Loading ...Interview, Chat and Contest with Author C. June Wolf
A big welcome to our readers today! Be sure to read to the end of the interview to find out how to WIN the fabulous prizes being offered up.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a fixed time event, the post just goes live at 10:30 am CDT. You can stop by any time during the day or evening and leave your questions and chat.
PLEASE KEEP SPOILERS TO A MINIMUM. Not all of the readers today have read Casey’s book.
Interview:
Hi Casey!
Welcome to Bitten by Books, we are excited to have you here today!
I would like to thank you taking the time to join us for the question and answer session with our readers. It has been very interesting to get to know more about you and what makes you tick as a writer! Readers, if you haven’t done so already please stop by and get your copy of Casey’s book Finding Creatures & Other Stories.
Please Note: For best results in watching the video. Hit play and let the video load completely. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to load depending on your internet service.
Bitten by Books Interview, 21 Sept. ’09
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Learn more about C. June Wolf below:
To visit the author’s blog go here.
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CONTEST: PLEASE NOTE THE NEW CONTEST EMAIL ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR ENTRIES TO BELOW. There are also revisions to the rules for this contest, please read them all carefully. Also, PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FIRST AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME in your comment/post so we can give you the proper credit for your entries.
Readers, here’s how to enter the contest. You can do just ONE or ALL of these things, and each thing you do will give you additional entries at a chance to WIN. REMEMBER you have Until 9/27/09 at 11:59 pm PDT to do the different things that YOU choose to do.
Casey is also giving away some amazing prizes to THREE lucky readers! Contest is open to readers worldwide except where noted.
Prize 1: A story written for You. You choose the genre and the time period. Tell me up to three things about the protagonist (a name, an ability, something she hates or something she likes – it’s up to you) and I will do the rest. Or you can choose a theme – say, art and the paranormal or alien shopping or whatever you’re curious about, and I’ll come up with the character, etc. Or you can leave it all up to me. In any case, tell me a little about yourself and what you like or what is important to you, and I will bear that in mind as I write. The publishing rights remain with me, but the story is dedicated to you and you see it first. I’ll send you a signed printout when it’s done. Heck, if you like I’ll call and read it to you. Plus you will receive a personalized signed copy of Finding Creatures & Other Stories
Prize 2: A personalized signed copy of Finding Creatures & Other Stories
Prize 3: An Amazon gift card worth $40.00 CDN at the Amazon that serves your area (.ca, .com, .uk).
1. The easiest way to enter is by purchasing copies of Casey’s books.
From Amazon:
Finding Creatures & Other Stories
From Wattle & Daub via Paypal below
Good for 300 entries per book you purchase by using the links above.
OR you can use the Barnes & Noble search banner on the right hand side of the site or this link HERE to make your purchase of ANY kind of merchandise during the contest. You can also use the Amazon search box or this link HERE to shop as well. Good for 100 entries to the contest for EACH item you purchase. Not valid on past purchases.
It is NOT mandatory to purchase anything to enter the contests, there are plenty of other ways to enter and win. Just email us a copy of your purchase receipt to bittenbybooks.contests @ gmail.com (no spaces). Sorry no faxes or snail mail copies.
2. In order to be entered into this contest the ONE thing you ALL have to do is ask Casey a question or leave a comment. It can be ANY question you like. No questions/comments = no entries! You can come by through 9/27/09 and ask Casey your questions. Good for 10 entries. (max 2 questions that count towards entries)
3. Spread the word! Use this direct link to the event: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=11068 on twitter, at another blog, website, Myspace, Ning Group, Facebook, Yahoo Group, Goodreads, Shelfari (any group where it is appropriate). You MUST come back here to this interview and post those links in one response here in this thread so we can verify your entries. Good for 100 entries per place you post the event link.
NOTE: if you post multiple links here, your post will not show up right away. If you don’t see it, don’t keep posting it, we WILL approve your entry later on in the day.
4. Be friends with Casey by joining her here:
Newsletter: http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/caseywolfwrites
The Blood Bank: http://bittenbybooks.ning.com/profile/CJuneWolf
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=536476749
Facebook Fan Page: http://tinyurl.com/lxd86f
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CaseyJWolf
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/200144914
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2824793.Casey_June_Wolf
Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/home/thesmellofbooks
RULES AND LEGAL DISCLAIMERS
GENERAL CONTEST INFORMATION:
The contest ends on 9/27/09 at 11:59 pm PDT and the winners will be contacted via email. You will receive your prize bag directly from the author. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FIRST AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME as well as a valid email where we can contact you. REMEMBER the more things you do, the more entries, the greater the chances of winning.
1. Please note, the prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be absolutely no substitutions or changes the prize is non-transferable. If you don’t want the prize being offered, please don’t enter the contest. If you ever win an electronic copy of a book, please note that it is ILLEGAL to forward, give away or copy it in anyway once you receive it. Doing so violates copyright. If we find out that it has been done, you will no longer be eligible to win any of our contests.
2. You have THREE days from the day the we contact you to claim your prize by sending your name/mailing address to me. Failure to contact me will forfeit your prize. BBB can at that time, choose either to re-award the prize to another entrant or not.
3. The prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be no substitutions, trades or changes. No exceptions. Please do not ask. If for some reason you do not wish to claim your prize, please let me know as soon as possible. Bitten by Books has the option to re-award it or not.
4. Contest is open to USA readers except where noted. The prizes are shipped directly from the author.
5. Bitten by Books is in NO way responsible for the prizes being offered in any of the contests. If for some reason a contributor does not honor their prize, there is nothing we can or will do about it. We are not worried that this will happen, but we want to be very clear that WE are not offering these prizes, the contributor is and it is their responsibility to fulfill their prize obligations.
6. These rules are subject to change or be modified without prior written notice.
7. Contest is void where prohibited.
8. By entering this contest you are agreeing to our terms of entry.
I’m now reading your remarkable anthology ‘Finding Creatures and Other Stories’. I’ve noticed a definite connection to the spirit world, as it were, a sense of listening to voices there just under the surface.
Can you elaborate on that, if in fact that observation rings true?
Hi, Lorina.
I think you put that very well. In much of my writing I am doing just that: writing the story, but also trying to back away from my own initial thoughts about plot, etc., to see what some of the deeper resonances are. In “These Old Bones” I knew I wanted to write about the Buddhist phenomenon of hungry ghosts, but rather than directing how that would happen, I followed the story that the characters were telling, and in the end could see how in their own ways each of them was “haunted”, and each in a position to change that situation.
When I wrote about Saint Francis and the Green Man, my initial thought was a bit comical, but as I told the tale I realized what I wanted was to allow each character his own very different spiritual experience, and rather than putting them at odds with each other, allow them to see for themselves what they had in common.
Religion and spirituality, as well as mythology and culture, have a huge impact on shaping who we are. Some of those impacts aren’t so great, but there is so much richness in there as well. I’m attracted to exploring different spirits and spiritual ideas in my writing in part because of the beauty and wonder attached to them, but also because they touch on the deepest parts of ourselves and our relationship to each other and the world.
This all sounds very heavy! But it isn’t. It is as natural as drinking water from a stream, or laughing with a child.
