The Writer’s Handful – Patricia Ann McNair

October 15, 2018October 15, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Terry H. Watkins

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to!

Today we hear from Terry H. Watkins, whose brand new and affecting novel, Darling Girl, will celebrate its book birthday this week. Kirkus Reviews had lots of good things to say about this coming of age story, including this: “a powerful drama that impressively manages to both haunt and inspire.”

Terry has lots of things to do this week, including entertaining her new kittens. And still, she has time for a little book conversation.

Welcome, Terry!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

Yes, I’m working on an outline for my next book. I took a research trip to Ireland in April and I’m still sorting through all that material and figuring out how to use it.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

I started a historical novel set in colonial America when I was thirteen. I abandoned it after about three chapters. The next thing I wrote was forty years later when I wrote some poetry while teaching pattern poetry to 8th grader. I started writing my novel Darling Girl when teaching writing the personal essay to those same 8th graders.

What are you reading right now?

I’m obsessed with John Connolly’s Charlie Parker detective series right now. His themes: sins of the fathers, the nature of evil, Is morality absolute or situational and the way he mingles the spiritual/supernatural with the mundane really interest me. I’ve just started reading There, There by Tommy Orange, a look at contemporary Native American life.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

Don’t worry about what other people think about you because mostly they don’t. I was very self conscious for much of my life. I’m glad I finally started following it.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

My writing would be a snake because it sheds its skin. My second book will be unlike my first book in so many ways or at least I hope it will. I hope that my readers will be comfortable with that.

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Terry H. Watkins has worked in banking, computers, for a nonprofit educating girls about STEM opportunities, and in education teaching middle-schoolers everything from American History to Comic Books to Philosophy to Writing, until she retired and began writing shortly thereafter. When not writing or traveling, she reads and putters in the garden. She shares a home with her husband —Mr. Wonderful – three cats, and a great deal of clutter.

September 3, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Megan Alice

MeganAlice_3448

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to!

Okay, so when I was seventeen I wrote poems (didn’t we all?) and hid them away in notebooks and folded sheets of paper stuffed under my socks in my dresser. Today, in the Writer’s Handful, I want to introduce to you the seventeen-year-old poet Megan Alice, whose first book of poetry, A Bouquet of Daisies has just been released. No hidden notebooks and folded-away poems for this young woman. Just saying.

And while Megan Alice’s poems do not shy away from the darkness inside them, as I put this post together, I find myself thinking of something Franz Kafka said: “Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”

Welcome, Megan!

Did you write today?

Yes! I wrote a haiku. I try to write something every day either when I wake up or before bed. This is what I wrote this morning:

Do not mistake me

I am neither lion nor lamb

But sleeping dragon

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

In second grade I wrote a short story about a princess who fights crime with her pet dinosaur. My teacher could tell how much I loved writing, so she let me write a sequel. I wish I still had it!

What are you reading right now?

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman and Becky Shaw [a play] by Gina Gionfriddo.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

Oh gosh. Well… my acting coach recently told me, “you cannot be noble only when it serves you.” That speaks volumes to me.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

A tiger cub! I imagine myself as a tiger cub and I feel that energy is passed into my writing. I can be dangerous, fierce, and powerful while also being cute, innocent, and young. I also love being unpredictable, which most young cubs are.

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Megan Alice is a seventeen-year-old poet and performer based in Southern California who has committed to donating a portion of her book proceeds to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Megan is currently working on her second book and has several novellas in development.

July 30, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Sarah Ward

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to!

Today’s Writer’s Handful is a conversation with Vermont writer, Sarah Ward, whose new book, Aesop Lake, was just released in paperback from Green Writers Press. This young adult novel is no light-hearted romp among the unicorns and fields of daisies, but instead tells a story full of the complicated relationships and actions young people are engaged in these days. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “A mindful dissection of how allied strength can combat hate.” Something, dare I say, we all might learn from. Aesop-Lake_Cover_MKTsml-768x1155

Welcome, Sarah!

Did you write today?

