A Video to Check Out

A video poem at The Volta

There Is a Virus of Mini-Interviews Spreading and I Am Part of It

What is the working title of the book? TINA

Where did the idea come from for the book? Tina

What genre does your book fall under? Poetry addressed to, or in response to, Tina. Also, poetry about, or in any manner concerning, Tina. Includes children’s Tina, young adult Tina, literature Tina, self-help Tina, Religious Tina and new historical Tina. 

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? For Tina, what I first imagine is the actress who portrayed Emily Valentine in one of the early seasons of the original Beverly Hills, 90210. Or maybe Tina Yothers circa 1988. As for Kyle, a 15 year old Chris Farley.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? There is, was or was not this girl or this idea called Tina and these are poems regarding that murky situation.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I’m 40 now and I’d say I’d finished the first version by the time I was 38. So, it took 38 years to have a first draft and 2 additional years to have a final draft. I have to admit that most of those 38 years I was procrastinating. Not working on it. Not thinking about it. To be honest, for like 34 years it never even occurred to me that this manuscript was something I actually needed to work on. I was in denial for years. Even with the therapy I’d had up until that point, nothing had jarred it from my subconscious. It’s like I’d just blocked it out completely.  

  

Who or what inspired you to write this book? Tina.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Well, aside from the poetry addressed to, or in response to, Tina. And, apart from the poetry about, or in any manner concerning Tina, there is little here for the common reader. Perhaps some memories of youth or yesterday will be triggered, or even a sense of nostalgia, a longing for the future or a sense of the absurd weight of gravity. The odds, however, don’t favor this. Readers who want to feel satisfied should expect a book that is, by and large, concerning Tina, her benevolent and malevolent features, her attractive and repulsive attitudes, her yes and her no, etc.

  

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? The agency representing my book is the Bloof agency. Shanna Compton, my Bloof agent, also represents other writers who have been inspired by ideas or things which, for them, are no doubt similar to what Tina has meant to me. In this way, the Bloof agency is an agency of change, growth and Tina.

My tagged writers for next Wednesday are:

Here’s a question I haven’t answered yet. 

The book, TINA