The Lowdown with... Kristi DeMeester

Kristi DeMeester writes spooky, pretty things in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her Masters in Creative Writing from Kennesaw State University in 2011. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as The Dark, Year's Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1 and 3, Black Static, Shimmer, and others. Her chapbook Split Tongues from Dim Shores Press is currently sold out. In her spare time, she watches trash television, but if you ask her, she'll never admit it.

1. Tell us three things about yourself. 
I was an opera singing hostess at Macaroni Grill for one horrifying year in college.
I've never broken a bone or been stung by a bee.
I used to play the alto saxophone.

2. What was the first thing you had published? 
A nonfiction essay titled "Why I'm Not A Luddite" in Free Inquiry magazine. The essay focused on my lack of exposure to necessary technology within my fundamentalist Pentecostal church and how this affected my education as a teenager and young adult.

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?
It's a tie between my story "The Beautiful Thing We Will Become" which will appear in Word Horde's Eternal Frankenstein anthology and my story "Slipping Petals From Their Skins" which will appear in Gamut.

4. …and which makes you cringe? 
After grad school, I wrote a terribly stilted story about hysteria and pregnancy, and I remember being exhausted when I finished it. It was only 1,200 words.

5. What’s a normal writing day like? 
I try to squeeze my word count in where I can. Generally, it's after I put my little one to bed, and then it's a lot of staring at the screen and pretending to be taking a break by getting on Facebook until I hit my 1,000 word a day quota. Here lately though, I've been doing 500 a day, and that feels less intense. That may be the better approach if I'm thinking longevity.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first? 
Unfortunately, it would be my chapbook from Dim Shores Press, Split Tongues. I say unfortunately because it's since sold out. Eventually, those stories will be included elsewhere, so they'll be out in the world. I promise!

7. What are you working on now? 
Currently smack in the middle of a new short story, and letting my second novel simmer for a bit longer before I tackle edits.