Here’s a photo from the panel I was on this morning at Portland State University. It was really fun being sandwiched between Lidia Yuknavitch and Kevin Sampsell. Floyd Skloot was really interesting and engaging and now I want to read his books. Lidia gave some great advice I loved:
“When you write your story you are, in a way, stepping away from your family of origin or birth and toward your new family–the human community–where mercifully, there are others.”
Trying to look smart
And….Zoe Ruiz is the Saturday Rumpus editor, and she wrote a little essay slash love letter about our relationship, how we met and writing. It’s very touching and you can read it here.
Also–do you subscribe to The Rumpus’s Letters In The Mail? You should. You get a letter a month from a different authors like Steve Almond, Lidia Yuknavitch, Stephen Elliott, Rick Moody, Aimee Bender and so on. I’m the next one–my letter will be mailed out on Thursday. It’s like five bucks. Sign up here to get the letter I wrote!
Wow. Thank you for this post on many levels. I love Lidia’s advice–it gives me a lot of courage. Zoe’s piece about you is equally awesome and also speaks to your own courage. People are spread out all over the place, but I know I live among Amazon women (and fantastic men who I can’t pithily describe right now) and I love to be reminded of that.
Just read your letter from “Letters in the mail.” My fav subscription. You have a great voice and I look forward to reading more. Great questions and my favorite Dylan song is Forever Young. My dog is named after him. Cheryl Strayed rocks. So do you and Lucinda Williams is my go-to singer.