{"id":21081,"date":"2013-05-29T08:48:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T12:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=21081"},"modified":"2015-08-17T09:55:12","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T13:55:12","slug":"author-interview-don-lee-in-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/author-interview-don-lee-in-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Interview: Don Lee [in Bloom]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Don<\/a>With his eyes and body still \u201cbleary from post-windsurfing and traveling,\u201d Don Lee<\/a> nonetheless graciously agrees to be grilled yet again \u2013 we\u2019re going on a decade-plus of various interviews through four books! He\u2019s tired, he\u2019s rambling, but he\u2019s always entertaining \u2026 and once more he\u2019s game to talk about all manner of things, from writing and ethnicity, to blooming late and Eeyore-style lamentations.<\/p>\n

With all that literary editing, mentoring, teaching, how come you didn\u2019t publish until you were 41?<\/strong>
\nOh, I could give you all kinds of excuses: that I was busy with Ploughshares<\/a> <\/em>(true), that each short story took me a long time to write (very true), that I never really planned or wanted to publish a book (sort of true), that I was happy writing stories once a year or so and getting them into journals (almost true), but frankly, the real reason was that I was scared shitless. I think unconsciously I didn\u2019t want to lay it all out on the line and try to publish a book and then fail. It was easier not to try.<\/p>\n

But then I turned 38, and I decided I\u2019d really like to have a book, one book, before I turned 40. I didn\u2019t want to end up thinking for the rest of my life about what could have been, and become bitter. So I wrote two new stories, revised a bunch of old stories to form a collection, and set about finding an agent to represent me, all of which took over a year and a half. Whereas the goal originally (and unrealistically) had been to publish a book by the time I turned 40, the new goal became to sell the book by then, and I did: W. W. Norton offered me a book contract the week I turned 40, and Yellow<\/a><\/em> was published the following year [in 2001].<\/p>\n

Okay, so what prompted you to write that first story? And how did that first story eventually morph into the determination to become a writer for real?<\/strong>
\nUnlike many authors, I didn\u2019t know I wanted to be a writer at 7 years old or whatnot. I didn\u2019t know what I\u2019d do with my life. I was, however, a tinkerer as a kid. I would take apart things, make things. My bedroom was scattered with detritus \u2013\u00a0tools, wires, glue, balsa wood, batteries, a soldering iron, capacitors, motors, model cars and planes. When it came time to go to college, my quixotic plan was to get my mechanical engineering degree and then a Ph.D. in physical oceanography and build and pilot underwater submersibles (I watched a lot of Jacques Cousteau as a kid). I was a dreamer. I didn\u2019t write a short story until my sophomore year at UCLA, after a comp teacher told me I had a flair for words and might enjoy taking a creative writing class.<\/p>\n

And now four books\u2014and oh so many awards!!\u2014later, are you still scared shitless? Or are you finally resting a bit on your laurels?<\/strong>
\nNaw, I\u2019m still a tortured soul who never allows himself to feel good about his accomplishments, who doesn\u2019t really believe he\u2019s accomplished anything. And yes, each time I start another book, I am petrified that I won\u2019t be able to pull it off and finish it, and if I can, that I won\u2019t be able to sell it, and if I can, that no one will like it. Why do I keep doing it, then? Because it\u2019s a challenge, and I\u2019m compelled to do it, and I love being inside the process of writing a novel, of thinking about it all the time and figuring out structure and motifs and themes and connections. In a way, I\u2019m still a tinkerer, building things with words. [… click here for more<\/a>]\n

Author interview<\/strong>: \u201cQ&A with Don Lee,\u201d Bloom<\/em>, May 29, 2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With his eyes and body still \u201cbleary from post-windsurfing and traveling,\u201d Don Lee nonetheless graciously agrees to be grilled yet again \u2013 we\u2019re going on a decade-plus of various interviews through four books! 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