The Magnolia Review

Claire Martin–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

If I’m sitting down to seriously edit and write, I’ve got to be alone in my home. I’m typically a highly social type, so I’ve learned that my best space for productivity is one where I’ve eliminated as many distractions as possible. Otherwise, my mind is quick to wander away from the page.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I like to kick off new stories with just a pen and paper. I know I’m ready to transition to writing on a keyboard when the story in my mind starts coming together faster than I can jot it in a notebook. Starting off by hand has always been a great place for me to play with scene before I really dig in.

What is your routine for writing?

I like to hunker down, especially if I’m writing through the night. I’ll turn off my phone and tidy up the space around whatever desk or table I’m posted at.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

I recognized an excitement for storytelling in myself somewhere around age five, but didn’t actually begin writing creatively until I was fifteen. At nineteen, I finally started taking the work more seriously when I somewhat absentmindedly landed in a fiction writing undergraduate program. From there, it took off.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

For me! I know I say this at risk of sounding cliché, but my work comes from a place of personal catharsis. I remember receiving positive responses to the first short story I wrote in college and thinking to myself, “wait, other people actually like this too?” During my editing process, I tend to take audience into consideration more than I do while writing. Ultimately, I hope to reach people who like to listen to their intuitions, emotions, and the dreams they have at night.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

When I first moved to Chicago, I started taking long walks through the city to better get to know my area. I’ve heard that the French word dérive characterizes setting out on walks without a preset destination, just the intention of drifting. For my writing, the power of the dérive comes when the physical motion ignites my mental motion through actually walking, finding myself in surprising places, and observing others. It’s important to know when to step back from a piece and give it (and yourself) a little air.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

If I hadn’t found writing when I did, I believe I would’ve gone into photography. I love collecting and restoring old cameras, and certain captured images can be excellent inspiration for story.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

The actual act of writing can be both freeing and agonizing for me, so the process itself is a bit of a challenge. But when a story takes on a life of its own and I can begin to feel it come together, the process gets euphoric. So when I’ve completed an early draft of something that’s ready to be shared, accept feedback, and evolve, the difficulty of the process that helped me build it feels worthwhile. That’s really the sweet spot for me. A fresh first draft.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Trust your voice. If you’ve got a story, only you can tell it to its fullest integrity.

Check out Claire’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.

Joan Colby–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.

I work anywhere a poem strikes, which is occasionally dangerous if I’m driving. It’s important to capture a poem in the moment, like photographing a bird before it flies away.

What kind of materials to you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I write first drafts longhand revising as I write so the end result may be rather a scribbled crossed out mess. I let that draft cool for a while—days, weeks, sometimes months—and do a final (maybe) revision when I type it into the computer. There may be other revisions, all of which I keep as versions 1, 2, 3, etc. As for a favorite utensil, I favor a ball point pen that is not about to run short of ink.

What is your routine for writing?

I can’t say I have a routine, as I write poetry on the fly. For stories, essays, reports, et al, I set aside a period of time where I won’t be disturbed. Again, first draft is in longhand, final revisions are typed.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing all my life from the time as a small child writing little stories (poetry came a bit later) so let’s say well over 50 years.

What is your intended or ideal audience? Who do you write for?

I don’t write for an audience when it comes to poetry or fiction. I write for myself with the objective of discovering something I didn’t previously know. That’s what makes the writing process exciting and compelling.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

Inspiration might be a visual moment, something seen, or perhaps something remembered or heard, often something I have read. Generally poems pop into my head and writing them is akin to taking dictation. The best poems are not planned, but lead me on, sentence after sentence, or phrase after phrase. I don’t believe poems need to follow the grammatical rules that govern most prose. I never get blocked, rather I have too many ideas. I try not to overthink a vague idea as too much information can be death to the poem. When I taught creative writing, I often used prompts to help students get started and to thwart their tendency to focus solely on their own emotions. However, for myself I don’t think I’ve written many successful poems from a formal prompt, though sometimes I may pose a challenge to myself such as choosing at random five words from a dictionary and then using all five in every stanza of a five stanza poem.

What do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

Besides writing, I’m an omnivorous reader of all sorts of material: poetry, short stories, novels, essays, reviews, history, science, philosophy, nature, and so forth. I have had horses all my life and competed in horse shows and eventing. For years, I bred, raised, and trained Thoroughbred horses for the racetrack and as hunter-jumpers. Also, for nearly 40 years, I edited a monthly trade journal Illinois Racing News, which covered the breeders and trainers associations, racetracks, general equine information, and the political scene as it affected the industry. I also bred and trained German Shepherd Dogs, and currently have an 8 year old female GSD. I like camping, hiking, bird-watching, et al. As I live on a small farm, I have the opportunity to observe resident creatures such as deer, foxes, coyotes.

