Reader Meet Author: xTx

People hold back pieces of information all the time and for a variety of reasons, and for xTx the reason is protection. I've met several writers who have not felt uncomfortable having some of their work published or discussed because of their role in teaching or in the business world. I must admit when I first came across the work of xTx I was a little scared or maybe intimidated, and a certain amount of anonymity may not be a bad thing. She has this uninhibited nature about her work that I suppose can be attributed to her pen name. It seems to allow to her to says exactly what is on her mind, and in turn cut straight to the heart of each topic she attacks.

xTx released her debut collection Nobody Trusts a Black Magician earlier this year, and currently blogs at Nothing To Say. Recently, she was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Do you feel writer's are using the internet to do more than just promote their work? Do you feel you would be able to create the personna you have without the internet?
xTx: I think writers primarily use the internet to promote their work, but I also feel they use it as a way to connect with other writers. I know that if I’d have never been promoting my writing on the internet, I wouldn’t have connected with so many fine writers I now call friends.

I highly doubt I would have been able to create my persona without the internet, if you want to call who I am and what I do, a “persona”. Without the internet, nobody would be reading me. It’s the only place I put my writing (so far).

OA: Why do you feel the need to without certain elements of your life from the public?
xTx: I write a lot of provocative stuff that I really wouldn’t want folks in my personal and professional life discovering. That is the primary reason. The reverse of that is, my writing tends to attract a certain sort of audience. Some of who have, over the years, been a bit frighteningly, um, let’s say, “overly enthusiastic”. Had I been writing with my real name I might have been dealing with things such as restraining orders and the like. It’s simply a matter of self-protection.

OA: I really enjoyed your collection nobody trusts a black magician. How autobiographical is it?
xTx: I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’d say it’s semi-autobiographical. There are obviously some straight up fiction pieces in it, but the poetry and prose is primarily all me, in that, I rarely write completely fictional poems or prose. Some elements might be added for ‘artistic expression’ but the underlying feelings/themes/messages are usually just pieces of me put onto a page.

OA: The image on the cover almost suggests that the contents should be read like a blog. Is that the intent?
xTx: I’ve always been a writer, but when the medium of blogging became known to me, I went at it like a crazy person. Many of the pieces in NTABM were unpublished pieces from my blog. Stories/prose/poems that I’d put away for years that I ended up taking out, dusting off and cleaning up for inclusion in NTABM. The image on the cover is a nod to my blogging history and also to the perversion found in my subject matter and no, those aren't my legs.

OA: Do you like pdf publications? With Kindles & Sony Readers is it viable option?
xTx: I do like PDF publications. I think they are clean and easy to obtain. I see things eventually heading towards Kindles/Sony Readers like how music is all electronically accessed now. Not sure how I feel about that change, but I do see it heading in that direction. I love holding a book in my hand though. I’ll be one of the last hold outs, I’m sure…walking around with a paperback while people laugh at me, Kindles in hand.

OA: What's next for xTx?
xTx: xTx will keep plugging away. 2010 might bring about a name change. She realizes she can only go so far using 3 letters for a name. Stay tuned...

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
xTx: Jeff Buckley. I’d like to sit with him on a couch with our legs intertwined. The lights would be low and I’d make sure he’d have access to a guitar. I’d ask him why he went swimming that night with his boots on, and then after all conversation was spent, I’d ask him to sing.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
xTx: I am across the board in terms of the types of music I enjoy. For me, this was the year of Neutral Milk Hotel, I’ve probably been listening to their albums/songs every single day since about June of this year. Other faves are; The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, T.I. and my all time favorite band, Old 97’s. Rhett Miller is my boyfriend.

For more information on xTx please visit her website.