MFA Greensboro Alum Julianna Baggott Interviews Fellow Alum Michael Gills

1/2 Dozen for Michael Gills
     by Julianna Baggott

Here is a 1/2 Dozen
with my dear friend (from way back)
Michael Gills.
His story collection THE DEATH OF BONNIE AND CLYDE and his novel GO LOVE came out this past year.
(GO LOVE is a triumphant novel that I read early on. Truly wonderful. Click here to read a Q and A with Gills in Psychology Today -- in take a look at his process.)
I adore Gills and his brilliant writerly soul!

HERE GOES:

Current obsessions—literary or otherwise.

I
play guitar and sing in a band that is currently working up a cover of
Gregg Allman's cover of Sleepy John Estes' "Floating Bridge," this
killer blues song from the 30's about a near death experience in muddy
water. Allman's version appeared on Youtube just after his own near
death from liver failure and subsequent transplant. That edge comes
through--his voice shakes, and I believe. Now, I'm rehearsing the song,
and it's under my skin, that eerie bridge, the tremolo, what seeps
between.

Writing Tip #2.

Get
up at 4:30 a.m., turn on your machine, and go. Your inner-censor is
turned off then and you can knock out a chunk before the sun even
rises--hard to fuck up a day like that. Revise by the hard light of
day. In bed by 8:30 p.m. Do it all again.

Read the full interview here: http://bridgetasher.blogspot.com/2012/01/12-dozen-for-michael-gills_30.html

Find out more about the MFA Writing Program here:http://mfagreensboro.org