I would like to add that I feel it is important for writers to have interests beyond writing. Poems about poems can be insular and boring. Many of my poems feature horses, farming, nature, mythology, and so on. If your interest is baseball or knitting, use that in poems.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My favorite part of the process is completing a poem and finding out what it tells me. I enjoy the challenge of form, particularly the sestina, which affords opportunity for punning and other types of word play. The music inherent in poetry is important to me, and I find that many of my poems are replete with slant rhymes or particular rhythms that my unconscious inserts. Craft is a significant factor in the making of a poem.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Read. For poets, read the classics, the canon, as well as contemporary poetry and don’t confine your reading to poetry, have a solid grounding in literature from Beowulf to Shakespeare to the latest acclaimed poet, like Ocean Vuong.

Write. Write a lot, it is the only way to discover your own authentic voice. Don’t be afraid to submit your work while you are learning to write. Every writer needs to master how to distance herself from her work so as to benefit from criticism, judge its value and handle rejection. It is helpful, in fact necessary, to join a community of writers either an in-person writers group on an on-line equivalent. Those in MFA programs are already in that position. Mentors can be helpful too, so having a professional connection with a writer you admire can be invaluable.  As a final tip: be sparing with adjectives and intensify verbs, which are the engines of language.

Check out Joan’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.

Matthew J. Kreglow–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

It varies. Usually, when the creative mood strikes me, I’ll just write whatever comes to mind, regardless of where I am. I have plenty of writings on bar napkins from my snack bar job, and scribblings in permanent marker on blank label sheets from my warehousing job.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

Generally, I like writing things by hand. There’s a specific pen brand and model I enjoy, mostly because of how the ink looks against the white of the page. If I don’t have access to these materials, I make do with what I can find, even if it means using crayons on construction paper.

What is your routine for writing?

Routine? What’s that?

Joking aside, I don’t have much of a set routine when it comes to my writing. Whenever I have down time during the day, I try to journal about pretty much anything, be it something I read or how I’m feeling during the day. I find it’s good to have some daily writing goals, but writers shouldn’t hold themselves so strictly to writing a certain amount of time each day. This tends to lead to burn out and makes the art of writing a chore rather than something fun and exciting. I know this because it happened to me for a while.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing for a very long time, ever since first grade, even though my handwriting was atrocious at that time. I remember my first book: The Adventures of Superdog. Essentially, I told my mother (to whom I owe so much for encouraging me in my writing) what happened in the story, she typed it out, and I did the illustrations. I had so much fun, I kept doing it.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

I write for those who will read it. I tend not to gear my writing to a specific audience, as I’ve found that this is very restrictive and hobbles rather than assists the writing process. I like to write stories that I personally would love to read. Perhaps this means my writing will appeal to a very niche audience, but I don’t mind that. It’s better for you to write something because you enjoy writing about it rather than because it will sell many books.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

This one is actually kind of tough, because there’s no one thing that inspires me to write. Sometimes it’s a single image from a film I’ve seen. Other times, it’s a painting I see or a photo I’ve taken. That’s why if I am blocked, I focus on other creative endeavors and table whatever I am writing for a while. Usually, that break is all I need to allow my brain to start cycling ideas again.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I enjoy going on excursions to local parks to photograph nature. I doodle in my notebooks sometimes as well. I love going to the local theater to take in a movie or checking out a whole stack of movies from the library and binge watching them.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Strangely enough, not so much the process of putting the idea on paper, but everything that comes before it. Coming up with the ideas for stories and poems and forming these abstractions into more concrete ideas is what I love most about writing. That, and seeing all that I’ve written after each writing session. There’s nothing more satisfying that paging through my notebook and seeing words in black ink against the white page.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Do it because you love it, not because you’re looking for glory, approval, wealth, or the myriad of other reasons people think writers write. If you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll never truly lose that creative spark. And don’t be ashamed if you aren’t able to put something down on paper every time—sometimes that spark needs some time and space to become vibrant again.

Check out Matthew’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.

Aretha Lemon

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Aretha Lemon is a graduate of the Bowling Green State University Creative Writing program with poems published in the Prairie Margins literary magazine and the Silver Birch Press.

