they did not go quietly…
Voraciously Consuming: A.J. Albany’s stark memoir, Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood (I could eat this book, it’s that good) & eagerly anticipating the arrival of Craig Morgan Teicher’s charming in my mailbox.
On Shuffle Repeat: Gnarls Barkley’s
Wish I Could’ve Been Her Mama: I’m so very proud of my fashion forward friend, Kira. Her new short story, “The Kookaburra’s Tale,” is a triumph of language. I heart Kira. She’s the kind of girl you can chat about plum Miu Miu bags, Nicola Barker, Don Delillo, and Alessandro Barico - all in one breath.
Shaking Because: This line, They did not go quietly, will open my next book: Women and Children First. On the way home I spied a white statue of a woman on her knees with her hands tied behind her head, smiling. I think about women on their knees, lips painted violet. I talk to Kira about the opening of White Noise, and how I want to mimic that anxiety, the way Delillo evokes noise and sound as a character (much like how I want technology to be a character in my novel). I keep hearing Marcus’ voice in my head and I worry that I’ll always write to character rather than plot, which is a goddamn beastly way to write. Marcus is the guest you’re desperate to shoo out of your home but he keeps pouring the drinks. Keeps saying that this nightcap, this sip of rum, will be his last. But I know better. I think about children running for knives and I can’t warn them about the pain, the pretty silver, because my mouth is duct-taped shut. I keep thinking that women and children need to be kept safe, but why are they always the first to go? Out the door. Lost in the flare. In the smoke. In the fire. Don’t bother with the goodbye wave because they’re gone, gone, gone. They’ve become dust-eaters, purveyors of all things molten and earth. You thought my memoir was dark? Well, buckle up because my novel will be dark, violent.
Grateful: that in an age where people become your six-week friend (friendly only when their book hits the stores, and after six weeks, they suddenly forget to return your emails and phone calls), sweet writerly friends like Aaron, Ellis, Katy, Rebecca, WMC aka PYT, , Lisa, Kelly, Rachel, Cheryl, Nichelle, Hillary, Kevin, Summer, are in my life. Their constant support of me and Sky, even in the smallest of ways, has humbled me.
Listen up: Click here to hear me chat with Heidi Holtan of KAXE
