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sun_set_bravelyOkay, behind the cut are questions 1-5.
1. Do you call yourself a Writer (capital W) and, if so, when and how did the transformation from being someone who writes to becoming a Writer occur?
The transformation came in two pieces. The first part was in my senior year of college, when I met and briefly connected with a playwright/performance artist who encouraged me toward my dream of writing. The second part was somewhere in the year 2002, while I worked on the script.
2. Do you write in more than one form (i.e. short fiction, poetry, essay, novel) and, if so, how is the process different one to another?
I write short fiction, essays, and screenplays. I'm still learning my own process for each, but all of them have the basic process steps: 1) Write everything down. Don't stop to think. 2) Step away, and look at what I have. 3) See the holes, and write some more. 4) Edit. The process can loop through these steps a million times before the piece is done.
3. What Writers have been the biggest influence on you?
Natalie Goldberg, Daphne duMaurier, Robert Fulghum, Garrison Keillor, Adrienne Rich, Germaine Greer, L.M. Montgomery, Ayn Rand, John Berger, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Fannie Flagg, Virginia Woolf, Doran Larson (for his short story "Morphine"), Lorrie Moore (for her short story "People Like That Are the Only People Here"), Melissa Bank. I'm sure there are others.
4. Would you rather be commercially famous or admired by other writers?
It doesn't matter. Commercially famous would mean that people have connected with something I've written, which is good. Admired by other writers could mean a number of things. Okay, I'm changing my answer. I would choose "admired by other writers," but I want to be admired for my even-keeled writing life, for never letting success or failure upset me too much, for my committment to just keep writing (in the tradition of Natalie Goldberg's practice).
5. What is your successful image of a Writer? If you become successful what will (or does) that look like to you?
(I'm going to write this in the first person as a future successful Writer, so I can attract this reality into my life rather than place it outside of myself.)
I write every day. I walk out in the sunlight a lot. I talk to people and listen to their stories. I pay attention to the details of every day life, and knows that my attempts to record them are not the same as experiencing them, but that my work is nonetheless vital. I laugh fully, and I cry when I feel like it. I know where my work with words needs to sit quietly while I spend time with my family and friends. But I know that everything, everything, is source material, not directly, but as it is processed by my unique personality and then transformed into something transcendent. I walk barefoot. I sit quietly at parties and listen to the cadence of a room full of voices. I enjoy my life. I Love my life. I surround myself with caring readers who will hold my words care-fully. I enjoy praise and can accept criticism, but I take them both with a big grain of salt and Just Keep Writing.
At the end of this, I realize I haven't said anything about getting paid. Yes, it is good to get paid well and appropriately for my work. But ultimately, I will write whether I get paid or not. It is what I do.
1. Do you call yourself a Writer (capital W) and, if so, when and how did the transformation from being someone who writes to becoming a Writer occur?
The transformation came in two pieces. The first part was in my senior year of college, when I met and briefly connected with a playwright/performance artist who encouraged me toward my dream of writing. The second part was somewhere in the year 2002, while I worked on the script.
2. Do you write in more than one form (i.e. short fiction, poetry, essay, novel) and, if so, how is the process different one to another?
I write short fiction, essays, and screenplays. I'm still learning my own process for each, but all of them have the basic process steps: 1) Write everything down. Don't stop to think. 2) Step away, and look at what I have. 3) See the holes, and write some more. 4) Edit. The process can loop through these steps a million times before the piece is done.
3. What Writers have been the biggest influence on you?
Natalie Goldberg, Daphne duMaurier, Robert Fulghum, Garrison Keillor, Adrienne Rich, Germaine Greer, L.M. Montgomery, Ayn Rand, John Berger, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Fannie Flagg, Virginia Woolf, Doran Larson (for his short story "Morphine"), Lorrie Moore (for her short story "People Like That Are the Only People Here"), Melissa Bank. I'm sure there are others.
4. Would you rather be commercially famous or admired by other writers?
It doesn't matter. Commercially famous would mean that people have connected with something I've written, which is good. Admired by other writers could mean a number of things. Okay, I'm changing my answer. I would choose "admired by other writers," but I want to be admired for my even-keeled writing life, for never letting success or failure upset me too much, for my committment to just keep writing (in the tradition of Natalie Goldberg's practice).
5. What is your successful image of a Writer? If you become successful what will (or does) that look like to you?
(I'm going to write this in the first person as a future successful Writer, so I can attract this reality into my life rather than place it outside of myself.)
I write every day. I walk out in the sunlight a lot. I talk to people and listen to their stories. I pay attention to the details of every day life, and knows that my attempts to record them are not the same as experiencing them, but that my work is nonetheless vital. I laugh fully, and I cry when I feel like it. I know where my work with words needs to sit quietly while I spend time with my family and friends. But I know that everything, everything, is source material, not directly, but as it is processed by my unique personality and then transformed into something transcendent. I walk barefoot. I sit quietly at parties and listen to the cadence of a room full of voices. I enjoy my life. I Love my life. I surround myself with caring readers who will hold my words care-fully. I enjoy praise and can accept criticism, but I take them both with a big grain of salt and Just Keep Writing.
At the end of this, I realize I haven't said anything about getting paid. Yes, it is good to get paid well and appropriately for my work. But ultimately, I will write whether I get paid or not. It is what I do.
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