In the midst of prepping for the book tour for her highly anticipated non-fiction title The Plural Thing: Spiritually Preparing for Your Soul Mate, I asked Linda Dominique Grosvenor the non-writing related question, "Why did you get divorced?" The sometimes shy writer who considers herself more observant than a social butterfly responded lightheartedly to the prying inquiry. "My ex-husband and my muse were at odds," she kidded, understanding that her response could easily formulate itself into the beginning lines to the types of edgy poems she's known for writing.
"Seriously," she says, "You know in your heart when you've written the final chapter. Sometimes marriages end and its more hurtful when people drag it out just to save face. Since the split, however, I've completed three novels. That's probably the most telling thing ever." Some consider her one of the most under-appreciated, yet influential writers of her generation. She possesses a universal writing style that is warm, engaging and laced throughout with her poetic influences: Neruda, Sanchez and Cisneros. Like a literary Billie Holiday she sings her stories onto paper and may not even know her true worth because she absolutely lives for the love of the craft not the recognition. Her love of words is evident in her latest novel Spanish Lullaby and from the introduction The Plural Thing: Spiritually Preparing for Your Soul Mate reads like a personal letter of caution to a best girlfriend.
It seems Dominique's personal life never resists the urge to spill over into her professional life and those who've read her online journal (princessdominique.com/blog) know that she has an insatiable shoe fetish. More like a chameleon, she is engaged to fashion, particularly vintage dresses or jeans and nostalgic tees with very high heels--three to four inches at best. With her warm brown complexion, it’s the flowing hair that is her signature. She's toyed with cutting her mane, but she says the suggestion has been met with vehement opposition from those in her camp. Once fearful to reveal her age she has now bought into the fact that at the peak of her career she makes forty-something look good so why not reveal that she's forty-three-years-old.
She confesses that although she's genuinely smitten with fashion and studied a semester at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City in the late 90's, the love of fashion is really just the anesthesia that helps her face the current state of fiction. She's currently working on a tell-all sort of documentary on the literary industry and says that authors today need to make it clear whether they're feeding their pockets or the history of our generation and get off the fence about it. When we asked, "Do you think you'll ever remarry?" she purses her lips, "I'm in no rush, but when he comes he better be a virile young man. I want at least two babies--maybe three."
Linda Dominique Grosvenor has made her foray into non-fiction with the inspirational smash hit The Plural Thing: Spiritually Preparing for Your Soul Mate and her seventh highly awaited novel Spanish Lullaby is also available now in paperback. She maintains an online advice column at AskPrincessDominique.com and hosts a culture blog. You can find out more information about Linda on her official website LindaDominiqueGrosvenor.com, princesschick(at)gmail.com.
