Meet the Writer - Part 2

Revisiting Questions from Last July

I participated in Beth Kempton’s #meetthewriter challenge last July. This month I am revisiting the questions and sharing my new reflections. You can find PART 1 here.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

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

   
   
   I feel like I am always writing even if I am not actively putting words on a page.

   
   I love to cook, read, play with the cat, spend time with my husband, walk, travel, study tarot, collage, go to cafes, go to Disney World, and browse bookstores.
   

9. WORDS - What do you write?

   Notes, poems, notebook entries, blogs, Substack newsletters, coffee shares, emails, text messages, reflections, Bradbury Trio readings, letters, essays, flash fiction, writing courses, prompts and collections of themed stories.

   
   

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

    My coffee in the morning and the pen that I am compelled to write with that day! Sometimes I light a candle but it has been too hot for that lately.

    
    

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

    I walk. I do squats in between writing and reading sessions.
    
    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 !!

    On my walk today I felt that when the writing is flowing and going smoothly I do not feel compelled to walk. If I want to listen to podcasts or work something out in a story then I want to walk.

    
    
    

12. FIRSTS - What were the first pieces of writing you ever shared publically?
    
    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 (and paid!)short piece of fiction was in January 2018.
    I had poems published in The Storyteller magazine.
    In elementary school, I wrote a Smurf book for the Young Author’s conference. I later organized this event at schools I taught in because it was so influential.

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

I write well at home which I am grateful for. There are less distractions for me in a hotel room, doesn’t matter where. But if we are dreaming then the top locations are Iceland and Paris.

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

    
    
    We can be told the same advice repeatedly, 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. The more experimental writing I read, the more this idea impacts my thinking.
    
    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 or my writing in general.
    
    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 flash fiction form.
    
    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" 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?

    I want my writing to be described as a light.

    I want readers to be able to see themselves in some form in my writing so it resonates.

    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.
    I want to believe that the reading of my words creates a special community.