Today’s Friday Five focus is Misty Urban, author of literary, historical, and contemporary fiction short stories, novellas, and novels.
Misty Urban’s short stories have appeared in various journals and her debut collection, A Lesson in Manners, won the Serena MacDonald Kennedy Award and was published by Snake Nation Press. She teaches English and coordinates the Writing Center at Muscatine Community College in Muscatine, IA.
The ten stories of A Lesson in Manners offer a how-to manual for dealing with love, lies, loss, and loneliness.
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1. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?
I was born reading. I grew up in a book. My mom says I started writing stories for my younger sister at age 5. (She was 3 1/2 at the time, and apparently already reading, so, way smarter than I was.) I loved nothing more than disappearing into a book and staying there for hours.
2. What are three things on your bucket list?
Wear the Crown Jewels, swim with sharks, and breathe fire.
3. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?
I’m terrible at sex scenes. I always end up laughing and cutting them out. For a long time I wanted to be a really famous romance author, but my sex scenes are always overblown and ridiculous.
4. What do you want your tombstone to say?
“Lived well, loved much.” “Had a good time.” “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
5. What do you want your readers to take away from your works?
That no matter the depths of our staggering loss or profound loneliness, we have got to continue to breathe and look for the lifelines of beauty around us.
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A Lesson in Manners is currently available through Snake Nation Press’s website.
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