She’s xTx. Her writing is raw, brave, and charged. She writes works of such talent and verve no one really cares about her actual identity. We’re far more caught-up in the words, worlds, and truths she gives us. Yet I’m going to out her. I think everyone should know: In addition to her extraordinary and no-holds-barred writing, xTx is incredibly kind and heartful.
– Ethel Rohan
Writing wise, where are you now? Where are you going?
I’ve done a lot of writing this year that hasn’t shown up in public. When it finally does, I will be happy.
I am going and going. I feel that my writing now is better than my writing before. So, I hope that wherever it is I’m going, I’ll be better when I get there.
What informs your creative process? How do you keep inspired?
I get randomly inspired. Today I heard the phrase, “She’s a spaghetti girl!” It was uttered in a high-pitched voice with complete love and adoration and instantly I knew I needed to write about it. I need to find out who the spaghetti girl is.
My creative process is to get inspired by something and go with it, wherever it wants to take me.
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Tagged as:
Spotlight Series,
xTx
Blake Butler Lake Utler Ake Tler Ke Ler E Er R
– Ethel Rohan Thel Ohan Hel Han El An L N
Writing wise, where are you now? Where are you going?
I’m in this little box of Crisco where I end up every day when I eat too much which is every day. Food is bad for writing, I wish I could be a little body with no holes and just shoot the language through my stomachs and have a bunch of those. I’m not going anywhere I hope daily and overall I know I’m turning into a brass instrument.
What informs your creative process? How do you keep inspired?
Seeing dogs take shits on my front step with their owners pretending like they aren’t letting their dogs do that, and then hearing the dogs later through the walls: that all informs me pretty good. I get informed by watching other people come into the gym room where I do the run or bicycle and they come and get on their own machines and make grunt noise or sometimes talk on phone or to their half-dressed lover who came with them to work out too. I keep inspired by never being inspired by anything.
How do you feel about the label writer, really?
I think the label writer is doing a good job because I buy a lot of cereal and canned soup and I feel like pretty often I get what I asked for when I open the box, I am happy the people who write those labels are getting paid to tell me what I am going to put inside my body, that is the most important thing, I don’t know what books are.
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Tagged as:
Blake Butler,
Spotlight Series
She’s d Donna, d darling, d force, d wordwielder. Read what she did with the prompt “zebra.” Read her every word.
– Ethel Rohan
Writing wise, where are you now? Where are you going?
In an over-arching career sense, I have no idea where I’m headed. I finished a novel draft in May and have been experiencing that dry, down, despair you ask about later. In the last 2 weeks I’ve written a story (12 pages) and it feels sooooo good.
What informs your creative process? How do you keep inspired?
I’m not sure I can put a name to it. I often think (fear?) I haven’t got another story, or image, or line in me — especially after I’ve finished a longer story or a huge project like the novel. That’s when the self doubt elbows in. So far, even if it takes months (and it HAS lately), eventually a snip of conversation or an experience grabs me and pulls me back in the writing orbit.
How do you feel about the label writer, woman writer?
I am a writer; I like the label writer.
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Tagged as:
Donna. D. Vitucci,
Spotlight Series
It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Roxane Gay, both her writing and the person. She writes brave, searing stories about loss, suffering, sex, violence, self-destruction, and more. Her stories are always visceral, powerful and deeply affecting. They stay. Haunt. Her work draws us in and will not allow us to look away from the horror and the beauty.
More than her writing, more than her role as co-editor extraordinaire at PANK, more than her widely published excellent and provocative reviews and commentary, Roxane Gay is a funny, smart, kind, caring, loyal, and loving individual. In short, she epitomizes one of her favorite words: FANCY.
– Ethel Rohan
Writing wise, where are you now? Where are you going?
I have no idea where I am or where I am going which must mean I am lost. Please find me. I have a short story collection being shopped around and fortunately, I don’t have to do anything but sit and wait which is quite nice yet nerve wracking. I’m working on too many things at once but I’m pretty excited about each of the projects. My priority is my novel so of course, that’s what I’m working on the least. Still, I have the first chapter and a bit more done, and that’s something.
What informs your creative process? How do you keep inspired?
I’m always inspired just by living each day. I don’t mean that in a tragic self-help way but I’ll hear a phrase or I’ll feel something for someone or a song will move me or I’ll see something hilarious and that gets me writing and then I punch out a story and wait for inspiration to strike me again. I keep inspired by continuing to live, and lately I’ve had an unexpected source of inspiration that (who?) has fueled a lot of stories I’m working on. I find life endlessly fascinating.
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Tagged as:
Roxane Gay,
Spotlight Series
