJg_ZaQzydCxvrb3m92M8O-zFW-E8F/s320/sarah%20freligh.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="215" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvIIhoE_IEWMM3DkgpctOBSZABphqGrzgB3BCNqOeX6BLvvMvRxyE8_bBviZSIgtTqWn8ng79Uvlgg6k6akvbUqoQo0ocVdULsAtIw8_cd0FgsBsueyMHJx7JNI45rf7QMJAgnH4t-LJASXGKoYy2M4ceFpGJg_ZaQzydCxvrb3m92M8O-zFW-E8F/s1600/sarah%20freligh.jpg" width="215" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">A Brief Natural History of Women</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"> balances anthropology and imagination in its exploration of women
through their lovers, friends, family, grief, work, and everything in between.
A post-Roe book that recalls the bad old days pre-Roe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
story gave you the most trouble, and why?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I really, really loved writing “A Brief Natural History of
the Girls in the Office,” a story that I’d fooled around with for a long time
before I hit on food and the collective “we” as a way to condense the lives of
these women into a few paragraphs while still paying homage to their fierce
sense of community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“A Brief Natural History of the Automobile,” hands down,
gave me fits. I started writing it in 1998, on a gigantic PC, and finished it
in 2021 on my Mac Air. That’s how long it took for it to present itself to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It was mostly highs, honestly. I submitted it a few contests
where it was a finalist or a runner-up. I sent it to Allison Blevins at Harbor
Editions at her request and she accepted it a few days later. I was thrilled
--- I loved working with Harbor on my chapbook, <i>We, </i>published in January
2021.<i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Don’t get into too many habits,” advice courtesy of a
Famous Writer during a keynote address at a long-ago writers’ conference. Many participants
were shocked because this is the exact opposite of what we’re told to do. But
think about it: Rigidity, inflexibility are often the very things that keep us
from writing. A good fifteen minutes daily is better than a bad three-hour,
once-a-week binge. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That it became my safe place during the pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I felt like I was writing all these weird little pieces that
had little or no thematic unity and then I wrote “A Brief Natural History of
the Girls in the Office,” and I understood the about-ness of the book and knew
what my title needed to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I do <b>not</b> recommend “Melinda’s tuna noodle casserole
crusted with Saltines” that she inflicted on the girls in the office. Blech. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: <a href="http://www.sarahfreligh.com/">www.sarahfreligh.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR PILE: <o:p></o:p></span></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Brief-Natural-History-Women/dp/1957248130/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17KSQMER4VAPM&keywords=sarah+freligh&qid=1687798011&sprefix=sarah+fre%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1">https://www.amazon.com/Brief-Natural-History-Women/dp/1957248130/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17KSQMER4VAPM&keywords=sarah+freligh&qid=1687798011&sprefix=sarah+fre%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1</a></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ A STORY FROM THIS BOOK, “A Brief Natural History of
the Girls in the Office”: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://milkcandyreview.home.blog/2022/10/06/a-brief-natural-history-of-the-girls-in-the-office-by-sarah-freligh/">https://milkcandyreview.home.blog/2022/10/06/a-brief-natural-history-of-the-girls-in-the-office-by-sarah-freligh/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596057523006082318.post-14248270294203622322023-06-20T12:58:00.001-04:002023-06-20T12:58:50.260-04:00TBR: Hedge by Jane Delury<p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only
interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books
who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories
about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.</i></b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeSUKVukJGzIve4JVk-dPwUeL96MjIjXd8CP3OSCEvLcaNE1j56tcEXY4f17o7qJ-0-LZPI-9lZ1oFrNo5Z4TaIYr5obS5lTvmEbTRwWt2jV0bfYZj7Mp1mz6cuE0RYayrEBCNGQ7pFGs7JJcGA4S383VcOKMNT7-z543hG5Wqtkm4afKS4dFvvuMh/s151/Hedge%20cover%20thumb.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="151" data-original-width="100" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeSUKVukJGzIve4JVk-dPwUeL96MjIjXd8CP3OSCEvLcaNE1j56tcEXY4f17o7qJ-0-LZPI-9lZ1oFrNo5Z4TaIYr5obS5lTvmEbTRwWt2jV0bfYZj7Mp1mz6cuE0RYayrEBCNGQ7pFGs7JJcGA4S383VcOKMNT7-z543hG5Wqtkm4afKS4dFvvuMh/s1600/Hedge%20cover%20thumb.jpg" width="100" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in
2-3 sentences?<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Hedge</i> is about a woman trying to pursue her own
passions and happiness while being a good mother to her children. Maud is a
landscape historian who leaves her marriage in California for a project on a
Hudson Valley estate, where she finds new love that’s quickly uprooted by her
daughter’s secret struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the second part of <i>Hedge</i>, Maud returns home to
Marin and begins restoring a garden at the Presidio of San Francisco. The
project’s donor is a reclusive artist named Alice, who has left her former life
behind and lives in isolation on the Pacific Coast. She’s both tough and
vulnerable and deeply connected to the wild landscape. I loved spending time
with her, learning about her past and why she left it behind. A harder character
to write was Maud’s husband, Peter, because he’s the easy antagonist in the
first part of the book and I needed to find my own understanding of his
behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My first book, THE BALCONY, a novel-in-stories, came out
with Little, Brown and I had a wonderful editor. But it became clear early on
that <i>Hedge</i> wasn’t a good match for her, so we parted ways. It was
painful! Around the same time, the brilliant Leigh Newman contacted my agent,
looking for novel manuscripts for a new publishing venture. (I’d worked with
Leigh before when she edited one of my essays.) Leigh connected with <i>Hedge</i>
and had a vision for editing it, and I felt the universe was telling me: Jump!
So I did, and I’m so glad, because this led me to Zibby Books, which has been a
great home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Don’t forget why you write in the first place and make sure
you nurture that reason no matter what happens with the work when it’s out of
your hands. We spend so many hours of our life on the page. Make those hours
matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Maud’s elder daughter, Ella, is keeping a secret in the
first part of the book. When I understood what was going on with her, I was
shocked, as if someone else had written it!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How did you find the title of your book? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The first draft of <i>Hedge</i> took place at Monticello.
(Eventually, I needed to dump Thomas Jefferson.) When the Monticello gardens
were restored, a hedge was grown to conceal Mulberry Row from the house, hiding
the reminder of enslavement on the mountain. That draft of <i>Hedge</i> was
quite different from the final book, but when I moved the novel to New York, I
brought the hedge with me!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Maud and her daughters are living near an orchard in the
Hudson Valley and they spend an afternoon making jam and pie. Here’s a great
cherry pie recipe from the <i>New York Time</i>s! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013181-twice-baked-sour-cherry-pie">https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013181-twice-baked-sour-cherry-pie</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">*****</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: <a href="https://www.zibbybooks.com/">https://www.zibbybooks.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=jane+delury+hedge+bookshop.org&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=jane+delury+hedge+bookshop.org&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>LesliePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14481570436014889814noreply@blogger.com