Anthology Author: Julene Tripp Weaver

Julene Tripp Weaver

Julene Tripp Weaver lives in Seattle where she has a counselling practice. Her first full-size poetry book, No Father Can Save Her, was published this year by Plain View Press. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from the City University of New York and a Masters in Counseling. Her first chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues, has a selection of her poems written during her 18 years working in HIV services. She is widely published in journals and anthologies. She does wordplay on Twitter @trippweavepoet and has a website where you can read more of her writing.


What motivated you to start writing?

As a young teen I wanted to write poetry. Now I understand my desire to write was from my grief. My father had a long slow illness, and he died from Hodgkin’s cancer when I was almost 12. Left with an unstable mother, who I never related to, I had to make sense of the world. Writing was a way to save myself.

My books have to do with the aftermath of grief, one personal, the other from a major epidemic that has transformed our world. In both I sought a way to understand, to come to peace, to leave a legacy.

My poetry book, No Father Can Save Her (Plain View Press, 2011) is biographical, mostly narrative poems about coming of age after my father’s death. This book has been in process since I started writing. In this biographical poetry book, I’ve explored issues of sexuality through the time of the sexual revolution.

My first chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues (Finishing Line Press, 2007) is dedicated to all who have died from AIDS and all who continue to survive. In this book from my work in an urban AIDS Service Organization I’ve documented lives of the bereft with elegies and used the writing as a way to address the secondary trauma one experiences doing social work.

I wasn’t exposed to poetry as a child, but I believed I could write. At 15 I signed up for an evening poetry class at a local college. My uncle had to drive me, and he did not approve. I went prepared with a poem, but I was young and intimidated by a room full of poets; I never went back. Perhaps if my uncle had been supportive, or if I weren't so dependent on him to commute, I might have continued. But the timing wasn’t right.

Most of my early writing was in journals. Later in my teens my uncle read my diary, a violation that stopped me from writing for years. It took me till I was in my mid-20s living in NYC to start writing again. I joined a poetry critique group, volunteered at a writing program, and joined the Feminist Writers Guild. This involvement inspired me to go back to school for my undergraduate in Creative Writing at the City University of New York. My main school was Hunter College, which I picked because Audre Lorde taught there, and I could take a course at Brooklyn College with Joan Larkin.

What is the primary source of inspiration for you?

Wait a Minute, I Have
to Take Off My Bra

·         Reading other poets and hearing them read their own work.
·         Internal emotions stirring inside me.
·         A yearning to understand more about a situation or my past or my present state.
·         A deep desire to honor the dead. My poem in the anthology, Wait a Minute, I Have to TakeOff My Bra, is to honor Negesti, a poet who was a warm and welcoming person. She supported and encouraged many writers.
·         A desire to make a difference in the world.
·         A desire to leave a legacy for myself and others.

Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you follow a writing schedule?

I write in my journal. I do not keep a regular schedule.

Writing waxes and wanes; I’ve gone through long periods where I’ve not focused on writing and long periods where I’ve been obsessed to write. Now that I’ve had the good fortune to have two books accepted and published, I’ve discovered when I’m promoting a book it is difficult to focus on writing.

I’ve learned to respect the energy flow, learned to make room for writing when it comes. To write requires living in a space that accepts and honors imperfection. Much like dreams where if you acknowledge what comes more will unfold. It is important to welcome the words when they arrive, because that will evoke more words. Since it is impossible to get what is in our minds onto the page, because our minds travel so much faster, we must take what comes and then work to improve it.

Please describe your process.

I love William Stafford’s writing about writing. In one book he describes his process: waking early, lying on the couch, and in that semi awake space he picks a string from the air and follows it. I start writing this way. Follow what is in front of me to where it leads. Or start internally and bring it out like a tread on a needle. Reading books about the writing process is inspiring: books by William Stafford, Richard Hugo, Charles Simic, Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird. Years ago I read Peter Elbow and Natalie Goldberg’s books.

I’ve worked with movement and writing through Continuum Movement, one of the early bodywork practices. Emilie Conrad, the founder, runs a writing and movement group with writer Rebecca Mark; it was called Poetry in Motion for years, now it’s called Writing the Waves. My first Continuum Movement intensive was in 1988; in 1996 I experienced my first Poetry in Motion. It was there the first seed of my first book, Case Walking, started. This work creates a cauldron of writing energy.

