Devi S. Laskar (she/her) is a mother of three, poet, novelist, photographer, former newspaper reporter and lifelong TarHeel. She is the author of award-winning The Atlas of Reds and Blues, which was named by the Washington Post as one of the 50 best books of 2019. Her second novel, CIRCA, was published by Mariner Books and selected as a Goop Book Club pick. Her third novel, Midnight, At the War, will be published by Mariner Books next year. She holds degrees from UNC- Chapel Hill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Columbia University. She now lives in California with her family.
What inspired you to tell this story?
The story of CIRCA began in 1995 when I was in graduate school. My good friend Susan Freiburg (to whom my novel is dedicated) was diagnosed with leukemia. I started writing the story of us as a way to entertain her.
What did you edit out of this book?
After Susan died in 1996, I put the book away. Over the years I’ve taken it out and tried to write it, and it never worked out to reach a conclusion. When I finally took it out again (after my debut novel The Atlas of Reds and Blues was published), nearly 25 years had passed. I edited everything out of the book that was “true” and instead rewrote and reimagined a story that pays homage to our friendship.
How did you know you were done? What did you discover about yourself upon completion?
I read the book aloud to myself - I wrote it in second person. When it sounded “right,” I knew I was done. I felt relief that I found a way to tell this story. It was not catharsis: I didn’t feel better that I wrote it. I felt relief that I could write at all.
What was your agenting process like?
Backwards. I’ve been rejected so many times over the years. It is a rather long story, but I had an acquaintance (who is friend of a friend) who sent my debut novel to Counterpoint Press and then about three weeks later I got a call. I was given the weekend to find an agent so I would have representation. I reached out to my writing community and to my writing partner of many decades, and she helped me find the most wonderful agent, Reiko Davis. And Reiko has been my agent for all of my books to date.
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
Going to a poetry workshop for a week. It was generative and it forced me to focus. It was all about word choice and doing good work on the sentence level.
How many hours a day do you write?
I typically write a couple of hours every day. My writing practice is to check in with my writing partner every morning, make a plan and write. Then we have an accountability phase, where we read to each other. The other part of my writing practice is that I read, and I give myself credit for the time I take to read.
What are your top three tips to help develop your writing muscle?
Read, read, and read. Read every day. It doesn’t matter what: non-fiction, poetry, novels, biographies. And the other thing I always say is to write at least 10 minutes a day. We are all students of writing and as students the only way to improve is to practice for a few minutes every day.
What does literary success look like to you?
When I hear from strangers that they read my book.
What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
They have been my lifeline. I’m in a long standing writing group. And I have a lot of writer friends. Writing is such a solitary endeavor, but my writer friends have been so supportive and kind.
Who are you writing for?
I’m writing for my writing partner and graduate school classmate who I’ve known for more than 30 years. When she says something is done, then I know it’s ready to go out to the world.
Thank you for supporting us in big & small ways since 2015! Raising Mothers is an independent literary magazine, run by a single person—me. Join us as a monthly or annual sustaining member & keep Raising Mothers ad-free. Paid memberships allow us to pay our contributors and create a sustainable future. Help us reach our first mini goal of 100 paid annual members. Invest in amplifying the parenting & personal narratives of Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous and other voices from the global majority at our many intersections.
Before you go, leave us some love by tapping the ❤️. Also, restack & share! Help others find us. We’re @raisingmothers all over social media.