The Write Stuff is a series of interview profiles conducted by Litseen, where authors give exclusive readings from their work.
Sarah Fran Wisby is the author of
the heart's progress and
VIVA LOSS. She lives in San Francisco.
When people ask what do you do, you tell them…?
I enjoy telling people I'm a cashier at a grocery store, because it separates the wheat from the chaff: people who have worked service positions or otherwise come to understand that we are not robots or idiots but fully human, intelligent beings, vs. people who don't seem to have made that connection, who cannot see beyond their own class blinders. If they still seem interested and curious about me, then I'll confess that I'm a writer.
Back when I was doing sex work I greatly enjoyed seeing the looks on people's faces when I would answer that entirely bland and innocent question with matter-of-fact honesty. I have always enjoyed subverting cultural expectations, and at my best I feel excited about leading people through their initial difficulty in confronting otherness, particularly in the realms of gender and sexuality. Other times, of course, I feel exhausted and discouraged by this task.
What's your biggest struggle — work or otherwise?
My biggest problem has always been overcoming inertia: getting out of bed, leaving the house, things of that nature. Depression runs in my family and I struggle with it daily. Sometimes I even try to turn it into art. In 2011 I got funding from the SF Arts Commission for what I called the Wake-Up Call Project, in which I amassed a small army of volunteers from my community to call me in the morning and talk to me until I was out of bed, putting the kettle on, and turning on the computer to start my writing day. So that's where your hotel taxes are going, visitors to San Francisco!
