Ask the Author: Douglas Richardson
Answered Questions (8)
Douglas Richardson
Thanks for the question, Jen. Like FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, I like my coffee black as midnight on a moonless night. My most recent favorite was a Sumatra Mutu Batak that I bought at Peet's.
Douglas Richardson
I take long walks.
Douglas Richardson
If you have a gnawing feeling that writing is mandatory for the preservation of your sanity, dignity, and/or survival, then you might as well get on with it. It's not going to go away.
Douglas Richardson
I pray. No, really. That's what I do.
Douglas Richardson
The money bags.
Douglas Richardson
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I often found myself (for various reasons) wandering alone in Santa Monica, California. I spent a lot of time in the Barnes & Noble on the Third Street Promenade, where many homeless people also found refuge. I wondered about their stories. Then, one day during these years, while I was stressed out at work, my mind flashed back to a memory of a college acquaintance who, while drunk, attempted to eat the number off of his apartment door. We were able to stop him from swallowing it (thank God), but a small nail from the number had punctured his lower lip and the blood was running down his chin and neck. This memory, coupled with my wanderings in Santa Monica, led to what is now American Strays.
Douglas Richardson
The American Strays spiral will continue to grow. I hope to work on these stories for the rest of my life.
Douglas Richardson
Thanks so much, Jen. Yes, I am doing just that. It's strange. One of my writing mentors said the short story is ideally suited to my style, and yet I've had more luck with long-form fiction and poetry. One of my favorite books is a short-story collection: Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates.
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