Heather is a writer with a dayjob living in Sunny San Diego in California - her website is here.How would your friends describe you?
My friends would describe me as a reader and a writer, a lit freak, who likes to laugh.
What do you do for a living?
Raise my kids and work. Also, I write stories and poems and plays for theatre and any number of things. At the moment I'm working on eight books of short stories and three novels. Also, edits on some formal poetry.
Describe your house/living room/kitchen/office.
My house is a blue and white family dwelling with a scalloped picket fence and large windows. My office is a room of instruments, a large roll top desk, bookshelves, and chocolate brown leather couches.
What is the most important object in your home/garden?
My children. Lexie 5, Aiden 3, and Mersade 15.
How important do you think art is?
I cannot breathe without it.
Do you do anything creative?
All. The. Time.
What is the most important thing you’ve learnt this year?
I’ve learned this year that the people nearest are the only ones who matter. Too much time is spent trying to please those less relevant. I want to be closer to my family and kids these days. Pursue more joy. Less business. Spend less time with strangers.
Sum up your life so far in twenty words or less.
Girl accidentally finds stable happy life yet must support her family so sacrifices her art. Girl reclaims it. With effort.
What is your favourite book?
It’s a toss-up. I mean, Orwell’s 1984, Plath’s The Bell Jar, Shakespeare’s collected plays, Flannery O’Connor’s stories. Any of these are fine things. Lately though, my favourite new book is Rick Moody’s Purple America. His prose is dense and fine. Vivid.
What is your greatest fear?
I fear being lost—mentally or physically. I fear losing myself in apathy. I fear a lack of pleasure. I fear the sort of solitude that’s undesirable. Those things.
What would your super power be?
I am good at flying kites. Also, I would like the superpower to read the thoughts of others, or tune them out.
How do you relax?
Coffee. Conversation. Reading. Writing. Hot-tubbing. A perfect lemon-drop martini on occasion.
What person has been the greatest influence over you?
Probably my mother.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
My writing. Having small children who eliminate quiet windows is hard on a writer—taking that art time back is harder still.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A family cook! Also, to be free of the enormous mortgage I slave for each month.
Who would you invite to a dream dinner party?
The Mad Hatter. A Talking Dragon. Chaucer. Freud. Christina Rossetti.
How did you find reading The Blue Handbag?
What I loved about reading The Blue Handbag was that it helped me escape the urban surroundings where I lived and gave me a lot of pleasure in contemplating plants and gardens. I loved the descriptions of the botany--and also the descriptions of the food, which were criminally good. When the scene happens with the cocoa, for example, I went to get a cup of cocoa. Haven’t had cocoa in years! I felt I had to have some, while I was reading. It’s nice to be swept into a narrative. I felt I could really just let the book take me places that seemed fresh and natural—as well as giving me that satisfaction in following likeable characters.
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Thank you Heather - a pleasure to have you here.
I like Heather, from what I've met of her here :)
ReplyDeleteI love that thing about the novel influencing the actions of the reader. I love it when that happens. When a story prompts me to do something in my own life, often it's eat something, or read a book that the character has mentioned, or listen to a certain piece of music. It's like reality and fiction colliding.