Q1. Why do you write?
Answer: I write because I am "dead-alive" if I don't. I write to understand the nature of existence. If I was trying to do the addition on the paths I've taken, the sum is this: It's the search that gives meaning to my life. I don't have any answers and think the epitaph on my tombstone should be, I'm confused.
Q2. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Answer: The blank page. Invention is the name of the game and that means that risk rules—and so does failure. No one ever invented anything because they knew how to do it. We invent in search of how to do it. So when the work is coming, it comes from a place that doesn't feel safe, an conventional place. Another way to say this: The exchange I have with the page is a uniquely different kind of exchange than a social exchange.
Q3. What book do you wish you could have written?
Answer: The one I haven't written yet. For an idea of books I adore, you can explore the books I've read and listed on Goodreads, but even that list doesn't cover everything I've devoured. Books are like food for me. I can't live without literature and that includes poetry, prose that includes fiction and memoir and everything I can get my hands on.
Q4. What is your favorite quote?
Answer: "The only book that is worth writing is the one we don't have the courage or strength to write. The book that hurts us (we who are writing), that makes us tremble, redden, bleed. It is combat against ourselves, the author; one of us must be vanquished or die." Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing by Hélène Cixous, p. 32.
Q5. How did you discover Wattpad?
Answer: I answer this question in greater length on my website in the entry "Why I am on Wattpad" (See external link in comment box below). The short answer is that my best friend in the world read an article by David Streitfeld in the Business Section of the New York Times and told me that my memoir (Re)Making Love was a perfect fit. So I joined, posted a few chapters and fell in love with Wattpad.
Q6: What advice would you give to anyone who joins Wattpad?
Answer: Read, comment and vote. Don't think of Wattpad as a zero sum game where if one person gains another loses. The gift here is that your writing and reading life gets richer through giving. Think of your gifts (reads, meaning all-the-way-through reads instead of quick drop-ins, your votes, your comments that show a close read) like a well fed by a continuing underground stream. That stream is fed by what you give, not by what you hold back.
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Bonus question added. This option was offered to everyone.
#5Qi - July 27th, 2015
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5Qi
Non-FictionSee the Incredible line-up. See the 5 Questions, their 5 Answers and their 5 High5s. Add #5Qi to your reading list and learn more about your favorite authors.
