Publication Date: June 15 Leaping Goat Press |
Snakes: a Novel began the first evening I met with the writing group of women which still meets every month these 30 years later. We had a exercise in which we were to talk with an inner critic. In my mind’s eye, a giant serpent came and told me to concentrate only on describing the patterns on her body. I began writing all the snake stories that I had ever heard as a child growing up on a small farm in the Midwest. The snake stories are true; the storyline developed as the protagonist Angela struggled with her relationship to her family and with her disturbed relationship to the land after moving from small farm life to study marine biology in California.