Tagged

Like the blue light special, the big toe in the morgue, the slow wildebeest in the herd… I’ve been tagged! Thanks so much to Sioux of Sioux’s Page for thinking I am worthy of tagging. Or maybe the reasoning was that I’ve been blogging so seldom lately, I’d possibly miss it? HA! Nice try, Sioux, but no such luck! I will now attempt to answer the interview questions, just like a sleek starlet being interviewed by Conan O’Brien. Only I’m not sleek. Or a starlet. And instead of wearing a little sparkly dress, I am wearing workout shorts whose only workout is seat stretches, along with my beloved Sketchers sandals that look like the orthopedic devices they give you after foot surgery.

What are you working on right now?

Am trying to come up with something for Chicken Soup’s Overcoming Challenges book. But I do have a book started that I would classify as dystopian fiction for young adults.

How does it differ from other works in this genre?

My goal for the book is to appease all of my inner critics at once: the human being critic, the woman one, the mother, the teacher, the reader and the writer. For example, if you were to ask me if I liked the Twilight saga, I would tell you that, as a human being, I always look for themes with a little more depth. As a woman, specifically one who has dealt with people with destructive control issues, I was unhappy to see some of the unhealthier elements of the relationship between Edward and Bella romanticized even though I definitely saw the seductive appeal of the love story itself. As a mother, I was grateful for the theme of self-control. As a teacher, I was thrilled that it got so many children to read. As a reader, I had some mixed feelings but found the conflict and a lot of the plot elements appealing. As a writer, I was impressed that author Stepheny Meyer created a story that was irrefutably compelling and entertaining to a wide range of ages, not to mention successful.  

So one thing I hope to bring to the table is my ability to approach a YA book from all of these perspectives. The thing that makes me want to run away from the table, however, is how hard it is to please all of the inner critics sitting around that same table arguing with each other, like Maxine and her dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving dinner. And let’s face it: until I have a finished book, it’s all just talk, none of this matters in the slightest, and nobody eats that Thanksgiving dinner.

Why do you write what you do?

Interesting question, especially for a Writin’ Ho like me who’s loved just about every kind of writing at one point or another. That’s why I’m Spongebob one day and Squidward the next, and Mr. Krabs the day after that. As a kid, I wrote nothing but poetry and fiction because the stories of my life hadn’t been written yet. The more I’ve lived, the more that weight of real, concrete life has pulled me into nonfiction. Now that I’m old enough to have lots of experiences to write about, creative nonfiction has been a natural choice, and it seems like there’s a decent market for it. Plus those stories mean something to me because they are true. They’re who I am. But the fact is, I am also someone who knows young people, and I know what they read. Trying to write fiction again is fun, even though that works against me in ways. It feels enough like playing that I have to fight guilt along with everything else.

What is the hardest part about writing?

Getting all of those critical multiple selves to work together well enough to actually finish something before they kill each other off and take the work with them.

Now I’m supposed to tag three people, but I don’t know anyone who participates in this type of thing who hasn’t already been tagged. And I don’t want to tag anyone who doesn’t want to play, because that’s just like being the cootie kid who goes around poking people. So, if you want this, TAG, YOU’RE IT!

     

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~Thomas Mann