Meet Janet Goldberg

We had the good fortune of connecting with Janet Goldberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janet, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
… The secret Of this journey is to let the wind
Blow its dust all over your body,
To let it go on blowing, to step lightly, lightly
All the way through your ruins, and not to lose
Any sleep over the dead, who surely
Will bury their own, don’t worry.

James Wright, from his poem “The Journey”
_______________________________________________________________
In my debut novel, The Proprietor’s Song, I actually include Wright’s poem in its entirety, but the lines above are probably enough to help you understand why the poem resonates with me. Earlier in the poem, the narrator discovers a spider whose hard work, whose web is weighed down with dust and debris, yet she emerges gracefully from her “ruins.” No matter what you do, you’ll always be faced with ruin, but we shouldn’t worry about what we can’t control. Rather we should carry on. Of course, this is easier said than done, and in my novel this is the challenge the main characters face.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
You know I’m a writer, a novelist, short story writer, and poet. In 2025 my short story collection Like Human will be released by the University of Wisconsin’s Cornerstone Press. What you don’t know yet is that I serve as the fiction editor for Deep Wild, a journal devoted to wilderness writing. That brings me as many pleasures (and challenges) as being a writer. If you enjoy poetry, essays, or fiction about nature or the wilderness, please check us out at www.deepwild.com. Our annual issue comes out each summer.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, we’d go where my novel The Proprietor’s Song takes my characters—to California’s Yosemite National Park, to the Eastern Sierras, and to Death Valley. The focus here of course would be on hiking, on seeing some of the most spectacular landscapes on the planet. As for the food or nightlife, stick with sea-level, coastal destinations, such as San Francisco, Monterey, or Pasadena, the latter two some of my favorite destinations for food and easy strolling.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband does. He’s my primary editor and sounding board. He’s the first to deliver the good news—if a story works—or the bad news—if it doesn’t. Writing is very hard; living with a writer is probably even harder!

Website: www.janetgoldberg.com

Other: https://regalhousepublishing.com/janet-goldberg/