Today I Interviewed Andrew Davidson
I interviewed Andrew Davidson today and it was wonderful. Well, I can't say that the interview was wonderful, but I can say the conversation was wonderful. I've never done an interview before in my life, and I already know I have a lot to learn from listening to the audio of it.
A. I have a weird voice.
B. I talk to loud.
C. I laugh too much.
This is all probably stuff my vast and rapt cyberfollowing already knows. This is even something I know. And yet, I didn't do anything to try to prepare for that.
I was really excited.
Andrew Davidson is the brilliant author of The Gargoyle, which came out in August of 2008. It is a beautiful story of universal love that transcends time, place and even social barriers. He writes with lurid confidence and then a gentle touch. The language is beautiful, the story is compelling, the images are beyond vivid. I really loved this book. So I was excited that I was getting the chance to talk to him, so I forgot that my voice is weird, that I talk too loud, and that I laugh too much. I will remember this for the next time.
I had prepared some thoughts, a few questions, noted some sections I wanted to ask him about, but I learned something else when I went back to listen to the tape.
4. When I get really excited about what I am talking about, I go out of order and I get sidetracked.
5. When he got sidetracked, I was thrilled to go wherever he went, which means I may or may not have remembered to ask the question I meant to ask.
6. I think the audio of the interview/slash conversation might sound like two really geeky bibliophiles talking about how jacked we get when we think about Tess. Okay, Andrew, no dis intended, I think geeky bibliophiles have it all going on and I was SO JACKED when you knew what I was talking about when I mentioned Tess and the "blighted star."
Meaning, when I do my first interview, I will have to remember to be poised and dignified. I was neither today. Andrew was very poised and dignified, but as he told me he has done thousands of interviews by now. Me? This was my first. As will be evident should you choose to listen to the audio. I will edit out my "Yah!" "I KNOW!" and "uh huh"s out of the written transcript.
So again, I get that wonderful feeling of having arrived at yet another place I always wanted to be. I found Andrew Davidson online and asked him to blurb my own novel, because I so loved his novel. To this request he very sweeetly responded and told me that he hadn't time to do that now, and through some further correspondence we agreed to do this interview. I really can't believe that I too am an author and I get to reach out to other authors (even authors whose books are really amazing) and ask them if I can talk to them. And that they might even say yes! Because I belong to that club!! And really there are only two clubs I wanted to be in: The Mommy Club, and The Author Club. And by God's grace, I got into both. So again I am replete with gratitude.
I will tell you more about the interview itself in a later blog, and I will publish the interview when I get it transcribed. It was really a great conversation for me, to talk to another person doing the same thing I am doing: writing books, struggling with similar problems and similar frustrations and having similar epiphanies. He was gracious and kind, and very forthcoming about his process and his literary muses, though I could have stayed on that subject for the whole hour and fifteen minutes we spoke. It was wonderful to talk with someone else who reads like I do, dissecting and stealing, lingering on a particular turn of phrase, a particular concept that was so perfectly put. Like I said earlier, when we began talking about books, Andrew mentioned Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which is one of my all time favorite novels, and I mentioned a particular line where Tess says they are "living on a blighted star." And he knows exactly what I mean, in fact it was he who reminded me of the exact quote. I told him that line informed one in As It Was Written, but I did it the opposite. In describing Dr. Raman Nair, I say he was born on a blessed star, and that choice of words was to oppose precisely the sentiment we feel when Tess is talking to Abraham, her brother. Her hopelessness versus Dr. Raman Nair's constant and abiding sense of good luck. I loved telling that to someone who understood how a line can last in your mind for decades, finding itself a reference point for all misery and hopelessness you have seen along the journey. Likewise, he understood how I have never since reading Tess, walked through a field of wildflowers and weeds without thinking of her.
It was a great conversation, and I can't wait to tell you more about it and to share the interview with you here. In the meantime, if you are looking for a beautiful book to read, go get The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. It's another one that will last in your heart.
Peace, and if you are reading this, send the muse!