Hi Casey. I watched your video this morning on MySpace (and subscribed). The videos were great. I especially liked the first one, reminded me of old japanese films, adorable and you have a beautiful cat.
I was very intrigued by the stories of the alien in the sculpture, and the alein who crashes and gets thorwn inside a tree. I minored in art so the thought of a spirit/alein being trapped in art is always interesting. I also love Driad stories which your other one reminds me of. I have a beautiful pendant and ring of a driad. St. Francis running into the Green Man also sounds fun. I love anything to do with celtic, druid or Irish folk history. Maybe because I’m Scotch-Irish. What is it about the Irish legends attracts you?
I RSVP’d, added Casy as a friend on MySpace and subscribed to her video feeds, also joined her fanclub and added as friend on Facebook, added as a friend on the Blood Bank, and joined her newsletter group.
Ursula D (ursuladrake@rocketmail.com)
I RSVPed and put your book on my wishlist. I’m usually am not real fond of short stories but everyone spoke so highly of ‘Finding Creatures and Other Stories’ that I knew I had to read it.
I read that you are a writer of “speculative fiction”. Would you explain to us what “speculative fiction” consists of?
I also meant to tell you I love your book cover. It has inspired me to try to make a pendant/necklace. Who designed it?
ursuladrake@rocketmail.com
Hi Casey!
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be here today. And for the kind words about moi!
The licking of bloody roses is just a “thing” that happens. he he
I am really interested in hearing more about living in Haiti and what you were doing etc. If that is a conversation best left for another time, that is fine too.
Hi, Ursula. Thanks for your comments on the video and stories – it’s always interesting to hear what twigs for people around them.
Irish mythology attracts me for a few reasons. The most basic? When I was a kid my family would say, when I’d fly into a temper, “That’s the Irish coming out in her.” So whereas my Mom would sing sweet Scottish songs I would learn Irish pub songs and the like; they were my kinda people, obviously. (I’m better with my temper now that I’m growed up.)
So that was what got me sniffing around in the Irish myths and stories. What hooked me was the incredibly sensual and evocative poetry, the powerful archetypes of women and men, the magical creatures, and voyages to islands which lead to harrowing results. I loved that women fought in battles and didn’t only swoon, and that severed heads could speak, and so on. It all fired my imagination and inspired me to look at the most ordinary mundane thing and wonder, what magic is under that?
The cover art on my book was done by Maggie V. Jones, who lives in England and is a damn fine painter and a lovely woman. If you go to my blog you can read the interview I did of her after the book was made. (Another cool thing about the book world. I made a new friend via cover art!)
http://cjunewolfden.blogspot.com/search?q=Maggie+V.+Jones%3A+Goddesses%2C+Bugs%2C+and+A+Twinkle+in+the+Eye+
Thanks for the link. I’m following your blog now. Great interview and she has some amazing work. I have to ask, who is the guy with the mohawk in your Sunday post? too funny!
Ursula D
Hi, Lisa.
Speculative fiction is a term that was developed a number of years ago so that we didn’t have to say we write science fiction and fantasy and horror and paranormal… All of those genres speculate “what if?” It is also handy (and also confusing) that it has the same initials as science fiction. So you can have an SF section in your bookstore rather than sci-fi, for instance, and all of our books can go in there together.
Hi, Rachel. I’m always happy to talk about Haiti! I haven’t traveled to many places, and one reason is that I keep going back to the same one, seeing old friends, learning more about a complex and wonderful country, and getting completely out of my North American lifestyle and mindset. (I won’t pretend there are no down sides. I do get scared sometimes, when I go there. Though knock wood so far I’ve always been okay.)
My grade 4 teacher moved to Haiti about 20 years ago to build a school in a remote town and fund kids so they could go and also eat enough to take advantage of the schooling. When she’d been there 10 years she told me she would be leaving for good. I’d always wanted to visit but couldn’t afford it. To heck with it! I decided. I found the money (there was begging, borrowing, and stealing involved) and went down for 3 weeks. I fell in love.
I fell in love with the culture, with the food and the music (there is nothing more danceable than Haitian music), and, I confess, with a gentleman. Five months later I had moved down, ready to take some big risks and do things I’d never done before – like learn a new language and culture, challenge my assumptions, and see what came of it all.
It wasn’t easy, but it was good, and although my romance did not get off the ground, I gained so much. Now I have good friends there, doing amazing work. I’ll provide a couple of links so you can see what they’re up to.
While I was there I lived with a Baptist missionary, volunteered at a Catholic nutrition centre and school for street kids, and hung out with people who serve the lwa (Vodou). So it was a very good place for someone interested in many spiritual paths!
This is one group of friends who do amazing work:
http://www.haititravels.org/
Hi, Ursula. That’s my nephew, Stuart. I thought he looked sufficiently astonished to rate a place in that posting.
You’re collection of short stories is quite wonderful, but when can we expect a novel?
Warm and Fond Greetings Casey. Welcome to BBB! The only question that comes to mind… if you could collaborate on a writing project with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?
* RSVPed!
* Signed up for her yahoo newsletter
* Sent a friend’s request in The Blood Bank (RaonaidLuckwell)
* Sent a friend’s request on facebook (RachelFlesher/Raonaid Luckwell)
* Joined her fanart page on facebook
* Posted the interview/contest on facebook
* Friended her on Twitter (RaonaidLuckwell)
* Posted about the contest/interview on twitter
* Friended her on myspace (www.myspace.com/visionarydruids)
* Posted about the interview/contest on myspace’s blog and bullentin
* Followed and became a fan and followed on goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1450536-raonaid)
* Following on Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com/home/RaonaidLuckwell)
* Posted about it on my blogger (visionarydruid.blogspot.com)
* Posted about it on my livejournal (morriga.livejournal.com
Hello, Runte.
I swear on my mother’s longjohns that I will finish the second draft of my novel Làkansyèl (Rainbow) by the end of this year. With any luck… Well, I won’t guess how long the next stage will take, but I do have a couple of publishers who are interested, so…
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to be here~
As a fellow Canadian, I was wondering if being in Canada has helped influence your story telling at all? And if yes, how?
I also RSVP’d your event!
Candy
Brantford,Ontario,Canada
You speak of characters taking the initiative when you’re writing stories, almost as though your characters take on a life of their own. Is that a phenomenon you find occurring, or is it a conscious thought to tell a story other than your own?
The interviewing yourself format is rather entertaining. I must say you have a very expressive face! Have you done or thought of doing promotional videos for your book? E.g., YouTube book readings?
Hi, Candy.
I would have to say YES – being in Canada has greatly influenced not only my writing, but my psyche. I have a sense of space, vast space of the prairies and the glacial valleys, the chains of mountains, and also the highways with long stretches between towns and longer stretches between cities. Things have built up in the years since I started down those highways (having run away at 13 – not recommended, but a transformative experience at a time when those highways were less dangerous than they are now). Still, the spaces are there – in me and in Canada – if you look for them.
Also, the kind of literature I was exposed to as a teen and younger adult. Canadian writers like Margaret Laurence and W.O. Mitchell and Farley Mowat led me to look at the silences and the vastness of the land as well as the interiors of humans in a very personal way. That carries over into my speculative fiction very much – both the sense of place as almost a character itself, certainly as a muse, and the interior of characters being as important as what they do in their world.
