Dancing with Kathryn Craft

Having recently met fellow Pennwriter, Kathryn Craft, on-line, I thought I’d do a little digging and find out a bit about her writing. After hearing about her work and life, I am looking forward to meeting her at our Pennwriters/Reading Reads event on October 21. I do hope you will join us at the Speckled Hen (30 South 4th Street, Reading). Below is a little bit about Kathryn’s personal story and her writing. Enjoy!

Sue Lange: Your book “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky,” features a dancer. Tell me about your dance background.

Kathryn Craft: I came to dance late—when I was 16—but it became an important part of my life in college when Miami University Dance Theatre accepted me and I began to choreograph. Ironically, it was in this wordless medium that I learned I had a voice. I started to translate movement into words in the early 1980s by working as a dance critic for The Morning Call. I remained a critic for 19 years, filling my mind with oodles of creative images and inspiration from the amazing people I interviewed, until the call to honor my inner fiction writer made writing criticism less palatable. That, and I couldn’t take one more Nutcracker.

SL: Are any of the characters or scenes in the book taken from your own experiences?

KC: Only indirectly. My character has body image issues that make her feel as if her body has betrayed her, and while I think many women can relate to that on some level, I actually tapped feelings about my miscarriages for that, since I felt like my body was rejecting a deeply desired outcome. And the speech dance critic Margaret MacArthur gives at the luncheon the dance community gives in her honor was pure fantasy—“Despite what you might fool yourself into believing, I am not, and never have been, against any of you. I am an advocate”—but I would have said every word!

SL: So you’re using writing to make statements you wouldn’t be able to make any other way?

KC: Hmmm…didn’t set out to, but I guess I can’t deny it now! One of my favorite movies (and one of the few cases where I liked the movie better than the book) is Cider House Rules—I love the way it explores all sides of the abortion decision. Likewise, within me there is both artist and critic. In this novel, both sides have their say.

SL: At what point in your life did you decide to start writing?

KC: My public school education in Maryland was writing-intensive and I always enjoyed it. I slid into criticism when the man handling public relations for a performance I was in tried to get it reviewed by The Morning Call and they didn’t have a dance reviewer. Because I had the education (Masters in Health and Physical Education with a Dance Concentration), went to many performances, and always had opinions about them, I applied.

SL: What other background do you have that informs your work?

KC: Writing became a more creative, conscious choice after my first husband’s suicide in 1997. I had a lot to come to grips with and, faced with raising two sons on my own, I needed to do it quickly. Writing helped me do that.

SL: Do you do any non-fiction writing? If so, what?

KC: I am currently writing a memoir about the time of my husband’s suicide. His external action—to choose death after a full-day standoff with a massive police presence at our idyllic country home—provides a strong counterpoint to the inner battle I waged that resulted in the courage to choose life.

SL: Suicide is a very heavy topic. It is part of your fiction and now your memoir as well. Does the subject consume you at times or have you been able to get to a more clinical place with it?

KC: I can be in a clinical place and a deeply emotional place with the topic within moments, yet I would not say it consumes me. It has, however, provided a “ground zero” for my philosophical musings. I now give myself credit for something I used to take for granted—every day, I choose life. This notion is empowering. You see I am, at heart, an optimist. So far I have written about suicide because this brush with it is the most profoundly dramatic thing that has happened to me in my life, but also so I might have a little bit of control over it. While both books gain dramatic tension from this life/death aspect, both are ultimately uplifting works infused with redemption and hope.

SL: Will you stay in the dance world?

KC: I love writing about creative people but I don’t foresee them all being dancers.

SL: So what other topics do you write about?

KC: Since 2006 I’ve been doing a lot of writing about other people’s writing. That’s when I started www.writing-partner.com, a manuscript evaluation and editing business. After years of critiquing manuscripts for fellow writers for free, I discovered a natural aptitude for analyzing where stories go wrong and how to address fixing them. Not all writers have the ability or inclination to look at another’s work deeply enough to find the multiple sources of a problem that might manifest, say, as “boring.” So rather than continuing to squelch the inner critic that is clearly a part of my makeup, I decided to honor it. The work is a perfect amalgam of my interests, experience and aptitudes—and still gives me a reason to churn out those 15-page papers I wrote back in school.

