We wrapped up our September Selects series this Monday, with our final winner: Rosalind Goldsmith’s “You Body”. But we can’t say goodbye to the series just yet—not until you’ve gotten to know our last winner a bit better.
Congratulations on winning in our first September Selects series! Do you often work in the second person, or other, I guess, non-traditional perspectives?
I like to work from different perspectives, not so often in second person, but frequently in first person. I like writing monologues, and sometimes I’ll write a story that is purely dialogue. I think this may come from my work in theatre. I was an actor for quite a few years, and I still think like an actor.
What does your writing process look like? We’re always interested in the different approaches to drafting and editing.
I always write the first draft by hand. I find there is an energy when I write by hand that I can’t duplicate when I’m typing. I write the first draft quickly, almost without thinking. Sometimes my handwriting will change depending on the subject or the person I’m writing about. I do a lot of crossing out and scribbling on that first draft before I go to the computer. The next step is to try and read my handwriting. Then I work slowly, reading aloud and editing for precision and flow. I will leave a story for a long time before I come back to it to do a final edit or fifteen. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I have a lot of discards!
Who are the writers who’ve been on your brain recently?
Right now, I’m reading Wolfgang Borchert, who wrote stunning short stories after the Second World War. Cormac McCarthy, Lydia Davis, Dylan Thomas, Knut Hamsun and Karl Ove Knausgaard are always in my mind.
What are you working on now? Any exciting projects you can’t put down?
I’m working on the fifth draft of a novel.