Hi, Lorina. It’s a little of both. I don’t want to tell my own stories, generally, because it’s too hard to be objective and creative (for me – others manage fine). But mostly it is a matter of getting a sense of who this being is and what she or he is feeling, wanting, fearing, and I do pretty much just follow along.
Hi, Runte. Yes, I do plan to do some readings online, video as well as podcasts. I’m setting up a parallel blog for just such postings. It’ll be announced in my newsletter and on my Den Page blog when it’s ready.
Finding Creatures and Other Short Stories is right up my alley! Thanks for featuring C. June Wolf here!
I RSVP’d!
I was wondering which story is your favorite?
Who is your favorite character and why?
I RSVPed
I also wanted to say thank you for doing the video interview. I really enjoyed this. Thanks
http://twitter.com/ I twittered, not sure how to post that here other then to say “I twittered”
Hey Woman, I told you I’d show up! I hope you are having a totally grand day! I’d also Love it if you wrote me a story…and I do hope to someday read your book…
Love you!
Hi June,
Oh that is one cool prize that is being offered
I just love mythology, especially Celtic, my name says it all.
Any other genres you would like to write in?
Thanks, Etirv!
Hi, Alicia. I’m glad you liked the video. (And I’m relieved that it WORKED.)
I’ve thought about this before and it changes sometimes. If we are talking specifically about the collection, I go back and forth between Claude and the Henry Moores (which makes me cry with joy), Thunderbirds (the topics of which fill me with awe), and Saint Francis and the Green Man (because they are both so earthy and loving of the wild, and they get to see the good in each other when they are supposed to be at odds).
My favourite character…Ooh, tricky question. Two immediately pop to mind so I won’t question that and will just report: Likner, the Haitian streetkid, and Andrea, the skid row waitress who goes digging for dinosaurs.
As to why…Likner is very young, quiet with his opinions and spare with his words, who observes and functions in a challenging world. He wishes for a miracle, but he doesn’t expect one, and he has no illusions about the greatness of those with more power than him. He has integrity and spunk.
Andrea is passionate, and yet it is not obvious outwardly. She is one of the invisible women of the
Hi Casey,
Your approach to myth in fiction sounds delightful — very much in keeping with what I like to discuss over at my blog.
I’m devastated that your collection hasn’t yet found its way into my library system. As a Canadian writer, do you feel it’s harder to break into the U.S. market?
Also, how much did you get to interact with Charles de Lint as he wrote the introduction to your collection?
Alana (who RSVP’d)
Sorry. Chat form kept going weird. I think it’s better now.
Andrea is passionate, and yet it is not obvious outwardly. She is one of the invisible women of the world – not young, not gorgeous, not chatting in topically acceptable ways. Yet she isn’t stopped by this. She has her own path to follow and she does it with great abandon, whatever the world may think. I rather admire that.
Hey, Akiba! Thanks for popping by. If you can’t buy the book, as your local library to purchase a copy. That would be most excellent!
Hey, Linda. I really need to write more in the Celtic genre. I don’t have anything in this book that qualifies as such, exactly. The Brideog, in Escape Clause, would appeal to you, I’m sure. It’s about Brigit and her Imbolc rituals in modern Ireland.
As for what other genres…I think I will probably work my way through as many as I can get to. Why? Because I am intrigued by the forms, and the different kinds of stories they inspire, and the different sides of my writing brain I discover. Not to mention that eventually I will have world domination as a result.
Hello Casey!! I RSVPed(is that a word?)
me!
and here I am to question you. I have
tried writing before and coming up the
characters is quite easily, and the beginning
of the story goes alright too, but I always
have the ending as a big obtacle. Do you ever
have that problem? Or does letting your
characters tell their own stories work that out
for you?
I will go follow you on Twitter now, as I see
you are stalking er following
Huggle pounce!
Ah, good. I have another cup of tea. (Ginger Lemon Yogi Tea, for those who are interested in my infusional tastes.)
Alana – I’ll have to check out your blog. You can probably ask your library to order the collection. That’s how it’s been getting into libraries here. If two or three people ask, that can be enough to prompt them to order it. The Vancouver Library has just purchased a set for their book club – about which I am very psyched!
I can’t speak for all Canadian writers, but I do have more trouble getting into American markets than Canadian ones, and I think it is because of my more reflective writing style. Which isn’t to say American readers don’t like my stuff, though of course not all do. On the other hand, I submit to Canadian markets more, as well.
Charles is a very busy man. I have NO idea how he maintains his pace, and I wonder if his family has to talk with him via the internet to get his attention. (I’m kidding, but he is astonishingly productive.) So we didn’t interact a lot. I asked him to do a cover blurb, expecting him to say no since he had never heard of me. He decided to do an introduction, and we passed a couple of emails back and forth. He is very sweet, is all I can say.
Hi, Faerie. I used to live in terror of endings. How would I be able to figure out a seamless finish? How wrap it all up? Yikes!
But I find that, yes, following the characters attentively leads me pretty inevitably to at least the sense of what the ending must be, and once I start writing it, out it comes. Often I realize I’m there before I knew I was going to be. I lift my finger to strike another key and go, nope. That’s all that had to be said. Then I read it over and found that it was right. Sometimes I write that extra sentence or two, and then going back over it, cut them out. On the other hand, sometimes I think I’m done and when I go away a question comes up that I realize needs to be addressed for the ending to be complete, and so I add something. But so far I’ve never really had a problem finishing a story once I have thrown myself into it. Sometimes I am sad about the ending, sometimes elated, sometimes amused. I don’t always know which it will be until I get there.
I’m trying to recall if I’ve ever changed an ending. Like rerouted it, not just rewritten. I can’t think of an example so far.
Thank you for being here. I love finding out about new books. I always need more reading material.
I cannot wait to read your book.
I have rsvp’d, Facebook’d, MySpace’d, Twitter’d, and requested friendships as I could.
Thank you again.
Thanks, Faerydreamer!
What was the first story you ever published? Is it in Finding creatures? If not, where can it be found? What was it about?
Do you ever take old ideas from unpublished/unfinished/abandoned projects and use them in something else?
I’m sorry to say that I didn’t RSVP.
Hey, Libby.
My writing life has been in two stages. In the early days I wrote stories, poems, and even a novel, but only published the poetry. I also enjoyed performing poetry, often to music (usually electronic). The stories and novel from those days lie in a dragon-protected crypt which one day I will dust off and re-enter (giving homage and offerings to the dragon first). There are in fact a few stories in there I would like to reread and revise.
At a certain point I stopped writing. Years later, when I returned from Haiti, I wrote the first story I sent out and had published. That was “The Coin”, and it’s in Finding Creatures & Other Stories.
No worries about the RSVP. You’re here! Want a cup of tea?
Your interview was lovely, true, honest, funny, inspiring, a very internetish relfection of you! While watching I missed Vancouver and many adventures had therein in years past with one and some of my favorite people.
Andrea, is one of my favorite characters too, and I hope I find deep meaning and purpose in my life as well. Otherwise, there is defintely a character in each story that I have wanted to meet or get to know better if I could.
