me:  ‪Hey what’s up?

Juliet:  ‪sup

me:  ‪Putting kid to bed

haha

Juliet:  ‪wild times

me:  ‪How r things in sunny san diego?

Juliet:  ‪oh you know

sunny

me:  ‪So I rly loved yr book

Juliet:  ‪yayyyy

i really loved yours too!

me:  ‪also, kinda weird, since we just met a month ago, and we spent this very small time together, but I kinda miss you

Juliet:  ‪ awww, that’s nice thx! aww, yeah i wish all the good people could live in close proximity physically and not just together on the internet

me:  ‪the internet’s better than hanging IRL with most people, sometimes

Juliet:  ‪yeah last night i went to a reading thing in LA and it was fun but also kinda anxiety-provoking lol

me:  ‪so, I want to introduce you to people. Pretend I was introducing you to my friends, and we’re at a party

Juliet:  ‪ok

this is julia (juliet), when she is not being nice she is a real dick is that good?

me:  ‪I think you’d get along really great w my friends

Juliet:  ‪oh are they real dicks too sometimes

me:  ‪Yeah, so, the only other prob is that they’re all pretty much current or former drug addicts/alcoholics, too

Juliet:  ‪oh yes

those are my people

i much prefer current addicts over people who don’t understand that mentality

me:  ‪Yeah, I feel ya on that. But you got out of it . . .

Now you’re writing

Juliet:  ‪yes

and not being a shit head

or trying, anyway

me:  ‪That’s why I miss you, you weren’t being a shithead

Juliet:  ‪haha

me:  ‪But yr writing is very much about the addict’s lifestyle, at least it is in BLACK CLOUD

Juliet:  ‪yes i hope that that book purged that

or at least mostly purged that

me:  ‪So, if you write, or are writing, something new, it won’t necessarily revolve around that?

Juliet:  ‪because i don’t want to be a sober person who only writes about being fucked up

but i couldn’t stop doing that

i hope so, i am trying anyway. the closest the new stuff i have been working on to that is self-loathing

me:  ‪Oh, yeah, i know that part. I mean, for me, anyway.

‪Where are you right now?

Juliet:  ‪at my kitchen table

me:  ‪What’s it like?

Juliet:  ‪it is stainless steel and usually covered in like, papers and stuff and the curtains are open right now and it is quickly becoming overcast and i can see the ocean

me:  ‪That sounds nice. Do you write there, or mostly just do chat and other boring things there?

Juliet:  ‪i do like, fake writing here

‪sometimes

like emails and things

usually i work in my bedroom

me:  ‪Is that where you wrote BLACK CLOUD–or some of it, anyway? Can you describe that place?

Juliet:  ‪i wrote black cloud at my desk

i have a pic or i could describe it

me:  ‪Oh, a pic wd be nice!

Juliet:  ‪ok i emailed it

juliet 1

 

me:  ‪And then we can say: HERE IS WHERE BLACK CLOUD WAS WRITTEN

Juliet:  ‪yes

it was also written mostly between 12-6 am

although 5 stories were written in NYC

i think 5

me:  ‪Are you sick of the book yet, or are u still totally feeling it?

Juliet:  ‪i like it

i am proud of it

i would want to read it and i feel like i would be interested in it and the pictures and the videos

but i want to do other things now

me:  ‪That’s good. Thats a good place to be in. I only ask, cause after a while I get sick of my

‪own books

Juliet:  ‪things that aren’t 800-2100 word stories about drugs and failed romantic relationships

me:  ‪Whatever it is you do we’re gonna be waiting for it, and we’ll probably love it

Juliet:  ‪thank you

yeah i think it will take a while though

cus i am trying to do something different with form so i have to

write the work plus i have to figure out how to shape it all

maybe it’ll turn out to be something entirely different than what i’m imagining though

me:  ‪Have you thought about doing something that isn’t necessarily “fiction”? Like some kind of hybrid form or genre?

Juliet:  ‪i like the idea of not being able to tell the difference between the author and the character like the line being blurry

because i don’t think it really matters