Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

 

There’s no direct path to becoming a writer.  We all find our own way. I’ve detasseled corn, waited tables, worked at a particle accelerator, a research lab, and been a soldier, an EMT, a pharmacist, a wife and a divorcee. I’ve lived in small towns and cities. All of it comes together in the work. 

Describe your book ‘The War is Language: 101 Short Works’ in 30 words or less.

 

At a certain point an assemblage of words bears no meaning. For this collection of flash fiction I went beyond post-modernism and deconstruction into a realm that lacks conveyance. 

 

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

 

Believing in my own work. I have a tendency toward self-parody.  Insecurity undermines my efforts. It’s a real challenge to wake up every day, make stuff up and take it seriously. 

 

What books have had the greatest influence on you?

 

Tess of the D’Urbervilles really hit me hard. Reading that book in the late 20^th century was infuriating. I could not believe how far women still need to go to overcome constricting roles, gendered obligations, and the bane of virginal status. Masculine sadism and an expected paternalism of provision still influence our culture.

 

But I didn’t want to write about a woman oppressed or doomed by constraint. I wanted to write about a woman in reaction. The War is Language: 101 Short Works is not written in direct response to Hardy’s story of sexual assault. But there are too few books that escape the pigeon hole of traditional femininity.

 

There is a huge difference between militant feminism and military femininity. Army women do their hair, wear makeup, and get their nails done. But they also disassemble and reassemble M-16s in timed match-ups.

 

There are implications to having an entirely volunteer military force. Who wants to sign up to kill and die? What psychological forces of victim-aggressor are at play there? Well, one of those forces is that eighty-five percent of female military personnel have been sexually assaulted. 

 

Rape is an evil that sets events in motion. But none of that changes the fact that women can fight for themselves and for this country.

 

In so doing, they can be as destructive to peaceful ideals as men. I wrote this book after seeing pictures of female soldiers gloating over piles of dehumanized bodies tortured at Abu Ghraib. I thought, “How could a woman do that?”

 

Briefly share with us what you do to market your book?

 

The marketing campaign for The War is Language: 101 Short Works is grassroots all the way: fliers on bulletin boards, business cards in coffee shops, emails to friends. We’re all on the learning curve of what digital content is and what the implications of publishing ebooks are. I’m not sure how much to invest. I was kind of down about the number of sales and assumed a marketing campaign underwritten by a publishing house would drive sales. But after speaking with a publisher at AWP it seems that may not be the case. This is my first release of digital content and it has already sold more copies than the backlist he’s uploading on Kindle. 

 

How do you spend your time when you are not writing?

 

I love Chicago. I eat out with friends, walk, run, sail, and wander into tiny shops that sell specific things. Anyone who knows me will point out I spend a significant amount of time debating ideas on Facebook. 

 

What are you working on next?

 

The On Impulse eBook Series as a whole. The War is Language: 101 Short Works is the initial release in a four book series that explores narrative from catharsis to craft. The other titles are 2000 Deciduous Trees, Love & Darts, and How to Cherish the Grief-Stricken. There is a divide between what makes a story in life and in literature. This series crosses that divide.

 

Intrigued by stories told in twenty seconds at cash registers and by all the confessional dross in the blogosphere, I wanted to start the series in this fragmented, associative space of catharsis, self-expression, and whatever is past deconstruction and postmodern playfulness. Then with each book I’ll bring the collections toward plot, toward narrative, toward causation arriving in what is considered a traditional literary short story collection.