Hey guys, here’s an article called, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” that I wrote for Poets & Writers Magazine. It’s about being tri-sexual: an editor, agent, and writer. I can’t tell if it’s true or wearing rosy glasses. It’s too breezy for me. Do I love what I do? Do I love my writers? Am I a happy Good ‘n Plenty dancing around in a pink box?  What do I prefer: editing, agenting or writing? What do I prefer a cheese burger deluxe, a pizza half meatballs, or a bucket of anything? Do I like espadrilles or maryjanes? Have I learned from my mistakes?

Do you have a calling?

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I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I developed my voice on this blog and it carried forward into my book. For one year, I tried to write the Bridge Ladies as a kind of New Yorker essay. No first person writing at all. Everyone I shared it with told me (in polite terms) that is sucked. My husband kept saying, you have to use your blog voice. (My husband initially discouraged me from blogging because of certain impulse control problems I’m known for, eventually he saw that it was becoming something amazing in my life.) I kept resisting; I couldn’t see my “blog voice” as having anything to do with The BRidge Ladies. But when I finally shifted to first person, the pages started coming to life, my sense of humor got engaged, and more important, I was able to write more deeply than I had been.

What is voice? It’s one of the most important aspects in a piece of writing and yet it’s something of a chimera. You can’t teach it, you can’t describe it the way you can talk about craft, you can’t fuck it. You don’t have to write in first person; voice comes through in any pov, any tense, any style. Yet, how exactly is intelligence, humor, empathy, authority communicated? Can you add it after like a pinch of salt or does it have to emanate from the sentences from the get go? Is it in the DNA of your writing or can it be developed, manipulated, deployed? Is voice an extension of how you sound or is it developed independently through the language you use. What exactly do we mean when we say voice-driven prose?

How do you find your voice?

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Is the “impostor syndrome” real?  Not that I’m feeling fraudulent or anything. Not that I don’t leave a wonderful book event and remind myself that I’m a glorious piece of shit. Actually feeling like a fraud would be welcome compared to the number I do on myself. I could take a fraud vacation.

What’s your syndrome?

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Some years ago, I received a query from a writer who had written a book about dead girls. I knew we were made for each other. Even though I couldn’t find a publisher for the book, Mikita Brottman continued to write and write and write.  It’s not that rejection doesn’t bother her, but nothing stops her. She has to write. Sometimes I think the world exists so that she can write about it.

Now, she has produced a book I am so excited about: The Maximum Security Book Club. It’s about her experience running a book group in a men’s prison. It’s not about life lessons or how literature will save your life. Instead, Mikita brings us inside the prison and lets us get to know these men as individuals; they struggle with most of the books (Macbeth, Lolita, and Heart of Darkness to name a few); that struggle animates the chapters and illuminates their lives. You cannot help but look at each book anew and that is a bit of a miracle.

Here is a brief interview with Mikita:

Can you tell us how you chose the books for the club?

I didn’t sit down and plan carefully in advance. I just chose some of my favorite books – the ones I most wanted to think about and talk about. I didn’t think about whether they were suitable, or accessible, or appropriate. I didn’t want to pander or patronize.

Do you think literature has the power to change lives in 25 words or less?

Yes, but not in ways that are obvious, immediate, discernible, or even necessarily for the better.

What is your favorite prison movie?

I Want to Live!

You never seem frightened or threatened in the book club; can you say something about that?

The men were always calm, polite, and respectful. Most of them hadn’t committed an act of violence for 20 or 30 years. And the book club was the highlight of their week. None of them would have risked losing it, or the other volunteer programs, which are their only contact with the outside world.

Is the killer inside you?

Only in faculty meetings.

Dear Readers: what book would you teach in a prison??

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I had an epiphany on the Stairmaster yesterday. And, yes, that is my subtle way of slipping in that I have finally dragged my fat writer’s ass back to the gym. I realized that the Bridge Ladies isn’t the end. It didn’t make me and it can’t break me. I can do something else. I will have another idea. I have other ideas! I’m not a one man Bridge Lady band! I can go back to sestinas! I have two (two!) young adult ideas. I’ve never given up entirely on The Ring of Truth, or why people have mini-orgasms at poetry readings. The tree of life, the river of life, the capillaries in my brain, the sandbox, the shoe fits, the small, annoying person who says life is short doesn’t realize that it’s also long.

What you got up your sleeve?

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I was defending my decision not to go back into therapy to my husband today. The time. The money. But mostly the agony. For the first time in my life I’m happy with my misery. Do you feel me? I always went to therapy to change. Then I realized (after 30 years) that I was never going to change and was happy for “awareness”. Happy to stop acting out at every family gathering. Then what? Please don’t get me wrong I think therapy is critical for many people and most writers. But I’m no longer willing or able to jump down the well and climb my way out with a spoon. I’m okay with crying at the dry cleaner for “no reason.” I understand that given the chance to imagine the best or worst in something I will always go for the latter. I’m okay with the voices in my head. Though they could be a little nicer.

Is this a cop out?

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P.T Barnum once said (and I paraphrase):

What happens when you don’t do any marketing? Nothing.

To that end, I want to thank everyone who sent in a marketing idea. All really cool. But this isn’t first grade t-ball where everyone is a winner I’m sorry to say. The three winners are:

In third place: Host brewery and Bridge events. (I feel we could attract some dudes to Bridge which would be awesome. MKBove

In second place: partner with Entemann’s. This was the brand of cakes my mother served on Bridge nights. I actually thought they were only for Jewish people. Best was the cellophane window on the top of the box which we peered into like the bakery glass. afucking writer

In first place: a James Corden carpool karaoke style video. I literally just got Spotify and figured out how to place my phone in car to record Roz and me singing her favorite, “What’ll I do” and mine “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Tiffany

Winners please send me your snail mail at Betsy@dclagency.com and THANK YOU AGAIN TO ALL.

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