As we near the end of this tumultuous year, there are still things that once felt normal, which now seem unfathomable. Helen Faller's short story, "Return to Innocence," explores the just this through a taboo kiss, and will be available to read January 2021 in the print collective! Until then, I'm excited to chat about Helen's pages penned penned in pandemic.
What does the pandemic currently look like in your city?
We have an 11PM curfew and we're not allowed to travel outside the city limits to spend the night in the surrounding region.
What are some favorite books you've read during quarantine?
I've been reading German krimis, in German, set in the 1920s Weimar Period in Berlin.
Have there been any movies, tv shows, podcasts, etc. that have helped keep you at ease the past few months?
I gave in and signed up for Netflix at the beginning of the pandemic. I've enjoyed watching “Stranger Things” (scarier than our daily life in Berlin), “Sex Education” (the party scenes were really exciting because no two households were allowed within six feet of each other when I was watching it) and “Grace and Frankie” (which generally makes me feel better about aging).
How has the pandemic affected your writing?
My daughter was home from school for six months and I had to manage her schooling. So it was very hard to get any writing done at all. Now I'm back into the swing of things. I work on my own writing projects in the mornings and my work-for-hire editing and writing gigs in the afternoon.
Are there any projects you are excited to keep working on? If so, can you give us any details (no spoilers please!) about your project?
Oh yes. I'm having a great time crafting at a word level my memoir about how I ran away from my husband to learn how to make dumplings on the Silk Road.
If you haven't been able to write, are there any projects you're hoping to work on next?
Once things normalize enough for us to have performances/night life again in Berlin, I want to start producing concerts again. I had a micro-label once upon a time in the US.
If asked ten years from now what the past few months have taught you about being a writer, what would come to mind?
That it's okay if you can't produce anything during times of crisis.
Have there been any fellow writers or people in your life who have helped you stay connected during the pandemic?
Yes, I run a writing group here in Berlin. Even when we couldn't see each other, we had virtual cocktail parties and cried on each other's virtual shoulders.
Is there anything that excites you about the changes being incited in the publishing world in light of recent events?
I'm glad that there's finally an effort to represent people of color.
Are you a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I'm a particularist and an actualist. I have to write real scenes as they happened or as I imagine they happened and then walk myself back from that to let my imagination open up.
ABOUT Helen Faller
A single-mother anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Michigan, Helen Faller’s work-in-progress, Love Feasts: A Memoir of Dumplings—and Divorce—On the Silk Road (83,000 words), tells the story of how she ran away from her divorce in Philadelphia to the Silk Road to learn how to make dumplings and mend her broken heart. She posts about dumplings to some 10,000 followers on her website and social media outlets. She lives in Berlin with her eleven-year-old daughter.
To learn more, follow Helen and her writing journey on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Thanks for chatting, Helen!
