What a wonderful title for a novel! It is equally descriptive for my state of mind. I've been trying hard to concentrate and get work done and instead I find myself hopping from one task to another, never completing any one thing and simply making messes all over the house. The taxes? Right. Oh, wait, Flexible Spending reimbursements, that's what I really need to do. But that gets me looking at my VISA bill and then I realize I really might need to look and see if refinancing rates have come down enough to justify applying for a new mortgage. But wait! There's more! The dog wants to go out, the phone is ringing, the Christmas cards from 1988 still haven't been answered and dang it if the laundry in the washing machine doesn't smell like sour milk after having been left there for three days. Oops, Nothing a little white vinegar can't cure. Except, of course, I'm out. Time to run to the grocery. What else do I need? Wow, this fridge is a mess and must be cleaned immediately.
You'd think with all that movement, I might at least be losing weight. But no. Instead, I've gained a couple of facial tics. So, Melissa Clark, please accept my apologies for being so late in blogging you. It's been a ragged month and I've turned to butter running around a tree. True story. And by the way, we have the same taste in books. CROSSING TO SAFETY, one of my hugely favorite books ever.
Melissa Clark, creator of that wonderful cartoon series, BRACEFACE, has written her first novel. SWIMMING UPSTREAM, SLOWLY is such a marvelous title for a book and her premise is both funny and slightly horrifying. I’ve always maintained that the best writers are those who can convince you to believe the unbelievable. From the readers’ comments on Amazon, Ms. Clark has done exactly that. Her story? A single woman is incredulous when her doctor informs her she’s pregnant. Why? It’s been two years since she’s had sex.
Lazy sperm do, it appears, exist, at least in the annals of scientific improbability, at least in the suspended world of fiction. And so unscrupulous researchers, aiming to make a name on their patients’ predicaments. To say nothing of all those people who 1) don’t believe her when she says she hasn’t had sex in two years and 2) all those people who find two years without sex an even more impossible feat than stowaway spermatazoa.
Here are some reviews:
Here are the Amazon and Barnes & Noble links, but if you can, please go to your closest bookstore and buy it because bookstores are in deep trouble, along with Wall Street, the car companies and Madoff's clients, except you can bet not one of their proprietors owns a jet.
Oh, and one other thing. SWIMMING UPSTREAM, SLOWLY has been selected as a Target breakout book. That's HUGE. Go Melissa!
Here's our interview:
1. If I had to offer two bumper sticker explanations for my novel,
they'd be "Appearances are deceiving" and "Mean people suck." Tell
me what your slogans would be, and why.
"Be Careful Who You Sleep WIth"
"Lazy Sperm"
2. Your two favorite movies over the past twelve months and why?
I loved "Diving Bell and Butterfly" and "Persepolis." Were those
within 12 months? "Diving Bell..." was just so inspiring and human
and tragic, and "Persepolis" was so creative. A great story told in a
fun medium.
3. What was the one thing you learned in getting your book
published that you were really surprised to find out?
The day my book came out I was expecting bells and whistles from the
publishing company. Instead I got crickets. (But bells and whistles
from friends and family, for sure!)
4. If you had to pick one and only one condition (beyond computer
or pen and paper) that would allow you to write would it be: a.
solitude b. caffiene c. sleep d. food e. sex or f. ______.
Lack of sex inspired the first novel, so I'd have to say without
solitude - as much as I grapple with it - I would never write anything.
5. Do you have a favorite genre? If so, who are your three
favorite writers? If not, who are your three favorite writers and how
have they influenced your work?
This is a hard one as the names and novels change often. In college,
I devoured everything Margaret Atwood wrote. I was obsessed with and
inspired by her. (I had the chance to meet her in graduate school,
but that's another story) Sylvia Plath's journals are just so perfect
at describing the excitement and anxiety around becoming a writer. An
author named Jim Harrison wrote one of my favorite books "Dalva" as
well as a beautiful short story collection, "The Woman Lit By
Fireflies".
Comments