Okay…. I need to ask a question and what jumped out right away was ahem…. who was the canine that you are photographed with?
Thank you – my life is a little brighter now!
Thank you so much for coming to chat with us today! I am in awe of your prize offer – to write someone’s story. That just seems absolutely huge to me.
Have you had much opportunity to read/hear the stories of the First Nations peoples in Canada? I’m Coast Salish and have always found it fascinating how much similarities there are between the creation and unseen world stories there are in the old cultures – be it First Nations or Celtic. Have you seen such similarities?
Hi me again. I would like to share this amazing poem that introduced me to Casey’s work. I hope you don’t mind if I post it here with a link back to your blog where others can find it.
http://cjunewolfden.blogspot.com/2008/12/skeleton-dance.html
Skeleton Dance
why dance this dance of death
skeleton jangling hollow bones together
brittle bones like flutes that wail
lonely in the wind
why dance
when the grave is cool and deep around you
when the grave night sleep is calling you on to lie
to rest to slumber leaden
why nimbly dance instead
shimmy through the interstices
wriggle wormlike up through peeks and cracks rattle
on your moss grown mound and flail
against the night
why not die the cricket’s death
chirrup ceasing
stoneblack body growing dry against the hill
lifedust trembling in the slightest breeze hollowed
out by age why not die this death this death why not
just die
i will not die the insect’s death
never dancing to be free
i will shimmy through the maze of airholes
left inside my grave
i will issue from my tomb and sing the hollow song
i will rattle with the wind until my bones catch flesh
and flesh grows on me
until bone and ligament are clothed in silk again until
hair sprouts dark and billowing and my eyes spark
dark and gay and life flows whole and beckoning
from my limbs
i will not lie this death of death
but dance out from my grave
because i live
because i live
because i live
C. June Wolf
©1999 Obsidian Magazine
Hi, Andrea!
Good to see you here and I’m glad the interview brought back happy memories.
The dog…Oh, I hate to confess it. He is my aunt’s dog, I have nothing to do with his name. He is Finnegan. Yes, Casey and Finnegan. (As in Mr. Dressup, for those not in the Canadian Kids’ Programs know.)
Hi, StormR.
Welcome! I admit I thought hard about whether to offer that prize. It was what I wanted to do but I was a little intimidated at first. But once I committed myself I felt very excited about taking the leap.
I have had the chance to encounter some of the First Nations’ stories and I agree that there is a lot of overlap – sometimes in the details, sometimes in the sense beneath them. I was listening to Raven stories the other day and was delighted to hear how Raven turned himself into a pebble to be swallowed by a woman and become her child. I believe this was in order to steal the sun.
That is so similar to the Taliesin story in Welsh mythology, where Cerridwen chases him and they both change shape many times until finally, as a hen, she swallows him in the form of a seed of grain. Her intention was to destroy him but once he was within her she felt the protectiveness of a mother, and this led to some awesome results.
In the two stories you not only see similar actions, but they are both in aid of amassing a power to truly understand and influence nature itself, the very basics of being alive. Transformation, insight, rebirth, the elements – all tied into two ancient stories from thousands of miles apart. I love it!
Thunderbirds, which is in Finding Creatures & Other Stories, is about a First Nations man who has survived residential school. The Thunderbird stories come into his life as his story unfolds.
Dreamcatcher, which is in Room Magazine this month, and should soon be in your library, if you are living in Canada, is about a woman and her husband who live in the Gulf Islands and how they relate differently to the First Nations there. She uses First Nations’ imagery in her art, but refuses relationship with the real people. He is conflicted about this and suffers from the creations that she makes.
I don’t mind at _all_, Rachel.
I’m absolutely going to read your stories. Your description of the Thunderbird story gave me shivers. My father was sent to a residential boarding school in Oregon and until the day he died only spoke of that time in whispers.
I truly believe that there is a basic foundation of truth, despite the fact that modern folks call it myth, legend and yes, even religion. But the ‘what if’ possibilities lead to wonder and absolute awe. And that is the true magic of writers..being able to see it, tap into it and then so kindly share it with the rest of us.
hi, Casey,
Don’t know if you know about Escape Pod and Podcastle. They are sister podcast reprint sites which pay one hundred clams per story, plus you get to promote your book. I just sold them “The Exit Sign,” from my collection “After The Fires” The contract is totally inoffensive.
My question: I’ve read Maya Deren and Wade Davis, and wonder what you think about the accuracy of those books based on your experience hanging out with Voudoun practitioners, or anything you think is fair to share. To make it more writing related I’ll ask: was it an influence and if so in what way? In “The Coin,” the influence of your time in Haiti is quite onbvious but are there other subtler influences?
One of my best friends is a deep trance channel, and I have heard the spirit she channels (who is way cool) describe my friend as his “horse,” which is a term also used in Voudoun, no?
As to your book, you know I love it, girl. Here’s my review in the Internet Review of Science Fiction for those who haven’t read it:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10518
StormR, thanks so much for your thoughts. I felt my throat catch when you talked about your dad. My gramma was raised by nuns, and when my mum was 5 Gramma sent her to a boarding school as well. Because their family was poor, Gramma worked for her living from the time she was 4. They, too, didn’t talk about their boarding days much, and when I see the difference between my gramma and her brothers and sisters, it is really clear the effect that being taken away from the family so young had on her.
I like what you have to say about truths and awe. Yes.
Ursula! Hello! Good to see you here. It never occurred to me to submit a story to the podpeople, though at one time I had hoped to read for them. Good idea. Any story in particular you recommend submitting?
I read some of Maya Deren before I went to Haiti the first time and didn’t know what to expect. It was hard to take much in so I can’t really compare it to what I have since learned. Her film I still have, a documentary about Vodou, and it is great.
Wade Davis’s book I read after being there and found myself profoundly annoyed with him through much of the book. It isn’t one I recommend, though of course there are some truths in it.
Books I do recommend are Mama Lola, Life in a Haitian Valley, Voodoo: A Search for the Spirit, and Open Gate – this last a collection of Creole poetry, with English translations.
Definitely, the reading I’ve done has had an influence – these books and many more, including Haitian novels like Reflections of Loko Miwa, The Beast of the Haitian Hills, The Kingdom of This World, A Taste of Salt – I have to hold myself back or I’ll go on forever. And books not specifically about Vodou helped shape my understanding of that very subtle country. The Rainy Season and The Uses of Haiti come immediately to mind.
HOW have they all influenced my writing? In part to help me break through the stereotypes I have learned about Vodou, Haiti, African culture, Third World people and values, and the very poor. Also to inspire me with the beauty and awfulness and gut-level reality of what is faced in Haiti and what tools – useful and not so useful – are used to face it. And further, to loosen up a little and take more risks, be more generous, be more forgiving.
When I worked with the street kids there was one boy who used to draw pictures of La Sirenne and say – “That’s you.” La Sirenne came quite unexpectedly in “The Coin.” I had finished the story and was reading about her and realized that was who I had described. So maybe he was onto something there…
A horse is ridden by a lwa. Yes, the human practitioner is the horse, and while the lwa is riding her she has no awareness, no role in the actions. The lwa speaks, dresses, acts, decides, proclaims, and does things often that the person herself couldn’t or wouldn’t do. When the spirit leaves the horse’s body, there is no memory of what has happened. Hence Zora Neale Hurston’s book Tell My Horse.
