Linda Rodriquez has always wanted to be a writer. As for so many of us, life doesn't always give us what we want. At least not right away. Luckily for mystery and poetry readers, Linda has found her voice and created a successful writing life. You can hear Linda read at the Thomas Zvi Wilson Reading Series, co-sponsored by Johnson County Library and The Writers Place.
Thursday, July 21
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Oak Park Library
In anticipation of her reading, we asked Linda to share some thoughts on writing. We hope you'll find her as engaging as we do!
Poetry and mystery seem like an unusual combination. Which were you writing first? Or have you always dabbled in both poetry and prose?
I have always written both since I was a child. I didn’t think of myself as a poet for a long time, though. I always wanted to be a novelist. Then, during a long period when I raised a family, went to grad school, and worked more than full-time demanding jobs (including running the UMKC Women’s Center for years), the chunks of time needed for the novel disappeared, and my writing energy all went into my poetry. I had a lot published when my friend and mentor, Robert Stewart of New Letters, told me I needed to stop saying I wasn’t really a poet. I haven’t always written mysteries, although I’d always read them. I’m an omnivorous reader and read all kinds of books, however.
In a June 9, 2014 blog post titled The Writing Process, you say "good writing is rewriting." How do you approach revising your work? Do you revise as you are writing, do you wait until the first draft is complete, or some combination?
Major revisions wait until my first draft is complete, but I usually warm up to each day’s work by going over the work of the past several days and doing some quick revising, usually expanding on the emotional aspects or adding more sensory detail, things like that. Major revisions wait for the draft to be finished because only then can I see it as a whole and know what needs to be done. I will change whole aspects of the narrative, combine or delete characters, combine or add subplots, condense or combine scenes, do all of this major structural revision, and only then will I look at line-by-line, stylistic edits.
How many manuscripts are in your desk drawer gathering dust?
I have a couple of early novels that will never see the light of day rolling around somewhere. If I find them, they’ll go to the shredder. I also have a few unfinished novels and stories that I still hope to get to and quite a number of unfinished poems or poems that need more revision are lying around, but I periodically pull one or more out and either take it all the way to publishable or pitch it as hopeless. I’m a fairly prolific writer, so I have several manuscripts with my agent right now.
There's a Phil Collins lyric from Son of Man on the Tarzan soundtrack that says "In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn." What's the most important or surprising thing you have learned from a writing student?
That even the most seemingly untalented writer can become a good, successful published writer. I learned that when I was working on my first degree after my kids were older. There was a student whose work was so awful and pathetic that I just felt sorry for him because he was a nice guy. But he worked like a dog over the years and learned from every critique and every edit he ever received and went on to become a paid, full-time, professional reporter, a really good one, for a major national newspaper. The lesson I learned and that I still teach my students is that, if you want to do it badly enough and you don’t get discouraged and give up but keep working hard to improve, you will make it.
My favorite thing from your website is "The narrative impulse dies hard. " No question here, just a comment. :-)
I think humans are the storytelling animals. That’s how we make sense of life and ourselves.
I enjoyed discovering your blog, especially Books of Interest by Writers of Color. Why are diverse books so important to you? How did you evolve into a champion for books with diverse characters, authors, or topics?
That blog series came about after traveling to give readings with the Latino Writers Collective. Everywhere we went, we would be asked by teachers and librarians for books by Latino authors other than just the few famous ones like Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros they already knew about. In my own travels later to promote my books, which have a Cherokee protagonist, I received similar requests for Native authors and other authors of color. So I began the series on my blog. In fact, I have a whole new set of posts of authors and books that I had wanted to do to showcase the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, but I’ve been interrupted by health problems. I hope to get back to it soon and have a month or more of posts on "Books of Interest by Writers of Color."
I think it’s important to read diverse books because that process broadens our horizons and our perspective on the world. It’s important to step out of your comfort zone and learn about other people and other cultures. Most writers of color are published by university presses or small literary presses and get little or no notice or reviews. So many fine writers are published without most people ever being aware of their work. Anything I can do to boost awareness and knowledge of that excellent work is something I believe in doing.
Who inspires you?
My dear friend, Sandra Cisneros, inspires me by modeling a way of life. Sandra is not only a fabulous author but an activist and a generous mentor to other writers, as well as being a remarkable friend. She invested much of her MacArthur “genius” grant in founding the Macondo Community for writers.
Another dear friend also inspires me, Luis J. Rodriguez. He is also a famous, award-winning author and a hard-working community activist, laboring in gang prevention and recovery through the arts and in community revitalization and development. All the money he makes goes into his Tia Chucha Bookstore and Community Center, which has worked so hard to bring literature and the arts to East LA.
