RENEE K. NICHOLSON

RENEE NICHOLSON

Ballerina, arthritis advocate, fiction writer, blogger and reviewer Renee Nicholson knows her way around the arts. Instead of dosing out the cursory "what a good read" and slapping a starred rating as a shortcut on her reviews, Renee has the ability and insight to delve inside a book or story to understand its construction, themes, and underlying meanings. The effort and care she employs is not only a boon for the writers, but also potential readers. By thoughtfully and gracefully articulating the gestalt of the work, it allows readers to connect beyond the superficial level, and paints clear pictures for potential readers to accurately gauge interest levels.

What she does with her reviews is very similar to creating an entire fiction story – or performing a ballet. It's graceful and artistic, and though less abstract in some ways, it's a form of dialogue – a forging of a connection and informing the world-view of others.

The same could be said of her blog at healthdiaries.com, where she's a featured writer. Her blog, Life with RA, is an unflinchingly honest, brave and heartfelt account of how living with Rheumatoid Arthritis affects, changes, and shapes her life. The RA ended her ballet career, but you can see that same strength and artistry at work now in her prose. Ballerinas are known for their grace, and after reading just a few of Renee's entries, you can see that emanating not only from my style on the page, but also in how she relates to life. But what's often overlooked is the grit and determination, the fierce toughness that the dancers need to have to persevere and succeed in their field. It's both a physically demanding and emotionally testing arena. Renee succeeded there. And it's that same stunning combination of grace and grit that now touches her writing.

Her short story "My Darlings" can currently be found at The Cerebral Catalyst. Several of her reviews can be found at The Beat. Among them are: The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories by Steve Almond , Iconography: A Writer's Meditation by Susan Neville, Freeways & Aqueducts by James Harms, and Candy Freak by Steve Almond.

Renee is starting an MFA program at WVU this fall, she'll be doing book reviews for Chelsea Magazine and I suspect we'll be hearing much more about her before long.


1) Who are some of your favorite writers, and do you think they've influenced you?

This is the question that could potentially go on for ever. But I'll try to make it reasonable. The first would have to be Susan Neville, whose books include both short fiction and creative nonfiction: The Invention of Flight, In The House of Blue Lights, Indiana Winter, Fabrication, and Iconography: A Writer's Meditation. I could tell you about all her awards and such (like the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction), but that's really only the credentials folks look for when they don't look at the writing. Susan rescued me in many ways, and she probably never knew it. She was my first creative writing teacher and mentor, and the great thing about her is that she treated her students' work with the care and attention she treats her own work. It's such a gift. From her I learned about dialogue and pacing. She used to say, "No one directly answers a question. A woman tells a man she wants to talk and the man asks her to pass the pizza." She also was always giving me books to read - it was great. She gave me Susan Minot's book of short stories, Lust and Kathy Aker's Portrait of an Eye. She was the first to suggest to me that I could, and maybe should, be a writer.

Then there is the poet John Hoppenthaler. Now, I don't write poetry, but poets have influenced me greatly because of their attention to line and language. Prose can be lyrical like poetry and reading John's poetry is a lesson in what makes language deeply musical and enchanting. His poems have a flowing narrative through them that seems to capture the best of good writing, irrespective to genre. Plus, John is a great friend, he's a rock. He continues to be a supportive friend and mentor. And he appreciates good food and good wine! An excellent combination. In his book Lives of Water the poem "Telling Tales in a River Town" is dedicated to me.

Another poet is James Harms, who is the Director of Creative Writing at WVU. He's a big part of the reason I'm going to West Virginia, along with two other short fiction writers, Gail Galloway Adams and Mark Brazaitis.

I'm a huge fan of Steve Almond's work, both his collections of short fiction and his non fiction book, Candy Freak. I think that Almond's work often gets glossed over as just being sexy or just being funny, but there's much depth in his characters, who are often confused and conflicted because of the weird, often paradoxical culture we live in. The sense of frustration, a quiet, under the surface kind of angst, makes his work compelling to me. I think there are definitely parallels between his work and John Cheever's short fiction. A Cheever story, to me, is a pure short story the way it should be done. Favorites include, "The Swimmer" and "A Sutton Place Story."

I would be remiss if I didn't include Michael Martone in this list. His work is so indicative of place, especially The Flatness and Other Landscapes, one of my favorite books of non-fiction. He has the ability to put you in a setting and allow you to experience it in tangible sensory details - not just sight, but smells and tastes and sounds. He's genius that way.

There are so many others, but these have to be at the top of the list.


2) What do you think is your greatest strength or asset in your writing? Your biggest weakness or flaw?

I'll start with flaws... Yikes. Biggest flaw has to be lack of attention to plot. My plots are thin and often shallow. I wish I was better at plotting, but the truth is my plots fall down. I also cannot spell worth a damn, and grammar is crappy. But many writers seem to put these on the flaw list; I believe it's just a mechanical thing that sometimes gets in the way of creativity... but then you need to polish the mechanical stuff to let the artistry shine through. I always recommend finding someone who is a kick-ass proofreader. My husband does this for me - he's a CPA and very detail oriented. Without him, my stuff would look just horrible, full of mistakes and misspellings.

Strengths is harder to say. Sometimes I think I write with a strong sense of place, other times character. I do think that there is something pushing my writing, something authentic. To me, being true to the story is paramount. So, if I'm writing about a character who is a ballet dancer, it's got to be true to that world, or if I'm writing a story that can only take place in a certain locale, the details of that place have to be dead-on correct. So, even if the writing isn't perfect, it's authentic.

