Rachel Sherman
Describe your latest project.
The First Hurt is my first book, published by Open City Books. The stories are about people who are going through adolescence, pursuing and avoiding sexual experiences, and having conflict in families or relationships. It is also about skin, hair, and deformities.
How do you relax?
I sleep. That's my only way.
How did the last good book you read end up in your hands and why did you read it?
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. I ordered it from Amazon. It is "epic" (read the book and you'll see why I say that).
What section of the newspaper do you read first?
The book reviews. Of course.
What is your idea of absolute happiness?
Feeling anxiety free. I have noticed that some people seem like that once they have a baby. I thought that I would feel that way once I finished my book — my baby — but it's not that way.
I have talked to other writers, and writers who are well known and have good teaching jobs at good colleges and no longer have to worry financially. These writers still feel the same way. One said, "You just have to keep writing."
I imagine a road that you can't see the end of with a piece of white chalk in my hand, writing along it. There are worse things.
Why do you write?
Funny because I was just discussing this with my brother. He is a musician, and we were talking about how hard that kind of question is. I told him how when I was in high school, I won a contest and the local newspaper called me to interview me about it. The interviewer woke me up (I was relaxing!) and asked me a series of questions, ending with the one above.
I guess I was just a snotty teenager, but I think that perhaps now I have earned it. The last line of the newspaper article was my answer: "I just write," it said; "that's what I do."
What do you dislike most?
Insincerity
Do you read blogs? What are some of your favorites?
I read Pinkisthenewblog.com every day. I love celebrity gossip. My mother subscribed to People magazine since I can remember, and it has been her vice for years. It is not hereditary, but it is catching.
I took a great picture in college of my mother reading People in bed and my father leaning over to see it too. He would make fun of it, but there he was, peeking.
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