TSR:
What
does the word "story"
mean to you?
SR:
A
way of making sense of the world, a scattering of crumbs toward an
unknown and uncertain destination.
TSR:
Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
SR:
I
don’t; the idea of a reader only occurs to me after the stories are
finished. When I write, it’s always been purely for myself, a very
intuitive and immersing process.
TSR: Is
there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection, anything at all?
SR: What
do you think the last story’s about?
TSR: How does
it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
SR: Good,
and strange. I’ve had people at readings say wonderful things to
me, and others have said bizarre things (including a woman who told
me, in the most passive-aggressive way possible, that I’d
pronounced a word wrong.) Putting myself out there is bot
validating and a bit frightening.
TSR:
What are you working on now?
SR:
I’m
working on a novel set in New Orleans in 1848. It’s about Walt
Whitman’s brief stint as a journalist in New Orleans and his
relationship with his younger brother.