Soon after this workshop I started running classes I called Muse to Write. A Tombow brush stroke marker is used, it has a near brush stroke at its point. As our writing comes through our nervous system every mark on a page carries our imprint. This work is hand-to-page exploration that allows art to evolve from basic marks into images into words from our very cells. It is ancient.

Group writing is amazing, it is a way to witness and be witnessed, a place to hear your words read out loud, expressed from different angles and different places in the body. When we read back, we sound not only the words but the marks and lines on the page.

I’ve come to learn the work I’ve taught falls into the realm of Transformative Language Arts, a course of study developed by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg at Goddard College. It brings writing to people who may never go the route of the professional writer but who do it for purposes such as healing or self-knowledge. There are many reasons people write.

I’ve taken many classes. In Seattle we have the Richard Hugo House, a rich resource for writers. Teachers like Deborah Woodard or Elizabeth Austen provide assignments to read writers and write. With Deborah I’ve worked with the writings of Gertrude Stein, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson. Elizabeth Austen did a three-year monthly series where we read and responded to a new book each month. I also did Elizabeth’s revision class and a title class.

Getting words to the page is a first step. If you want to publish then revising is important to capture and keep the reader’s attention. We must make our words sing, so I’ve sought out writers to form peer critique groups. Doing a combination of classes, readings, attending poetry events, fostering continual improvement is my process.

What have you done to promote yourself as a writer?

As a writer it is important to learn the business of writing. This includes sending your work out to journals and anthologies, starting a mailing list to develop a following, crafting groups of poems into manuscripts.

A list of internet resources I’ve joined:

·         Women’s Poetry Listserv: WOMPO
·         Facebook: Julene Tripp Weaver (Link: www.facebook.com/jtweaver)
·         Twitter: @trippweavepoet
·         Poetry Speaks, where one of my poems is available on MP3
·         Goodreads author page
·         Website: www.julenetrippweaver.com
·         Listed on Poets and Writers
·         She Writes webpage
·         Wiki listing through Wompo to advertise availability for readings
·         Blog Talk Radio (have done an interview/reading for each book)
·         Featured on a variety of blogs

I post notices on Facebook and Twitter when I am published. Attend and read at open mikes, schedule feature readings. Network with local poets. Make MP3s of my poems using music and sound effects.

What's left to do?

·         Continue writing.

·         Develop new obsessions to feed my writing.
·         Form my next book.
·         Expand into new forms.
·         Develop my fiction writing.
·         Do a broader public reading circuit.

When did you discover your unique voice? How long did the process take?

Voice changes through time—it is a growth process. My voice as a teen trying to write was small. I became an outraged voice for feminism in my 20s. I became a confessional-exposing-secrets voice, which is in my book No Father Can Save Her. I’ve been a voice for the oppressed and for those who suffer, as in my book Case Walking. The voices brew and churn and circulate. I wait and watch and listen to what voice comes. We change. I don’t believe we have one voice; I believe we have many.

What do you consider your greatest achievement as a writer?

·         Having two books chosen and published by editors who believed in my writing.
·         Having great cover art on both of my books. Case Walking has a photo that I found in NYC at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. In No Father Can Save Her the artwork is a perfect match for the poems, and there is a photo of my Dad and me inside the cover.
·         Having a circle of friends who love my work. The new famous is having 15 fans, and I easily have 15 wonderful fans.
·         Having a poem from Case Walking featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writers Almanac and having it published in his newest Good Poems American Places volume.

What's the most recent book you read?

Jeremy Halinen’s book of poetry released this year, What Other Choice, and Judy Allen’s first novel, also released this year, Looking Through Water.

Who are the writers you admire most?

There are so many. Some of my strongest inspiration came from poets I read when I was deeply immersed in the feminist movement in New York City in the 1980s: June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Judy Grahn, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Pat Parker, Lucille Clifton, Joan Larkin, Sharon Olds, Faye Kicknosway, and Wanda Coleman.

It’s hard to name people because someone is always left out, but others include: Eileen Miles, Jan Beatty, Penelope Scambly Schott, Lana Hechtman Ayers, Patricia Smith, Camille T. Dungy, Elizabeth Austen, Pat Fargnoli, Belle Waring, Dorianne Laux, Eloise Klein Healy, Deborah Woodard, Tory Dent, Tim Seibles, Afaa Michael Weaver, Reginald Shephard, Major Jackson, Brooks Haxton, Tom Gunn, Philip Levine, Jericho Brown, Terrance Hayes, Mark Strand, Michael Ryan, William Stafford, Russell Edison, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, and her husband Taylor Mali.

