Good evening Gina Tron — Is that right? Is this your real God-given name?
Is right! At least, now it is. I legally changed my name in 2015 or 2016 out of spite which is the best reason to do anything, really. I was a reporter at the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus at the time and they had (or have?) a thing about not using pen names. By this point, I preferred to go by my pen name Gina Tron rather than my birth name of Gina Conn. Every time I saw my birth name as my byline it felt jarring so I asked if they would change it if I got my name legally changed. So, that's what I did.
The pen name came from the reboot of the movie Tron which came out in December of 2010. As I've written about, I was sexually assaulted in October in 2010 and as a result, I changed my name on Facebook from Conn to Tron around that time because I was scared about trying to bring this person to court. It was really random, the name choice, and I've never even seen either Tron movie ... But, the name really stuck and I liked it and I began getting some work published months later so I decided it would make for a good pen name.
What do you know about organic vessels containing the zygote in which an embryo develops until it can survive on its own?
Can't wait to beat everyone's egg-shaped asses in the great 2022 egg choking championship!
Thanks for the book! It's absolutely outstanding in every way. How many hours do you think you invested in this collection?
Thanks so much for supporting me and for reading it! I would say at least a good 60 hours but if you include all the inspirations, maybe more like years.
The cover art is amazing. You sent me her link before. I lost the link. Who did this again? How did you link up with her? What was the process like for the cover design? What did you ask for?
Elly Hazard, a really talented artist who also makes cool clothes. PSST, great idea for xmas gifts. Freddy LaForce, who runs Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, put me in touch with her. She has also designed other books by VA press. I said I wanted art that incorporates space and stars, along with a clock with knives as hands … and with blood dripping from those knives [laughs] as the moon ... and a landline phone somewhere in there. Then she just worked her magic!
Have you been writing poetry a long time? Have you published other works?
Wrote poems in high school but they have been destroyed — I only started seriously writing poetry when my MFA professor Julianna Baggott encouraged me to. The MFA program was multi-genre and I was the least interested in poetry but she said she saw something in my poems during the poetry exercises which she told me to run with. And, I took her advice and don't regret a second of it. So from 2018 and onward, I began writing poetry and trying to get it published. I've had a few poems published in literary journals, then Star 67 was picked up by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. They will be publishing another book of poetry by me in April called Employment. I have a few other unpublished books of poetry I hope to get out someday and I'm always working on more.
But mainly, I've gotten memoir and journalism published, both in short form and in long-form, in the past. There's my memoir You're Fine. which came out in 2014 and another memoir Suspect which won an award with Tarpaulin Sky Press this year. They will also be publishing it. I also have another unpublished memoir I'm finishing up as well as a novel.
I hear you got an email from some hot shot editor ... congratulations, by the way ... and is this top secret or can you talk about it?
Oh you mean the Thanksgiving email? Thanks! Yea I received a nice email on Thanksgiving morning from a magazine editor who said my poems "struck a chord" with them and that they wanted to chat further down the road about the poems. While they didn't promise to publish them, they did express interest so that was really the best way to start the holiday.
How has the pandemic affected your output?
Both positively and negatively. Sometimes I feel extra motivated because I have nothing else to do. Other days I just feel like a lump who can barely even focus on television. I've definitely been more distracted overall and it's more of a challenge to focus. I've been trying to cut myself slack because the meaning of life is not to just produce all day. Sometimes, you just gotta chill and think about the people you love.
What do you want to tell the people?
Life is short and it can be cruel. It can be hard at times, but try not to contribute to the cruelty of it. Small acts of kindness and empathy, as well as being open and genuine, can really impact people in ways you can't measure. And, don't forget to bathe in a bath of beans this New Year's Eve. It will ward the demons away. Thank you.
Thanks Gina! I sincerely appreciate your time.
I appreciate YOUR time. Much love.