SL: Why would someone use your services as opposed to going to a workshop?

KC: The evaluation I write is like taking an entire workshop on your project alone. As writers we are constantly submitting work into the ether—did anyone read it? What did they think? If we get any feedback at all it tends to be either a form rejection or, if we are lucky enough to be published, a pat comment from a family member like, “Very nice. Enjoyed it.” But a writer wants to know, What did you like, specifically? I wrote 100,000 words here—can you only come up with four? I honor my clients’ work by analyzing what works and what doesn’t in great detail.

SL: What type of clients do you get? What experience level? Have they been receptive to your critiques?

KC: I have critiqued a great span of projects, from first stabs at short story writing to novel rewrites for people who already have MFA’s. I’m currently helping a man translate his memoir, already published in Ukrainian and Russian, into English. I am thrilled to say that authors who are self-publishing have hired me, because I care about the standards of all literature found on our country’s bookstore shelves. Many of my clients use my service to put an extra spit-shine on work being submitted to agents and editors, because let’s face it—in today’s publishing climate, you need all the help you can get. In response to my feedback I have witnessed everything from simple gains in authorial confidence to major “Aha!” moments to changes in subsequent projects that are so glorious I cut straight to writing a blurb. I love the relationships I’ve formed with my clients; most keep in touch and many submit new work because each piece contains its own challenges. Each manila envelope I open feels like Christmas; editing can be almost as fun as my own writing.

SL: What genres do you critique? Fiction, non-fiction?

KC: I do both fiction and nonfiction. My own interests are diverse and I read widely, but I would not take money to critique something I would have no interest in reading (gratuitous horror, for instance). I’m up front about that—if your book isn’t a fit, I’ll tell you. It’s only fair that an author presume some interest on the part of the person who picks up the book.

SL: How long have you been a member of Pennwriters?

KC: About six years now, I believe. Former Pennwriters president Peggy Adamczyk, a fellow member of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, recommended it to me.

SL: How do you see Pennwriters helping you with your writing goals?

KC: While GLVWG meets many of my needs, Pennwriters extends my network to the state level. I am a huge believer in the power of working together to meet individual goals and have devoted many volunteer hours to bringing writers together.

SL: What are you doing for Reading Reads, the Berks Literary Festival?

KC: I will be reading a backstory scene from my novel THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY where my protagonist, Penelope Sparrow, first realizes—at age 14—that her body is betraying her by taking on the characteristics of a woman. This excerpt won first place in the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference 2008 Novel Theme & Plot Contest.

SL: Are you still in the Philly area? If so, is there a literary scene there? Tell us about it, if there is.

KC: I only set the novel in Philadelphia to create a pressure cooker of activity in time and space. If there is one thing that has driven me nuts in my 26 years of living in rural Berks County, it is the amount of time I must spend in the car to get anywhere! Philadelphia is only about 75 minutes from me, though, and I recently joined the board of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference, which has been serving that community for 60 years now.

SL: Any other thing you’d like to talk about?

KC: I just got back from hosting my first Writing Partner Retreat for Women at our newly rebuilt summer home in northern New York. I’ve been “retreating” myself lately—I’ve found it too difficult to transport my sensibilities back and forth in time to generate material for this memoir using only a few hours a day. I’ve been more successful with devoting larger blocks of time to it as you would at a retreat. It occurred to me that other women might need such a getaway as well, and the retreat seemed a natural manifestation of my interest in bringing writers together. There were five of us, writing by day and sharing readings with popcorn in front of the fire at night. We took breaks for yoga, hiking, and paddling on the lake. It was a blast and I hope to continue hosting them twice a year up there.

SL: How can people contact you if they are interested in participating a future retreat?

