{"id":237,"date":"2012-09-01T05:17:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T05:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/?p=237"},"modified":"2015-05-14T16:24:15","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T20:24:15","slug":"the-questions-kirchner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/index.php\/the-questions-kirchner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Questions with Bharti Kirchner: writer & foodie"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Piper<\/a>

Piper wants me to read this book already.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m a member of an online writers\u2019 group, and I couldn\u2019t find a better, funnier, more supportive group of people. As a way to thank them for putting up with<\/del> their support of me, I have asked quite of few of them to answer The Questions<\/a>. The first to take me up on the offer was Bharti Kirchner. (FYI, she requested this day for her post, so several members have already been featured.)<\/p>\n

I have to confess, although I have Bharti’s book, Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery<\/em><\/a>, in my TBR pile, I haven\u2019t read it. Yet. I don\u2019t have as much time to read for fun ~ editing books means I\u2019m reading, well, also for fun, but really for my job<\/em>, which involves reading each book I edit approximately 15-20 times.<\/p>\n

But enough about me. The friends who I forced<\/del> asked to read Tulip Season<\/em> told me they really enjoyed the book.<\/p>\n

AND on Sunday, 8\/19\/12, Tulip Season<\/em> made the best-seller list on the Seattle Times’<\/em> Wide World Books & Maps<\/a> ~ #2 right after Cheryl Strayed’s Wild<\/em>. How exciting then that she’s featured my lil’ ole blog! Here\u2019s what Bharti has to say:<\/p>\n

The Questions<\/h2>\n

5. What skill(s) do you wish you\u2019d learned as a kid?<\/h3>\n

The craft of a fiction writer. We all learn to write in school, but it\u2019s nonfiction writing. Much later in life, I learned fiction writing by reading novels and taking workshops.<\/p>\n

11. What three items will always be found in your refrigerator?<\/h3>\n

Milk, apples, and peanut butter.<\/p>\n

15. What inspires you?<\/h3>\n

An external inspiration can wear off. The best (and probably the longest-lasting) inspiration comes from within. It can be a thought, an idea, a fragment of a dream.<\/p>\n

20. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?<\/h3>\n

At a very young age. I loved written words. I couldn\u2019t get enough of them. I felt writing in my bones.<\/p>\n

24. If you could go back and give your 20-year-old self a piece of advice, what would it be?<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t worry so much. Everything has its time.<\/p>\n

18. Your work space: neat or messy?<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t want it too neat. Creativity and vitality can rise from (somewhat) organized mess.<\/p>\n

22. Would you rather be lost in the forest, the desert, the ocean, or deep space?<\/h3>\n

The ocean. I could gaze at water forever.<\/p>\n

(dSavannah note<\/span>: I too must<\/em> have peanut butter, feel writing in my bones, and could gaze at the ocean forever.)<\/p>\n

About Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery<\/em><\/h2>\n

A missing domestic-violence counselor. A wealthy and callous husband. A dangerous romance. Kareena Sinha, an Indian-American domestic-violence counselor, disappears from her Seattle home. Her best friend, Mitra Basu, a young landscape designer, resolves to find her. Mitra\u2019s search lands her into a web of life-threatening intrigue where she can\u2019t be sure of Kareena\u2019s safety or her own. “Tulip Season is an evocative taste of Seattle’s darker side.” — Cara Black, Author of the mystery novel,<\/em> Murder at the Lanterne Rouge<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

About Bharti<\/h2>\n

\"Author<\/a>Bharti Kirchner is the author of nine books\u2014five critically acclaimed novels and four cookbooks and hundreds of short pieces for magazines and newspapers. Her latest novel is Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery<\/em><\/a>, available in paperback<\/a> and Kindle<\/a> on amazon, Nook<\/a> on bn.com, and at independent booksellers.<\/p>\n

Bharti has written for Food & Wine<\/em>, Vegetarian Time<\/em>s, The Writer<\/em>, Writer\u2019s Digest<\/em>, Fitness Plus<\/em>, Northwest Travel<\/em>, and The Seattle Times<\/em>. Her essays have appeared in ten anthologies, the most recent being Imagination & Place: Weather<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bharti has won numerous awards including a VCCA (Virginia Center for Creative Arts) Fellowship, a City Artist\u2019s Project award, a 4-Culture literature award, two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants, two Artist Trust literature grants, a 4-Culture grant, and she has twice been a Fellow of Jack Straw Productions. She has been honored as a Living Pioneer Asian American Author. She is a popular speaker at writer\u2019s conferences nationwide.<\/p>\n

Find Bharti:<\/h2>\n