Interview with Carly Berg

Finally, interviews with Issue 5 are set to start! This one’s with Carly Berg, writer of “Salamander Kiss,” winner of our last fiction contest. If you’d like to read it, buy an issue and enjoy her story and everyone else too.

Describe your work in 25 words or less.

I mostly write flash fiction. I have almost 100 pieces published, and a collection of them making the rounds at the small presses (fingers crossed!)

 

Tell me about your story “Salamander Kiss.”

When I wrote it, I was thinking back to the days when all the grown-up stuff was new. If I remember correctly after, ahem, all these years, it was painful but also exciting. Knowing now how routine life gets for us real grown-ups, sometimes it’s lovely to recapture some of that sense of newness.

 

Is this your first contest win?

No. Once in awhile I get lucky. 🙂

 

What or who inspires you to write?

I really don’t know. I would not rule out calling it a mental illness, haha.

 

What authors have influenced you as a writer?

Right now, I’m kind of stuck on Dorothy Parker.

 

Do you have a blog/website?

Yes, I do!  http://www.carlyberg.com/index.html

 

Where can we read you next?

Well, I’m kind of all over the place. One of the joys of writing the short stuff. 🙂

 

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a non-fiction “how to write” book for newer writers. Several chapters of it have been published here and there so far. It’s called (tentatively) The 100 Credits Club. As the title implies, it’s aimed at helping writers get their first hundred publishing credits.

 

Any advice for other writers?

If I could just say one thing, it would be “have fun with it.” I don’t force myself to sit in a chair for a certain number of hours per day or anything like that. If I make it too much into a chore, for me anyway, that takes the fun out of it. I like to let it be what I want to do, not what I have to do. When I’m just doing flash, I shoot for two stories done and out per week. But if I let a week or a month slip by or just feel like doing something else instead, meh, it’s okay.

 

Anything else you’d like to say?  

I can’t think of anything right now, but thank you for this opportunity to blab on about myself!