publishing in 2003 Honey Don’t, a zany and dark political satire about the assassination of the President of the United States. Since then, Sandlin has been especially prolific. Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty was published in January, and another novel, Rowdy in Paris, which he describes as his “cowboy book” about a bull-rider who goes to Paris, is slated for publication in 2008. Sandlin is currently working on a fourth installment of The GroVont Trilogy and perfectly aware of the contradiction.
Anyone who can write well can write well. It’s talent and work. Writing well isn’t as important as having something to say, and a job outside writing helps with that. It doesn’t have to be mind-numbing. Thought-provoking jobs give you material and mind-numbing jobs give you time to daydream. I needed the time to daydream.
That relates to the other question in that writing programs tend to put out good writers without much to say.
Living in Wyoming for nearly thirty years, Sandlin currently serves as the director of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. His poignant humor, featherweight prose and perseverance have earned him a spot as one of the most entertaining novelists working today.
Your bio mentions having worked a number of “mind-numbing” jobs. You’ve said that these entry-level jobs helped you hone your creative skills. Do you believe it’s necessary for a writer to get his or her hands dirty in order to write well?
Anyone who can write well can write well. It’s talent and work. Writing well isn’t as important as having something to say, and a job outside writing helps with that. It doesn’t have to be mind-numbing. Thought-provoking jobs give you material and mind-numbing jobs give you time to daydream. I needed the time to daydream.
What are your opinions of writing programs?
That relates to the other question in that writing programs tend to put out good writers without much to say.
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