Smashwords Interview with Michele Miles Gardiner
Who are your favorite authors?
Eve Babitz, Anne Lamott, Cynthia Heimel, Nora Ephron, Kurt Vonnegut, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Dorothy Parker, Joan Didion, Jack Kerouac, David Sedaris, Sandra Tsing Loh, Fran Lebowitz, Charles Bukowski, and John Steinbeck.
I love writers who get me thinking, feeling, and laughing.
Other creative influences: Elaine May, Madeline Kahn, Lucille Ball, and Carol Burnett.
What are you working on next?
“How to Stay Broke and Influence Nobody.” You know books like “How to Become Rich” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People”? You won’t learn any of that in this book. What you will learn is what doesn’t seem to work. As you read how I’ve struggled in life–whether working, raising a child, having pets, traveling, or encountering celebrities and musicians–my tales will only confirm you’re doing even better than you believe.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
I’ve written stories since I was able to write. The first one I remember was about a little farm girl kidnapped by aliens. They took her to their planet, where they allowed her to stay up late and eat junk food. She never wanted to return to her farm house. That was my 8-year-old fantasy at the time, as the child of health food fanatics.
I didn’t submit any of my work until about 15 years ago, an essay about an encounter I had in the grocery store, which was published.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
“Charlotte’s Web.” I couldn’t put it down and it made me cry at the end.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I started life in the suburbs of San Francisco. Then, after the summer of love, my parents took my little sister and me to travel the world in a trailer.
I wrote my stories for “Craving Normal,” about these experiences, and then how I returned back to America and had a hard time fitting in, after our adventures.
Michele has written essays and articles for magazines and newspapers. But what she enjoys most is storytelling–writing about life, culture, and society with her own slanted view, often injecting humor.
Many of her life experiences should be labeled, “Warning: Results May Vary,” hence the name of her blog.
“Craving Normal,” is a collection of stories about being born to suburbanites who veered way off and transformed into nude-beach-going, world-traveling-hippies, and other adventures of growing up during the “Me Generation,” and beyond. “Craving Normal” is available now, in print and eBook, on Amazon.
