It's nearly release day! If you hadn't already noticed, check out our COMPETITIONS page, with full details of a contest draw with lots of cool prizes!
Today's featured author is...
Davin Malasarn
Brief Bio:
Davin Malasarn is a recipient of the 2008 Emerging Voices Fellowship by PEN Center USA and a proud member of the Word Knot Writer's Group. He lives in California and blogs at The Literary Lab with co-authors Scott G. F. Bailey and Michelle Davidson Argyle. His collection The Wild Grasses and Other Stories will be published in July 2011. His short story, Obaachan, will appear in the Stories for Sendai anthology.
What genres do you write?
I write what other people call literary fiction, but I really think the genre should get a less misleading name that doesn't automatically bother so many people. What that name is, I haven't figured it out yet.
What are you currently writing? Sum it up in 10 words or less.
A story about Japanese-Americans with super powers for my sister-in-law.
What do you do when you're not writing?
When I'm not writing, I'm usually still writing, but in the technical realm. I also really like to cook, which means I spend a lot of time cleaning up my kitchen messes.
What is your ultimate goal as a writer?
I don't know any more, these days. Vaguely, my goal is to get better as a writer and to figure out a way to talk about my work so that other people "get it".
How close are you to achieving this goal?
I feel far away from the goal these days. My writing is getting better, so that's good. But I have a hard time talking about it.
What is the single most important piece of advice you can give a fellow writer?
I think the best thing I've ever said it to write for yourself, to try and please yourself before you think about the rest of the world.
I think to be a better writer is a fantastic goal. My Aikido master once said his answer to the question of what he'd learned after all these years of practicing Aikido was, "I'm better at the first technique than I was when I started."
ReplyDeleteC. N., that is such a martial artist's thing to say! But it is true: there are many parallels between the art of writing and the art of fighting! :)
ReplyDelete