KC: Three ways: At my website you can sign up for my free quarterly newsletter with self-editing tips, “Nibs,” that will have details; you can check for updates at my blog, http://healingthroughwriting.blogspot.com; if you want to be put on a mailing list for retreats without the newsletter, contact me at kathryn (at)writing-partner (dot) com.

Kathryn, thanks for taking the time to talk about what you’ve got going on and your writing. I’m enjoying reading The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. Can’t wait to hear you read it.

Thanks, Sue!

For the readers: Stop by the Speckled Hen on Tuesday, October 21 to hear Kathryn read. We’ll be starting promptly at 6pm. Five of us Pennwriters (Carol Haile, Liz Clarke, Pam Garlick, Kathryn, and I) will be reading. A limited menu will be available and the bar will be open. Speckled Hen is a cozy little old-style tavern complete with log construction. Yes, a car did run into it a few weeks ago. The front of the restaurant was pretty well demolished but they’ve got a temporary wall in place and the atmosphere has not changed a bit. It’s a slight bit tighter, but still warm and inviting. Come and join your fellow members and visit this historic building. We’re hoping to organize more events such as this one in the future and it will be helpful to know who all we have in our area.

The World of Carol Haile

A few weeks ago Carol Haile and I did lunch at Austin’s in Shillington. I took the opportunity to talk to her about her calligraphy, children’s books, and the upcoming month-long Berks Literary Festival known as Reading Reads. We had a great time and I learned a bit about a corner of the publishing industry I am unfamiliar with. Carol is an energetic and articulate writer. Her work is a joy to behold. I’m glad to have met her and even more glad to be doing a reading with her on October 21 at the Speckled Hen in Reading. Take a look at our conversation below and stop by on the 21st to listen to Carol’s animated presentation.

Sue Lange: Tell me how your calligraphy led to your getting published.
Carol Haile: Freiman Stoltzfus saw my my calligraphy, loved it, and started carrying it in ‘Illustrations’, his art gallery in Intercourse, PA. Interestingly, Freiman had been born into an old-order Amish family, and while very young his parents recognized his talent and encouraged its development. Freiman’s father Gideon, a high-ranking Bishop in the church, decided the family should leave the Order specifically to give Freiman and his five siblings the ability to pursue professions of a non-agrarian nature. The family paid a high price for this decision, and Freiman claims the two years of shunning (the family’s punishment for leaving the church) were the most painful years of his life.

Freiman had illustrated ‘A is for Amish’ and, when I met him, he was completing work on ‘A Dreamer’s Heart’. I purchased and treasure several original watercolors from ‘A Dreamer’s Heart’ and have purchased many of his other works. One such piece was a commission he did for us called “An Amish Woman on her Wedding Morning.” We proudly presented it to our son and daughter-in-law on their wedding day.

Freiman and I started creating special collaborations for his gallery’s annual Christmas show. I would ink music or scripture, then Freiman would ornament my work with scenes of Amish life. One piece was particularly well-received, our collaboration of ‘The Three Wise Men’ which featured three large watercolors: one of an older Amish man, the second of a middle-aged Amish man, the third of a young Amish man. Each man was carrying a typical Amish Christmas gift: a quilt, a Bible box, an orange. I inked “…for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Freiman and I watched people respond in awe to this collaboration, and we decided on the spot to do the entire Christmas story as a 60-page book of art. We would stop, for the moment, doing individual framed pieces. It proved to be a refreshing change for us both.

Our respective responsibilities were quickly determined. I would do the calligraphy and illumination just as the old monks and scribes did scripture in the 15th Century. All the words would be taken from the King James version of the Bible — the original, recognizable poetry of the first Christmas. We’d set the story in the Amish Community of which Freiman was so familiar.

I had no idea “The Christmas Story” would be immediately successful. Its debut propelled me into a world of dizzying, well-attended book signings. Published in August 2001, we had been in negotiations with Borders in New York City to schedule a major metropolitan signing. Everything was in place, and we were awaiting a confirmed date for our event. Freiman and I secretly laughed to think perhaps Borders would send a limo down from Manhattan to pick us up.

