I am home.
There are only a few days remaining until Stick comes out.
I read from Stick on Sunday at the Orange County Festival of Books. It was interesting because, although I always intended for this book to be read aloud, this was the first time it ever happened.
I read a short passage from a chapter ending where Stark is lying in his bed, listening to his brother crying in the house upstairs from his room.
A couple weeks ago, I participated in an interview for an MFA program, and I was asked some very interesting questions. I thought I'd stick some up on the blog from time to time. Here's the first one:
Q. On the most
basic level, why do you write the story down? (For instance, many writers say
they write to find out what happens next.)
A. To some extent,
I also find out what happens next in my writing, but I can’t say that I am ever
surprised by what happens. I might sometimes be surprised by how things happen, or the way certain
characters react to situations, but I am never surprised by the ultimate
outcome of what I write. I think I write the story down because I am fascinated
by words – by how they look and fit together, the rhythm of the syllables and
sentence structures on the page. I think that’s more the why I write things down, as opposed to anything else.