S
A. I have a weird voice.
B. I talk to loud.
C. I laugh too much.
This is all probably stuff my vast and rapt cyberfollowing already knows. This is even something I know. And yet, I didn't do anything to try to prepare for that.
I was really excited.
Andrew Davidson is the brilliant author of The Gargoyle, which came out in August of 2008. It is a beautiful story of universal love that transcends time, place and even social barriers. He writes with lurid confidence and then a gentle touch. The language is beautiful, the story is compelling, the images are beyond vivid. I really loved this book. So I was excited that I was getting the chance to talk to him, so I forgot that my voice is weird, that I talk too loud, and that I laugh too much. I will remember this for the next time.
I had prepared some thoughts, a few questions, noted some sections I wanted to ask him about, but I learned something else when I went back to listen to the tape.
4. When I get really excited about what I am talking about, I go out of order and I get sidetracked.
5. When he got sidetracked, I was thrilled to go wherever he went, which means I may or may not have remembered to ask the question I meant to ask.
6. I think the audio of the interview/slash conversation might sound like two really geeky bibliophiles talking about how jacked we get when we think about Tess. Okay, Andrew, no dis intended, I think geeky bibliophiles have it all going on and I was SO JACKED when you knew what I was talking about when I mentioned Tess and the "blighted star."
Meaning, when I do my first interview, I will have to remember to be poised and dignified. I was neither today. Andrew was very poised and dignified, but as he told me he has done thousands of interviews by now. Me? This was my first. As will be evident should you choose to listen to the audio. I will edit out my "Yah!" "I KNOW!" and "uh huh"s out of the written transcript.
So again, I get that wonderful feeling of having arrived at yet another place I always wanted to be. I found Andrew Davidson online and asked him to blurb my own novel, because I so loved his novel. To this request he very sweeetly responded and told me that he hadn't time to do that now, and through some further correspondence we agreed to do this interview. I really can't believe that I too am an author and I get to reach out to other authors (even authors whose books are really amazing) and ask them if I can talk to them. And that they might even say yes! Because I belong to that club!! And really there are only two clubs I wanted to be in: The Mommy Club, and The Author Club. And by God's grace, I got into both. So again I am replete with gratitude.
I will tell you more about the interview itself in a later blog, and I will publish the interview when I get it transcribed. It was really a great conversation for me, to talk to another person doing the same thing I am doing: writing books, struggling with similar problems and similar frustrations and having similar epiphanies. He was gracious and kind, and very forthcoming about his process and his literary muses, though I could have stayed on that subject for the whole hour and fifteen minutes we spoke. It was wonderful to talk with someone else who reads like I do, dissecting and stealing, lingering on a particular turn of phrase, a particular concept that was so perfectly put. Like I said earlier, when we began talking about books, Andrew mentioned Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which is one of my all time favorite novels, and I mentioned a particular line where Tess says they are "living on a blighted star." And he knows exactly what I mean, in fact it was he who reminded me of the exact quote. I told him that line informed one in As It Was Written, but I did it the opposite. In describing Dr. Raman Nair, I say he was born on a blessed star, and that choice of words was to oppose precisely the sentiment we feel when Tess is talking to Abraham, her brother. Her hopelessness versus Dr. Raman Nair's constant and abiding sense of good luck. I loved telling that to someone who understood how a line can last in your mind for decades, finding itself a reference point for all misery and hopelessness you have seen along the journey. Likewise, he understood how I have never since reading Tess, walked through a field of wildflowers and weeds without thinking of her.
It was a great conversation, and I can't wait to tell you more about it and to share the interview with you here. In the meantime, if you are looking for a beautiful book to read, go get The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. It's another one that will last in your heart.
Peace, and if you are reading this, send the muse!
S
Oh, Sujatha...I'm so glad I've become one of your "followers!" I love to read everything you've written. You are so bold to open yourself up in this way. I admire your brave heart, and I love the words that trickle from your fingertips! ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, that's absolutely amazing!! I loved The Gargoyle too, and I am in the process of writing my own novel. Congratulations on the release of your novel and good luck! :)
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