On Writing
A Vortext of Words during a Weekend on Whidbey
Impatience, hope, despair, rage, fear, acceptance. Path to self-destruction? Guests at a pity party? No. They are states of mind of the writer and they were lived and witnessed during the course of an uplifting, inspirational three-day writing salon for women called Vortext, held May 31-June 2. Created by Hedgebrook, the writing retreat for women…
Read MoreWhen de la Cruz Family Danced Goes to Indianola
It’s been nearly two years since my novel When the de la Cruz Family Danced was published, so more than ever it’s a delight to discover readers, especially when they are practically in your own figurative backyard. Having lived in Seattle for thirty-six years, I’d heard of Indianola, but had only a vague idea of…
Read MoreUnexplained Fevers and Burn This House—Blisteringly good poetry
We know the story: A beauty at the mercy of a mean stepmother or wicked witch is trapped in a tower or glass coffin awaiting rescue by a huntsman or a prince. Beauty, youth, passivity are the salient female characteristics on display in these fairy tales. But what if these trapped damsels are freed, not…
Read MoreAn Interview with Jaina Sanga
I met Jaina Sanga in 2009 when we were both associate artists at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I remember hearing her read her work and being struck by how clearly I could visual the scene she had written. Jaina’s prose is vivid and sensory laden. In her recently…
Read MoreAn Interview with Deborah Miranda
Deborah Miranda’s book Bad Indians (Heyday) is a powerful collage of oral histories, personal narrative, poems, newspaper clippings and haunting photographs. Reading Deborah’s personal story within the larger story of her California Indian ancestors is sobering, unsettling, and absorbing. Deborah graciously answered my questions about Bad Indians and she did it with the same passion…
Read MoreThe Next Big Thing—Skinny, awkward brown girl
Wendy Call, author of No Word for Welcome (winner of the Grub Street 2011 National Book Prize in Non-Fiction), tagged me in the Internet chain game in which writers answer a set of questions about their next writing project. You can read Wendy’s lovely responses here. Her next book promises to be a lush and…
Read MoreAn Interview with Poet Annette Spaulding-Convy
“Annette Spaulding-Convy was a nun and she is a poet.” This simple sentence by Hilda Raz encapsulates for me the beauty of Annette Spaulding-Convy’s book of poems In Broken Latin. There are the contrasting verb tenses that demarcate past from present, but also at some level suggest a kind of inherent bipolarity. There are the…
Read MoreCreating a Scene with Charles Baxter
One of my favorite sections in Charles Baxter’s The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot is “Creating a Scene.” Baxter points out that “In daily life, a writer may practice conflict-avoidance, but in fiction a writer must welcome conflict and walk straight into it.” I was reminded of this recently when I avoided in real life…
Read MoreThe Big Picture, Loose Ends, and the Dream Deferred at the L.A. Times Festival of Books
At the L.A. Times Festival of Books held April 21 and 22 on the USC campus, I was at the author table at the Philippine Expressions Bookshop booth for two hours each on Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the time was mine to visit other booths, laze in the sun and listen to music…
Read MoreSmall Presses, Big Pleasures
While there are exceptions, it’s rare that short story collections are published by the large presses. Thank goodness for small presses, without which readers would not have the vast pleasure of short story collections such as the ones I’ll mention here. Here are three small press story collections I’ve read in the last year that…
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