Glad I grabbed the time to peek – great video. I already have 2 copies of your book, one to be cherished by myself since it’s autographed by you to me personally and the other is for lending out to friends, who usually keep it long ewnough to be able to savour the stories. My personal favourite is the Henry Moore one, probably because of my own interest in art and because I saw some Moore work many years ago and was enchanted by them.
I notice a recurring thread of empowerment pulsing through your stories. Do you deliberately choose to focus on deliverance from “victimhood” in some fashion.
Hello, Jacqueline. I wish I had used your two-copy technique with a few precious tomes of times past!
I don’t think I consciously focus on (as you so beautifully put it) “deliverance from ‘victimhood’”, but it does make sense that the theme surfaces in my writing. I think a lot of the stories do boil down to how we respond to the pressures we are faced with. Some characters make choices that lead to deliverance, if not from the situation, from their being crushed by it. Others make choices that deepen their difficulty. All of us are _trying_ to make our lives more whole and joyful, but we don’t always take the courses open to us that will get us there. Generally, though, I don’t see the road travelled as the end of the character’s potential. Even if she or he has landed in a worse place because of their decisions, there is still the possibility of making a better choice later on – or of learning from the choice made. What looks like trouble is sometimes the road to awakening.
Unfortunately, some of our less wise decisions do lead us to the end. I just wrote a story in which that was the case, and I am quietly mourning that character.
Hi Casey,
thanks for being here and the super interview! Loved it, hope more authors follow in your footsteps and do video interviews.
I’ve not read your book yet, but listening to you talk about your stories, some
of them remind me a bit of Zenna Henderson’s works, my favorite author! I will have to get your book!
In what line of work were you before becoming an author?
RSVP & Tweeted
Hi, Sharon.
Thanks for reminding me of Zenna Henderson – I’ve really enjoyed her work in other days. (We won’t say how many lifetimes ago that was.) Let me know if you enjoy the book, okay?
Lines of work – babysitter, Woolworth’s counter waitress, stock girl (grocery store), cashier (Unsuccessful! Can’t add, and it was needed then.), beer waitress, veterinary assistant, rape crisis center counsellor and Gestetner queen, bartender, homemaker, wildlife preservation advocate (especially trade in endangered species)…
Nowadays I am on a handicapped pension, which allows me to write when I’m up to it.
okay WHAT is a Gestetner queen?
1. If you could wave a magic (faerie) wand and become only one of these: a famous short story writer, famous poet, or famous novelist, which would you choose… and why?
2. If you could be remembered for one thing, and one thing only… what would it be?
Thanks. I RSVP’d.
PS Maybe I have a tendency toward speculative fiction, since I like to ask “what if” questions myself (ha ha).
Thanks for taking the time to come and chat. I am looking forward to reading your book.
Ah. Gather round, gather round.
Back, way back in the mists of time, she who wished to produce written materials for distribution was faced with two terrible choices. And one great one.
One. Go to a printer. Have (him probably) typeset it and print it out.
Two. Go to a place with a photo copier. Breathe in the ozone and gasp at the (smelly and awful) results as they slither forth from the copier.
And One. The Gestetner. Beloved of fans of all sorts. They were early adopted by typography fans, who used them to make FANZINES, which were gathered together in APAs (Amateur Press Association group zines). Science fiction fans soon discovered this glorious (and rather large – ask my dining room in the old place) machines. Fanzines became the way that SF fans communicated across interstellar distances.
Well, so, too, did community organizations with more sense than money (and sometimes not much of either). When I came to work at the rape crisis center I soon discovered the oasis of calm that was the Gestetner room. Nothing like smoothing out stencils and gently inking them to put aside the stresses of the crisis line or (far worse) the collective meeting.
I haven’t read Finding Creatures & Other Stories, but it looks great! Your interview was really interesting…thank you for sharing with us!
In the interview, you say your story collection covers a variety of genres.
Do you have a genre you prefer to write in or do you prefer exploring a variety of genres?
And what draws you to short stories? Do you plan to write any novels, collections of poetry, non-fiction, etc.?
P.S. I RSVPed.
Whoa, M.A.. Thou posest difficult questions!
Hmph. My thoughts flick back and forth. Short stories…novels… To say goodbye to either the short or long form would be such a loss.
Of course, you didn’t say I couldn’t keep writing the other, just that I’d only be famous for one. Okay, that helps.
I think I’m going to have to sleep on a bed of nails to answer this one… If I were famous for my short stories, that would be sweet. Presumably I would get famous because I had by then perfected the craft of cutting small, perfect diamonds from the ideas in my mind. That would be very satisfying.
If I were famous for novels, that would be wonderful. Presumably that would mean I had learned well the art of taking complex characters and situations and understanding and interpreting them so that they come alive for the readers, who immerse themselves in their stories and only reluctantly come out.
How can I choose between two such paragons?!
If I could be remembered for one thing, I would want it to be for my compassion.
Of course as soon as I wrote that I thought courage. The courage to be compassionate.
Thanks, Melanie. Enjoy!
Hi, Jillian.
I really like exploring different genres, although MOST of my stories are speculative in some way. Somehow they seem more real to me with the speculative element. (Explain that!)
My answer to M.A. covers why I am drawn to short stories. Another way of saying it is that in short fiction I can focus intently on one or a few strong themes without a lot of distraction. A short moment in time, one action and all that surrounds it, a single revelation. It’s like putting a moment of life on a microscope slide and watching it unfold. (That would have to be a light microscope, so they still have the look of living things, and no cover slip or solutions, please. We want this to stay on the real.) (Okay, I got distracted there.)
I’m about half way through the second draft of a novel, and I do have some non-fiction pieces out there, though not under this name, coincidentally. I don’t think I’ll be doing a poetry collection any time soon, but in the future I would like to return to writing poems more than I do now.
Hi, Casey. Just dropping in to say hello. I watched your video — it’s great. (And, as someone commented, you do have a very expressive face. Also a beautiful cat.)
Eileen
Thanks, Eileen! You realize you are now in danger of winning a story from me? Does that mean you are exempt from critiquing it?
Hi C. June! I’ve heard some writers say that it’s harder to write short stories or novellas v.s. full length novels. Is this true in your experience also?
Whoa, cool! Late breaking news! Eric Orchard says YES, he’d love to collaborate with me on something! Check out his blog. He is a wonderful artist.
http://ericorchard.blogspot.com/
Yahoo! You heard it here first. (Of course, we haven’t a clue what or when, but who cares!?)
How often do you get back to Haiti now? In your comments you mentioned being around people who hung around with the Lwa. I am curious to know if you attended any of their ceremonies and ever been ridden? (hope that isn’t too personal if so, just email me).
What do you think of Sally Ann Glassman’s work?
that is AWESOME Casey! congrats. What a great opportunity!
Hi, Ven.
