by Meg Pokrass
Curtis Smith is the author of two novels (Sound and Noise and An Unadorned Life), a story collection (The Species Crown), and two collections of short-short stories (In the Jukebox Light and Placing Ourselves Among the Living). The coming year will see the release of his next story collection (Bad Monkey, Press 53), novel (Truth…or something like it, Casperian Books), and his first essay collection (The Agnostic's Prayer, Sunnyoutside Press). His stories and essays have appeared in over fifty literary journals and have been cited by The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and The Best American Spiritual Writing.
Curtis, you are a writer who has mastered many different forms of prose...flash fiction, short story, memoir, novel.... Writers must envy your ability to be able to have this versatility! It's like being equally good at three sports! When you get a creative impulse, are you conscious of the form you'll use--or does that evolve through the process of writing and exploring?
I usually have a good idea of the form before I start. I'm a pretty meticulous planner. I outline everything scene by scene before I put pen to paper. I need to have the form and shape in mind, some sort of guide to get me rolling. Now within that structure, I feel free to wander once the process starts--and often I end up somewhere I hadn't planned, but that's cool. So yes, when I start I usually know what form I'll utilize. That said, sometimes I write long stories that I eventually discover want to be flashes--and vise versa.
Nonfiction is pretty difficult for me. I wrote about fifteen essays within the space of a year or so, most of them dealing with the experiences of fatherhood--and I was lucky to have most of them published. But unlike fiction, which seems to be all around waiting to be discovered, I can't force myself to sit down and write nonfiction. For me, fiction and nonfiction, while they share many elements, are almost opposites in terms of my ability to shape them. I can impose a shape upon my fiction, but for my essays, I feel the need for them to reveal their shape to me. Unfortunately, I'm not always perceptive enough to take real elements of my own life and intelligently interpret them.
What are you working on presently?
I just finished the final edits for my upcoming story collection, Bad Monkey, which will be released by the good people at Press 53 next month. I'm just starting the edits for my next novel, which will be coming out from Casperian Books in Spring 2010. I'm about 3/4 through a rough draft of a new novel. I also have a couple stories that I'm juggling. I like to have a couple different projects going at one in case I need put one aside in order to get a little perspective on it.
You work as a special ed teacher in a public high school. How long have you been doing this? How does your day job life and experiences with kids and families affect your life as a writer?
I have been at the same job for 26.5 years. The paperwork in special learning is a real drag, but I still enjoy the classroom. I am a resource room teacher, which means my kids are mainstreamed for their major subjects. Instead of going to study hall, they come see me. I help preview what's coming up, assist with homework and assignments, and also reinforce what they've learned. It's cool--I like working in all the subject areas. I can never tell what the day will bring. I do geometry one period, physics the next, world history after that (or all within the same period)--anything and everything.
Working with this population can be taxing--and for every success, there's another student I didn't reach, ones who drop out or can't stay out of trouble or who've never bought into the idea that learning new things can be its own reward. Some of my kids come from backgrounds which leave them at the fringes of society--and that's a real eye-opener. I find myself feeling very thankful and blessed for all I have, and I don't know if I would posses this deep appreciation if I'd ventured into another line of work.
Juggling your day job, your prolific writing life, and your family time...sounds like a huge amount to juggle. Can you talk about this?
Some days it's hard--but for things that are important, I'll make the necessary sacrifices. I get up early to write, and I stay up late. I eat lunch in my room to steal away an extra twenty minutes. All those little snippets of time can add up, and if I can get a handful of sentences or a whole paragraph at each sitting, than I feel good. I've learned to be pretty efficient over the years--I find myself getting more done now in an hour in what used to take me two.
My wife has been very supportive of my writing, which is cool. I can say to her that I'm going to spend the next hour locked away working--but my six year old doesn't understand that, and I don't expect him to. So he comes first. Anyway, I owe him a lot--the perspective allowed through my dealings with him has opened up a world I'd been aware of but never really understood. I think fatherhood has made me more empathetic and aware--and thus a better writer.
MP: What is happening in the community of independent literature that excites you? And conversely, are there worries?
Not to be a Pollyanna or anything, but I think it's all exciting. The wonderful established journals keep rolling on and there are a ton of exciting new journals run by young people who possess the energy and the drive and the passion that I find inspiring. I just turned 49--and I figure I have another 30 years or so to be around--and in terms of writing, I can't ask for much more than what I already have--to be a part of this vibrant community that shares the goal of making good art.
Since SmokeLong is a magazine devoted entirely to flash, I would like to ask you about writing flash versus writing other types of prose. What do you value about flash? What draws you to it?
My first two books were chaps of flash fictions published by March Street Press. March Street and its accompanying magazine, Parting Gifts, are real treasures for the flash fiction community--they've been doing it since the late 80s and deserve a lot of credit.
I find a number of things compelling about flash fiction. I love the economical use of a single image to carry a piece. I love the feeling of being immersed in a complete situation in the space of a few hundred words. I love a flash's compact nature and the way the best ones resonate and stick with me for days afterward.
