Name: Linda Langlois
Major(s): English (MA)
Year of Graduation: TBA
Position: Featured Writer (Fall 2009, Spring 2010)
Tell us a bit about yourself: Your life, your experiences, and all that has contributed to your development as a person and fabulous writer.
I started first grade at 5 years old and that was the last time I was ever younger than my peers. I’m a late-bloomer, in graduate school when I should be in a retirement home. I have nieces and nephews who have babies older than my child. I had my only child at 40 and she and I are in separate (graduate) schools together.
My first honeymoon was spent on the back of a motorcycle touring England, Scotland and Wales for 6 weeks. The marriage didn’t last but the wanderlust did. And always, I wrote.
We've had the pleasure of reading much of your poetry, and particularly love a particular poem written about your husband and your car breaking down in the rain. What does your family think about your writing? How participatory are they in your process or overall content?
My husband and daughter are very encouraging and supportive though in different ways. My daughter is more of a reader than my husband and tends to be more critical of my approach to topics.
Who have you been reading recently? Tell us about your thoughts on the reading and the writer.
I am reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, first as an audio book till it had too many blank spaces. I was intrigued by the title and I love it. I read several books at once, depending on my mood and how long I can stay awake but do not always finish them. I am still trying to get through Night by Elie Wiesel but need a special mood for that. I gave up on Eat, Pray, Love.
I love people stories about the war (WWII) and, no, I was not alive then. I am excited abut the Reading Across Rhode Island selection coming up, about the German occupation of the Channel Islands and a book club the local women created as an excuse to the Germans to get-tog.
A little birdie told us you plant to read at the Launch Event. How do you feel about reading your poetry? What advice do you have for other writers with regard to putting a voice to their work?
I am scared to death to read aloud but think to myself, if not now, when? The advice I have for others and am trying to learn myself is how much I enjoy hearing a person read their work Loudly, Slowly and with Feeling. These three things make “Readings” so enjoyable.
If you could spend one evening with any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why? What would you do together? Where would you go? Would wine, arrests or headlining new stories be involved?
Oh definitely wine…so I think, F .Scott Fitzgerald. Or maybe Kate Stone. And we’d definitely travel to new places if only in our minds and we’d laugh and laugh and laugh.
At what time of day do you write most? Why do you think this is so?
I do most of my writing while I’m walking (usually the beach) or driving, especially when I’m “stuck.” I have words, phrases, thoughts written everywhere, mostly the backs of envelopes. I have notes from years and years ago that I come across at odd moments and think, Oh yeah, I never did finish that thought. I daydream all the time and this produces my best writing. I’m constantly running scenarios through my head and writing them down. I never sit down at the computer to “write.”
Tell us a bit about any recent projects you're currently working on. We love knowing you're producing more wonderful writings!
Well, I spent my summer with DH Lawrence in Taormina which was certainly more enjoyable than the rainy summer we had here in South County. Of course his wife was there but we ignored her. I had two lovely rejection letters, one from a British professor who said he was “intrigued with my idea.” I’ve been working on some memoir pieces but my main goal is to find a home for DH.
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