Yes. I edited a dialogue that I overheard at the 4th of July Parade. The dialogue was between a sarcastic father and his fourteen-year-old son. The boy was dressed in cargo shorts, a striped shirt and gold shoes, which his father deemed inappropriate, and proceeded to tease him for. The boy’s long curly brown hair was held in place with a reversed baseball cap, that could not hide his embarrassment and frustration. His only option was to jump on his skateboard and ride away. I’m not sure where I will ever use this scene, but it felt real, and impactful.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

When I was in first grade, my teacher, Mrs. Partridge would ask all of us to put our heads on our desks and listen to the instrumental recording of Peter and The Wolf. It was my earliest introduction to classical music, and it flipped a switch inside of me that storytelling could be more than See Spot Run. Each character was represented by an instrument, and their voices were so distinct that I felt connected and inspired. After the recording ended we were given time to write in our journals. I was only six, but I had been reading since I was four, and had already begun to tell stories, and read books. Then I started writing my own stories for the animals in the story of Peter and The Wolf. I created new stories about what happened to the bird, the duck and other characters. While they were only a few sentences long, my teacher was ecstatic with every attempt I made, and hung them on the wall for all of the class to see.

Bundle Sticks - Aesop Lake Signed — Illustration by Lindsay Ward

What are you reading right now?

Four books. I can never read just one. 1. I’m reading an advanced reader copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s called Unsheltered, which I collected at the 2018 Book Expo in NYC. I absolutely love Barbara’s work, and own all of her novels and short stories in paper and audio. 2. Katherine Patterson’s Stories of my Life, that I picked up at her book signing last winter. One of my favorite children’s authors, and the author of my all-time favorite book as a child, Bridge To Terabithia. 3. Thea Lewis’s Wicked Vermont, which was just released this spring. Thea is another Vermont Author, and friend. I do my best to support other authors, attending their events, buying their books, and when I’m finished, I will write a review. I believe we all need this kind of support, and it builds good karma! And last, but certainly not least, 4. I’m re-listening to the Lord of the Rings, Trilogy. I’ve read this series every decade or so since my teens. I’ve listened to the audio version twice now, and absolutely love Rob Inglis’s voice. As soon as I’m finished with the trilogy I will sock myself away to watch the movies again, for the sixth or seventh time and love them just as much, but for different reason.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

This past spring I was at the 2018 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, and I sat in on several panels about writing for young adults about challenging subjects. My new novel, Aesop Lake, takes on a hate crime against a gay couple, and one of my main protagonists, Leda, who witnesses the crime, has to choose between doing the right thing, or protecting her boyfriend and family. I asked one of the panelists, Sarah Aronson, how does she cope with negative reactions to her topics, since I’m assured that some will judge my book as too violent, anti-Christian, etc. (even though it is not), and Sarah’s response was, “as soon as this book is released, start writing the next one. Don’t get focused on any negative press, or the haters, because they don’t really matter. What matters is getting back to work, telling the next story that is ready to be written, and putting your energy into the creative process.” I can’t wait to do just that, as I’ve been thinking about my next novel for six months. I’m ready to go.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

I think my writing would be best characterized by a lemur because it often looks pretty straight forward, but there is more to it than meets the eye. There are layers of meaning and depth beneath the story, just as a lemur appears to be just another primate, but actually is quite different than others. Many of my stories have a matriarchal head of household, and strong mother-daughter relationships, which is similar to lemurs, who are one of the few known primates and mammals to have females in a social dominant role. Additionally, their social constructs are challenging, and this is true of most of my stories, given my twenty-five-years as a social worker. I tend to write stories about the darker side of families, domestic violence, hate crimes, depression and homelessness, which are topics which affect families—and women—in particular.

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Sarah Ward writes young adult fiction, poetry and journal articles in the field of child welfare. Over a twenty-five-year career as a social worker, Sarah has worked with young adults and families with harrowing backgrounds. She won the 2007 Editor’s Choice Award for the New England Anthology of Poetry for her poem “Warmer Waters,” and she is a member of the League of Vermont Writers since 2008. As a social worker, Sarah has published several journal articles, and was recently a co-author on an article published (December 2016) in Child and Youth Services Review titled, “Building a landscape of resilience after workplace violence in public child welfare.” In her limited spare time, Sarah enjoys a good book, a little yoga and a cup of tea in her home in Williston, Vermont.

