KMWR: Can you tell us about what it was like writing the first draft of “The Green Settee"?

NBM: The first draft was based on a writing class prompt. Our homework was to write a story based on a recent news piece. The story of the woman in Florida who fed raccoons until a hundred or so showed up in her yard really intrigued me. I kept wondering about the “why” of it all.

KMWR: I'd love to know more about your writing background (you mention working now as a corporate lawyer and hope to put that in the past) and what it has been like in the writing world for you as an emerging writer.

NBM: I’ve been writing fiction off and on since college. In the last fifteen years I’ve taken the work more seriously. When my children were born, I realized there would be no more waiting for the muse, and I needed to approach the work as a craft, like knitting or cooking, something that I weave into my day when I can (but mostly can’t) whether for a few minutes or a few hours. As a consequence, the process was demystified, which was a great help. I didn’t need to be a Writer with a capital W, like some Hemingway figure whose life is their art. My life is my day job and grocery stores and parenting teenagers, all ordinary things. Feign is my first publication at fifty-three years old, so it’s really exciting to have reached this point.

KMWR: In "The Green Settee" you write, "This is real life. You had to expect some mess." I was enraptured by Audrey's rationalization of purging her past with the literal dumping of her mother's possessions. Can you talk more about how you developed Audrey and her decision to create the backyard trash effigy?

NBM: This sounds cliché, but I’m not sure where it came from. I got to thinking the character lived alone, wanted company (of any kind) and would start to “wake up” during the course of the story. I tried to show an increasing awareness of her body as she starts to literally bump into things that she’s been walking around. I liked the idea of her emptying her house as she starts over. In the first draft, she drove away in her car for parts unknown at the end, but I prefer this version where she stays (and presumably the fire is put out before it reaches her house). In my imagination, she does become an artist of some kind after impersonating one for the sake of the animal control inspectors.

KMWR: What is your ideal writing session, and what do you like to have nearby as you write?

NBM: I mostly write in cafes. This is because I’m usually writing between work and other commitments, so I’m catching time where I can. I usually have my journal (most stories start longhand), my laptop and my headphones. I always listen to music when I write.

KMWR: What have you been reading recently and what would you recommend?

NBM: In winter, I tend to reread my favorite books which are usually of a more comforting type than bringing light to the difficulties of the human condition type. This I’m better equipped to do when the sun is out. Last year I read a lot of short stories; Jeffrey Eugenides, Emma Cline, George Saunders, Edith Wharton, some year-end compilations. It was a great education.

KMWR: Can you talk more about what you're working on now?

NBM: I have two more stories that I’m working on at the moment, one is close to final and the other is just a first draft. They’re both about grief, though and letting go of things, which has been an important theme for my life these past twelve months. I’m looking forward to seeing what my next triptych of stories will be about.

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Nancy B. Miller lives in Portland, Oregon and writes short fiction. One day she hopes to refer to herself as a former corporate lawyer. “The Green Settee” is her first publication.

Read “The Green Sette” here.