Well, Prodigal and The Wager are about as different as two pieces can be. Prodigal is a piece I started many years ago—in fact it began as an excerpt from a novel I abandoned in a drawer somewhere. It’s partially based on my own experiences and observations when I was in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement back in 2002. It’s also inspired by the stories told to me by a Palestinian-American friend and his wife when they returned several years ago.

I’m very interested in the Palestinian situation because I feel that most of the information Americans receive is skewed and has a racial/racist bias. When I write about it I try to avoid the polemic and just tell the stories…and leave it up to the readers to come to their own conclusions. It’s tricky, though, and I’ve certainly received plenty of hate mail.

The Wager—well, what can I say, except that the more I write flash fiction, the more I’m convinced that a good story really doesn’t require many words.

My writing schedule has changed over the years depending on my kids and my teaching schedules, but the most important thing is to have a schedule. If you wait for the muse or for when you “have some extra time,” it will never happen. I carve out my writing schedule from my life each semester and guard it like a rabid dog. The best writing trick I know: don’t have the internet at home. It saves a lot of temptation.

I’m still recovering from Moby Dick. I wanted to jump ship (no pun intended) plenty of times, but I’m so glad I didn’t—the ending of that book is just exquisite. Next up on my list is The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I’m in the middle of writing a gothic opera/novel , so I’ve been trying to catch up on all the classic gothic novels, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.  And The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is patiently waiting in the queue. I discovered a few years back that Gertrude Stein wrote librettos to several operas--check them out! They are pure Stein and fantastic.