April 16, 2018April 15, 2018

The Writer’s Handful With Justin O’Brien

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to

Fifty years ago this summer, the Democratic National Convention came to Chicago. I was just a little girl in 1968, but I remember watching this on our black and white television: the boisterous goings-on inside the convention center, and the scary, dangerous goings-on outside in Grant Park and up and down Michigan Avenue. My office view today looks over this very spot, but it is hard for me to imagine what it must have been like on those long-passed days and nights. BUT, Chicago Yippie! ’68, by Chicago native–and now Wisconsin resident-Justin O’Brien, puts it all in focus again. This book, Justin’s story and found and snapped photos, is part celebration, part explanation of a time of turbulent hope and essential unrest.

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Recently, Justin was able to take a few minutes away from his writer’s desk for The Writer’s Handful. Welcome, Justin!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

I’m a dabbler. So, yes, in my odd fashion, I wrote today, as I do every day. There’s the socially obligatory Facebook posts, including fielding questions about my new book, Chicago Yippie! ’68 (garretroom.com), an account of my experiences as a 17-year-old Chicago kid caught up in the Democratic Convention riots of 1968. I also answered a question on an internet forum about Chicago blues musician Little Smokey Smothers and his connection to the Paul Butterfield Band (I have been writing about Chicago blues music for forty years). Then there are questions I’m preparing for an interview with a Chicago blues musician for a feature article. And I revisited some of my notes on what I hope will be a long piece or a small book on The Beats and what they meant to me and my hitch-hiking friends back in the 1960s and ’70s.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

As part of a science assignment in perhaps the fourth grade, each of us was asked to write about the cycle of a water drop. I wrote a first-person story about a raindrop falling in a lake and being evaporated back into the atmosphere and coming back to the ground somewhere else as snow, and on and on. I remember feeling the freedom and surprise of creative writing. I may still have that paper somewhere.

What are you reading right now?

I’m a dabbler, as I said, and I am juggling all non-fiction at the moment: The Rogue’s

March, which tells the story of Irishman John Riley who defected with thousands of other Irish-born soldiers from the U.S. Army to fight with Mexican forces in the 1840s, an annotated collection of some of Mark Twain’s unfinished fiction, and also a book on Wisconsin geologist/naturalist Increase Lapham. As this suggests, I cannot bear current events at the moment.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

“When you know you’re going to meet an interesting person, think of some good

questions to ask them.” My dad said that to me and my brothers in the car one day when we were boys. I think it was when we were on our way to see a client of his who had been blinded by mustard gas in World War I. That was an interesting day, which I have written about.

I wasn’t a great one for taking advice, but I always remembered that bit. And it served me well throughout the years. In my early teens, when I decided I was going to be a writer, a friend and I were always contriving ways to meet famous people, like Robert Vaughn (“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”), Senator Hubert Humphrey, tap dancer John Bubbles, and comedian Frank Gorshin (the original Riddler on the Batman TV show), who was gracious enough to allow us morons to “interview” him at the Drake Hotel in Chicago as he drank his tea in the dining room. Nothing came of that. But I did go on to interview scores of blues musicians over the years for feature articles as well as for the “Speakin’ of the Blues” interview and performance series that the Chicago Public Library held for many years at the Harold Washington Library and broadcast on local cable TV. I hope I have asked good questions over the years.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

It would have to be an alligator that I am perpetually wrestling. Perhaps a small, tame one, because I don’t feel defeated by the effort—it’s always a good and challenging—though sometimes scary—workout, with plenty of thrashing around, if mostly mental.

os-ap-aggressive-alligator-shuts-down-florida-park-20160806

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Justin O’Brien is a freelance writer who received his bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago. For most of his 42-year career, he practiced the craft of typography, a subject that he also taught and wrote about. Concurrent with his 9-to-5 job he wrote extensively about blues music over a forty-year period, and for several decades has been associated with Living Blues magazine of the University of Mississippi. His writing—on blues and other subjects—has also appeared in Juke Blues, Sing Out!, Irish Music, UIC Alumni News, Chicago Parent, The Typographer, Digital Chicago, Southern Graphics, and The Minneapolis Review of Baseball. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of the Blues (Routledge Press, 2005), Armitage Avenue Transcendentalists (Charles Kerr, 2009), and Base Paths: The Best of the Minneapolis Review of Baseball (Wm. Brown, 1991).

