What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
That’s a very tough question to answer! I have a website called The Minerva Reader (www.theminervareader.com) where I review Treasures You Might Have Missed and I love all the books I have posted there. I’d love readers to check it out!
In terms of books I’ve read lately, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood tops the list. I also love The Tender Birds by Carole Giangrande and so many other books published by Inanna Publications.
I love John Irving’s early work, Harry Crews and John Steinbeck, Lionel Shriver and so many more. It’s really impossible for me to answer the question and I don’t mean that as a cop-out. The thing is, I read about three to four books a week, I literally devour books so it’s hard to even recall!
But I do know this, there is a book for every mood and every person. I do give up on books – I previously forced myself to finish every book I started but there are too many books out there. Which isn’t to say that I don’t return to books I have abandoned – I do. I know that sometimes I wasn’t in a mood for a particular book and if a book wasn’t something I felt like at the time, it might well be a book I’ll love later.
Which is why I ask readers to give my books a chance – they are different and I ask readers to set aside expectations of the book being one thing or another and if they don’t work for you on one day, try them again on another. They do have a certain irreverence and humor that doesn’t suit everybody either and I understand that too!
What book do you think everyone should read?
I’d like to mention two books! The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Oxford English Dictionary. The first will make you happier and the second is a treasure trove of thoughts, ideas and definitions. The dictionary is positively poetic and I love reading it. I love the smell of an old book, of weathered paper and ink.
How long have you been writing?
All my life. Even when my Mom read to me when I was a kid, I had a sense of wanting to have written that story myself or come up with a new, even better one.
Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
Definitely one at at time! And sometimes they rush at me and other times they need a lot of coaxing. And sometimes, they don’t work out and I have to kindly kick them to the curb. It’s sad but true. I do have a sense of the ghosts of former characters who aren’t happy they didn’t make the cut. But it’s like a screening or model call for a photo shoot – sometimes you love a person but they just aren’t right for the job. It’s hard when you get attached to a character but they aren’t working.
What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
I read a lot of sci-fi and I watched all the time travel movies I could. I also chatted to all my tech-savvy friends and got them to send me links about bio-hackers, body-modifiers, geek internet hackers – I didn’t stop talking about the book and asking people’s opinion about plot, character and potential technological advances! I think that this book, of all the books I’ve written, obsessed me the most, perhaps because I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I felt more challenged than ever before.
Do you see writing as a career?
I don’t. I see it as a joy, a beloved vocation and my participation isn’t by by choice. I’ve never liked the word career as it sounds so mercenary and planned. You can’t plan writing, or the success of failure thereof. Writing is like a relationship with massive ups and downs. It can be kind one moment and extremely cruel the next. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a negative codependent relationship but really, there’s no choice. I don’t think you choose to be a writer but you can choose whether or not you actually write. The writing part takes tremendous discipline and focus and you have to have a very thick skin because it can be brutal in terms of rejections and reviews. You also have to be tenacious and have the stamina of a long-distance runner. If you’re in it for a quick turnaround, then it’s the wrong game for you. I try not to look at the bigger picture or wonder how I’m doing. I just focus on the job of writing, the actual slog of crafting sentences and stories and try not to think about the rest. I’m like a blinkered horse in a long distance race – I just try my best to keep moving forward and not worrying about who’s running in front of me or next to me.
What do you think about the current publishing market?
I truly try not to think about it! One can fall into an ocean of speculation and comment and to what end? There are always opportunities in life but not always at the exact moment or place you’d like them to be. So if you aren’t where you want to be, try to say to yourself, well today isn’t my day but maybe tomorrow will be. And just stick to the writing. That’s the most important thing. I have one rule: Do One Thing A Day For My Writing and I stick to it. Ten words or ten thousand. And my second rule is to trust the that something will happen, something good. As Gary Player, famous South African golf player used to say, “the more I practice, the luckier I get” (not a new saying!) and I believe the harder I work, the better I will become and that’s all that matters to me, trying to be become a better writer.
Thank you so much for having me as a guest today!
ReplyDeleteI hope your readers will enjoy the book!