Beginning at the Beginning

Beginning at the Beginning

It starts with birds. I wasn’t sure how to begin at first.  I sat at the oilcloth-covered table in the cabin, gazing out over the porch, thinking back to Kyoto.  I had already decided to set my novel in Kyoto.  In order to write about Kyoto, I had to...
Chinese Takeout and Rustic Cabins

Chinese Takeout and Rustic Cabins

October 3, 2012: I am now on my third day of my writer’s retreat, or what I’m calling my writer’s retreat. I’ve come alone to the cabin my father built in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. He had intended the cabin to be a temporary shelter for the permanent house...
My Grotesque Year

My Grotesque Year

If I had it all to do over again, I would do it differently. Of course, I didn’t know then what I know now. I had been given the opportunity to translate Kirino Natsuo’s award-winning novel, Grotesque, and I was elated. It was the first time I’d been contracted to...
Translating Grotesque: Mountain Magic

Translating Grotesque: Mountain Magic

I was not the first pick to translate Kirino Natsuo’s Grotesque. Kirino’s agent went the rounds of other translators before being directed to me. And once she found me, she did not give me a contract on the spot. I had to “try out” for the job. She sent me several...