TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.
Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
Trick of the Porch Light is a story collection full
of small, odd situations populated with people who really want to understand
their lives. Of course, they go about trying to uncover truths in ways that
cause them more pain and perhaps less clarity, though at the end of it all,
there is the glimmer for them, hanging just out of reach.
Which story did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which
story gave you the most trouble, and why?
I’m not sure enjoy is the word I use when I am “into”
writing something. It seems more like being embroiled or consumed or taken over
by an idea or character or situation. I often come up with a character with a
problem, and then I want to see how they can get out of it or recover in some
way.
The story I feel so satisfied with is “I Would See
Everything.” It’s a story I started a very long time ago, one that encompasses
some of the issues I had as a younger mother, one with small children. My
character, though, is recently widowed and trying to come to terms with the
problems in her marriage (now forever unsolved) and the issues with her
youngest child. She doesn’t know how she will figure anything out, but then, a
glimmer.
The stories that caused me the most trouble were the titular
story “Trick of the Porch Light” and “Murder House” because they are linked
through setting and, fleetingly, characters. The larger story is in “Trick,”
and “Murder” is actually a short story one of the characters in “Trick” is
writing. It’s all very meta, but I wanted each story to stand on their own. I’m
not prone to meta anything, so I spent a lot of time working on both.
Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.
For over twelve years, this collection of stories—in various
states, with various stories, in certain and very different orders and with
different titles—was a finalist, semi-finalist, and honorable mention (not to
mention short and long-listed) fourteen times, and those were the contests I
actually wrote down. All of these stories have been published, some very well,
many have won prizes that have included money, a rare thing indeed. A couple
were nominated for Pushcart prizes; another other academic awards.
And yet, I could not push this collection through to
publication.
During this process, I received many lovely notes from
editors. Some notes were not so lovely. One editor wrote me a very long letter
about how my characters needed to get a grip! After all, he himself had lost an
arm in Vietnam and still managed to have a good life. What is your issue,
lady writer, he seemed to be saying.
What sustained me over the years were my readers, those
people who helped me with various iterations and my faith in the individual
stories. I also published novels and poems and individual short stories. But
after a long while, I decided to give this collection one more serious push. For
one, I considered all the comments from readers over the years, including the
one from the man who lost an arm. I took out one story that he mentioned
specifically, something I don’t regret. Then I gave the collection to two faithful
readers for final comments, revised a bit more, retitled a few of the stories
and the collection itself, and sent it out on its final voyage. This time, it
all worked. Maria Maloney from Mouthfeel Press is giving Trick of the Porch
light a home. Case closed.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
My first fiction teacher was Anne Lamott, back in the day
when she was teaching out of Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. I took
two of her night classes and wrote the first draft of “I Would See Everything”
for one of those classes (I still have the draft she read, and she wrote on the
top “You are the real deal.” I should frame it).
One night when she was lecturing, she said, “Three hundred
words a day, and in a year you have a novel.”
There is a math problem in there that works. She made sure
to let us know that the first draft would be really horrible, but it would be a
draft, something whole.
Three hundred words is doable, even during illness and upset
and odd times. Also, often 300 words turns into more, sometimes many. But it
can also just be 300. An obtainable goal that works. It wasn’t too many years
after her class that I wrote my first novel Her Daughter’s Eyes, using
her exact formula, this during a time when I was teaching five classes a
semester, raising two small children, and trying to scratch out a writing life.
And I think about her advice every day when getting ready to write.
How did you find the title of your book?
It wasn’t until I changed the title of “Trick of the Porch
Light” from another, lesser title that I realized how the new title spoke to
the entire collection. These stories are typically about home, a place that is
familiar, and yet, look at the sleights of hand, the tricks, the mysteries
right there in front of us in the places we call home.
I also loved the play on the old saying trick of the
light. Adding porch in there really changed things. Maybe it’s a bit
clever, too, which feels nice. But again, how many titles has this collection
had? One was Tuna for the Apocalypse, but that short story no longer
appears. Good title, though, right?
Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)
One story that once appeared in the collection is titled Starving,
and it is really about food or sustenance: a woman stands in front of her
fridge and thinks about meals and food. She also thinks about her baby that
died. There were recipes in that story, but not too many in the stories that
remain in the collection.
I am a vegetarian, and I have to adapt many, many recipes
for my purposes. Here is a chili that I make topped with cornmeal biscuits that
uses Impossible Burger—Beyond Burger works, too. My husband and I cook a lot,
and he has most of our favorites on his recipe website. Here is the Cast Iron
Chili and Cheddar Biscuit Recipe link but feel free to look around!
https://recipes.uptakeblue.com/detail/jessicas-cast-iron-chili-and-cheddar-biscuits
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: https://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com/
READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/
BUY THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK: https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/product/trick-of-the-porch-light/52?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
READ A SHORT STORY, “Monsters in the Agapanthus”: https://medium.com/the-coil/monsters-in-the-agapanthus-fiction-jessica-barksdale-d51239e3c1ad