Who are your favorite authors?
I have tons of favorites.
Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Anthony Trollope, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Linda Hogan, Deborah Miranda, Sandra Cisneros, Juan Felipe Herrera, Luis J. Rodriguez, Luci Tapahonso, Diane Glancy, Gerald Vizenor, Richard Blanco, Marjorie Agosín, Simon Ortiz, Mary Oliver, Muriel Ruykeyser, Denise Levertov, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Marilyn Nelson, Claudia Rankine, Cornelius Eady, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Hilary Masters, Kent Haruf, Jane Smiley, C.J. Cherryh, George R.R. Martin, Kate Elliott, N.K. Jemisin, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Margaret Maron, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Deborah Crombie, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Louise Penny, Paul Doiron, and many, many more.
Like my reading, that list covers the waterfront in terms of genre—poetry, literary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and mystery. I think we’re living in an time of abundance for readers—when there are so many different, talented writers working. We are fortunate.
What do you find most challenging about your writing practice?
My congenital inability to follow a pattern or instructions, even my own. I wish I could be one of those people who outlines a whole book, scene by scene, and follows it. I can do the outline and have, but I’m never able to follow it because I start to change so much as I write. I think the changes make the book better, but the process becomes more challenging for me.
What is most rewarding?
When I discover something new and wonderfully complicated about my characters or narrative. There is nothing so satisfying as writing a scene and discovering things you’d never have consciously thought of for your characters as you write along. It’s part of the magic of writing fiction—or at least, novels. I seldom encounter that kind of great discovery in writing short stories. I write fewer of them and have them more clearly thought-out before I begin.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on several projects now—the next Skeet Bannion novel, a book of poetry about fighting cancers in the physical body and the body politic, and a big, ambitious novel that my agent’s excited about but that I must keep secret for the moment.
What are some of your favorite resources?
The Writers Place is a wonderful resource available to all Kansas Citians interested in writing or literature. I think a lot of people don’t realize how fortunate we are to have it here. Most cities don’t have anything like it.
ArtsKC Regional Arts Council. Again, many don’t realize what a blessing it is that we have this organization in our city. It encourages and supports individual artists of all kinds and arts organizations, making so many wonderful opportunities available to those of us who live here and fertilizing the cultural scene in the city.
One that I recommend to all my writing students and writer friends is a website called Writer Beware. Supported by the Science Fiction Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America, Writer Beware researches and publicizes all those scammer publishers, agents, publicists, editors, etc., who prey on writers. Without this website, many more would be tragically cheated of large amounts of hard-earned money than are currently.
Where are some of your favorite places in Kansas City?
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Loose Park, a spot buried deep in Swope Park where I go to watch herons and center myself (that I selfishly won’t give any directions to, so that I can keep it pristine and mostly untouched), Jack Stack Barbecue in the old freight house, Mattie Rhodes Art Gallery, Guadalupe Center, lots of restaurants (I include three or four Kansas City restaurants in each Skeet Bannion book—it’s another area where we in Kansas City are blessed), Rainy Day Books and Mysteryscape (which we are, sadly, losing!). These are just a few. Kansas City is rich with beautiful neighborhoods and lots of wonderful cultural institutions.
Why do you love the library?
I have loved the library since I was a child when it represented a haven of peace and beauty in a childhood plagued by ugly events and violence. I used to think of heaven as being a huge library where I could curl up in a comfortable chair and read through all eternity.
I still love libraries—the smell, the sense of peace, the millions of books surrounding me, the idea of a space dedicated to thought and learning, the programs (the first real live author I ever saw was at a library.) I can’t just run in and out of a library. I have to go and browse and stay to read and enjoy.
What questions do you wish readers would ask you?
I’ve honestly been asked so many questions by readers through the years that I can’t think of one specific question I’d want to hear—although “Where can I buy your new book?” always makes me happy.
Where do you prefer readers buy your books?
I do prefer people buy my books from Mysteryscape (which is, sadly, closing July 25) or Rainy Day or any indie bookstore in their vicinity, but they're all also available online at Amazon, B&N, and all the usual suspects.
I'm good with bookstore sales, online sales, library checkouts, but I hate piracy, which became a huge problem for me with this last book. I have friends who were dropped by their publishers after a lot of piracy because of low sales. If people want us to keep writing the books they love and can't afford to buy them, I wish they'd use their libraries instead of going to the pirate sites.
Thanks for sharing, Linda! We'll see you on July 21!