Meet the Writer - Part 2

I participated in Beth Kempton’s #meetthewriter challenge. The answers continue…

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

8. LIFE - What do you do when you aren't writing?

   
   
   I feel like writing is always on the backburner.
   
   I love to cook, read, play with the cat, spend time with my husband, run, walk, travel, study tarot, collage, go to cafes, browse bookstores and ride my bike!
   

   I have spurts I go through. Maybe they are more like seasons. My husband’s favorite question to ask in an interview is, “Besides teaching (insert your work) what do you like to do?” He believes to do your work well, you have to have at least one other interest. I agree.
   I cannot do everything, every day. I heard someone say that you should think in triathlons which has stuck with me.
   
   Reading, writing, and running would be the triathlon I am currently engaged with.

9. WORDS - What do you write?

   Notes of 10, poems, notebook entries, blogs, Substack newsletters, coffee shares, emails, text messages, reflections, recommended reading, letters, essays, flash fiction - what calls me to write it!
   I have been trying to just write what comes and accept it and then worry about it is later. I have been too focused on the end products and want to focus more on the practice. A concept I know but need to remind myself.
   

10. TALISMAN - Are there any particular objects you like to have near you when you write?

    I can truly write everywhere but love to have my red coffee cup with me. It is important and a symbol that shares a story between my husband and I.
    
    I first learned about talismans from Sarah Selecky.
    
    I prefer my morning writing with my favorite pen at the time and my everything notebook. I often have tarot cards near me as well. If I am out and about and cannot focus, I will put on white noise in my headphones.

    
    

11. MOVEMENT - What kind of movements help you write?

    I run, I walk.
    
    I sometimes do yoga, but not as often as I used to. I am a trained teacher so at least I can do my own !!
    
    I need to use more of Katy Bowman’s techniques.
    

12. FIRSTS - What was the first piece of writing you ever shared publically?
    This question is one I didn’t answer on IG because it stumped me.
    I wrote a play and sent it to a children’s show when I was about 8 years old. My first rejection came on a postcard.
    My first published short piece of fiction was in January 2018, and I got paid!
    I had poems published in The Storyteller magazine.
    But if I am going to go back to elementary school, I shared my Smurf book that I had made for the Young Author’s conference. That experience showed me I wanted to be a writer. It was important for me to start a school-wide Young Author’s event at the schools I taught in.

13. DREAM- If you could write at a desk anywhere in the world, what would your view be like?

If you could write at a desk anywhere in the world, what would your view be like?

A mountainside retreat is my ideal. Luckily, I have had the privilege of writing in that space. I write well in away from home.

My life now is much like a writer’s retreat and my gratitude for that fact is immense. It took a long time to get here but I am thankful every day.

14. ADVICE - Is there one piece of advice - about writing, about creativity, about life - you wish you’d been given earlier in your career?

    
    
    I believe we can be told the same advice many times, but we have to be ready to hear it. It can come from a certain person you hear differently or the words land at the right time you need them.
    
    I wish someone would have told me that my writing doesn't have to look like anyone else's.
    
    I wish someone had told me I do not have to listen to other people's opinions about how I need to fix my writing.
    
    I wish someone had told me that I don't have to write "more" even if people request it because they do not understand the form I am writing in - namely flash fiction.
    
    I wish someone had told me earlier that I don't have to know where it is going. I don't have to make it a "thing" in order for my writing to be valuable.
    
    I wish someone had told me that publishing shouldn't be the goal. Writing the truth is.

15. MIRROR - How would you like your writing to be described, and why does it matter to you?

    This last question gave me much pause and I did not post it on IG either.

    
    I want my writing to resonate with readers and cause them to think differently than before they read it. I want them to be emotionally attached and reflect on their own experiences.
    

    I want readers to see the light in the darkness. There is always hope.
    I want readers to see themselves as belonging in-between the lines of text.
    To believe that the reading of my words creates a special community.