In the last post, we learned a bit about Sandy’s work, got a sense of her creative writing style and learned a bit about her. In this post, we’ll learn whether Sandy likes typewriters and black ink (among other things) in an A-Z list, and birthday prompt.
For each items in the alphabetized list below, Sandy gave a “yes” for a thumbs up and “no” for a thumbs down—and a few answers in between.
A. James Joyce’s Ulysses – Yes
B. Magical realism – Yes
C. Catchy hybrid terms like “jeggings” – Haha! I had to look that one up. I’ll give that a double Yes.
D. The Chicago Manual of Style – Yes
E. Silent films – Yes
F. Harry Potter – I’m not sure. I haven’t read them. I probably should. I’ll say Yes because it turns kids on to literature.
G. The revision process – Yes
H. Perfectionism – Yes
I. Ink wells – As metaphors? Yes. As writing tools with plumes? No. Too sloppy. Too self-aware.
J. Using any old thing you can find for paper—envelopes, receipts, etc. – Not for me, no, but for some people Yes absolutely.
K. Amazon.com – Hmm. That’s a trick question. On the one hand, absolutely No because of its effect on Main St. and our mom and pop stores. On the other hand, when you’re live in more rural areas that have no mom and pop stores, sometimes it’s the only way to get books and certain supplies. It can really save people. So, I’m going to say, No comment. If I were in a city, I’d say No. If I were in the country, I’d say Yes. I’m in Morgantown, which is somewhere in the middle.
L. Greek mythology – Yes
M. The asteroid “Pluto” – Pluto is an asteroid? (Just joking.) Asteroid or planet, its qualities rely on earthly events at the moment of discovery. Hitler. Einstein. Great Depression. Nuclear fission.
N. Blue ink – Yes Yes
O. Typewriters – Too romantic.
P. Reincarnation – Oof. Not for me. Once is enough for me.
Q. Neo-colonialism – I’m pro the Panafrican movement (AUF) and think it’s interesting linguistically that people like Palin make the country/continent mistake, and then so-called intellectuals call it such a blooper. I mean, she is a buffoon, but the Freudian slip is actually quite telling of a need to re-unify the lands divided and named only by Leopold and his contemporaries.
R. Spiral-bound journals – Yes
S. Writing directly on-screen rather than on paper – Sometimes, and lately, more often than not.
T. Movies that use radio songs instead of scores – I’ve never thought of that!
U. Black ink – No
V. The Twilight Saga – Again, I’m out of touch. I should probably watch them just to see exactly how my students writing is being polluted.
W. Writing your memoirs – Only posthumously.
X. Keeping a pen with you at all times. Yes
Y. Scrabble tournaments – Noncompetitive?
Z. Old fashioned letter writing, stamped and mailed through the U.S. post office – No. Too romantic.
Sandy Florian and I share the same birth date in June. Neither of us are septuagenarians, but the number six seems similarly pervasive in our scripts, so I surmised that it would be stellar to select six prompts that Sandy could sass in six single-word statements to satisfy the suspicions of soliloquists studying this synopsis.
Six Sixes
Six words that describe your writing style:
“Obsessive. Funny. Morose. Illuminating. Subtextual. Auditory.”
Six things you do for or to your work during the revision process:
“Read it out loud.”
Six words you love:
“Toilet. Boil. Vowel. Buzzard. Boom. Bodacious.”
Six words you avoid using in your work:
“Is. Was. Will be. Has been. Have been.”
Six themes that your work dances around, describes and interprets:
“Language. Art. Fear. Play. Love. Living.”
Six alternative occupations that you would like to try: (One of mine is demolition derby driver! Have fun with this one!)
“Bank robber. Lion-tamer. Cartographer. Holographer. Sea Captain. Spy.”
Select to see more of Sandy? Click here.
Purport to read more bodacious blog posts? Click here.
Just interested in books?
Click here to read more about Sandy’s forthcoming book, Boxing the Compass, which written in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Her other publications can be found here:
Images used in this post in order of appearance are: Athena and Poseidon by Marie-Lan Nguyen, Vintage Typewriter by Just2shutter, Scrabble by Tim Niblett, African Lion by tratong.
Copyright © 2013 Kelly Lydick