Kristen Mickelwait
Kirsten Mickelwait is a professional copywriter and editor by day and a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction by night. She's an alumna of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Napa Valley Writers' Conference, the Paris Writers' Conference, and the San Francisco Writers' Conference. Her short story, "Parting with Nina," won first prize in The Ledge's 2004 Fiction Awards competition. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she's at work on a new novel. The Ghost Marriage is Kirsten's first memoir. The book tells her story of spiritual connection and surviving divorce after 50.
Twitter: @KMickelwait
Instagram: @KMickelwait54
Are there any particular films that have influenced your writing?
My first (unpublished) novel was based on reincarnation and was set in six different historical periods. I was fascinated by films like The Red Violin that told a story through different eras in time. In all of my creative writing, though, I try to envision scenes through a cinematic lens. What details would the camera land on? I find it makes it easier to craft a scene. I also love witty rom-coms like those by Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers. Funny dialogue is really an art form. And I love anything by Anthony Minghella or Luca Guadagnino—gorgeous characters against stunning European backdrops, stories that remain stuck in your mind for weeks or months.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
So many! In that (still unpublished) first novel, I gravitated to periods in time and places that particularly intrigued me: Minoan Crete, ancient Rome, medieval China, Bourbon France, and a 19th-century Amish community. I got to immerse myself in the details of life back then. I’m also obsessed with Bohemian movements, so Paris in the 1920s and New York in the 1950s are periods that have always fascinated me. Right now I’m working on a novel based on members of the Lost Generation in Paris. I never get tired of that crowd.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Anything that doesn’t involve sitting at my computer! I belong to a summer bocce team and I also love yoga, cycling, hiking, and kayaking. I keep hoping to meet someone with a sailboat. Getting outdoors and moving my body is a necessary antidote to writing fulltime.
What’s the difference (at least for you) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
My two day jobs are writing for a college of engineering and as a freelance marketing writer for a variety of commercial and nonprofit clients. The difference is that, in that work, others assign what I write about, and I have much less attachment to the words I choose. There are also shorter deadlines and I charge by the hour or project. It’s a job. But it’s still storytelling, and I still need to use narrative arc, dialogue, and description. After a day of that, it’s often hard to shift gears and remain at my computer for my own creative work. But it’s also rewarding to escape into an alternate universe with people who interest me.
Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?
I used to speak passable French and Italian, but they’ve both atrophied over the years. Now if I try to speak one, I never know which language will come out. It’s as if my brain only has one foreign language channel now. I’m pretty much limited to ordering in restaurants and chatting up waiters.
