I want to thank Ryder for answering my questions. You can check out her contribution to the Too Much anthology and her novel, Homegirl! by clicking on the links! Also, show her blog some love!

 
What kinds of writing do you do? What kinds of writing do you wish you did more of?

I write poetry and fiction. A chapbook of my poetry, I am hopscotch without hop, just came out from Kleft Jaw Press. I’m currently working on a novel, The Hater’s Winter, and a graphic novel, which is only tentatively titled. Writing for me is exploring the potential of language and perspective. It is sex. It is transgression. It is a whole lotta love. It is finding the pleasure within and without. Sometimes I wish I could sell out & write a YA trilogy so mama could buy an artists’ compound & support all the great writers out there…

In what ways has academia shaped your writing?

As a grad student, I was lucky to read books that I probably wouldn’t have or would never have heard of… Really out there stuff and really traditional narrative arc stuff, too. Gerald Vizenor, Raymond Carver, Jean Rhys, Angela Carter… As a teacher, I am always lucky to be reading the work of others and seeing the things that words can do.

In what ways has life outside of academia shaped your writing?

FOOD SERVICE. Really. Mama worked in food service for many years & it has shaped the person I am today. There is a camaraderie and a community there that I would like to see among the small presses, a “we’re in this all together” and a “never mind the bollocks” mindset that I’d like to encourage both myself and other writers to take up in the swampy lands of the small presses.

6th grade. Unrequited love poem about a woman who dies waiting for her lover underneath a willow tree. Enough said.

What happens when you’re not happy with your writing?

Mama goes down to the local VA post & stirs the old mens up.

Could you tell us a bit about your contribution to the TOO MUCH anthology?

“Not Mother” is a chapter from The Hater’s Winter. It is the hater’s fantasy, which is then coopted & coup d’etated by another character. Not to get all academic, but it kinda shows how patriarchal narratives can overtake and subsume all the other narratives. Not to get all food servicey, but it’s got love and spite and pancakes and sexy garter times… & mama wants to thank the editors for giving this chapter a home with all the other excellent & raucous tales of excess. Bring the ruckus.