{"id":443,"date":"2020-09-09T08:15:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T13:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/?p=443"},"modified":"2020-09-09T08:17:30","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T13:17:30","slug":"q-and-a-with-howling-bird-press-author-jacob-m-appel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/2020\/09\/09\/q-and-a-with-howling-bird-press-author-jacob-m-appel\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A with Howling Bird Press Author Jacob M Appel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is it about writing that energizes\nyou?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise I might\nhave to actually work for a living. Besides, I get to transform all of my\nenemies into characters they can\u2019t recognize and then have them kidnapped by\npirates or trampled by elephants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are common traps for aspiring writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marriage. Children.\nEmployment. The usual suspects. Alas, they\u2019re generally unavoidable, so the\ntrick is to write as quickly as possible until you find yourself with a\nmortgage and a golden retriever, and then to rest on your laurels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your writing Kryptonite?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death. That\u2019s going\nto be a major distraction. Although my agent often tells me my balance sheet is\nmore likely to reach the black posthumously. Pretty women are also a nice\ndistraction, but as one gets older, death increasingly nudges them out of the\npicture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other authors are you friends with,\nand how do they help you become a better writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dare not share\ntheir names because being known as a friend of mine might bring their literary\ncareers to a grinding halt. I sometimes have that effect on people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you want each of your books\/stories to\nstand on their own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections\nbetween them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not nearly\norganized enough to be building a body of work. I just churn it out and hope\nsome of it sticks. It helps that I have a team of elves and reindeer working\nalongside me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What have you done since you won the\nHowling Bird Press prize?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a new short\nstory collection, Winter Honeymoon,<\/em>\ncoming out with Black Lawrence in 2020. I\u2019ve published nine additional books\u2014four\nmore story collections, three novels, a collection of poetry, and, most\nrecently, Who Says You\u2019re Dead?,<\/em> an\nethics book for laypeople. It\u2019s amazing how much writing one can accomplish\nwhen trying to overcome one\u2019s deep-seated childhood fears of inadequacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you do with your first advance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made a down\npayment on a gumball. The great thing about New York City is you can even buy\ncandy on layaway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a writer, what would you choose as your\nmascot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debra Winger. Especially\nif the honor comes along with a date. (Apologies to her husband, who I\u2019m sure\nis a swell fellow, but this is my moment in the spotlight, not his.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many unpublished and half-finished\nbooks\/stories do you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of\nstories. Maybe thousands. And my editor has a brand-new novel on her desk, in\ncase you know of a major publisher interested in making an offer. Okay, it\u2019s\nnot exactly new. But it was written this century, so it\u2019s not that old\n. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you edit out of this book, The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original\nversion contained the location of the Holy Grail and a translation key to the\nRongorongo glyphs of Easter Island, but I\u2019ve decided to save them for the\nsequel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you read your book reviews? Why or why\nnot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You assume that my\nbooks get reviewed. To the limited extent that they do, I pretend that they\ndon\u2019t. But I always make a point of thanking the reviewers, if I can find their\naddresses. I suppose that means I am occasionally thanking a reviewer who has\npanned my book, but that probably makes them rethink their vitriol, so it is\nstill energy well-spent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is it about writing that energizes you? Otherwise I might have to actually work for a living. Besides, I get to transform all of my enemies into characters they can\u2019t recognize and then have them kidnapped by pirates or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[24,25,27,26,19,21,22,20,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}