January 29, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Giano Cromley

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to.

A couple of months ago, I met Giano Cromley at Hyde Park’s famous Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap. He was there for a reading, a double book launch party for him (What We Build Upon the Ruins) and Joseph G. Peterson (Gunmetal Blue.) I didn’t know him or his writing before that day, and man, I gotta tell you, I am so glad that has changed. His work is haunting and smart; he creates the sort of characters you wonder over and worry about once the story has ended. What We Build Upon the Ruins is one of those collections that make a reader excited about short stories and their future. cover ruins

And recently, Giano took a few minutes out of his busy book promotion to chat a bit. Here’s his handful.

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

Not to get too cute here, but it depends on what you mean by the word “write.” I’ve always taken a fairly hard-line stance on it, in which case, I have not written today. Even though it’s Friday as I type this (and Fridays are typically my most productive writing days), vet visits and dishwasher repair appointments have conspired to put the kibosh on any notion of fruitful writing.

If, however, you subscribe to a more generous definition of the word “write” (a definition first proposed to me by the great writer Ben Tanzer) — a definition that holds that any writing whatsoever qualifies as “writing” — then, yes, I did write today. I am writing. Writing about writing, in fact. (Ouroboros reference fully embraced.)

All that being said, the only writing I find truly rewarding is the kind that involves a blank page and the utter mystery of what will go on it. I liken that feeling to driving down a dark highway at night with no headlights. You never know what’s going to pop into view. I recently had a book come out so it feels like it’s been ages since I’ve done that kind of blank-page writing. Part of me is nervous for the next time I sit down to do it. Will I still be able to pull it off? Have I lost that ability? Those are the kinds of questions that haunt my mind, but they always make it more exciting when I prove to myself I still can.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

The first thing I remember writing was in school, probably second grade. Our teacher would give us these big wide sheets of paper with the top half blank and the bottom half lined. We were supposed to draw a picture on the top half and write the story that went along with the picture on the bottom half. This exercise was pretty much the best thing I could ever be assigned. Complete freedom. Zero parameters. As such, I tended to write about the things my 9-year-old self found awesome at the time — typically dinosaurs. A frequent plot would involve characters on an expedition who came across a group of somehow-not-extinct dinosaurs, which they would then keep as pets. To this day, I maintain those stories probably are some of the best things I’ve ever written.

What are you reading right now?

Well… to be very honest, I’m currently reading Patricia Ann McNair’s collection of essays entitled And These Are the Good Times. Essay collections aren’t always the first thing I pick up when I’m looking for a new book. But I got the chance to hear McNair read this past fall and I so thoroughly enjoyed her reading that I had to get myself a copy. Then, a couple other books I had in line in front of it kind of fell flat, so hers quickly moved up the queue. And, boy, am I appreciative of that happenstance. I can hardly begin to explain how much I’ve enjoyed the collection so far. I think what I find so engrossing is the sense of place each piece inhabits. Whether it’s a steamy summer night on Foster Beach, an evening at the local bar with her father, or her collegiate office downtown, these essays feel so firmly rooted and confident of their locale that they give each piece an emotional heft that often leaves me squirming and gasping for breath. I’ve only got about 30 pages left and I already miss it. [PMc…awww…shucks. Thanks.]

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

So much good advice I’ve received. So much good advice I’ve ignored. Here’s something: It was my first job the summer after my senior year in high school. I was the delivery boy in a radiator repair shop. (The shop was owned by my friend’s father, which was the only reason I got the job, rather than any mechanical aptitude on my part.) The job was 70% driving around to various truck repair garages to pick up faulty radiators or deliver repaired ones. The other 30% of the job was basically hanging around the garage and doing whatever needed doing. Sometimes it was stripping radiators, other times it was cleaning out the chemical solvent vats, others it was running out to get doughnuts for the guys. One afternoon, it was a slow day at the shop, and I didn’t have much to do. Or, rather, I didn’t see much to do. My friend’s dad came wandering into the shop and saw me idly loafing. He looked at me and said, “Don’t just stand there. Do something.”

