Tell us about yourself.:
I started my professional life as a journalist for two major newspapers but turned to fiction writing three decades ago. During a bout of cancer in 2002, I started painting and it has flourished over the years.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?:
I grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State, and always loved to read. I remember spending summers with piles of books. Living in a beautiful rural area, I felt close to nature and that surely influenced my first book, Dream Maples, a story of women artists set in a sugarbush in southern Vermont.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
For many years I "saw" my fiction like a film strip inside my mind. All I had to do was sit down and the words just poured out. More recently, I have been writing out of a more spiritual energy. I meditate every morning and often ideas come to me during this quiet time.
What authors have influenced you?
I grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State, and always loved to read. I remember spending summers with piles of books. Living in a beautiful rural area, I felt close to nature and that surely influenced my first book, Dream Maples, a story of women artists set in a sugarbush in southern Vermont.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Try to write every day. Try to say the things that are deepest in your heart. Try to lay the images and ideas out in the most poetic prose possible. And then, after you publish, don't get bogged down worrying about how many people are reading your writing. You are writing for yourself. You are writing out of a deep psychic need, so just keep showing up at the computer. I think of the writing practice as if I am going outdoors every morning with a beautiful silver cup. I hold the cup up and let the words flow in. Some days the cup is sparsely filled but that's OK. And some days the cup is overflowing!!! The best book I can recommend to young writers is Brenda Ueland's classic, "If You Want To Write." As Ueland points out, "No writing is a waste of time." And "Inspiration comes very slowly and quietly. When I wait with inspiration, my time is not wasted." Ueland wrote some six million words in her 93 feisty years!
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
"Just keep writing!" I got my PhD in English at UAlbany, SUNY, in 1996 in a program called, Writing, Teaching and Criticism. I became very close friends with another fiction writer, PM "Peg" Woods. We continue to write together every week on Zoom. Whenever one of us gets stuck we remind each other that the only way forward is to "just keep writing." So that means you might write some 2,500 pages (as I did with Dreaming Maples) to produce a 425 page finished book. And it might take you 23 years to finish a book, as it did with my third book, Sister Mysteries.
What are you reading now?
"The Oracle of Stamboul," by Michael David Lukas and "Hell of a Book" by Jason Mott. Both are very very strong works of fiction (for very different reasons.) I try to find books that are not only technically masterful but also offer characters I can really care about. Too many "fine" works of fiction leave me wondering why I should care about the characters.
What’s your biggest weakness?
I am impatient by nature, so I have to work at slowing down and appreciating small steps in the writing process. (That's also true for my painting.)
What is your favorite book of all time?
Ah, it has changed over the years. As a youngster I loved Jane Eyre and I have read it many times. In high school, it was Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," as I had no idea that you could write in stream of consciousness as he did. In grad school it was "The Song of the Lark" by Willa Cather, the captivating story of a young woman becoming a singer. Today I'd have to say that there are many favorites, including "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham, "The Keepers of the House" by Shirley Ann Grau, and my own novels, which are like children to me.
When you’re not writing, how do you like to spend your time?
Hiking in the Rocky Mountains and the Sierras, canoeing, traveling, especially in Italy, sewing and gardening. And of course playing with my grandchildren, who are gifts from heaven. Exercise is essential to my writing process, as it clears my mind and calms me down.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
As a very young child, I loved "The Bobbsey Twins, again, because I loved the characters, two sets of twins, Nan and Bert, and Flossie and Freddie. I still have the books on my shelf!
What has inspired you and your writing style?
I have been inspired most of all by nature, and by writers who write beautiful poetic prose about nature. I have been inspired by music, especially flamenco, in my second and third novels. I have been inspired by paintings, most of all the work of Impressionists, especially Renoir. I have been inspired by the stories of my Italian ancestors too.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a book that is both memoir and fiction. It's a tale about my great grandfather, Pasquale Orzo, who was born out of wedlock in southern Italy in 1870. (He was given the name Orzo, a type of macaroni, and I believe it was a way of branding him for life as an "illegitimate".) Most babies born out of wedlock in those days in Italy perished so it's a miracle that he lived. I have started to write his story and his mother's, and it is forcing me into fiction.
What is your favorite method for promoting your work?
Hosting parties and readings in bookstores and other venues. Also, I am an avid blogger and a lover of Instagram so I try to promote my work on each.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have all I can do writing the book I am writing now (I started it two years ago.)
How well do you work under pressure?
I was once a daily newspaper reporter (most recently with "The Wall Street Journal.") I could meet any deadline, even with complex stories. But these days, I see no reason to pressure myself with artificial deadlines. I live day by day, in deep gratitude and appreciation for the bounty of blessings I've been given.
How do you decide what tone to use with a particular piece of writing?
The tone comes with the words. The first chapter of my new novel, "Pearly Everlasting," poured out of me in a breathless staccato voice, in part because it was about a sexual assault. Other writing in the same book is slow and very poetic. It all depends on what is happening.
If you could share one thing with your fans, what would that be?
I would share my deep appreciation for writing and reading — which are gifts. What a miracle that we have brains to create the words and images and characters and worlds we create. How amazing that we then have hands and fingers to transfer these complex ideas to paper and ebooks, and astonishing eyes to read the books that are written. All of it is part of a great great mystery and one I am constantly thankful for.
Claudia Ricci’s Author Websites and Profiles
Website
Amazon Profile
Goodreads Profile
Claudia Ricci’s Social Media Links
Facebook Page
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Leave a Reply