Ask the Author: Michele Tracy Berger
Answered Questions (6)
Michele Tracy Berger
I got the seed of the idea from watching the drama of the ‘Rio’ scandal unfold.
In the early 1990s The World Rio Corporation released a product known as Rio, billed as a natural hair relaxer, marketed almost exclusively to Black women, and as an option to traditional relaxers. This was a very well promoted product with slick and enticing infomercials. Rio promised an easy and healthy alternative to other products on the market. Soon though women began reporting horrible reactions to Rio including itchy scalps, oozing blisters and significant hair loss. A class action lawsuit revealed that there was nothing natural, at all, about Rio. Rio actually contained a number of highly acidic chemicals!
I’ve always been interested in the politics of hair, Black hair culture and viruses, so the Rio scandal provided a perfect runway to imagine ‘what if’.
In the early 1990s The World Rio Corporation released a product known as Rio, billed as a natural hair relaxer, marketed almost exclusively to Black women, and as an option to traditional relaxers. This was a very well promoted product with slick and enticing infomercials. Rio promised an easy and healthy alternative to other products on the market. Soon though women began reporting horrible reactions to Rio including itchy scalps, oozing blisters and significant hair loss. A class action lawsuit revealed that there was nothing natural, at all, about Rio. Rio actually contained a number of highly acidic chemicals!
I’ve always been interested in the politics of hair, Black hair culture and viruses, so the Rio scandal provided a perfect runway to imagine ‘what if’.
Michele Tracy Berger
I usually find a new place to write or I switch to a different story or essay. Usually, if I am blocked it means that I have some fear about the piece I am trying to write. So, it's helpful to write all the fears down in one place and then dispose of the paper. I like burning it!
Sometimes, if I'm blocked I will play a game of trying to write at least 100 words or 250 words in 10 minute intervals. This is something I learned when I did the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge in 2014. Writing sprints are great because they help us get past our inner critics.
Sometimes, if I'm blocked I will play a game of trying to write at least 100 words or 250 words in 10 minute intervals. This is something I learned when I did the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge in 2014. Writing sprints are great because they help us get past our inner critics.
Michele Tracy Berger
Writing (the actual practice of it) is solitary. It means you’re in your head a lot. Many times, you’ll want to hang with friends, check Facebook, or doing anything besides write, especially something that will deliver instant gratification which writing doesn’t often do. It takes time to develop the capacity to gather the ideas, try a few out, reject some, try more on and keep going. You have to face self-doubt, inner and outer critics. It is also hard getting rejected, even though all writers face that and continue to face that process even after being successfully published. The rewards are many: you are able to communicate an idea that people value and love—and think about it, writing is about making black marks on the page, yet we learn about the human condition through writing. It feels like magic sometimes. I love stories, storytelling, novels and most forms of the written word, so being able to engage in something I love has intrinsic rewards.
Michele Tracy Berger
I typically don't wait for inspiration. I write for at least 45 minutes a day. When I have time on the weekends, I put in more time. If I get blocked on a story, I switch to another story.
Michele Tracy Berger
Get writing support. If I hadn’t have found my writing teacher, Marjorie Hudson almost 7 years ago, I would have probably given up on writing. I didn’t have a strong writing community before that and I was worse off for it. Now, I have a writing buddy that I meet with once a month for support, a monthly writing group where we share drafts of our work, and am part of several online writing communities. Find people who can nurture your interests and vice versa. Take writing classes, go to public readings and attend conferences when you can afford it.
Michele Tracy Berger
I’m shopping my short story collection to publishers and also working on a mystery novel involving eco-fashion. And, of course, more stories set in the Reenu-You universe!
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