My dear friend and colleague, Kay Kendall, author of Desolation Row and Rainy Day Women, challenged me to post 7 things people may not know about my writing. I accepted her challenge and told her I'd share my behind-the-writing information here and now.
1. My first novel (the one prior to TWISTED) was written from 10:30 PM to 2-4:00 AM. I was working full-time as a psychotherapist and often attended the San Antonio Spurs basketball games at night so couldn't write until I got home.
2. I enjoy listening to music while I write. Soft jazz or Spanish ballads are my go-to music, quiet enough to keep in the background. Sometimes I don’t
even hear the music, but when I start a writing session, music keeps me focused.
3. When I don’t write for any period of time I get grumpy—okay, that’s more about me than my writing, but it’s the truth. I imagine it’s like a runner
who must run regularly. Writing is something I have to do for my mental health—and the mental health and happiness of my family and friends.
4. I tend to drink a lot of decaf coffee with hazelnut cream while I write. (In the Spurs mug my critique partner, Rita Derbas, gave me.)
5. My short story “In the Underside” (later produced as a play) was the only piece of writing that just flowed from my fingertips and came out in one
complete, finished, piece. I remember staying up the entire night writing that story, sometimes my eyes blurring with tears. I had two thoughts in mind
while I wrote “In the Underside”: the 28-year-old mother who died after drinking an abundance of water during a radio contest. Remember that situation?
She wanted to win a Wii for her three children. The second thought: there is a lot that goes on inside people that doctors—and mental health
specialists—can’t possibly know. I hadn’t intended “In the Underside”
to be written with limited sensory awareness, (the protagonist can only hear and smell) but I’m glad the story wrote itself that way. I learned a lot.
6. I struggle to write non-fiction. Blogs are difficult for me. I blame it on having to write a dissertation. That might not be the core the reason,
but I’m too busy to try to figure it out. I’ll just need to write through my discomfort.7. I tend to write with a lot of dialogue. Sigrid Nunez, award-winning author and Literary Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, encouraged a group of us at the Vermont Studio Center “not to be afraid to use narrative” in our fiction. So I experimented with a short story, “It Was Said,” written predominantly in narration. To my surprise, that story received a nomination for the Pushcart Prize. The positive reception to that story doubly surprised me because I work hard to avoid “to be” verbs in my fiction. Yet here was a story where the passive voice almost becomes its own character in the tale.
So there you have it, seven bits of information you may not have known about me and/or my writing. Thank you, Kay, for prompting me to share aspects of my writing life. You know, perhaps another reason blogs are difficult for me (#6 above) is they go counter to my training against self-disclosure. Whoops, didn’t I say I would stop trying to figure that out? I guess just because I’ve become a professional writer doesn’t mean I can stop being a psychotherapist. But I must admit, it’s kind of nice to let others know a little more about me.
What 7 things would you include on your list?
Loved this post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marilyn!
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