As for fiction my favorite writer is Tom Spanbauer; I’ve immersed in his Dangerous Writers groups. I’m a huge fan of Kate Braverman, Raymond Carver, Mary Robison, and Ellen Douglas.

I also have been reading the series “The Art of…” on the craft of writing published by Graywolf Press.

What's your best piece of advice for novice writers?

Go to the page, become fluid. Then edit, edit, edit. Find writers you trust to give you honest feedback. Find writers who are supportive to work with. Work your poems or stories till they are honed. Read them out loud! Record them to hear yourself read them. Try reading them in different voice tones, edit as you read, see what your rhythm is. Immerse yourself in the poetry world. Meet other poets, be a sharing, collaborative connector.

No Father Can Save Her

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Please visit my website; under the Links dropdown you’ll see a page “Julene’s Poems” with links to my online published poetry.

My two books are available on Amazon. I’d love to hear from you, and I have review copies available for No Father Can Save Her.

InkSpotter Publishing releases new breast-themed anthology

Robert R. Sanders adds his photo-
graphic vision to the breast anthology

InkSpotter Publishing is proud to announce to release of its latest anthology, Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.

Our anthology celebrates the most female of body parts, the breasts, and features a stunning photographic cover by Robert R. Sanders. From light-hearted memories of the first buds of puberty to heart wrenching accounts of breast cancer, these stories and poems run the gamut of experiences and emotions.

Currently available through CreateSpace and Amazon Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra will soon be available to multiple brick ’n mortar and online stores.

A portion of all profits will be donated to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada.

Anthology Author: Christina Pacosz

Christina Pacosz

Christina Pacosz was born and raised in Detroit by working-class Polish-American parents. Her poetry/writing has appeared in literary magazines and online journals for almost half a century. A poet-in-the-schools and a North Carolina Visiting Artist, she has published several books of poetry, including Greatest Hits, 1975-2001 (Pudding House, 2002), a by-invitation-only series. Her chapbook, Notes from the Red Zone, originally published by Seal Press in 1983, was selected as the inaugural winner of the ReBound Series by Seven Kitchens Press in 2009. Seven Kitchens will feature her chapbook How to Measure the Darkness as the initial offering in their Summer 2012 Series. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Her poem "For a Small Girl Staring" appears in InkSpotter Publishing's upcoming breast-themed anthology Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.

IS: What motivated you to start writing?

CP: My mother wrote down my stories [when I was] a child and my father told me stories, so I was impressed with the power of words early on. My mother wrote letters to the editor protesting nuclear war, so that was another influence about speaking up in writing for a cause.

IS: What is the primary source of inspiration for you?

CP: My intersection as a human with the natural world, especially as it is destroyed and diminished.

“Learning to love the sewer stench” is how I put it in a poem.

IS: Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you follow a writing schedule?

CP: When I was writing several books of prose -– only published in bits and pieces -- I kept a schedule. I write in a journal almost daily. All work begins in that fermented compost. I am reluctant to enter into any lengthy prose effort unless I am certain of publication. I can't know when something might work into a poem, so I approach journaling with a sense of wonder as often as possible.

IS: Please describe your process.

CP: The journal first and then, depending on if anything is ripe or ready for the next step, I begin a series of rough drafts, initially in the journal then eventually into the computer. Sometimes work begins in a dream but my health has impacted REM sleep, to my sorrow.

IS: What have you done to promote yourself as a writer?

CP: Just about everything possible over the decades –- readings, conferences, interviews on TV, radio, and in print. News articles featuring me and my efforts, particularly when I was working as a North Carolina Visiting Artist and in South Carolina as a poet-in-the-schools. But I have always known that good press is important. Unfortunately, I wanted to be a journalist at a time when women only covered the society page.

I send out promos now to an e-mail list and to my Facebook friends. I will turn 65 in mid-October. I have been writing almost 60 years. When my chapbook Notes from the Red Zone (originally published by Seal Press in 1983 as a part of their anti-nuclear series) was selected by Ron Mohring of Seven Kitchens Press as the inaugural winner of the Rebound Award in 2008 and published in 2009, it received scant reviews. That's always been a problem for my writing. I haven't ever really had any mentors in high places. Or they've only been there briefly.

My journals and all my published works are available at the University of Michigan, Bentley Collection in Ann Arbor, Michigan and online.

IS: What's left to do?

