Q: When did you start writing?

A: When I was a child, my parents enrolled me in a creative writing class. I barely remember it. It seems I remember the shame of failing at ballet lessons more so. But such humiliations are food for stories and poems. Never an athletic child, I lost myself in words. I’ve always been a reader. I may have read less in high school, but as an adult, I am never without a book. I’m also never without a potential poem or novel in my mind. I suppose that’s a faculty that developed early on, but it’s been later in life that I have actively cultivated the process. I am aware that if an idea emerges, I need to get the words out of the intangible ether of thought into keystrokes or on paper. I am aware that if I ignore these creative connections, they will break and ideas will be lost forever.

Q: What are you currently reading?

A: I’m reading Purgatorio in John Ciardi’s translation of The Divine Comedy. Before this, I read Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. You can follow me on Goodreads to see my library of books and some of my reviews.

7/21/21

I just reread A Wrinkle in Time, primarily because it was featured in the Apple TV show, Ted Lasso (season 1), and I had not read it in a long time. I’m about to begin Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead. I’ve heard only good things. But primarily I am reading draft versions of two different novels. And by reading, I mean editing/revising.