I’ve heard that, too. So far, no, it’s not my experience. It probably has to do with our minds (as in our Brains) work. I’m a synthesizer, and a tightly focused one. This means I can peer down at a piece of paper (well, okay, a computer screen, nowadays) and stare right into a story and pull in everything I need from the environment around me to get to where that story, in its initial version, needs to go. So I can often write the first draft in one sitting, although I then go over it dozens of times, generally, till I have chased down (with a little help from my friends) the inconsistencies and sloppy thoughts and what not and can stamp it “done”.
I can’t write a draft of a novel in one sitting. And I can’t keep all of the details of a novel in my head at once. Which means that I lose one of my strengths as a writer when I do long work. I have to be more organized in cataloguing plotlines and things that I never do for short stories. So for me, writing short stories is easier.
I would think that for people to whom outlines and plotlines and so on are the jumping off places for their writing, short stories might be harder because in many ways short stories are as much about what is not there as what is there. And that’s not something you can easily plot out.
Hi, glad you are here at BBB today. I am arriving late, so most of my questions have been answered. so..
What is one thing your readers would be shocked to learn about you?
BTW- I love the cover for your book, it is beautiful, did you get to pick it?
I rsvp’d
requested friends at the blood bank
There. Had to find my cat. I’m back now.
Rachel, yes, a number of people I know in Haiti serve the lwa. I haven’t had much to do with American Vodou, including those who have gone to Haiti to train, so I can’t really comment on it.
I’ve been invited to ceremonies and have always declined – not for lack of interest. I know many people go to Haiti and one of the things on the itinerary is to go to a Vodou ceremony. That doesn’t work for me. If and when I ever sit in a ceremony I want to understand enough of what is going on – not just what they are doing but what lies beneath it – that I can really bear witness, which I couldn’t do if I was going, “What the HELL?!” Vodou is not a tidy and quiet religion, and things happen that would throw off someone like me, raised in a country where we don’t even kill our own chickens, let alone use their blood for anointing. It’s just a very different approach. Maybe that sounds over cautious, and I’m having a hard time explaining it, but I always prefer to enter important situations as prepared as I can be.
I also don’t serve the lwa, myself. I talk with friends who do, and when I write about it I have them read what I’ve written and tell me how I’m doing. There is so much misrepresentation of Vodou, and of many religions, but most horrifically Vodou, that I want to counter-act that to the extent that I’m able with a more truthful depiction.
I will say, though, that I miss hearing the drums at night. There is nothing more wonderful to listen to when you are getting ready to fall asleep. (Except maybe the zandolits. Anoles, that is. Slender, small lizards common in Haiti.)
And YES! I am so chuffed about getting to work with Eric!
Hi, Elie.
Ooh, you temptress! What would my readers be most shocked to learn about me? That I am willing to disclose, you mean, I take it?
Most would be surprised, at least, to know that I ran away from home at 13 and that I didn’t finish school.
They might be shocked to know that I never watched The Lord of the Rings. (I did _read_ it, though!)
Oh, I love the cover, too. I did have input into the choice of cover art, and am very happy with it. Here’s hoping I’m always so lucky!
Hi Casey,
wow you have some great prizes here. Has an author wrote a book around you?
rsvp’d
Twittered: dlsmilad
posted on Facebook: DinaStornello
Thnak you,
Dina S.
dlsmilad@yahoo.com
Hi, Dina. No! No one has, but that’s a great idea. Any takers???
Thanks for coming by.
It’s a fun thing to have done, I once had my name in a book and got to chose the charater from several, so this will be an awesome prize to someone! Yours is even more fun.
Finding Creatures and Other Stories has a lovely cover. Finnegan is a doll.
Writing good short stories is much harder than many think. You have a limited time/space to develop plot and characters. It is a skill not all writers can manage. Not everyone needs to write a novel. If short stories are your forte, there is nothing wrong with that. When will your next book be out?
Oh, that is cool, Dina. How did that happen?
It reminds me of my 30th birthday. My mom got me a very interesting present. She had a star – very small, distant, and scientifically insignificant (so they thought!) – named after me. There was a certificate and a map showing what area of the sky it was in. In a strange, celestial way, it was an amazingly thoughtful present. I felt, well, highly regarded (as it were…).
You’re right, Patricia, in all points. I have a novel I have committed to finishing by the end of this year, which has a patient publisher waiting to see it, so who knows? Next year? That would be great.
I am also slowly piling up stories, so another collection a couple or so years down the road is not out of the question. (Don’t you love that vague double talk for “I dunno”?)
Like you it was a contest, it made the story more exciting seeing your name, as you can imagine. Of course the story was great either way, lol.
I think “your” star is one of the most heartfelt presents you can receive, it’s a one of a kind!!
Ah, cool. And yeah. I still feel all mushy about that star.
Ooh! Ooh! Gestetner knowledge! So besides telling us way too much about your age; does the reference to fandom mean you used to be a fanzine fan? Active in SF fandom? Ever do a zine yourself or contribute to any that might be known outside your region?
(And I RSVP’d)
Oh, I was a very young fan with a very old Gestetner…
There was a time I did a perzine (personal fanzine) that was known only to my friends: Wild Vetch. I was briefly in AWA (A Woman’s APA), and met such luminaries as Jean Hollis Weber and Candas Jane Dorsey at the Melbourne Worldcon in 1985. I soon shifted over to PaganAPA and eventually petered out of self-directed fanzine fandom altogether. I do, however, still read Bruce Gillespie’s zines, and contribute letters of comment. So I’m not completely gafiated.
(to gafiate: to get away from it all/leave fandom.)
Hi Casey! Nice to “meet” you. Nothing like showing up late for the party, but I RSVP’d and I finally made it! I am looking forward to reading Finding Creatures and other Stories. I really like anthologies. I posted a link to this interview on my FB page, joined your fan group, requested you as a friend, requested you on myspace, following you on twitter(I’m lasergirl70),added you as a friend on goodreads and library thing (I am new to that) and signed up fro your newsletter. I do have one question. Did you find writing an anthology easier than a novel? and if so why? Thanks! Lisa
Ooohhh this is exciting! Here is the question(s):
Did you choose the prizes yourself? If you did, why? These are different prizes than most of the other author’s.
I also RSVP’ed, signed up to the newsletter and myspace.
I am sorry I wasn’t able to finish your interview, my computer let me down.
I have always thought that I was born in the wrong time period, how about you?
..and then i forgot to add my name. Nice to meet you C. June Wolf, my name is Rose Gabdul.
and my email would be toushiroaoi(@)yahoo(.)com
I am very sorry for the double post.
I forgot to say that I RSVP’d and I also blogged it.
http://katiebugdomesticdiva.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-chat-and-contest-with-author.html
I was interested to see that your favorite stories out of Finding Creatures were not necessarily my favorites. Claude and The Henry Moores was good (though it makes me smile every time I think of it — never occured to me to cry!) but your best story in my view is “The MagniCharisma Machine”, That’s the one that keeps popping back into my head months after reading the anthology. And Finding Creatures is the other one I think about now and then. Both those stories are archetypal Canadian content. Almost the definitive example of what it means to write Canadian fiction. those two stories will have a soft spot in my heart for a very long time — and be the examples I use in my next essay on Canadian Spec Fic.