That line has always stuck with me. Every day we have a finite amount of time given to us to go out and accomplish whatever it is we hope to accomplish. Wasting time, doing nothing is one of the worst sins you can commit. Whenever I find myself putting off writing or generally procrastinating, I remember those words: Don’t just stand there. Do something.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

If my writing were an animal, it would be an otter. Here’s why: They’re very approachable and friendly seeming. After all, these are the guys that swim on their back and carry their food on their bellies. “Hey,” you might say, “isn’t that otter so cute?!” But if you get a little closer and observe them for a while, you’ll also see that they’re pretty fierce little guys who don’t take much shit from anyone else in the animal kingdom. Those teeth are not joke. Otters are also pretty clever. They have to use rocks to open up their clams and mussels, or they don’t eat. I’d like to think my writing, on its better days, exhibits all those qualities.

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Giano Cromley is the author of the novel The Last Good Halloween, which was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award. He is the chair of the Communications Department at Kennedy-King College, and he lives on the South Side of Chicago with his wife and two dogs.

January 8, 2018January 8, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Joseph G. Peterson

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to.

I first stumbled upon Joseph G. Peterson’s work with the publication of his novel, Wanted: Elevator Man. Joseph’s line-up of books (a half-dozen so far) is diverse (including a novel in verse!) and impressive. His most recent book, just released by the very fine Tortoise Books, is Gunmetal Blue. Kirkus Reviews calls Joseph “one of the Windy City’s best-kept secrets…” and says that Gunmetal Blue is “…a stark meditation on grief, Catholic guilt, and guns.” Intrigued? You should be.

Here is Joseph G. Peterson in response to The Writer’s Handful. book cover gunmetal

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

I’m on vacation in a condo overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. A cold snap grips the north, but down here in southern Florida, all is sun, reflection of light off the water, and the greenness of palm trees, crabgrass, and shrub. Because I’m on vacation, I actually have an opportunity to spend a little time in the morning writing, and I’ve been doing so each morning I’ve been down here. Today, I was working on a comic novel about an old guy who lives with his mom. In general, I’m not a very systematic writer. I sort of noodle around in the small margins of the day and usually that means very early in the morning (5:30 am) I’ll have a moment or two; or very late at night >10:45 I’ll have another moment or two. With just a few moments here and there it’s amazing how much work can get done.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

I probably wrote my first story when I was in first or second grade. It concerned a frog hopping around the log. I remember also telling stories in class very early on in my school career, and I was always appalled at how quickly my stories strayed from the truth. It wasn’t until later that I realized I just naturally liked to fabricate tall tales. My mother recently shared with me a prospective biography that I wrote when I was five or six years old and in that biography I had said I wanted to be a writer. I have no idea where that impulse may have come from, but it proved to be prescient.

What are you reading right now?

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. When I travel on winter break, I’ve discovered that this is a good time to read a classic. Last year at this time, I read a novel by Conan Doyle, the year before that I read James Farrell’s Studs Lonigon… a great book. I’m also enjoying the short book,300 Arguments, by Sarah Manguso.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

When I was an apprentice writer, I used to search high-and-low for the holy grail of how to do it: how to write a novel. I read every Paris Review Interview there was, and I was most interested in understanding whether the writing process over the course of a novel was difficult, extremely difficult, or nearly impossible. For me, at the time, it seemed on the cusp of impossible. What those interviews taught me was that maybe persistence and doggedness might be the best tools for completing a novel. As to all the rules that writers liked to espouse in those interviews: show don’t tell, tell don’t show, use the Oxford comma, don’t use adjectives, write first thing in the morning, use a number two pencil, keep the iceberg submerged, &c.; I never found one that was useful for me. As a rule, rules about writing bug me. At the end of the day the only writing rule that I subscribe to is this one: It doesn’t matter how you do it… whether you stay on the track of the customary way or veer far off course… all that matters is that the final product works.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

