The Muse and the Marketplace kicks off on May 1st at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. In anticipation of the conference, we collected micro-interviews written by authors, agents and editors who will be attending the event. This is the fourth in the series.
Micro-Interview with Kate Gale, Managing Editor, Red Hen Press
1. Is the definition of reading changing? I.e., are you really “reading” when you’re on Twitter?
What makes reading different from watching movies, plays, dance or viewing art is the level of engagement. Even a child with a comic book is reading. When we read, wehave to stop other things unless they’re passive. You can read and bathe, but you can’t read walk down the streets of NY and I’ve walked down the streets and “read” Twitter. It’s like gulpingair instead of breathing, and I like gulping air but it’s different. The amount of time that we all spend simply lying on our couch reading, is far less than it ever used to be as webecome swallowed by electronic media. Conversely, more of us are writing than ever before and we want someone to read what we’re writing because we believe our ideas are so important.
2. What is the strangest place you’ve ever been?
The top of Gibraltar. I always wondered why the British held on to that sliver of Spain and I knew when I stood there that I would never let go of that land pointed into the mouth of the Mediterranean controlling all the shipping to the Middle East and Africa. We could feel climate shifting, cold air running down, clouds pushing up, East to West movement, and all around us sifting fog and the apes who live in the last stronghold of the Neanderthals in Europe snatching at our camera, at our bags. I imagined chasing them into the caves to get our 21st century life back. The biggest cave, St. Michael’s, has cave art from 20,000 years ago but is now home to the Miss Gibraltar pageant. We visited Gibraltar during our honeymoon. We were finding our own way to the sea.
3. What is the future of brick and mortar bookstores?
Bookstores will continue in the same way churches survive. Fewer Americans believe in a seven day creation period or even in God at all, yet millions still attend churches where they will meet like minded individuals who share the same values. Bookstores are my church. When I enter a bookstore, I’m with others who at least imagine themselves living in the world of ideas. Bookstores are finding more ways of being a third place for people with coffee, areas to congregate, and events that cement the bookstore as a place to read, think, connect with stories and breathe away from electronics. Bookstores will be around 100 years from now. There are still music stores.
4. Is it a good idea for a writer to write an article pro bono in exchange for “exposure”?
Yes! Write articles, write reviews, write. What are you doing? Holding yourself back from writing? Dancers like to dance. Musicians like to play. Writers are always writing. I just wrote a piecefor The Guardian and I guess they’re paying me, but I don’t really care. I write for The Huffington Postand don’t get paid. It is good to flex your writing muscles, gain exposure for your name/brand, and play in the sandbox. At the point it’s all about money, you really should quit and start a technology company. Your readers want to find you. Give them a chance. Don’t ask yourself, What if I run out of ideas? Here’s what I tell myself: The well will never run dry. Future Kate will kneel down in the wet earth and there in the mud and tangle of leaves will find one wet story after another, down there are the deep stories. Lower the bucket, drink story.
Writers, you can consult one-on-one with Kate at the Muse conference’s Manuscript Mart. Spots are still available and you can sign up here, but don’t wait–the deadline to submit your manuscript is NEXT Monday, April 6th by 12pm. Be sure to follow the hashtag #Muse15 for all the latest and greatest tweets on what’s up with the Muse!
Dr. Kate Gale is Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, Editor of the Los Angeles Review, and 2006-2014 President of the American Composers Forum, LA . She teaches in the Low Residency MFA program at the University of Nebraska in Poetry, Fiction and Creative nonfiction. She serves on the boards of A Room of Her Own Foundation and Poetry Society of America.