Hey Casey,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a wonderful video interview. I have to say I have never heard of speculative fiction before – this is rather new to me. My curiosity has been piqued and I will have to check this out. You mentioned in your video that you like to write because it lets you escape – basically you get to zen as you put words to paper. This is exactly how I feel about reading – I get a book in hand or a story on my reader and when I see those opening lines the rest of the world falls away.
My question to you is if you could freeze one moment in time in which you would have to live for eternity in what would it be? Or has it even happened yet?
Thanks again for stopping by…
__-_____________
I have tweeted this a couple of times (marniebelle)
I also RSVP’d.
Happy Day to all.
Hi, Lisa! Nice to meet you, too. If nobody came late to the party it would end awfully early. Then I’d be twiddling my thumbs. (Question: How does one twiddle, and can you twiddle other things besides thumbs?)
Interesting question. I can’t say it is easier to write a collection of stories – instead of one set of characters, one set of problems, and one world to build or scene to set, you have to do it many times. But you don’t have to do them all at once, so at any given time you are working with a smaller set of variables, and that is less juggling, for sure. On the other hand you have very little time in which to set the scene, draw convincing characters, pose their problem, and resolve it, without having it come off looking too easy or pat. So…
Thanks for all those tweets and friendings and things – to you and everyone who’s done it. Very cool.
Hi, Rose. Yes, I dreamed up the prizes. I wanted to do something that would get me more involved with the people participating in the contest, and I like writing challenges. (That is, I like challenges in my writing. I don’t like inviting people to duels, or anything.)
I thought, if _I_ was winning the prize, I would enjoy being involved in the creation of a new story, especially for me. I do of course like gift certificates, but for me gift bags are less sure because how do you know the person receiving them can eat chocolate, or isn’t allergic to scents, or what-have-you. So, bottom line, I thought this would be the most fun for everyone. No worries about the double post, Rose!
Hi, Katie. Sorry about the computer pooping out. The video will stay up here, I imagine, and I’ll put it on my blog after the contest, so it’lll be around if you ever decide you need to know what pearl of wisdom (or noodliness) was about to fall from my lips when your computer fracked up.
The making of the video was similar to your experience of watching. It took FOUR go’s before I could get everything to behave! (Lucky for you. It went down from 32 minutes to about 20.)
I hear you on that question! I have often felt similarly, though I think i would need to have been born in several different periods to work things out just the way I’d like them. Part of me would have enjoyed being one of those mammal-like herbivorous reptiles that lived in the Permian period. No predators, no over-population, just lush vegetation, and all the time in the world to chew it.
Part of me would like to go back to when my Mom was a kid, and another part of me is glad as HECK that I didn’t have to grow up then.
Of course, social standing in any time period has a lot to do with how great it would have been to live then. Including now. I don’t just mean money and property, but your role in your society. (I’m rambling…)
When would you have liked to live?
Katiebugdomesticdiva. Cool name. I’ll check it out. (I’m checking out everybody’s blogs before I’m done. Too fun!)
I think this collection of stories sounds amazing – I’m particularly intrigued by the “coin” story. I can see where there would be a lot of meaning/allegory in that one. I have to say that I am hugely enamored with paranormal fiction – particularly romance and urban fantasy – but this is certainly a book of a more quasi-scholarly level that I would love to get into. It’s been a long time since I’ve read something allegorical in a long time. That B.A. in English kind of killed the joy for that type of literature for me… I think it might be ending!
My question is, do you have any go-to areas in your daily life and/or imagination that brings out such interesting story ideas? For instance, what got you thinking about disembodied aliens? Or aliens at all? They sound like highly interesting stories and I look forward to picking the anthology up. I too love anthologies because they give you a chance to explore many different types of stories and/or authors without such a drastic financial investment.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ll be posting a link to this contest on my blog elisajankowski.blogspot.com, which autofeeds to my facebook page facebook.com/elisa.llewellyn.jankowski.
Bah! I just lost my comment. Let me try again.
Runte – I am of course intrigued. Archetypal Canadian writing? Cool! Tell me more! (Batting eyelashes. “Tell me more about my i’s…”)
Marnie, you express our experiences very well. Are you a writer, yourself?
Funnily, the reaction I had to your question was fear. It surprises me slightly, though not a lot. I have a hard time letting go of both joyful and painful things. Yet I value growth and work toward it always, so in time I _do_ let go.
But the thought of being trapped forever in one moment takes my breath away.
I love the dusk. I love the dawn. If I cling to one, I never have the other. And I never have the night between, in which I sleep or suffer and learn, or the day, in which I laugh and love and go shopping and clean out the litter box. I wouldn’t want to lose any of these things.
But if I could have one experience to relive (you’re going to think I’m silly) I would spend a day with my cat Fluffy, who died last year. He was my best friend and main squeeze. Because of his lifelong disability we grew to function like a single unit in many ways, and he was a great teacher for me. We learned walking meditation together. Even now if I look at a photo I have of him where he is looking into the camera languidly, I let go of any tension I’m holding, for a moment, and relax.
This is him:
http://blognamedfluffy.blogspot.com/
Hi Casey,
It’s so nice to have you here today! What were some of the things you did while you were first starting out in order to become a better writer?
I RSVPed.
I know exactly what you mean, Elisa! I didn’t do a degree in English, but I took some college courses as an adult and whew! Something about having to read reams of mathematics and science when I was having a very hard time getting the ideas solid in my brain… I WANTED to understand, and I wanted to stop every second sentence and go, hmmm… If that, then maybe this, and… Stories wanted to be told! But I had to go on with the ATPs and the energy cycle or by dang I’d fail the course.
Which isn’t to say I’m sorry I did it. I love that I studied those subjects and that I can now think in those areas a bit. But for a long time after being forced to cram too much too fast into my too-tired brain, I couldn’t even read an advertisement without my eyes glazing over.
One thing that I just alluded to that brings out story ideas is learning about popular science – listening to Quirks and Quarks or BBC Science in Action on the internet. I hear about some bizarre thing a planet or an insect is doing and I think, huh. What if there were humanoids on that planet, who had functions like that insect, and so on.
“Miss Lonelygenes” came as a direct result of reading a story I thought I was going to like that really annoyed me in the end. The fact that Miss Lonelygenes annoyed me, herself, is moot. Family is family, after all.
And “Dreamcatcher”, which isn’t in the collection, arose after seeing some art in a museum and feeling distressed about it. The other day I wrote a story that was simply the retelling of a dream. But it works as a story. (A rather grim one.)
So basically I just go around reacting to life and then asking myself, do I feel like writing a story around that?
Hi, Lesley.
Good question. What did I do? I read authors that I thought were good at their craft, in a variety of genres, not just specualtive fiction. Unfortunately the French, Russian, German, Japanese, etc. writers I had to read in translation, but it still really expanded my awareness of what could be done in writing and a variety of ways that people might do it. I _didn’t_ read a lot of people who were writing similar kinds of things to what I was writing, because I was a sponge at that time and I didn’t want to absorb their plots and styles without realizing it.
I also wrote and refused to allow myself to criticize my writing while it was in process. Nothing kills writing like editing before its actually written done, except telling yourself what a lousy writer you are and how doomed to failure before you’ve found your writing stride.