Borders, however, was in the World Trade Center, and there I was, waiting for the phone call to settle the date for the signing…..on September 11. I called Freeman that fateful afternoon and asked, “Are you aware of what happened today in New York City?” Because of his Amish upbringing, he had no television or radio, but he did have a phone. He answered, “No, what’s the matter?” I said, “Freiman, I don’t think we’ll be having a book signing any time soon in New York City.”

In spite of this unfortunate beginning, “The Christmas Story” sells extremely well even without the national exposure Borders promised. We printed 7,000 first edition copies, and we’re now down to a few hundred. We’ll reprint soon.

S.L.: Tell me about your second book.
C.H.: Anne Beiler, founder of Aunt Anne’s Pretzels, noticed Freiman’s sensitive artwork. Her offices are in Gap (Lancaster Co.) and she, having been born Amish as well, always wanted to do a book of her life growing up in Lancaster County. Freiman immediately signed a lucrative contract with her, and, at the same time, he had an opportunity to go to Venice for a year. He assured me, “Carol, when I come back, we will do another book together.”

I wanted to seize the momentum, however, and that meant doing another book very soon. So I took it upon myself to write one. I started working with an editor, my cousin Sam Keiser, a recently retired Kutztown University English professor. Before Freiman left for Venice, I asked him if he would be able illustrate my book “A Dream Vacation” (a whimsical story about the pandas traveling on Noah’s Ark) from Venice. Sam told me the story was ready to be illustrated, and I was anxious to get it to press. Freiman replied honestly, “I don’t like to do animals.” Whimsy was never Freiman’s strong suit, and I knew instinctively that he wasn’t cut out to be the illustrator for my story. I needed to find another illustrator.

Robert Miller was a watercolor artist I admired and was, like myself, a vendor at the Kutztown Folk Festival. I had accumulated a rather large collection of his amazing Noah’s Ark artwork. When I was writing my story, I would sometimes study Bob’s artwork and feed off its energy. I asked Bob to read “A Dream Vacation,” and he immediately told me that since he was looking for a challenge, he’d illustrate the story, which he did — brilliantly.

S.L.: Talk about “The Princess Tree” a bit.
C.H.: “The Princess Tree” is my third book, but the first I illustrated myself. I’d always done quite a bit of artwork in conjunction with my calligraphy and illumination, but I never thought of myself as an artist. Never. Also, “Princess” was my story written specifically for my grand daughter, Colleen. If she had never met me, this was all I wanted her to know about me. It’s about the values I hold most dear.

S.L.: When you started this book, did you want to start with a lesson or did you just have a story in your head?
C.H.: I had a story in my head. My Irish husband and I had gone to Ireland on vacation. We saw a ‘fairy mound’ outside Dublin which was very peculiar I thought — the rocks, the moss, the strange way the trees were growing. I’ve always been curious about the mythology of Ireland, and I thought: why do the elves and fairies do this and do that…? So I constructed a story that answered all my questions. The story evolved.

At the same time I was writing the story, my cousin Ken was ill and in the Reading Hospital for several months. I visited him almost daily, and as I watched the nurses tend him, I could see my fairy mound (the little animal hospital in the middle of the forest) morph into a similar Holy Place where angels (nurses) tend their ailing patients with great love and joy. My story took on even greater significance to me and, I felt, this story Must be told.

However, my first illustrator dropped out of the project because his wife became ill, and I was heartbroken. He wasn’t really into my story, didn’t see it as I did, but I wasn’t too concerned because he was a good artist. I was naïve.

I asked another gentleman to illustrate “Princess Tree.” He was thrilled and worked very hard to please me, but his elves and fairies looked like the winged models shown on the pages of a Victoria’s Secret catalog. I lost weeks of sleep and finally said ‘No, Stop this project!’ If my name is going to be on 5,000 of anything, it has to be the very best it can be.

