I had the privilege of hearing an excerpt from Robert W. Fox’s work on Sunday February 24th at the Reading Rhapsodomancy in Hollywood. The excerpt is part of a much larger memoir soon to hit the bookstores called: No Direction Home. The story is about (no spoiler alert) a young boy who loses his mother at the age of 16, is estranged from his father and for the next few decades looks for a family or a place to call home.
A memoir that has taken the author through certain parts of Europe and the U.S. that while listening to Mr. Fox read I was immediately pulled in by his uncanny grasp to point out the diverse nuances that exist within a culture. At the end of the reading I was able to nab the author for a few moments and ask a few questions…here are his answers.
Do you write professionally?
Not yet. This is my first book. I am the Program Coordinator of the MAOM program at Antioch University; but I do teach writing to incarcerated teenage girls.
How did you come about to writing this book?
It started when I was doing my BA at Antioch; I was going to be a therapist when my mentor brought to my attention that I should consider creative writing. During the MFA program another mentor had seen an essay I wrote on this same topic and suggested I turn it into a book.
Do you have a style you like to work with?
I try to infuse my prose with poetry and/or poetic elements.
Do you have a schedule you abide by? A process?
(Laughs) I could definitely use more discipline in my writing process. I just write when the feeling arises…and once I do get going, it’s hard to stop me.
What was the most difficult aspect of writing this book?
Probably the fact that I am trying to recreate a truth of 35-40 years ago, that when you are that age you don’t know or realize that 30 years down the line you will be writing about those precise experiences. Is it really how it happened or is it a 50 year old remembering my 20 year old life? Is this a genuine emotional truth perceived at the time? Is this an individual who having processed certain tragedies now looks at them in a different light? Also when the same person is being looked at from different eyes, like several siblings for example looking at their father, that makes for a different person, and again you find yourself asking, is this what I perceived at the time.
Can’t help but ask this question, who are your favorite authors?
Poets like Anne Sexton and Pablo Neruda. Novelists like Michael Ondaatje and Mikal Gilomore, Nick Flyn’s memoir is wicked I suggest you read it.
Thank you I will, and thank you so much for your time. I look forward to reading your book and can’t wait to know more.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the reading.
Picture courtesy of Reading Rhapsodomancy
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