The marvelous SC poet, Susan Laughter Meyers, offered me the opportunity to participate in the NEXT BIG THING, so here goes...
1.What
is the working title of your book?
Do
Not Fault the Mockingbird
2.
Where did the idea come from for your book?
I used to say,
unfortunately, blah, blah, blah but now I am not sure if the regret still
exists. But regret for the end of a long
relationship, the loss of a dream, the hell you go through dissolving your
illusions of a life, yes.
3.
What genre does your book fall under?
Poetry
4.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Feels odd for poetry, but this is a story of
relationships, so… For the female: Emma Thompson or Meryl Streep and for the
male: Kevin Spacey or Tom Hanks
5.
What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
In a multi-voiced life, how one woman attempts to
divorce illusions and delusions and not fault her own attempts in making that
life or the next one.
6.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
How long does it take for a marriage to dissolve,
even as you unintentionally refuse to hear it crumbling around you? Years, in some cases and other poems were
drafted in the midst of the final implosion.
7.
What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
In the final drafts, if there is such a thing, I
finally went in search of other works that dealt with the end of a long-term
relationship. I was searching for areas I might still be refusing to see, ways
to address them, since I was emotionally depleted. I found work by Elizabeth Bishop, Anne
Sexton, and Anne Carson influential and books by Ellen Dore Watson, This Sharpening, Erin Belieu, black box, Olena Kalytiak Davis, And Her Soul Out Of Nothing instrumental
in my effort to wrangle out the rest of my story.
8.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The fact that I was in a meltdown leading to and
including a divorce the entire time I was working to pull poems together for an
MFA degree left me little choice. I
could not feel or think about anything else; I couldn’t not write.
9.
Will your book be self-published or by an agency?
It is being sent to various publishers now.
10.
What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
I believe the work breaks through rant and silences
that alternately slam themselves around inside a body like a trapped bird, in
spite of all efforts to save its life. Art, creating this art helped me, and
maybe it could others, to find ways to say the unsayable, allowing us to be
filled, once again, with love.
ANDit is my pleasure to TAG the following writers for their chance to answer these questions about their own work and then to TAG others:)
Alyss Dison www.alyssdixon.com
Enzo Surin enzothepoet.tumblr.com
Jodi Sh Doff www.onlythejodi.com
Thanks for stopping by!