The elves and fairies in my story are innocent, childlike, and simple. They gather up baby birds that have fallen from their nests and sleep in flower cups. Nothing more. Since I understood my story better than anyone I decided to TRY to do the illustrations myself. What was the worst that could happen? If I couldn’t do the artwork, I’d have to find an illustrator…..which was exactly where I was at the moment anyway.

I approached the illustrations as I approach my calligraphy. I would paint lots of interesting borders, and study/absorb the incredible work of William Morris, a Victorian artisan/calligrapher whose work I admire very much. As both author AND illustrator, I quickly discovered I could put many things in my children’s book that makes it totally MY book. ‘Fitzpatrick’ is an old family name (hence Mayor Fitzpatrick). My granddaughter’s name is, of course, Colleen. My daughter-in-law’s name is Marjorie. My son’s name, David, isn’t Celtic-sounding enough, so I told Dave his name in the book is ‘Connor’. David didn’t mind, and Marjorie liked the change just fine.

Freddie & Flossie Flamingo (characters in my latest book “Elephant Overboard!) are the nicknames of my editor and his wife, Sam & Ann Keiser. Flamingoes are everywhere decorating their house, and it’s quite a fun thing to have characters named after people you know. I’ve used several editors in my life, and Sam’s the best. The greatest gift he gives me is when he scratches “Show me, don’t tell me!” in the margins of my manuscripts. He encourages my best writing to emerge forcefully.

I am also quite fortunate to be able to use Tony Corcetto, the retired owner of Tony Corcetto, Inc. (an advertising agency) as my art editor. I have no formal art training, so I appreciate his review of my artwork very much. What finally proved to me I could indeed handle the artwork for “The Princess Tree,” however, was a very private moment during the painting of one small illustration where Colleen is standing alone on a bridge. The enormity of her recent visit with the fairies in the Fairy Mound is weighing heavily on her heart.

I had worried about this particular image for weeks before attempting it. And as I painted Colleen on that bridge, I suddenly saw that less was more. After painting for only a few moments, I backed off, put my brush down, and walked away. The watercolor was quickly done, and after only a few brief brush strokes I said Enough. Enough. Don’t do more. I mean, as an artist, when are you done? But I knew that to paint more (more background, darker water…) would ruin the mood I had successfully established. In that moment, I realized, yes, Carol, I think you know how to pull it off.

S.L.: Let’s talk about Reading Reads. You’re on the committee for The Greater Reading Literary Festival. What do you get out of working for a volunteer organization that has a very small budget?
C.H.: An author asked me how to go about selling his book. I told him, “I’m going to be a vendor at the Centre Avenue Arts and Antiques show next week. It’s in a beautiful park and I’ll sell my calligraphy and my books. My art editor, Tony, who sits at the table next to me, will bring his photography. Maybe there’s space for you to have a table. Call Mike Lauter and, if there’s room, he’ll set you up and you can sell your books.” I like giving out information like that. Most authors think there are only two places you can sell books, at Borders or Barnes & Noble. Not true.

At one of the Reading Reads meetings, a new gal, Jennifer, represented Berks Bards. She wanted to do something special for the Literary Festival with poetry for children, another event for the middle aged, and something unique for seniors. She was planning to call the Berks County Office of the Aged, but, from my own experience, I knew she’d get nowhere with that. So I said, “No, call the Highlands.” As soon as I got home, I contacted Shirley Kolodziej (the activities director at the Highlands, a lovely retirement community), and gave Shirley the heads-up that an energetic gal, Jennifer, would be contacting her. At the next meeting Jennifer said, “Oh Carol, thank you so much for the information about The Highlands. We’ve already set up an interesting poetry event for seniors, and Shirley is wonderful to work with!”

S.L.: So what you’re getting out of all of this is the chance to connect people.
C.H.: Oh yes! I’m sharing my knowledge, my contacts, and helping people organize fun events for the Literary Festival.

S.L.: What about publishing. How’s the money in publishing?
C.H.: I publish my own books simply because Freiman and I shared the printing expenses for “The Christmas Story” and then Bob Miller and I shared expenses for “A Dream Vacation.” We each have our own markets and do our own shows, so our books were simply larger printing projects.