CP: "Die" immediately came to mind as I read this question, though I don't have any plans, but I have been told I am the kind of poet for the ages discovered and appreciated more after I die. (Smile.) I have unpublished work, poetry and prose, I would really like to see in print. There is a Polish greeting for a birthday celebrant, Sto lat, a wish for him or her to live to be a hundred. That's certainly a goal.

IS: When did you discover your unique voice? How long did the process take?

CP: My voice was there early on, already evident in high school. I won National Scholastic honorable mentions for my poetry and I was feature editor of my high school paper as well. I graduated in 1964 from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. I had a public education impossible to attain now. I went silent running while getting my BS degree, though.

IS: What do you consider your greatest achievement as a writer?

CP: Somehow I have managed to keep my poetry in particular out there in the public eye against all the odds.

And my work as a writer will be there for researchers if there are any when I am gone.

IS: What's the most recent book you read?

CP: Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture.

IS: Who are the writers you admire most?

CP: Edwidge Danticat, Stephen Vincent Benet, W.B. Yeats, Margaret Atwood (I studied with her two summers in the early 80s at Centrum in Washington state), Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer, Wislawa Szymborska, Blaga Dimitrova, May Sarton, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Riche, Marge Piercy, and several others over the decades.

Sophocles is at the top of any list of my favorite writers. On certain days I maintain that no other books needed writing after Antigone, but then I calm down.

IS: What's your best piece of advice for novice writers?

CP: Spend your time wisely. Read omnivorously. Avoid MFA programs. Don't expect everything to land in your lap at once. Be prepared when it doesn't to earn your living in other ways. Don't fall into the trap of drinking too much. Your muse doesn't need it.

IS: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

CP: The old adage: When there's time, there's no money, when there's money, there's no time, a poet's lament.

And Yeats' statement: In dreams begin responsibility.

Anthology Author: Ann Cefola

Ann Cefola

Ann Cefola is today's featured writer from InkSpotter Publishing's upcoming anthology Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.

She is the author of St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped (Kattywompus Press), Sugaring (Dancing Girl Press) and the translation Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions). A 2007 Witter Bynner Poetry Translation Residency recipient, she also received the 2001 Robert Penn Warren Award judged by John Ashbery. Ann lives with her husband Michael in the New York suburbs. 


IS: What motivated you to start writing?
AC: I can’t recall—writing began early. My second-grade teacher sent a note home to my parents, saying, “Your daughter speaks in poetry.” I’d been writing well before then, inventing stories and drawing pictures.

Sugaring

IS: What is the primary source of inspiration for you?
AC: I don’t have one source; instead, certain subjects appeal to me depending on what’s happening in my life. When I began visiting Vermont years ago, that landscape worked its subtle green influence on me and culminated in my first poetry chapbook, Sugaring.

IS: Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you follow a writing schedule?
AC: Both! I hear rumblings of a poem and write them down. It’s like a sculptor seeing a block of marble and intuiting that a beautiful shape waits inside. What also helps is having a deadline: for years, I have set a date to review new poems with dear friends and award-winning poets Linda Simone and Terry Dugan.

IS: Please describe your process.
AC: I write in journals, identify intriguing themes and maybe scribble more on them. When a certain shape or integrity seems evident, the poems go into the computer. From there, I edit and then show them to my poet friends.

St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped

IS: What have you done to promote yourself as a writer?
AC: I write my monthly e-newsletter, annogram, which goes to 200+ poets, writers, editors, artists and architects worldwide. Then I publish it on my blog. I am updating my poetry website and have created an extensive literary community on LinkedIn. To promote my new chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped, I am doing interviews, arranging reviews and having a book launch party.


IS: What's left to do?
AC: Probably to book some readings in New York City—which I will be able to do thanks to poets Jackie Sheeler and Cindy Hochman, who both host popular reading series.

IS: When did you discover your unique voice? How long did the process take?
AC: I don’t know if I have one. When people hear my work, they always comment on my “range.” I write in many styles—from compact lyric narrative to expansive long lines, not to mention experimental poetry translated from French.

IS: What do you consider your greatest achievement as a writer?
AC: Recently I wrote a small poem that brought together two divergent subjects in a way that deepened the resonance and meaning of each—for me, it was a moment of realizing, on a deeper level, how poetry works.

IS: What's the most recent book you read?
AC: Now in November, a 1934 Pulitzer Prize winner, by Josephine Johnson. If you want to know what would have happened to the Joads if they’d stayed home, this is the book to read! The consistently lyrical language provides a startling contrast to the harrowing storyline.

