Hi. I insist that you call me Dudey. You could call me Duderbug, Dudiferous, or simply The Dude. But please, never call me by my fancy name: Kitomaru. That was just hopeful thinking on Mommy’s part. You see, I am part of a long line of grey cats. It’s a tradition that extends to naming. […]
I think of sales figures as a measure of how many people have been reached by a book’s message. One sale equals one person, or more, with lending. The purpose of publishing a novel is to share a good story with readers. But reaching them, just to let them know the story is available, involves
When I was thirteen, the summer between elementary and middle school did not go well. My friends didn’t exactly turn against me, just yielded to boys who had decided it was fun to come up with names for me, stick signs to my back, and make up stories so the crowd would laugh at me.
When first imagining the story that is still propelling me, I was more moved by inspiration than fiction-writing savvy. So it was full of tangled ideas. Originally titled Founding Fabric, it opened with Annabelle Manning waking to birdsong, in a tent on the plains of what was called “the great American desert,” in what is now Kansas.
Today we favor cut and dry feelings about things. We’re encouraged to clarify our sense of ourselves and the world in terms we can label and therefore categorize: “positive and therefore something to pursue” or “negative so I’ll avoid it.” The things that are complicated, that stir up a mix of feelings, or even force