When it came time to print “The Princess Tree,” I didn’t have a partner so I underwrote the whole thing myself. Same for my fourth book, “Elephant Overboard!” I frankly wouldn’t know how to go about approaching a publisher at this point, and I doubt I would want to share my profits now that I’m used to handling all of it myself. Firenze Press is the name of my publishing company. Some people get confused by this information and assume I have a printing press in my basement!

Do you know Chet Williamson, author of the “Pennsylvania Dutch Night Before Christmas”? He and I did a book signing together, and he was outselling me three books to one. But he was complaining. He had sold his rights to a publisher and told me, “I’m lucky if I get forty cents for each book I sell today. I signed a standard publishing contract, and my publisher schedules my book signings. I’ll be in violation of my contract if I don’t show up. I haven’t had a weekend off all year.”

That day, I went home with a nice profit, but he was lucky to have cleared gas money. When kids ask me if there’s any money in writing, I tell them, “Yes, I do very well. But I am the publisher of my books and have assumed all the risk of printing and marketing. Mr. Williamson has sold his rights to a publisher. Although he has written a best seller and has sold 60,000 copies, he earns forty cents per book. You do the math. Could you support a family on that?”

S.L.: What about events. What will you be participating in during Reading Reads?
C.H.: I have been invited to read my stories during the Humane Society’s Furry Friday evening on Oct. 10. On Oct. 18, I will participate in the Author Extravaganza at Borders. Oct. 21, The Speckled Hen! And on Oct. 25, I will be one of the storytellers (plus do some artwork for the children) at the Book Warehouse (VF Complex).

S.L.: How can authors get involved in Reading Reads?
C.H.: I encourage authors to be aggressive about scheduling book signings and other events, workshops, etc. (be creative!) during the month of October in Berks County. Let me know the who, what, when, where and I’ll submit the information for inclusion in our calendar of events. Check out the website for info on what the festival is about. http://www.readingreads.com/

S.L.: What all have you been doing with Pennwriters?
C.H.: Pennwriters is an amazing organization. As soon as I joined, I was immediately contacted by energetic people offering me opportunities to connect with other writers as well as new opportunities to sell my books…..one was at the Saucon Valley Farmer’s Market which is where I met you, Sue!

S.L.: Yeah, that was fun. Anything else you want to add about your writing or your writerly experiences?
C.H.: My goodness, No! I’m exhausted! lol

S.L.: Carol, thanks for having lunch with me and sharing some valuable insights on publishing, marketing, and following your own inner voice when writing. Let’s do it again some time!

Carol’s Bibliography:
The Christmas Story, ISBN 0-9711236-0-8, $27.95
A Dream Vacation, ISBN 0-9724699-0-7, $19.95
The Princess Vacation, ISBN 0-9711236-1-6, $19.95
Elephant Overboard, ISBN 978-0-9711236-3-2, $19.95

All books available www.caroljhaile.com and www.amazon.com

The Penn Writer September-October 2008 is Now Online

Attention Pennwriters: the latest issue of The Penn Writer newsletter is now available online at the new Pennwriters website.

The September-October 2008 issue features articles on the theme of “getting and staying motivated.”  Visit the new Pennwriters website today: 1) create your account, 2) log on, and 3) download the newsletter as a .pdf.

Pennwriters members are encouraged to submit articles for each bimonthly newsletter.  The next newsletter’s theme is Improving Your Dialog and Description.  Send your articles to our Newsletter Editor Lori Morris.

Happy Reading & Writing!

Feature Pennwriters Member: Sue Lange

Today our Feature Pennwriters Member is Sue Lange of Area 6.  Sue Lange is the author of We, Robots, and Tritcheon Hash.  She’s also a regular contributor here at the Pennwriters Area 6 HQ blog.