IS: Who are the writers you admire most?
AC: I love inventive or outrageous poets, like John Ashbery, John Berryman, CD Wright and the French poet I translate, Hélène Sanguinetti. Along these same lines, my favorite book is James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which combines journalism, memoir and poetry as well as Walker Evans’ renowned photos. In novels, I prefer dense lyric narrative that sounds like poetry—such as Tinkers by Paul Harding or The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.

IS: What's your best piece of advice for novice writers?
AC: Twenty years ago, Stephen Dunn told me, “The secrets of any art do not reveal themselves until you live with them.” This means you have to jump in and write: commit to writing the way doctors commit to medicine, deacons commit to priesthood, pilots commit to flying. However, unlike those vocations, it’s a calling without a map—equally terrifying and freeing. As Terry Dugan likes to quote, “You make the path by walking.”

IS: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
AC: I appreciate the opportunity to spend some time with your blog audience. Anyone who would like to receive my free poetry e-newsletter can let me know by e-mailing ann@anncefola.com. Thank you, Betty!

Anthology Author: Amy Thompson

Amy Thompson taught English and writing before becoming a freelance writer. Her poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published in many journals and magazines, and she is one of writers contributing to InkSpotter Publishing's upcoming anthology Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra. She currently resides in South Dakota with her family and owns Prairie Fire Gallery and Studio, her own art gallery.

IS: What motivated you to start writing?

AT: At a very early age I knew pain. I knew what it was like to not have a voice, to hold everything inside. So, when I was about 11, when I discovered I could write what I couldn’t say, it was a release of this monstrous power that I never knew I had. Writing has always been confessional for me.

IS: What is the primary source of inspiration for you?

AT: My life experiences, whether my own living or what I have seen others experience, have been my choice of content. Whenever I have tried to write about something I do not know or have not felt, it’s always been a disaster.

IS: Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you follow a writing schedule?

AT: I was taught that you need to set a daily schedule and write no matter what you write about. I’ve tried that—it’s miserable for me. I’ve now chosen to write when I feel like writing—when a feeling or scene hits me. I no longer push myself. I can sit on a poem for years before I go back to it for revision. That lack of process or schedule doesn’t bother me anymore.

IS: Please describe your process.

AT: I’m a big believer in freewriting, even when writing poetry. My process of writing begins by writing it all out of my head. I then “cut my darlings.” That’s it. I’m not one for processes anymore.

IS: What have you done to promote yourself as a writer?

AT: My main promotion as a writer is entering individual works into a few contests and publications. It hasn’t been until recently that I have put together two manuscripts, Twisted Apples and Giving Up My Ghosts: The Women I Carry. I am just now entering into the world of book publishing. It is a whole new world of publication that I need to get used to.

IS: What's left to do?

AT: In my life, I have much to do. I’m relatively young. I have a young family. I have a lot left to tell the world about the world.

IS: When did you discover your unique voice? How long did the process take?

AT: I was about 11 when I discovered writing in general, but I’d say it was in high school that I discovered what I later learned was confessional poetry. It wasn’t a process—I just wrote that way. I didn’t want to write about anyone else, about a tree—I wanted to write my life—so I did.

IS: What do you consider your greatest achievement as a writer?

AT: This is a tough one. I have this narcissistic dream of having a book published. It hasn’t happened. That would be my greatest achievement. But, right now it’s every time I am published. I get as excited as the first.

IS: What's the most recent book you read?

AT: I just went back and reread Ariel (Sylvia Plath). It was fun to read the notes I had made in the margins.

IS: Who are the writers you admire most?

AT: The Confessional poets; most certainly Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Elizabeth Bishop.

IS: What's your best piece of advice for novice writers?

AT: Don’t take rejection and criticism as devastation. Take each person’s opinion/advice with a grain of salt. What one person likes, another won’t. When I first started letting others read my work, I took every criticism to heart, I doubted myself, my writing; thought I should give up. But with each criticism, my skin grew thicker, I honed my voice, my eye and soon I was picking up on my own mistakes and could call bullshit on some comments from others. Confidence, ego, patience, vulnerability, craziness, sense of humour and narcissism are what you need. Writing, I believe, is one of the hardest gigs. Sometimes I don’t know why we do it!

Anthology Author: J.M. Cornwell

The spotlight continues to shine on contributors to InkSpotter Publishing's upcoming anthology Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.

Next up is J. M. Cornwell, who began writing at the age of eight while living in Panama. Under the influence of Homer and Edgar Rice Burroughs, she wrote her first book about a girl who, while lost in the jungles of Central America, finds an ancient civilization. Since then, Ms. Cornwell has written articles and won awards, raised a family, divorced and moved around the country with the Air Force and on her own, always coming back to her first love—writing.

