Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi’ I started writing when I was 12. Wrote a poem to deal w/ the death of a baby& her family I was close to. I have been writing ever since and I turned 60 on 9/11! I also am an actor/director /Jill of all trades and have been faithful to this path for all my life. I’ve done a bunch of readings over the years’, published a few poems ,did some freelance writing,explored other genres of writing and decided at the beginning of 2012 to compile my writing. I researched for several years which self publishing site to go with and chose Create space. I also had enough money to hire an illustrator and editor.This is my first book.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is entitled Limn the Mask. It is a collection of 3 decades of poems and some prose. It was just time to do it. I had a financial crisis, I had to move and hauling 30 years worth of notebooks was getting to be cumbersome. Plus, during readings shuffling through pages of notebook paper was distracting. I felt I had to fulfill something deep in myself. A spiritual contract of sorts.
The title of the book came to me unexpectedly in a dream in December 2012. I had about 200 titles. I explain more about the title in the front of the book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Always wrote from midnight til about 3 a.m. Nice and quiet and still at that time. I also go near a local river sometimes in the afternoons. Neither are really unusual habits.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Beat Poets, Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, Galway Kinnell, Toni Morrison,Alice Walker,there are so many Gerald Stern,Whitman, Cora Brooks, Barbara Reisner, Etheridge Knight, Mark Dotu, Natalie Goldberg, tons of musicians and bands.
What are you working on now?
Marketing the book, doing readings. Had a book launch/birthday party in the beginning of September. Lots of food,writers, musicians, dancing. It was a blast. I am working on a project w/a visual artist for a show called Duets.. Artist/writer or actor, dancer, musicians team up & work off of a piece by the visual artist. It’s a stretch for me cause I always wrote alone and in very unpeopled environments. I also have a ton of poems to sort through for a second book, a screenplay that was next in line to be worked on again. The start of a children’s story,and I am wanting to do some acting in the very near future.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a personal FB page, a FB page for Limn the Mask. I check into Good reads, and Createspaces’s communitypage. Twitter. Word of mouth. And eventually I will start knocking on doors for readings, contacting newspapers. I did an interview on WDIY.org
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Listen to your deepest self. Open yourself to life and all forms of art. Love the writing as a lover. But as the writer Alice Walker once said don’t be a slave to it. Discover, explore,hone.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write the Self here on paper’s from a dream I had years ago. I would ask my dream self for an answer to what my purpose in life was. I woke up many months later w/that statement in my head!
What are you reading now?
Lots of online articles about politics, economy. Some about music, theater.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I laid that out in the above question.
What is your favorite book of all time?
C’mon! That’s impossible to answer.Dream of a Common Language-Adrienne Rich, In My Mother’s House-Collette, All of Kurt Vonnegut, Herman Hesse’, Carl Jung, I Love Myself When I’m Smiling &When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive-Alice Walker
Author Websites and Profiles
Danielle Notaro Amazon Profile