1 - How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Truthfully, my first book didn't really change my life. All of my books have been small, and I've written them because I wanted to without any expectations. I don't want to lose the pleasure I have in writing, and I'm also realistic. The vast majority of poetry books don't create any kind of visible stir, though they have their dedicated readers.
Publishing with Black Lawrence Press--more so than having a book in the world--was the biggest change, because I suddenly had a supportive group of people rallying behind me as a writer. This includes both the staff at Black Lawrence and my incredibly dear pressmates. Having a second book opened more professional opportunitys because it gave me the qualifications to apply to teaching positions. It's also been true that the more I've published, the more interest there's been in my writing.
Change is natural, I think. Writing changes over time--broadens or narrows--as a person figures out what it is that they want to do and can do with their own work. I'm all for experimenting and trying new things, but I'm at a point where I've figured out how I'm most comfortable writing. In the past--back in school and when I was first teaching--when someone said that they didn't understand my work or that they couldn't connect with it, it would make me doubt what I was doing. Now, I don't feel that. There're readers for every book, and books for every reader.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
True story! When I was little, one of my greatest entertainments was listening to a recording of Robert Frost reciting "The Witch of Coös," and in the town library there was an elaborate tableau of "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin" that I loved desperately. I feel like I had an excellent introduction to poetry. I knew those beautiful haunted pieces before anything else.
I think those early loves have contributed to why my writing often falls into hybrid space. Some people have described my most recent book, Hatch, as a novella in linked flash fiction pieces and others have described it as prose poetry. (It was published as a poetry collection.)
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
I'm so much faster at writing than revising! Initial writing comes quickly--I scribble things everywhere on everything when I have an idea--but getting to a final draft is much slower. I don't plan projects. I just write and that often means I find out that there are important pieces missing when I start to put the pieces I have together. I'm also dyslexic and that contributes to a lot of necessary editing. It's a slow process, because I have to listen to my work read back to me by the computer. My eyes will just skip right over my errors on the page.
I'm so happy for those writers who just love revision, because it's so important.
4 - Where does a poem or work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
I know, very loosely, the story of the book that I'm working on, but I don't know any specifics until I write them. My books come together piece by piece. My writing is associative so writing one piece often activates another. Usually, a piece starts because of something fascinating (or awful) that I've heard or seen.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I haven't had an awful lot of opportunities to read publicly. I don't really enjoy being focused on, but it's always very nice to be asked to share your work! I was invited to be part of a reading and discussion with Eileen Myles that was held in the living room of Virginia G. Piper Center (a space where I feel very at home), and that was such a positive experience. Public reading is something that I'd like to get better at. I do enjoy going to readings. It's always really interesting to hear authors reading (or performing) their own work. I heard Venita Blackburn read from How to a Wrestle a Girl, and it was so unexpected and totally captivating. The creative writing students there were all in a swoon.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
My writing asks a lot more questions than it answers.
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Writers have a lot of roles, I think. Writing is entertainment, it's educational, it's political, it's documentation. Different writers' work has different goals and meets different needs. Living in our very precarious and too often disengaged world, I do hope that Hatch encourages readers to consider the complex relationships between cause and lasting effect. I hope it makes people think.
Hatch is more explicitly political than my other books, but I'd be happy if a reader was initially interested because it's a speculative collection. People will come to the book for different reasons, and once they're there, I hope they'll engage with it, think, and ask their own questions.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I'm always grateful to have others give my writing their time and attention. I think if an editor is invested in your work and you're appropriately open, it can only be a positive and productive relationship. I've heard occasional horror stories where an editor wants to make changes to such an extent that they are basically re-writing the work in their vision and preferences, and that isn't right. The relationship between writer and editor should be grounded in mutual respect, and I've been fortunate to work with supportive, generous, smart people at both Black Lawrence and Northwestern University Press.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Oh goodness: knowing when to stop. I think this is really challenging for a lot of writers! There's a point where you're no longer improving a piece, just changing it, and that can go on forever. I think all writers need to learn when they've done all they can with a piece and how to let it go.
And: be kind. There's no need for hierarchies, cliques, and bullying.
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to hybrid works to short stories)? What do you see as the appeal?
I don't really think about genre when I'm writing. I'm interested in prose poetry and genre hybridity, and I teach courses primarily in fiction, but I don't write with the idea this is a short story or these are poems. It happens sometimes that I'll submit a piece as one genre and a journal will ask to publish it as another.
11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I don't have a writing routine. Personally, I think that having the time and means for a daily writing routine is a luxury that is completely unrealistic for many people. While I admire those with a daily routine who find it productive, I resist the idea that it's necessary for a writer. The majority of students that I work with have jobs, and a number of them have children. As an undergraduate, I was working part-time jobs around my classes. I wrote on scraps of paper when I could, and I was publishing my work in literary journals. It's not that I don't think a daily writing routine can be a helpful structure for some, but I also think we need to recognize how disconnected that possibility is (without significant sacrifice of sleep, family time, or necessary income) from the lives of many people.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
When I don't feel like writing I don't write. I usually have multiple book projects underway at once, so if I'm having trouble with one, I can switch to the other, but I don't force work. Back in school, that was sometimes necessary, but it was frustrating with disappointing outcomes. Writing is something that I enjoy, and I don't want to lose that by making it too much into "work." Publishing isn't the source of my income, even though it's tied to my career. By not over-investing in production, I hope that for students I'm modeling one of many possible relationships to writing.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Oh, I love this question. Seaweed and frozen pond, if I'm thinking of childhood. I grew up in Maine, but now I live in the desert. When it rains here, it rains hard, and there is the distinct smell of creosote. Last, and this is not place specific: Nellie, my dog. There is nothing as soothing and home to me as how she smells.
14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
PBS is essential to my work! That may sound silly, but I often have it on in the background, and I'm always half-hearing something that I want to confirm or learn more about. I think PBS is always exposing me to things I wouldn't think to seek out on my own.
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Julia Leigh, Nin Andrews, Han Kang, Stephen King, Lily Hoang, Allison Benis White, Hanne Ørstavik (translated by Martin Aitken), Amy Hempel, Barbara Comyns, Susan Steinberg, The Dead of the House, The Turn of the Screw, White is for Witching, Dyke, geology, "The Witch of Coös"
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I wish I knew how to make cheese.
17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I love being a teacher, but I used to want to be a book conservator or restorer. In my imagination, being a park ranger seems like an excellent job.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I'm one of those people who used to narrate everything I did. When I'm alone or doing something tedious (folding laundry, scrubbing the tub) I still sometimes do. Before I could write, I was telling myself stories. No matter what, I'm pretty confident I would write, just for myself if no one else. I'm lucky that I've worked my way in a position where writing is part of my job.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
I just read Strike Your Heart and Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys and appreciated them both. I haven't seen a "good" movie in so long! I don't watch a lot of movies. I thought Blade Runner 2049 was beautiful and sad, and the stress of Uncut Gems nearly killed me. Hell or High Water, which is a little older, was a great neo-Western.
20 - What are you currently working on?
Thank you for asking. I'm trying to finish a novella-ish thing, and I'm working on a collection of linked prose poetry about filicide, werewolves, and history. I--obviously!--haven't quite figured out how to explain it, but it's coming along.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
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