I wrote for half an hour a day, it didn’t matter what, it didn’t matter if it was any good, and it didn’t matter if it was connected to the day before. That way I got in the habit of thinking as a writer. Soon you couldn’t keep the stories back.
There’s something else but I am forgetting. If I recall I’ll slip it in later.
Hello Casey! Loved the video interview! Sadly I have not read anything from you yet but I promise I will:o) Your short stories sound very interesting so I will definitely add Finding Creatures to my to read list. In the interview you said you use to live in Haiti. I find that very interesting and was wondering why did you decide to move there? Thanks! The contest sounds great!!
Stephanie M.
I RSVPED!
Friends with on goodreads- StefM
Following on Twitter- smck27
Requested friendship on facebook- smckeehan25
Requested friendship on blood bank- Steph M
Became a fan on facebook- smckeehan25
joined yahoo groups- smckeehan25@yahoo.com
Posted this contest on Twitter, Livejournal, and Blood Bank.
Hi, Stephanie. Glad you liked the video. : }
I went to Haiti initially to visit an ex-teacher who was living there. I liked it so much I went back to live, and since coming back to Canada I just keep going back. It’s pretty much a permanent part of me now.
In a few minutes I’m going to tuck everybody in. It seems like you’re all sleeping. If anyone has any last comments, just whisper them to me, then get ready to turn off the light.
Tuck. Tuck. Tuck.
Nighty night.
C. June, have you ever written a story in long hand?
Ooops, forgot to post first name, last initial: Ven D
Hi Casey,
If you could trade places with anyone, who would it be and why?
Bridget
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RSVP’d
Hi
Are Most of your books in Audio?
How Many Short Storys have you Writen?
*I have spread the word on my myspace and facebooks here are the links
http://www.myspace.com/sasluvbooks & facebook.com/sasluvbooks
*I RSVPed
Thanks for coming allways good to learn about soom one you have never herd about.
Stacey S
sasluvbooks@yahoo.com
What time period would I like to live in? One of them would be with the highlanders of Scotland. The only problem is that clean part. lol Another would be England in the 1820′s.
My computer is pain sometimes. I will try to watch your interview again. Third time is the charm, right?
Sorry I missed out on the event… I did like the video though….
Hi! You’re still here!
Ven D.: YES! I have written stories longhand. I really like doing that; with the fibro, though, I now try to keep the muscle-use to a minimum, so I usually type now.
Bridget: Hmmm. Yummy question. I wouldn’t want to be anyone else, for sure, although I wouldn’t mind a few of their perks. (A little house in the woods, that sort of thing!) But for brief swaps I could get into being different people, for sure. Maybe I’d start with Jacques Cousteau. Wonderful to go adventuring!
Hi, Stacey. So far I have nothing on Audio but that will have to change. Not sure how many stories I have written. Not thousands.
(Sorry, trying to be quick before Rachel pulls the lightswitch.)
Hey, Katie. I would love to go to North Uist in the Hebrides a hundred years ago and meet my relatives. Maybe we can travel together.
Shell,, I think you made it! I’m glad you liked the video.
OK, morning gals. I’m off!
Thanks, Rachel!
Casey,
I am not a writer. I do have hundreds of ideas floating in my mind but I have yet to put any to paper. At this stage of the game, I prefer the images I create in my head over words I would write on paper however you never know when this might change.
I too recently lost a wonderful little goddess named Isis (ok I was her auntie but I loved that fur ball like she was my own) to a battle with heart disease. I know exactly how you feel, I wouldn’t mind reliving our book reading time. Whenever I read a book in ‘her’ chair she would come up and lay on my chest sticking her head under the book and then proceed to fall asleep, it was our moment and I miss it.
Thanks for sharing a bit of yourself with us.
Thanks for answering my questions, C. June! Is it all right to ask what the C stands for?
Hello!
I just finished watching the interview I would have to say I had a lot of laughs just listening and watching. My question would be about the cover. I am an illustrator/artist and from the moment I saw it, I wondered if you had someone design it for you or did the publishers pick it out?
Following on Twitter – ( JadedK )
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Became a Face book fan – ( Jennifer Goos )
Befriended on Facebook – ( Jennifer Goos )
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Following on Goodreads – ( http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1846132 )
Mmmm, I’m right there with you, Marnie.
Sorry, Ven! My first name is Casey.
Hi, Jennifer. The painting already existed before the book was put together. It was just luck that we found it. (Actually, _I_ found it while surfing the net; it is great when you get to have input into your cover art!)
I’m grateful for all the thoughtful questions and comments, and for getting to share a little of who I am with you. I feel very lucky.
“(That is, I like challenges in my writing. I don’t like inviting people to duels, or anything.)” Oh boy, “tries to imagine authors dueling” The diction would certainly sting. =) This was great.
May I ask another question?
And we are very lucky to have met you as well. Thank you for coming and writing, so people like me, dont get bored and can daydream some more.
Hello! Thank you for stopping by and chatting with us. You are a very interesting person. Enjoyed your video interview and I actually read every post. To be honest I wasn’t sure I would “get” your book, but after reading the reviews and hearing your answers and checking out your website I can’t wait to read Finding Creatures & Other Stories! This has been a very intriguing chat. Best Wishes for continued success in your writings!Thank you Rachel for finding a new gem for us to enjoy!
RSVP’d
Following on twitter/txgiggle
Facebook Friended
I would love to have this done! I heard that you had fibromyalgia, have you ever heard of those mouses that they have that heat up? I think that would help the pain in my hand some times, think it would help you?
I posted this on my web blog.
I followed on Twitter
Became a friend on Facebook
Befriended on Facebook
I can’t remember everything I did as I had problems logging in to some and had to reset password, but I was busy spreading the word for quite a while!
Hey, Rose! Thanks! It looks like you can still ask a question, but you can always talk to me on the Blood Bank, too. So shoot!
Thanks, Shaine! That is very cool.
Hi, Brenda! Good luck – though I’m not sure if late entries are being counted. I’ve never heard of a hot mouse. That’s an intriguing idea. Although I’m usually fairly hot anyway, with the laptop beaming down through my thighs, so I don’t know if I could handle the extra toasting!
Ooohhh, I am not out yet! Okay well here it is:
The heroines are usually very snarky/sassy/humorous. Do you think being humorous a talent? Or do you have to work at it?
Good question, Rose.
Now first off I should say that I don’t tend to have sassy/snarky/wise-cracking characters, although my own sense of humour does come out in the writing in places. But I do have opinions about humour (which is close to my heart and which I valiantly defend to my curmudgeonly friends).
I think it is both a talent and a skill. You can have an innate sense of humour but only practice will hone quick wit and precise timing.
I see. Thank you answering.
People need experience in everything.
I have a looooooong way to go. XD
Elisa Jankowski won the story, and Rose Gabdul won the poem.
Elisa Rocks! Rose Rules! Woohoo!
I’m still excited about this contest, and am looking forward to seeing what Elisa and Rose think up for me to write.
I got slowed down in writing Elisa’s story due to the illness and death of my father, but I’ve finished “The Posture of the Infinite” and will be sending it along to her soon. “TPotI” tells the story of Yvonne in her first incarnation as a human. Rose received her were-leopard poem “Roksana” last fall.