1. Why do you blog?
To connect to the world, to argue, to laugh. I’m too lazy to put much effort into publishing, so I put my poetry online and whoever comes comes.
I’ve met some spectacular people, deepened some old friendships, and found that I care pretty passionately about some issues I didn’t realize were as important to me as they are.
I also have a poetry review blog that I noodle around with. There I hope just to open up a dialogue with any interested parties, including the poets themselves.
2. Which author and/or book has most influenced you?
I want to write like EB White. There’s a scene in Charlotte’s Web when Templeton goes to the fair. White describes the things that Templeton found and it is the perfect meld of meaning and sonic awareness. It screams to be read aloud.
I do all of my poetry writing aloud, essentially. I’m writing something down then saying it. Rolling it over my tongue. If I don’t think it sounds right, who cares about meaning. I’m talking sound, then I edit. Even if it says what I want it to say, if it doesn’t sound the way I want it to sound, I throw it out.
EB White. Blame him. Ask me tomorrow and get a different answer.
3. Which three blogs do you most visit?
I sub with Bloglines, so there are dozens of blogs I follow. I always check for the blogs of people I know first, to see what’s going on with them. There are more than three. Waaay more than three.
4. Why do you read fiction?
Because I don’t really understand the world. I live in it, I suppose, and I walk around and stare at things and interact with things and people, but I don’t really understand. Fiction is almost like reading a translation. Like poetry, fiction is a distillation of the brain of the writer. It isn’t what happened, it’s what could, what should, what might. So I read it for the beauty, for the insights, for the cleverness, for the world through someone else’s eyes. I read it to find others like me, to find new places, new conversations, new foods, new joys. I read it to explore. I read it for the same reason I write it.
5. What makes you laugh?
Almost everything. I’m incredibly easy to amuse. I’m not good at comedy, but I’m a very appreciative audience of it.
Julie Carter blogs at Carter’s Little Pill, which lives here: http://juliecarter.blogspot.com
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Jul 11th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Oh yeah, I like this: “Fiction is almost like reading a translation. Like poetry, fiction is a distillation of the brain of the writer. It isn’t what happened, it’s what could, what should, what might.”
Very true.
Jul 12th, 2006 at 2:09 am
That’s a fine, subjective definition of what fiction is all about. I like it enough to print & stick on a bookmark.
Jul 18th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Julie, you spoke so much of what I feel. And I don’t believe any artist does understand the world we live in, but you expressed the sentiment so beautifully that I was tempted to steal your “translation” line! (I’m playing. I won’t steal it, but I sure will quote you on my blog!)
Jul 19th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I felt goofy when I was answering the questions, but when I read back over them I think my answers fit me pretty well.
And the day it was posted was EB White’s birthday.
Julie