I’ve been asked by fellow author, Nancy Agabian, to participate in a Blog Hop in order to introduce new authors to new readers. If you’ve come here from the link posted on Nancy’s blog, welcome! If you’re a regular Liquid Inker or came upon my blog by chance, this is an opportunity for you to get know something about the memoir I am working on and to check out some writers who might be new to you by following the links at the end of the post. They are all fine authors whose work I would highly recommend. Again, special thanks to Nancy Agabian for asking me to participate.
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Ten Interview Questions for The Next Great Read
Q: What is the working title of your book?
A: Ghetto Blueblood
Q: Where did the idea come from for the book?
A: I published an essay titled Baptism Party in Antique Children’s Revolt of the Underdog issue. Another contributor, Rene Vasicek, told me I should expand it to a memoir. Then another writer, Daiva Markelis, told me to expand it into a memoir. Later on, a fan of my writing, someone who’s been following my work since before I published my first story, told me I should expand it into a memoir. I finally took the advice seriously.
Q: What genre does your book fall under?
A: Non-fiction (memoir)
Q: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
A: I myself should be played by a rock star, preferably a resurrected one, maybe Kurt Cobain. My brother should be played by a young Arunas Storpirštis. The rest of the cast should be made up of Russian, Lithuanian, English and American actors currently in drama school.
Q: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A: PTSD isn’t as bad as the trauma that caused it, but you won’t know it without getting PTSD.
Q: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
A: I have no way of predicting this. Just the other day I ordered a pizza and it came to my neighbor’s house. In the meantime, a young girl came to my door asking if I’d like to subscribe to some strange local newspaper advertising pizza delivery.
Q: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
A: I have yet to complete the first draft. I actually haven’t finished a draft of the first chapter. Ha!
Q: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
A: It’s a mix of influences, so I’ll use them to answer this question, even though comparing myself to these masters is idiotic. I can’t believe I’m doing this: Paul Auster’s Hand to Mouth, A Chronicle of Early Failure. Nabokov’s Speak, Memory. Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London (He claims it’s a novel, but that’s BS). Capote’s Music for Chameleons.
Q: Who or What inspired you to write this book?
A: I was diagnosed with PTSD a short time after my daughter was born. Anyone who has the condition (or anyone close to someone with the condition) will tell you how dramatically everything changes; life becomes a 3D (truly terrifying) horror film, and one cannot tell between dream states and their alternative. I don’t want to get into the vile symptoms here. Writing through it, even gibberish, helped. I also started treating it naturally, doing yoga and practicing Zen. A completed memoir will crown my victory over PTSD, as there was a time when I had lost any ability to read and could barely write anything beyond crude e-mail messages.
Q: What else about your book might piqué the reader’s interest?
A: I have a way of telling stories about the lower-middle class and the American underclass that’s extremely rare, primarily because my perspective is international, but also because I don’t pity the poor or the destitute. I don’t pity any human experience. As a student of zen, I try to reveal what’s before me, just as it is.
Here are the writers whose work you can check out next:
