What goes through the mind of a writer? #InnerDemons edition
To find out, we took to Twitter…
Her current collection, Bystanders, is available today,
and Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons
is gearing up for re-release!
? How do you classify your writing style? ?
We're here with 10 questions for author @beanglish, winner of the 2010 SFWP contest and editor @SmokeLong. Join us! #innerdemons #WomenWrite
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
If you're joining us, feel free to jump in and unleash your own #innerdemons!
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
Q1: Weird? Just kidding, sort of. I definitely trend toward the darker side.
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
How about some of the mechanics of writing. Do you let the story lead or is there a plan when you sit down with a blank page?
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
.@SFWP Depends on each story. It's always a difft. process, which is why it's kind of annoying to write. #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? What are 3 words to describe Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons? ?
To be very basic: Dark etiquette tales. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
After the first edition, one reviewer called it 'wicked.' I like that too. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Yes! That's it exactly. They are slightly longer than flash stories, but they are made up of micro sections. #innerdemons @SFWP
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? Why create etiquette guides for such unusual topics like adultery and obesity? ?
Because Emily Post won't! Because I believe even in our darkest tendencies, we set rules for ourselves. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Tell us a bit about the new sections in this exciting revised edition hitting the shelves in February.
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
It's my own inner demon…
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
Yes. I've heard about how you like to watch.
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
Football?
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? You call them “dark etiquette.” How did you choose the topics for the stories? ?
Wanted to cover a wide range of #innerdemons. Eg I had 'eloping' & didn't want to do 'divorce' b/c it would cover some same ground. @SFWP
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Diane, I just drank fish coffee.
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
? What was the greatest challenge in writing this book? ?
.@SFWP Making all the stories feel different. Not covering the same ground. I wanted each one to have its own voice, a distinct person.
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
As long as you catch them before final proofs, right?
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
The biggest secret to writing is to keep writing. No one's ever going to give you time to do it, so u have to take time. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
You get to be really good at time management as soon as you have no time. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
I sneak it in during my commute. Late at night. Over lunch. It's not a perfect system, but it's all I've got right now. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
I sometimes dream about having time management skills. Then I wake up and just stare at the ceiling fan.
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
Also it helps to have an awesome husband. @ArtTaylorWriter gets it, so we've been able to make it a priority for each of us. @SFWP
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? How do you get so many of your short pieces placed? ?
I would not consider myself a wizard by any means, but thank you. For every acceptance, there are a ton of rejections behind it. @SFWP
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
.@SFWP However, I've found reading the publication you're sending to helps. Sounds ridiculous, right? And yet so many people don't do it.
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Every journal has a personality and a style, & if you can send them one of yours that 'feels' right, I think you have a better shot.
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
I'm always harping on SFWP authors to write so-called "spin-off" articles. Do you find that they help you as a writer?
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
I think anything you can do to get out there & contribute to the community helps. You never know what might lead to what. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
@beanglish : You mentioned your husband @ArtTaylorWriter. How does another writer in the house influence you? #innerdemons
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
.@SFWP @ArtTaylorWriter This will tell you! Here's my 7 reasons why you should marry a writer from @WIRoBooks https://t.co/1CUGtoP0Cp
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? What helps you transition from short stories to flash to essays and back? ?
I don't know! Always been good at adjusting to difft. audiences. Maybe all those years in mark/comm at @georgemasonu? @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
I always trend toward the short moment though. Even working on a novel, it often comes to me in moment bursts. @SFWP #amwriting #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? What are things you look for in pieces for @SmokeLong? ?
I love this question. I've got a few, bear with me. #1 Urgency. I want to feel like I HAVE to read this #flashfiction. @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
#2 Confidence. The writer has us strapped in & knows exactly where we're going & is delighted 2 take us there. @SFWP @SmokeLong #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
And finally, originality. A new way of telling a story. #flashfiction #innerdemons @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? What’s a @SmokeLong piece that has struck a chord recently? ?
I'm guessing saying "all of them" is cheating??? #innerdemons #flashfiction @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
When I say that about SFWP titles people walk away from the table without buying anything. #sadpublisher
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
You guys should read "How Do You Do Boise?" by Casey Quinn https://t.co/DdCizVvQFb #innerdemons @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Also "The Sound and the Song" by @letrent https://t.co/yRPb4OCCQr #flashfiction #innerdemons @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Also must check out our @kathyfish fellow @shastagrant She's been killing it this year. https://t.co/brGvz7DkmJ @SFWP @SmokeLong
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Nope, one more still. One of my all-time fave @smokelong stories. https://t.co/nlp5C57d2G #flashfiction perfection. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
? Favorite book(s) from 2015/2016? ?
The new Tana French, the new Sophie Hannah, the new Shirley Jackson collection. Wait, not done! @SFWP #amreading #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
And more?
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
Yes! Just finished it myself. Great book!
— SFWP (@SFWP) September 11, 2016
One more! Everyone needs to get the Best Small Fictions series. @smokelong has 3 stories in the 2016. Our writers are rock stars. @SFWP
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
WHAT? Only 5? Woodford Reserve, 1792, Rock Hill Farms, Noah's Mill, & Bookers for old fashioneds. @SFWP #innerdemons
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
.@SFWP You're assuming I haven't had them already.
— Tara Laskowski (@beanglish) September 11, 2016
Learn more about Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons…
The best-selling indie hit returns! This revised, expanded edition of Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons brings the darker side of social behavior back to the shelves. Tara Laskowski’s demonically clever stories break the rules of a “decent” society, providing a definitive guide on the etiquette of obesity, dementia, infertility, homicide, arson, and more.
Blending humor with a sharp social commentary, Laskowski introduces us to cynical yet sympathetic characters as each story unfolds. Snarky but optimistic, these characters are the folks you want sitting next to you at your next dinner party…or in your prison cell.
Read up on Bystanders, available today…
Legacies of violence and tragedy haunt these thirteen stunning stories from Tara Laskowski, author of Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons. A woman who becomes obsessed with her co-worker’s murderer; an investigative reporter with a nose for scandal finds his own life suddenly unraveling; eerie sights in a video baby monitor haunt a new mother. When the unexpected happens, these bystanders—who are not always innocent—come face to face with their own choices and fates.
Bound together by danger, fear, paranoia, and the bumps we all hear in the night, these potent stories illuminate the darker side of the human condition. From a vicious newspaper strike that rocks a small Pennsylvania community to an unpredictable road trip in the vast desert of the American West, Bystanders explores the ways in which terror and uncertainty both consumes and invigorate us—and yet reveal our strengths, hopes, and passions.
Selected as the Grand Prize Winner for the SFWP Literary Awards Program, 2010, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler.