How long have you been writing?
A little over 15 years, which would put me right at those turbulent years of 13/14. I wrote some truly awful poetry back then. And equally awful fiction.
At what age did you first feel inspired to write?
These two questions are similar but I think this one is probably more closely related to “when did I become serious about writing” than anything else. I don’t think I really understood how important it was to me until a period of time when I felt like I had nothing else, which would put it around 1999/2000.
What are your favorite genres to write?
I’m not sure if it qualifies as a genre…it’s probably more of a type of writing, but flash fiction. I work best over short distances. I would like to say that my favorite genre to write is “literary fiction” but I’m afraid it veers more toward “popular fiction”, which just makes me want to throw up. I like writing angst and typically, one or more of my characters suffer from horrible flaws and someone always has to die or get pregnant after an angsty one night stand or get pregnant AND die after an angsty one night stand. The more they suffer, the better.
Are they the same as your favorite genres that you read?
Yes. I also like memoirs and political books (especially on genocide and human rights) and books generally classified under Young Adult in public libraries.
What is your ultimate goal as a writer?
Good question. I have no clue. I guess I’d like to have a couple of books published and get out of working these 9-5 jobs. I just want to create pretty things and if only two people are touched by them, then that’s all I can really ask for.
If you could snap your fingers and have a book deal, what subject would you want that first book to be about?
Over a few months at the beginning of 2003, I wrote this insanely rough draft of what I consider to be the first important and serious piece of eventually publish-able fiction that I had ever undertaken. It was such an emotional experience that five years later, I still can’t finish editing it. But that’s what I want my first book to be. It’s a story about losing your childhood innocence and realizing that life is very, very unfair and difficult. Cheery, no?
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