Marcus Lund was born in Portland, OR, the son of a salesman and a teacher. In Portland, he wrote short stories and was a regular contributor for both an online beer magazine and a print skateboarding magazine. He moved to Oakland, CA in 2011, where he received an MFA from Mills College. Words he has written have appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Paper Darts, 580 Split, 34th Parallel, Bad Futurist, Xenith Magazine, and Nib Magazine, among others. He is the co-founder and co-editor of HOLD: a journal, which will have an inaugural issue soon. He is currently finishing up his first novel with the help of his pug, Iris.
When people ask what do you do, you tell them...?
It depends on the situation. I often tell people I'm a writer, but sometimes when I do that it opens up the door for them to relay all of these stories they want to see written, like maybe I will write the story of their grandfather or an old neighbor. If I don't want to get into it, then I simply say I work nights at a restaurant in Alameda. I used to think it was really important for me to claim the title of writer, but I think that urge was grounded in insecurity, like I'm not sure if I'm a writer, but if I tell enough people, then it will have to come true.
What's your biggest struggle--work or otherwise?
Life is nothing if not a big struggle.
I work evenings so my writing time is first thing in the morning, which means I struggle with getting out of bed. I usually write for three or four hours and then go to the restaurant where I work another six or seven hours, and this all means that at the end of the day I'm very tired. Thus, I struggle with not getting black out drunk, closing down a bar, and stumbling home.
I struggle with paying my bills.