If there’s one thing I love, it’s writers supporting other writers. The wonderful poet, Anne Champion, has tagged me to participate in The Next Big Thing Interview series. I cannot wait to read her debut book of poems, Reluctant Mistress, which is due to be released by Gold Wake Press next month.
Here are the answers to the Next Big Thing ”self-interview.” I’m supposed to post it tomorrow, January 23rd . . .but I have to leave for the airport at 4.30 a.m., so I’m doing the deed a few hours early. Shhh . . .don’t tell anyone!
Thank you for including me, Anne!
What is the title of the book?
My book, released last fall by the fabulous Press 53, is called Blood Sisters of the Republic.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Because it is a first book of poems, Blood Sisters covers a lot of territory—everything from the birth of my daughters, the oldest of whom is now 12, to the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2010. The sisters are many – actual sisters, imagined ancestral sisters, sisters in arms. Plus, there are recipes.
What genre does your book fall under?
Blood Sisters is a book of poems, mostly lyric with a dash of narrative.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Oh that it were true that Hollywood-types were pounding down poets’ doors . . . In the realm of that perfectly lovely fantasy, I’d say the range of characters fall somewhere between Sally Field (think Norma Rae) and Katharine Hepburn (think Adam’s Rib). Well then, there is Sissy Spacek playing Loretta Lynn.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
“If the wrangling urge of a bean seed in dark earth to split and lunge up-stem and delve down-root at once, they would be these incantations Willis has offered home-grown, tart as a wild blackberry, nutritious as wheat.” Ok, I stole that sentence from my friend Kim Stafford. But, he is really smart, and I like it.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
It took me a life time plus about five years of hard labor to get the book into its current form. It went through about 15 titles before I landed on Blood Sisters.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I am the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter of the eldest of seven daughters. I grew up in the nimbus of all those venerable women and their opinions and their love. It is a debt of gratitude that I am still repaying. I think this book seeks both to reach back to those ancestors and to lean forward toward my daughters and their descendants.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Did I mention there were recipes? And pictures. And an explanation of the Pythagorean theorem. And the cover is a gorgeous thing, by the spectacular photographer, Patty Maher.
Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?
My book was published by the incomparable Press 53, a small press dedicated to poetry and short fiction.
My tagged writers for next Wednesday are:
I can’t wait to hear what they have to say!
