Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in lower Manhattan, I now live in Northampton, a Western Massachusetts college town with a thriving literary culture and queer community. My husband, Adam R. Cohen, and I are the founders of WinningWriters.com, an online resource site for creative writers. We have over 50,000 newsletter subscribers and 70,000 Twitter followers. I’ve published two full-length poetry books, most recently Bullies in Love (Little Red Tree, 2015), two chapbooks, and now my debut novel, Two Natures (Saddle Road Press, 2016). Find it at: http://www.saddleroadpress.com/two-natures.html
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Two Natures is the spiritual coming-of-age story of Julian Selkirk, a fashion photographer beginning his career during the 1990s AIDS epidemic in New York City. Though success comes easily to him, he struggles to feel worthy of love because of his abusive childhood and social prejudice. At the time I started this book, my Christian community was being torn apart by the debate over affirming LGBTQ relationships and identities. Standing up for Julian made me clarify what I believed about love and knowing God for myself.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My fictional characters are like imaginary friends with whom I have regular conversations even when not writing. I write all of my first drafts in Mead 5-Star 9.5″x6″ notebooks with a mechanical pencil. A spiritual practice has to undergird my artistic practice. Most recently I’ve been using Tarot cards to set my intentions and prompt images to arise from my subconscious.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I admire big novels of ideas that are also exciting action-adventures, like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and The Goldfinch and David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife. The literary novelists Alexander Chee and Pat Conroy and the poet/memoirist Mark Doty model a masculinity that is expansive enough to revel in beautiful language and deeply sincere, even sentimental, emotions.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on Origin Story, the sequel to Two Natures. The main character is Peter, the man whom Julian loves and tries to win in Two Natures. While working as a mentor in a transitional home for at-risk youth, Peter collaborates with a teenage bi-gendered artist on a gay superhero comic, whose themes start to parallel traumatic memories he’s unearthing. Peter’s controversial discoveries challenge his partner to confront beliefs he’s internalized from his evangelical upbringing, such as the “ex-gay therapy” myth that homosexuality is a curable disorder caused by abuse.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m an introvert: anything I can do from my home office, for free or cheap, is automatically at the top of my list! For my first venture into serious marketing, I’m trying a whole bunch of social media tools: my book’s Facebook page, my personal and Winning Writers Twitter accounts, ads in the Winning Writers newsletter, giveaways for reviews in the MM Romance Group on Goodreads, e-book discounts promoted via BookBub, and of course Awesomegang! Time will tell which of these strategies was the best return on investment. I recommend Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s book The Frugal Book Promoter and her consulting service for more great ideas.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Know the difference between soliciting feedback and seeking approval. It’s great to have an audience, but your self-worth and motivation have to come from within. Strive to be authentic, not perfect.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
One of my writing teachers once told me, “Problems with the novel are really problems with your soul.” Though she might have meant something slightly different by it, since her religious beliefs made her uncomfortable with my turn toward gay fiction, her words are still a touchstone for me. When I hit a rough patch in the writing, it’s important to keep checking in with myself about whether it’s really a technical problem with the book, or some unhealed issue in my spiritual or emotional life. Don’t project unmet needs or self-undermining beliefs onto my work. Stay connected to the source of love, through all the ups and downs of the book’s career.
What are you reading now?
My current fiction read is Jessamyn Smith’s The Inugami Mochi, a lyrical collection of linked stories about a writer recovering from an abusive relationship and the dog who is her spiritual guide. Other reading in progress: Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl, to understand myself as a genderqueer woman affected by sexism. A lot of graphic novels as research for my next book. Recent favorites are Beauty by Hubert & Kerascoët and The Greatest of Marlys by Lynda Barry. Thomas Phelan’s parenting advice book 1-2-3 Magic to keep ahead of my 4-year-old son, “Baby T-Rex”.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Starting to think of myself as a professional novelist: someone who has a business model and a reliable skill set to produce more books in this genre. Then, finding the funds to make that happen, whether that’s through grants, prizes, book sales, or our regular business at Winning Writers.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Books on surviving outdoors, sailing, and shipbuilding, because I never accept that there’s no way to escape a bad situation! And if there’s room, the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry.
Author Websites and Profiles
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