Was it Isaiah Berlin who divided writers into two camps: Foxes and Hedgehogs? In any event, I like this binary classification, and as such I would put myself into the hedgehog camp. First of all, I like hedgehogs. There used to be quite a lot of them out along the Des Plaines river where I liked to fish, and I liked to watch them root around near their holes. Second of all, I think I’m the sort of writer that doggedly roots around his subject. You might even say, all of my books (six published so far) are an intensive rooting around the subject of what it means to be tossed out of the group or cast-out as the case may be. I study this subject mostly as it pertains to guys who have fallen out of the economy, fallen out of relevance, falling out of family, etc. I think of my broader work as concerns “The Life of Man”–and what interests me is what that life is like once the old social norms of white male status and privilege give way to a loss of power and marginalization, which, in this day and age is itself a subject that is getting cast to the margins of our literature.

Joseph G. Peterson grew up in Wheeling, Illinois. He worked in an aluminum mill and in the masonry trade as a hod carrier and he attended the University of Chicago. He is the author of five novels: Beautiful Piece, Inside the Whale, Wanted: Elevator Man, Gideon’s Confession, and Gunmetal Blue. He is also the author of the short-story collection, Twilight of the Idiots. His stories have appeared in numerous anthologies including, The Pleasure You Suffer: A Saudade Anthology, and Daddy Cool: An anthology of Writing by Fathers for & About Kids. He works in publishing and lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters.

December 22, 2014March 7, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with James Tadd Adcox

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to.

Curbside Splendor is at it again–publishing cutting edge work by butt-kicking emerging writers. Does Not Love is the debut novel of JAMES TADD ADCOX, and folks are paying attention to it. Roxanne Gay says “…Adcox is a writer who knows how to make the reader believe the impossible, in his capable hands, is always possible, and the ordinary, in his elegant words, is truly extraordinary.” And Electric Lit tells us “Does Not Love is funny, surreal, satiric, pensive, and strangely haunting.”

On his blog tour, James Tadd Adcox stopped by The Writer’s Handful, and I am glad he did.

Welcome James!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

I feel like I’m basically always working on something. I do a lot of writing in transit. I’m planning to spend some time on a train, later, working on an essay about Donald Barthelme.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

A game, actually–I spent most of my childhood and early teenage years writing/designing games, mostly really complicated board games or card games, and then later on roleplaying games. I thought for a long time that I might want to design games as a career. (A friend of mine who used to be a collaborator in writing these games is doing that now, publishing them through indie games publishers on the West Coast).

The first game I remember writing was a book, something like a Choose Your Own Adventure but with some role-playing elements to it (you could collect items, buy things, your character advanced over time)–probably ripped off of this series of books that was around then, Lone Wolf, which did basically the same thing. I don’t especially remember the game’s plot, except that it had something to do with saving the world, and at some point a character who you were supposed to trust turned on you.

I’ve always preferred designing games or watching other people play them to playing games myself, though. I don’t know what that says about me, but I feel like it makes a kind of sense, as a disposition, for a writer.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading Silence: A Christian History by Diarmaid MacCulloch, and Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard. MacCulloch also wrote a massive history of Christianity called Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years; this one’s a bit shorter and more focused.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

I’m terrible at taking advice. Mostly I have to keep doing something wrong long enough to learn not to do it.

Though it isn’t really advice, and wasn’t directed at me, Bertolt Brecht at some point in his journals talks about needing to develop sufficient butt-strength to write a novel; he says, at the time, that he has not gotten good enough at sitting down long enough to write one, but he is working on it… Does Not Love is a short novel, which I’m okay with—I wanted it to be a short novel, and it ended up being right around the size that I’d planned for when I started—but I’d like to develop enough sitting-ability or butt-strength to write something longer.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

There is a kind of spider that makes a decoy of itself out of leaves and dead insects, and can make the decoy move, just like a real spider. It looks realistic enough that at first it fooled the scientists that discovered it into thinking that the decoy was, in fact, the spider. Ideally I would like my writing to be something like that.

