Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve always loved to write, and English was my favorite class. When, as an adult, my best friend died of cancer, I began writing poetry, which came in the form of dreams at first. My father was a very prolific poet who lived in the Chicago area, so I grew up with poetry. I loved (and still do) the feel of words, the surprising word, interesting phrasing and unusual word usage. I love looking for magic, for the “almost possible,” to open an idea and release its white doves.
I’ve written three books of poetry, but Finding the Raven is my first novel. The second book of poetry won the Library of Poetry Book Award from Bitter Oleander Press. I live in southern Illinois and love hiking in the Shawnee forest.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This novel is called Finding the Raven. For this particular project I was inspired by my grandparents’ era, and most particularly by my great uncle, who was a hobo and wrote of his travels to the St. Louis World’s Fair and across the country to live with Native Americans. I imagined who he might have seen in St. Louis and what he might have done, though he didn’t appear as a main character in the book. I enjoyed researching the times, and at the Southern Illinois University library, I found newspapers from April 1904. I wondered what it would be like to have answered ads from the classifieds at that time. So in my story I used actual excerpts from old newspapers and went in search of “what if.”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write with an audio device, because I have a bad back. So I read the thoughts out loud, transposing them from my mind to the computer. My husband walks through the room and gives me odd looks. I imagine I must sound like one of those people you see in subways arguing with themselves.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
All of them, even the bad ones, who teach me what not to do. But some of my favorites are Francine Prose, Margaret Mitchell, and Frederick Douglass.
What are you working on now?
I’ve returned to poetry for now, but I’m considering writing more about the Raven. Who owned it before? Who has it later? Might it transport Julia to another time? What kinds of secrets will it unravel? I’m letting these questions drift through my mind until a concrete plot line surfaces.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still finding this out, since my novel was just released last month, and promoting a novel is very different from promoting poetry. I’m planning to do a reading in Carbondale on July 16, and this the old “tried-and-true.”
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn from your mistakes and try not to take anything personally.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It comes in two parts, “Don’t get it right, get it written,” and “The best stories aren’t written, they’re rewritten.” Following these two tips is a guaranteed cure for writer’s block.
What are you reading now?
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
What’s next for you as a writer?
Poetry? Fiction? Switching back and forth? I’m still settling into my next phase.
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?
How to Build a Seaworthy Canoe
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