Stuff
Kelly Simmons: A Self Portrait
Kelly Simmons Revealed
About Kelly Simmons
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. packed with words, friends, fur, and very dirty laundry
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. when the croutons are gone, the salad is finished
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. a cup of coffee and three laps: one for a computer, one for a child, and one for a cat
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. the plot of STANDING STILL is my greatest fear
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. other than the fantasy of having three laps, I would probably go to Rome and have pizza at an outdoor cafe
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. the suffragettes. i have bone-deep, ancestral female anger
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. oh man, this is the part where I have to remember whose alive and whose dead . . .
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. "that is totally unprecedented"
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. i have only slight regret for my wasted, and I do mean wasted, youth.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. I wish I could sing
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. perseverance
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. i have many flaws, but fortunately, a great deal of forgiveness
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. i understand, and empathize, with every human condition
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. i am extremely happy inhabiting a human female form, but having thinner thighs would be nice
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. the ability to find humor in even the sickest situation
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. gatsby
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. honestly, i prefer heroes
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Jesus, don't tell me you made man first. I don't buy it.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. whistling
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. potato chips
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. John Irving, Anne Beattie, Jane Hamilton, Mary Gaitskill, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. don't make me choose
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. The Great Gatsby
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. If you write a lot, think more. If you think a lot, write more.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. "I love your descriptions." and "I love your short chapters."
- Q. How did you come to write Standing Still?
- A. This book is the answer to the classic question: What book can only you write? It is a unique mix of fear, panic, motherhood, marriage, and, foremost, longing. No one has written a serious book about a character with panic attacks who wasn't hilariously neurotic or a caricature. I just couldn't let Tony Soprano be the poster child for panic disorder.