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James Tadd Adcox is the author of a novel, Does Not Love, and a collection of stories, The Map of the System of Human Knowledge. He lives in Chicago.

December 15, 2014March 7, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Carrie Etter

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to.

After a bit of hiatus, I am so very pleased to bring you The Writer’s Handful again. And I am even more pleased to have CARRIE ETTER, a remarkable poet and sudden prose writer, join us today. You must find Carrie’s work and read it immediately. She will break your heart. She will make you laugh. She will cause you wonder. She will speak to you as though you are close, close enough to touch. And her words will touch you.

Welcome Carrie!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

It’s marking season, as it were, one of those times of year where I have weeks of marking to do, and I find it hard to write when I’m doing so much marking, so I probably won’t write again until after it’s done. I don’t like the situation, but I’ve learned to work with it.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

At age 3, on the large paper that’s half-lined, half empty space, I wrote (and drew) a story about ducks.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading four things in uneven rotation: H.P. Lovecraft’s Classic Horror Stories (a gift from a student), China Mieville’s The City and the City, Dylan Thomas’s Collected Poems, and the current issue of New American Writing.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

I can’t really think of concrete advice I’ve been given, at least broad principles, that I’ve found especially useful. I had a personal revelation while working on my PhD at the British Library. I was thinking I’d give up on writing a difficult poem, when I realized that if I faced the same situation in my PhD–an established critic whose argument directly conflicted with mine, say–I’d have to find a way through it. I had to approach writing with all the rigor I approached writing criticism. That’s since been a touchstone.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

I’d aspire for my writing to be like a dolphin, intelligent and elegant.

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Originally from Normal, Illinois, Carrie Etter has lived in England since 2001 and is a senior lecturer/associate professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University. She has published three collections, The Tethers (Seren, 2009), Divining for Starters (Shearsman, 2011), and Imagined Sons (Seren, 2014), and edited Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets (Shearsman, 2010). Individual poems have appeared in The Iowa Review, The New Republic, The New Statesman, The Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere. She blogs athttp://carrieetter.blogspot.com.

→Thank you Carrie Etter, for taking the time away from poem making, marking, reviewing, and blogging for this little chat. And thank you, everyone, always, for reading. – PMC←

May 26, 2014March 7, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Patricia Skalka

Mondays + Writers = Finally something to look forward to.

Putting together your summer reading list? Looking for a smart, tough mystery to add to it? Check out the fist in the Dave Cubiak Mystery Series, DEATH STALKS DOOR COUNTY, the debut novel by Chicago author PATRICIA SKALKA. Publishers Weekly calls this book “A tight, lyrical first novel.” High praise indeed!

Here’s the thing, though, the book has already gone into its second printing (released just weeks ago!) and if you are looking for it in Chicago bookstores, you may find that it is already sold out in many places. Hang tight, though, and place your order; more are on the way! And for those of you who live in the Chicago area, you can hear Patricia read from the book at the fabulous Tuesday Funk Reading Series at Hopleaf on Clark in Andersonville (June 3), or head out to Winnetka to The Bookstall on June 12. To hold you over for a bit before then, here’s Patricia answering a couple of questions for us.

Welcome Patricia!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

I try to write every day, but today I did not. Death Stalks Door County, my debut mystery novel, was recently published and I was awash in promotional details. From there I met with my critique group and then spent the rest of the afternoon answering emails. My thoughts on writing and reading, however, can be found in a guest blog post that went online recently at Buried Under Books.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

I started at about age 7, writing stories at the kitchen table — feet dangling above the floor, printing my tales on coarse lined paper that I’d staple together into “books.”

What are you reading right now?

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose, an absolute gem both in terms of story and writing.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

My father once told me that anything worth having was worth sacrificing for. He wasn’t talking about writing but the advice certainly applies to anyone contemplating a career as a writer.

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

I’d have to say “cat” because I’ve done many different kinds of writing and so, like a cat, have found it necessary to be flexible and at home just about anywhere. At any rate, my cat usually dangles her tail over the keyboard as I write, and I have no doubt that she is sprinkling essence of cat into the work.