Sue, thank you for joining us today and sharing a little about yourself!  After reading your bio, I have to start ask: how does the “litany of low-level, mundane, mind-numbing day jobs” contribute to your writing interests?  (More to the point – tell us about the disco dance instructor role, and whether you’re still teaching.)

I’m always glad when people read that bio. It’s so much more interesting than listings of where to buy my books or read my stuff. Thanks for doing your homework!

I think the answer to your question is obvious. Experience provides depth to writing. What kind of interesting stuff can you come up with facing your messy office and your cranky computer every day? Especially considering the disconnected way you feel in the writer’s chair. How inspirational can that be? But go back to your college life, your high school days, Van Houten’s potato field, and the edgy world of extension coursework and you’ll find all kinds of deep-well experience. As to your final query: No I don’t still teach dance. Do people still do disco dancing? I could do a column about my experience as an instructor. Not much more than one 500 word column, though, because there isn’t much to tell. In short, I wasn’t a disco dancer, but the extension course program has never been very picky in who they hire, so there you go.

You’ve mentioned before that you like to write because “[you] just keep getting ideas.”  What are your key sources of inspiration?  What are your favorite ways to get “unstuck” if you hit a block when you write?

Much of my inspiration comes in my dreams. I have vivid dreams, colorful and frightening sometimes. I love it. When I wake up I rethink my dreams. What’s the plot? What’s the theme? I can usually come up with something. I’m also inspired with current events, which is probably the same thing as being inspired by my dreams. I mean, where do the dreams come from? They’re a mishmash of personal experience and prime time TV probably. Current political events provide a lot of material for someone who writes satirical science fiction. There’s just so much going on. And a lot of it is just plain silly. I’m not even talking about the political process in the U.S. You could have two or three careers lampooning that.

I don’t usually get stuck, mostly because I don’t make my living as a writer. I don’t have deadlines when it comes to being creative. Right now I’m working on a project where I’m reworking a very long and detailed science fiction novel that never got published. It was terribly over written and painful to slog through. I’m turning it into a soap opera type Internet only book and adding multimedia content as I go. Working on this has been the closest I’ve gotten to getting stuck. There’s a lot of non-writing stuff that I have to do and so my usual inspiration tap has not been flowing. I think it’s just that I don’t have time to follow through on any ideas I come up with so my brain is not working on anything like that. When I’m finally done with all the kookiness that goes with this project, I suspect I’ll be flooded with ideas again. We’ll see. If I truly got stuck, I would simply not write. No one has to write, but it does feel better psychologically to do it. But I wouldn’t panic or feel like I was losing part of myself. I’d just go do something else. There’s tons in the world to do.

I understand that you enjoy writing sci-fi.  Tell us a little about what you write, and why.

My first book Tritcheon Hash is considered feminist science fiction. I hesitated calling it that because at the time I had not studied feminist theory. But enough reviewers considered it feminist science fiction so that now I can actually cop to it. Mostly what I satirize in that book are the stereotypes we labor under in regards to gender. The biggest theme I worked with was this blame game that men seem to have towards women. Our culture developed from the belief that womankind caused the fall of man. We never stop to realize that the story of Adam & Eve is allegorical and written by men without women’s input (as far as I know, anyway, but who knows what Miriam and Moses discussed in the wee). As a result much of our culture is permeated by the underlying belief that women are naturally evil.

My second book, We, Robots, is about our obsession with technology and how an undying faith in progress will lead us somewhere we may not want to go. It has nothing to do with robots taking over the world, but it does allude to that theme that one finds in a lot of science fiction. I got bored with that theme so I wrote an anti-robots-taking-over-the-world story. We writers need to mix it up once in a while.

Most of my writing is along those lines: preaching on subjects I don’t know a whole lot about, laughing at stuff that I do.

Who/what are your greatest literary influences?

John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Fay Weldon, Joanna Russ, Joyce Carol Oates, Douglas Adams, the billions of bloggers out there that have a sense of humor, and all the self-effacing, honest people I’ve ever met.

What are your goals as a writer?

