January 18, 2012

If you are looking for what a fine year we had in 2011, see co-publisher Marty Shepard’s January blog posting: www.thecockeyedpessimist.com.  To start off this first Newsletter for 2012, we’re thrilled that Leonard Rosen’s All Cry Chaos was just selected by the Mystery Writers of America as one of five finalists for their prestigious Edgar Award for Best First Fiction. The ultimate winner will be announced at their 66th Gala Banquet on April 26, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in New York City.

     Our first release for 2012, is another mystery, Jaden Terrell’s Racing the Devil, the start of another series. It’s drawn universal praise from all four of the pre-publication reviewers at Kirkus, Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. And our February release, Julie Mars’ Rust, is in the process of accumulating similar early reviews. What follows is an interview with Julie conducted by Christie Sheehan, one of our treasured interns.

     In reviewing Julie’s Rust, here’s what Kirkus had to say: ‘When her New York options seem to run out, artist Margaret Shaw heads to New Mexico to remake her work and her life. A rusty lock, found on the beach, is her totem, and once settled into a rundown adobe house, she begins her search for someone who can teach her how to weld. Her appearance at Rico Garcia's garage is a revelation for them both. As the unhappily married Rico teaches Margaret the secrets of metal, the wounds of both their past lives are revealed, complicated by their mutual desire. The overall effect is incantatory, transforming the hard-luck story of two ordinary people into something magical.”  And here’s what Julie had to say in her interview:

Q:  There are many technical aspects in the book about the art of welding. Do you have a background in this, or did you have to do outside research?

A:  I had to do outside research because I had no experience with welding. After reading a lot I finally met with an art welder named Ryan Henel, whom I acknowledged in the novel. He was very helpful and went over the welding sections for accuracy. I guess you can learn about welding through reading even if you don’t know how to do it, but experience matters more.

Q:  Margaret seems obsessed with forging a new identity in New Mexico and in her adult life. Are there any parallels between this character’s search for her new identity and your own life?

A:  I think that any thoughtful person has to constantly search for their own identity because it never remains static if you’re lucky. Even if Margaret is different from me, we are soul sisters in that regard. She is trying to make sense of life and figuring out how to make it rewarding, and that’s something you have to do no matter how old you are. This awareness forces you to redirect your energies into who you are now. Though I moved from New York to New Mexico fourteen years ago under different circumstances, I certainly feel an affinity for Margaret and her quest.

Q:  On a similar note, did anyone in your own life serve as inspiration for any of the characters? Donny, in particular, seems like quite an interesting and dynamic character.

A:  Actually this book was relatively free of personal references, which is unusual for me. Usually, my books are filled with people I know and things I’ve heard them say, but this time it all came from my imagination. No characters are based on anybody that I know—though a long time ago, when I was young and waiting tables at an Irish restaurant in New York, the owner did tell me the story about leprechauns that Donny tells in the book. But the characters are all my own.

Q:  Margaret’s work ethic seems quite quirky. For example, at one point she remarks that she “had always entered her paintings from a place of not knowing.” Is this similar to the way in which you approach writing a book?

A:  Yes, it is. It’s exactly the way I approach it. I never know what’s going to happen next or have a sense of direction. It’s funny because that’s the only place in my life where I’m like that. In writing, all I do is show up for it and I’m always astonished each time it works out. This has inspired me to think that books are sometimes already completed in the unconscious mind before they arrive on the page, so even though I don’t know why I’m writing what I’m writing, I’ve come to trust that the events will somehow work out. That’s been a great adventure for me.

Q:  As a musician, I personally loved the way that you characterized the relationship between Harold and Margaret through the song, Greensleeves. In fact, Margaret says that “Memories of Harold lurked in the shadows of the words of the song.” What gave you the idea to use this song to signify their relationship?

A:  I think it was the line ‘Alas my love you do me wrong to treat me so discourteously.’  Our neighborhood ice cream truck plays that song constantly (in the warm weather, I hear it every day at least a hundred times) which keeps it somewhat permanently in my mind. There’s a sadness in it, and there’s an incredible sadness in Margaret. She doesn’t deserve the isolation she’s suffered or the sadness, and the song encapsulates these feelings. As I said, I don’t really question how these connections are made; I just go with them when I can.

Q:  I love the creative language that is incorporated into the book. For example, the phrase “If he were a tire, he would’ve been inflated far past the optimum amount, he thought, though there was no release valve that he knew of for the human heart” is just brilliant. Do you have a  background in creative writing?

A:  I do. I’ve been a writer my whole life. I have a Master’s degree in creative writing and I’ve taught creative writing in settings from universities to prisons. I’ve been in love with words forever. This novel was different in that it’s a bit more poetic and a little less plot-driven.  It was exciting to move into that way of using language and not to feel constrained by plot. I knew that a plot would be there, but I was really interested in exploring how the words sounded in this book.

Q:  Who are your literary influences?

A:  I have a lot, but that’s not to say that I’ve ever been able to get anywhere near their level. Virginia Wolfe is fabulous and I love Henry Miller, who happens to be on the opposite end of the spectrum. I also love William Faulkner. As for a specific influence for this book, though, I would say that a person whose work I greatly admire and who is more contemporary is Kate Braverman. She wrote a gorgeous book called Palm Latitudes. It’s somewhat similar to mine because it takes place over a short period of time. Poetic and delicate, it stayed with me for many years. I thought her style represented a literary direction I would like to go in, and that’s where I went.

Q:  What is the writing process like for you?

A:  I’m a believer in ritual for writing. I show up in the same place, at the same time, for the same amount of time and never vary it. Once a project begins, I work five mornings a week from 5 to 9:30 a.m. I try to do four handwritten pages a day, and my handwriting is small so it ends up being more when typed up. I work in the morning on the actual story, on the writing, and in the evening I type up the pages; I always stick with that rhythm. When I’m trying to figure out what’s next, I indulge in my lifelong habit of writing little tiny flash fiction pieces, a short story every day until one catches, and that’s what happened with Rust.  One day I was on my computer and was looking through my old files when I came upon one called ‘Nobody Cares’ and said ‘Well, what’s this?’ I opened it up and it became the opening paragraph of Rust. I didn’t know that I would ever use it, but I took this discovery and just ran with it. Seven months later I was finished with the first draft, which is very fast for me.

Q:  Do you have any advice for young authors?

A:  If I were going to say one thing, it would be to pay attention to the writing first and worry about the other stuff later. You have to do the work, though I know everyone says that. You can’t say that you want to be a writer; you have to actually write to be a writer. I’ve never experienced saying I wanted to be a writer because I’ve always been one. It’s important to separate out the process, the pleasure, the pain and the frustration of writing with what comes after that, which is attempting to be published. You have to stay close to your work because it’s absolutely necessary to work your way through each project in order to discover why you’re doing it.