Spotlight On…

She’s d Donna, d darling, d force, d wordwielder. Read what she did with the prompt “zebra.” Read her every word.

– Ethel Rohan

Writing wise, where are you now? Where are you going?

In an over-arching career sense, I have no idea where I’m headed.  I finished a novel draft in May and have been experiencing that dry, down, despair you ask about later.  In the last 2 weeks I’ve written a story (12 pages) and it feels sooooo good.

What informs your creative process? How do you keep inspired?

I’m not sure I can put a name to it. I often think (fear?) I haven’t got another story, or image, or line in me — especially after I’ve finished a longer story or a huge project like the novel.  That’s when the self doubt elbows in. So far, even if it takes months (and it HAS lately), eventually a snip of conversation or an experience grabs me and pulls me back in the writing orbit.

How do you feel about the label writer, woman writer?

I am a writer; I like the label writer.

Do you struggle with self-doubt? How do you cope with those feelings?

Of course.  To cope, I dawdle on Facebook; read; bike; walk; cook/bake; divorce my mind from doubt by overloading with physical/mental exhaustion. Doesn’t make the doubt disappear but these distractions allow me to turn my head, to a place where I am master of my universe.

In addition to writing, what other metaphorical hats do you wear?

mother, gardener, chef, grant writer, friend.

How has the Internet impacted your reading and writing? What is the future of print publication?

I read flash online almost exclusively. Not usually longer work there. Future of print publications? I have no prediction or sense of future there for good or for ill. I will say I go to the library and check out books every few weeks and that’s where I get the majority of story collections and novels resulting from friends’ recs I’ve read online or in blogs or on Facebook. So, in my case, online communication facilitates my reading longer printed work. Novels, held in my hand, is where my interest has always been, ever since I was a little girl reading Black Beauty and The Mystery of the Tolling Bell.

Tell us something that most people don’t know about you?

No.

If you didn’t write, what would your life look like?

Bleak. Sterile. Normal.

Please tell us your favorite, and why:

Musical:

Funny Girl. It was among the first record albums we had when I was a girl, so after listening endlessly I pretty much learned all the words. I felt proud of that. Still do. Sometimes, from the deepest recesses of my mind, I’ll hear Fanny belting out: “Hey, Mr. Arnstein! Here-I-am!”

Fable/Fairy Tale:

The Brownies. You know the story all Brownie Scouts read/learned? I liked the illustrations of them in the Brownie Handbook. They were precious asexual little men.

Movie:

Tie between Groundhog Day and What about Bob? because of Bill Murray.

Painting:

I like any ancient Chinese painting on silk. You know, birds, carp, bamboo, ethereal mountaintops in cloud. I find them elemental, as in not fussy. And anonymous. Though of course they are not.

Place:

Lake — waves or stillness. Water is the because.

Please do a five minute free-write with the word “zebra” and share.

Cannot lie — this took more like 15 minutes:

Egret
What did you want I didn’t give you?
He mumbled into his pillow, half his face smushed. Sleep-drugged.
Sprawled naked across the bed. I mean he took as much my side as his.
Through the blinds came dawn, mistaken about the safe haven, I guess.
Light and dark striped him, my zebra, snoozing, all of him.
His back, his legs, his ass, his one exposed ear.
For a while I watched. For long enough.
I’d rode his back, ate what he stirred up.
Weathered the contrast of his moods, hung on, hung in.
Listened for hooves in the hall.

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Donna D. Vitucci raises funds for nonprofit clients in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in dozens of journals, including Natural Bridge, Hawaii Review, Meridian, Gargoyle, Front Porch Journal, Beloit Fiction Journal, Storyglossia,  Turnrow, Juked, Night Train, Chautauqua Literary Review,  Los Angeles Review, PANK, Freight Stories, and Another Chicago Magazine. Dark Sky Magazine published her flash “Dream Come May,” in June 2010.