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
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