Judge of The Magnolia Review Ink Award for Volume 5, Issue 1, chose Nathan Dennis, “Meditations on The Creation”

Henry Hitz–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

I have a study, or a man-cave, in my house where I do almost all of my writing, though I also have a piece of land in the Santa Cruz mountains where I go for inspiration.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I’ve been writing using a computer (first WordStar, then WordPerfect, now MSWord) since I bought an Osborne back in 1981.

What is your routine for writing?

I don’t have a rigid routine. Generally I write on weekends, stoke up on caffeine Saturday morning and write away. I make sure I have a piece to read at my weekly writer’s group.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

I wrote my first story when I was 8 years old. It was called “Fate and Pearl Harbor.” I’ve written off and on ever since, but seriously since high school.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

It varies from piece to piece. My first novel, White Knight, was written for the progressive community of San Francisco. My second novel, Supremacy, was written for both people into politics and into the kink community. The novel I am currently finishing, Squirrels in the Wall, was written for people who care about the planet and humans’ relationship with nature, as well as people interested in the nature of death.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

Reading inspires me. The Castle, Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple are three voices that have influenced my writing. I am primarily motivated by an obsessive need to understand the f-ing universe and explain that understanding to my fellow humans.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I’m an activist and political organizer when I’m not writing. I read. I watch the great stuff on TV (Handmaid’s Tale, Chi, Peaky Blinders). I obsess about kinky sex, lol.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

The process itself when it is flowing. Allowing my all too vivid imagination to run away with me.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

There’s no such thing as talent. Talent is a myth designed by our oppressive society to exclude the vast majority of voices from our cultural conversation. Everyone has a story to tell that is profound and profoundly different from anyone else’s, and if you just keep trying to tell it, sooner or later it will be told just the way you want it to be, regardless of whether anyone reads it or not. Finding your voice is the same thing as finding yourself. Expressing ourselves is what we are here for in order to connect with others. It’s all about connection. Reality inheres in the connection between us.  Also, join a writer’s group.

 

Check out Henry’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2, and his story “Turtle Bay,” was nominated for the Pushcart.

 

David Spicer–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

I work in a spare bedroom surrounded by books and CDs. Much of the time my cat is with me.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I use the computer for most of my poems, but I often write in longhand.

What is your routine for writing?

I don’t have a set routine or ritual for writing. I write when the mood strikes me, which is often.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

50 years. I started in high school.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

No ideal audience. I don’t write for academics but for myself and for people who care to read what I write.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

Anything that catches my fancy.  I’m rarely blocked. Sometimes I won’t write for a week or so, but usually I’m back in the chair before long.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I watch movies, listen to music, email other writers, read. I try to walk a lot, too.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Listening to that inner voice that says a poem is coming and then writing the first few lines. And then the revision part is as exciting, too. So I guess I like all parts.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Find a couple of trusted readers who believe in tough love and who push you in a kind way. Avoid abrasive critics.

 

Check out David’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.

 

Rey Armenteros

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Rey Armenteros is a Los Angeles-based painter whose expressionistic brand of surrealism was largely shaped by the Far East iconography he encountered during his several years in Seoul, Korea. He writes a blog on the methodologies of art titled, Through Concentrated Breath, http://blog.reyarmenteros.com/.

Recipes for Damaging Books, Volume 5, Issue 1

Jan Ball

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Jan Ball has had 274 poems published or accepted in journals in the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, India and Ireland in journals like: Atlanta Review, Calyx, Connecticut Review, Main Street Rag, Phoebe, and Verse Wisconsin. Her two chapbooks and first full length poetry book were published by Finishing Line Press. When not writing, Jan likes to work in the garden at her farm and work out in Chicago at FFC with her personal trainer. She and her husband travel a lot but like to cook for friends when they are home.

Dorade Entire, Uber Driver, clutter, and mother lode, Volume 5, Issue 1

Judith Alexander Brice

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Judith Alexander Brice, a retired Pittsburgh psychiatrist, has the honorable distinction of being married to a wonderful poet—namely, Charles W. Brice—who has published widely including in The Magnolia Review! This first drew her attention to this very eclectic lovely journal, which happens to have a name that called to one of her enclosed poems, “My Magnolia Gamble.” Dr. Brice has published in many on-line and print journals and newspapers including The Paterson Literary Review, Vox Populi.com, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Versewrights.com, and Annals of Internal Medicine among others. Her first book, Renditions in a Palette, appeared in 2013. Her second book, Overhead From Longing, has just hit the shelves.

Sketches of Sun; When You Turn; Solitary; Of Grace, Hatred, Preying and Lady-Bugs; My Magnolia Gamble; and No Candy; Volume 5, Issue 1