3) You were a ballerina which is also an intensely creative and talent-oriented art, but it's also very physically and mentally and perhaps emotionally demanding. In comparison to writing, which (ballet or writing) do you find overall most challenging and which most rewarding?

Wow, what a question! And a fair one too. Working in two very different art forms gives you a kind of perspective that can be both expansive and limiting. Ballet is physically and emotionally demanding, but there is an element of imitation that limits one's own creative impulse. As a dancer, you recreate steps in choreography that have been handed down through generations. You try to bring something to it, but ultimately you are a variation on a theme. In writing, your net is cast over everything - anything is possible, and everything is potentially material. I've found the discipline of dancer has carried over to my writing and has helped to shape and focus my efforts.

Writing is rewarding because of process, while dance is rewarding because of performance. The challenges are so different that it's hard to say which is the most challenging.

An interesting aside about the two art forms - both come with a lot of rejection. Many writers I know think that the rejection from writing is tough. It is, I suppose, but compared to ballet, where the feedback is immediate and often exceptionally personal, the rejection from writing seems much easier to swallow. I mean, no editor has asked me to stand up and read a piece, only to tell me my prose is great but I need to shed the extra pounds of baby fat.

4) You write fiction and non-fiction and also do in-depth book reviews. Does working in one field help strengthen you in others, or does it make it more difficult? (Like, does analyzing someone else's fiction help you structure yours? Or is it difficult to switch gears and move between the different forms? )

I like the freedom to switch around in genres... and certain pieces feel like they can be fictionalized while others feel like they should be true stories. The stuff I write about having RA (rheumatoid arthritis) for instance, needs to be told as truth in order to be authentic. At least to me. I often write stories about ballet, which I usually fictionalize. Some of the stories incorporate my experiences, but also and often things I've witnessed in that world. So I tend to fictionalize so that I can combine these elements and feel that it, too is authentic.

Now, reviewing is the best thing I've done for my writing, because everything I read is teaching me something and writing the review requires me to articulate my thoughts about it. But I'm in a different mode when writing a review - like a detective figuring out a mystery, I'm trying to piece together what the author is doing in a work. I like the critical side of things because it is forcing me to learn about the aesthetics of writing... it's like the barre work in ballet, where you warm up and perfect the basic skills that allows you to be a performer. Looking at another's work in a way that allows you to understand their choice, see their aesthetics is great mental calisthenics.

5) In one of your blog entries, you talk about how you were very nervous to reveal to your then boyfriend that you have rheumatoid arthritis. It worked out extremely well considering you're about to celebrate your fourth wedding anniversary. Do you ever have this same hesitant and nervous feeling about "revealing yourself" through your writing? And do you think it usually works out just as well if you take that same leap of faith?

Heck, I'm worried and nervous about everything I write. But revealing myself, especially personal things can freak me out. But it's also strangely relieving, like, okay, if I can write about that then I can sleep with a clear conscience. And at some point I think you have to reveal yourself to be an artist or a writer or really just a good person. I think people connect to those people who can talk about the tough stuff without being fluffy or disingenuous. Really, life is this giant leap of faith. People look for this thing called "security" but I'm not sure that true security exists. No one can predict the future. Really, the best security is to take the leap of faith each day on yourself. And, as my granddad back in West Virginia always said, "It's a great life if you don't weaken." And that's true.

6) Stock question: Dinner with anyone, dead or alive. Who is it?

My grandmother, Opal. She was diagnosed with liver cancer when my mom was pregnant with me. The doctors told her she wouldn't live to see me born and she told them oh yes she would. And she died a little under two months after I was born. The doctor's were stunned. I like to think she passed on a bit of that volition to me. I've got loads of questions for her, and if I had the chance, I'd have her make her famous fried chicken and wax nostalgic for a while.

7) What's the best taste of summer?

Anything on the grill! Burgers, brats, BBQ chicken... and ice cold beer. Or a crisp wine. And ice cream, chocolate. MMMMMM... I'm hungry already.

8) Other than fiction writing, what's the biggest lie you ever told?

I consider not telling the full truth the worst kind of lie and I used to not tell people about having RA. I was completely embarrassed about it. So I would just say "My knee hurts" or something generic. After spending most of my life in ballet I thought it was shameful what was happening to my body. But when you don't come clean with stuff like that, it gets at you. And, things really changed when I met Matt, my husband of 4 years this June 2nd. He just didn't care that I have RA - not in a bad way, but it didn't change how he felt about me as a person. I felt sort of freed by it, and then I told everyone about it, without the old stigma.

I also used to lie about eating, back in my ballet days. It's fair to say I was borderline anorexic, as were most the dancers I knew. But now I LOVE to EAT! My God, what was I missing!

9) If you had to choose -- what was your single favorite ballet performance? And what so far is your single favorite writing-related accomplishment, and how do they compare?

My favorite ballet performance had to be my first Nutcracker. I was seven and was a mouse. The first time on stage was completely magical... it's a natural high and I knew I just had to have more. I've played almost every role in The Nutcracker since but it never compares to that first time.

My favorite writing-related accomplishment is being accepted into the program at WVU and getting the teaching assistantship/scholarship. I surprised myself with that one. Although I don't think everyone has to do an MFA to be a great writer. They come in all forms and all backgrounds. For me, this was just a sense of right place and right time. I wanted to work and be mentored by certain other writers and I thought that this was a sign that they wanted to help me.

Really, they can't compare. It's like comparing Robert Frost to Thomas Pynchon - they just aren't doing the same thing. But I've met some truly wonderful people in both the ballet world and writing world, and honestly, it's the friendships that mean the most to me. That's the heart of it - good work, good friends.