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Death Stalks Door County marks the fiction debut of award-winning, Chicago writer Patricia Skalka. A lifelong reader and writer, she turned to fiction following a successful career in nonfiction. Her many credits include: Staff Writer for Reader’s Digest, magazine editor, freelancer, ghost writer, writing instructor and book reviewer. (bio from author’s website www.PatriciaSkalka.com)

→Thanks, Patricia, for the chat, and continued good luck with your debut and the series. See you at Hopleaf. And thanks, everyone, as always, for reading. -PMc←

May 13, 2013March 7, 2018

The Writer’s Handful with Don McNair

Harrumph. Mondays. What’s to look forward to? Hey, how about a new series dedicated to brief conversations with writers of all genres, at all stages of their careers? Yes! How cool would that be? Very cool.

So welcome to THE WRITER’S HANDFUL. In this new series, a writer will answer five questions anyway they want to. The questions will stay the same each time. The writers will be different. And I will post the interviews on Mondays.

Mondays + Writers = finally something to look forward to.

Week three of The Writer’s Handful features Don McNair, a writer of journalism, fiction, and nonfiction, and a highly respected (and sought after) editor. His most recent book is Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave. Full disclosure here, Don is my cousin, or second cousin, or cousin once-removed or something; however, I haven’t seen him in decades, but love to be able to share writing news and ideas with him long-distance.

Welcome Don!

Did you write today? If yes, what? If no, why not?

In a way, yes. I’m now a full-time freelance fiction editor, and spend four or more hours every day (including weekends) editing for clients. I spent my forty-year career writing for magazines and public relations clients, and it’s hard to get me away from the word processor.

What’s the first thing (story, poem, song, etc.) you remember writing, and how old were you when you wrote it?

My first story was in grade school. The teacher asked us to write something about Mother’s Day, and the next day read my story to the class. A cute little girl came to me afterwards and said, “Donnie, I loved your story.” At that moment I realized I loved writing, and feared cute little girls.

What are you reading right now?

I have eclectic reading tastes, varying from cereal boxes to romance to adventure. Now I’m reading “No Easy Day,” by Mark Owen, the true story about the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.

What’s the most important advice you ever received? (Writerly or otherwise.)

It’s hard to sift the “most important” advice from among the thousands of tidbits I’ve received. But for writing, I suppose it’s the advice to write about what I know. I’ve written ten published books—six novels, four non-fiction—and in most cases that’s what I’ve done. Research is a lot easier that way!

If your writing were an animal, what animal would it be? Because…

Boy, that’s a tough one. I could say “hound dog” because I sniff out the details, “cat” because I’m curious about so many things, or “workhorse” because I plow ahead through a confusing patch of ideas and research problems and usually end up with a smooth, fertile field. Or at least it seems that way to me. The ones who know for sure, of course, are my readers.

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Don McNair spent his working life editing magazines (eleven years), producing public relations materials for an international PR company (six years), and heading his own marketing communications firm, McNair Marketing Communications (twenty-one years). His creativity has won him three Golden Trumpets for best industrial relations programs from the Publicity Club of Chicago, a certificate of merit award for a quarterly magazine he wrote and produced, and the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil. The latter is comparable to the Emmy and Oscar in other industries.

McNair has written and placed hundreds of trade magazine articles and four published non-fiction how-to books. He considers his latest, Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave, (published April 1, 2013 by Quill Driver Books) to be the cap of his forty-year writing and editing career. It’s an easy-to-use editing manual that helps writers edit, step by step, their first chapter, then use the knowledge gained to edit the rest of their work.

McNair has also written six novels; two young adults (Attack of the Killer Prom Dresses and The Long Hunter), three romantic suspenses (Mystery on Firefly Knob, Mystery at Magnolia Mansion, and co-authored Waiting for Backup!), and a romantic comedy (BJ, Milo, and the Hairdo from Heck). All are published internationally, and are available at his website, http://DonMcNair.com.

McNair, a member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and the Editorial Freelancers Association, now concentrates on editing novels for others. He teaches two online editing classes.

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→Thanks, Cousin Don, for joining in our Monday conversations. And I look forward to reading your story collection The Man on The Park Bench. And thanks to you all, as always, for reading! -PMc←