I’d like to finish this god damn Textile Planet project. I’d like to have a bimonthly column in the local rag. I’d like to be able to call up a bookstore and have them recognize my name so I don’t have to continuously reassure them that, yes, I am an actual author and someone has edited my books so they are not full of bad grammar and, no, you won’t be embarrassed if you put them on your shelves.

Give us the sound bites for your books, We, Robots, and Tritcheon Hash.

Uh oh, I already over wrote the sound bites up above.

We, Robots: A lot can happen on the way to The Singularity.
Tritcheon Hash: What would Earth be like if there were no women living there?

I’d like to hear more about The Textile Planet… what’s this work about, and when will it be available?

It is about an obsessive employee of a textile mill on the Textile Planet. She has too much to do at her day job and too little time to do it. On one particularly fateful day she loses it and winds up in a strange psychiatric hospital. She uncovers a plot to perpetrate a weird-ass type of mind control on the workers at the Mill she works at. The Mill discovers her discovery and she barely escapes from the Planet with her life and sanity. Running from her pursuers takes her to the very edge of the galaxy to an uninhabited planet. Her days in the desert there change her. She grows confident knowledgeable about her role in life. She also has enormous guilt about her unfinished business on the Textile Planet. She could save the others at the Mill if she only faced her tormentors. She returns home to set things right. Everyone lives happily ever after.

In the book I make fun of our-over-the top paranoia and our habit of assigning good and evil to just about everything.

Besides fiction, what other kinds of writing do you enjoy, or want to try?

I’d like to write a bimonthly column for the local rag on any topic that has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet. I’d like to do research for this column by tramping all over the world to follow up on the strange things I’ve read or heard about throughout my life. For instance, I’ve never seen a manatee. I’ve never seen a truffle in the wild. How do they make microfiber? What is Oktoberfest in Germany like? What’s it like at high tide at the Bay of Fundy? Where do spaceships in Russia take off from? That sort of thing.

We’re glad to have you as a Pennwriters member.  Could you tell us, why did you join, and what are some of your favorite benefits from the organization?

I joined because I was spending too much time networking with people over the Internet. I wanted to network with people that I could actually go and have a beer with without having to board a plane. The main benefit of Pennwriters is the discount for the Conference. But I’ve also found a good many Pennwriters have a lot of energy when it comes to doing promotion and setting up things. Carol Haile and Jack Hillman come to mind but there are a lot more. I’ve been able to participate in a number of events already and I’ve only been a member for about a year. Lots of stuff going on and a lot of resources.

And now, the words of wisdom: what advice would you give other writers?

1. Read.
2. Read what you like.
3. Read authors that write the way you’d like to write and steal their riffs.
4. Buy my books (Tritcheon Hash, We, Robots, and coming soon The Textile Planet)

Thank you again for joining us Sue, we wish you the very best in all your writing endeavors!

Thanks, Jade, for just being you! Don’t go changing!

 

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To contribute articles and resources to the Area 6 blog, or to be interviewed as a Feature Pennwriters Member, please contact us.

Announcement: Pennwriters Area 6 Member Ash Krafton

Please join me in congratulating Pennwriters Area 6 member Ash Krafton as the Grand Prize Winner for the 2008 Maryland Writers Association Novel Contest.

Ash Krafton took First Prize in the Science Fiction / Fantasy / Speculative section for her urban fantasy novel Bleeding Hearts, which went on to win the overall Grand Prize for the contest.   You can learn more about the Maryland Writers Association at their website.

Ash Krafton also recently received the distinction of second honorable mention in the 2008 Cassell Network of Writers / Florida Freelance Writers Association (CNW/FFWA) Writing Competition in both the Poetry and Nonfiction categories for her works “Six Words for Edgar” and “The Dry Sink.”

To learn more about her work, take a peek at Ash Krafton’s MySpace page.  Ash Krafton prefers a light-hearted approach to life, and tries not to take anything too seriously.  Stay tuned: in August we’ll be interviewing Ash right here at the Pennwriters Area 6 HQ blog.

Again, congratulations!