In the shadow of Pikes Peak, she spins stories about relationships and secrets. Stories have been included in several anthologies, including A Cup of Comfort and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She also writes book reviews for Authorlink, has ghost written eight nonfiction books, and her debut novel, Past Imperfect, was published by L&L Dreamspell in 2009. Among Women is her second novel, the first of two connected stories that take place in New Orleans (view the video book trailer at the end of the interview).


IS: What motivated you to start writing?

JMC: I began writing at the age of eight after reading Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Greek mythology. I wanted to create my own stories.

IS: What is the primary source of inspiration for you?

JMC: Life. Everything that happens, everything I read, everything I hear starts a spark that eventually grows into a story. Good things, bad things, anything inspires me.

IS: Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you follow a writing schedule?

JMC: I do both. I write when the muse strikes, as long as I'm not working my day job, and I follow a schedule that begins around 4 a.m. every day. I find that I am more productive and creative first thing in the morning, which is a turnaround from when I was younger and nighttime was the best time to write, usually after I had my homework done, bath taken, and was getting ready for bed.

IS: Please describe your process.

JMC: I don't have a specific process, other than getting an idea, taking notes, and letting the story germinate. Sometimes an idea will strike hot and I sit down and write it immediately. Other times, a story has to germinate for a while until all the characters, motives, themes and plot settle. That's when I write. I go with the flow—whatever the flow happens to be on a given day.

IS: What have you done to promote yourself as a writer?

JMC: I've done interviews, written articles, blogs and stories, do a little social networking (I'm pretty inept at that since I spend most of my time working, reading and writing) and talk about and teach other writers about the process. This interview is one of those promotion techniques.

IS: What's left to do?

JMC: Keep writing. The one thing about writing is that there is no age limit and even physical limits can be modified or overcome to continue writing. I'll keep writing stories, articles and books until I take my last breath. It would be nice, however, to get a few books on the bestsellers lists or at least be circulated around a few thousand book clubs.

IS: When did you discover your unique voice? How long did the process take?

JMC: From my journals. I've been keeping paper journals for years and writing a lot of nonfiction. Fiction eluded me. The dialogue was wooden, the characters not yet three-dimensional, and I tended to overwrite. Then a writing colleague told me I should write the way I wrote in my journals. I thought he was crazy and then I tried it. I'd have to say that I was born with my unique voice and didn't realize I didn't have to have a separate voice for nonfiction and fiction, and the best way to write a story is just to get out of the characters' ways. The process is ongoing. Writing more refines my voice.

IS: What do you consider your greatest achievement as a writer?

JMC: Every book, every story placed in an anthology is the greatest achievement. The best achievement of all will be when I can fully support myself as a writer. I'm still waiting on that one.

IS: What's the most recent book you read?

JMC: The Traitor's Emblem by Juan Gómez-Jurado.

IS: Who are the writers you admire most?

JMC: I have a lot of old favorites: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Algis Budrys, Julian May. Most of those writers taught me how to write and what I wanted to achieve. I also have a few new favorites: Jasper Fforde, Salman Rushdie, Brian Keene, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, Douglas Kennedy, Laura Ann Gilman, Maynard & Sims, David Baldacci, to name a few. I enjoy Dan Brown's stories, but his books are not well written. Still, he is a great storyteller despite his technical and grammatical flaws. I'm always discovering new writers and the list continues to grow.

IS: What's your best piece of advice for novice writers?

JMC: Read everything, not just in your favorite genre, but in every genre, nonfiction and fiction. Stretch yourself as a reader and the writing will stretch along with it. Write. Write all the time, write when you don't feel like it, write especially when you do, and don't worry about the mistakes. You can correct those when you edit and rewrite. Get the story down in a white heat and edit with a cool head. Whatever else you may think or have been told, mistakes do count.

IS: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

JMC: The best thing any writer can do is venture outside the comfort zone frequently, in reading and writing. I began writing fiction and stopped because it was hard for me. Nonfiction came as easily to me as breathing, but I didn't give up on fiction. I kept reading and found a story that wrote itself. Once the first one was done, the rest came easier and I learned to write better dialogue, plot good stories, write fully fleshed characters, and had a lot of fun doing it.

Writing is fun, but it is also work, hard work, and it is worth the effort and the time even without publication. Publication just helps me keep score and lets me know that most of the time I hit the mark and reach readers the way intended.