poet

Linda Crate–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

Usually, at home. I can write anywhere, though. I’ve sent poems off whilst at my best friend’s house as she was still sleeping, at my parent’s house when they’ve left me behind to do something, and I have even written outside. However, I wouldn’t recommend the latter as bugs are annoying.

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

My computer, my notepads, my phone. I do both—writing by hand usually when in a public setting. If not, I will attach little notes to my phone to remember an idea later.

What is your routine for writing?

I work night shift so I normally spend the morning to the afternoon writing before leaving to work around 3:30ish. On my days off I will just get up, turn up some music, and get to it.

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

I’ve been writing since I was five or six so twenty-six years.

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

I don’t have any particular audience I try to  appeal to. Whomever is moved and touched by my writing I do appreciate, but I write for myself. I write because I have a song to sing, and I hope that others can relate to that in some way.

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

Anything and everything. I am constantly inspired by other authors, things that have happened in my life, the weather, songs. I always have ideas, it seems.

If I am blocked then I take a break and go outside or just listen to some music or  cook (I love cooking). I don’t try to force anything. I just let the words come back to me.

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

Reading, swimming, spending time with friends and family, shopping, listening to music and dancing, singing, crafting, occasionally acting, I used to roleplay a lot  (forum based ones), cooking and baking,  taking adventures out into nature, watch anime and manga, etc.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

I love when you get in your groove and the words start flowing and you put one word after another word and somehow it’s become this story or poem. The musicality of words has always entranced and intrigued me.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Dreams don’t work unless you do. If you want this, really want this, then don’t give up. There’s going to be critics, people who hate your work simply because it’s you, rejection letters, and bad days. But if you keep on going despite all that, it’s really rather rewarding.

Check out Linda’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2.

Mark Hudson–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

What is your creative space? Where do you write?

Sometimes observations of things in real
life inspire me, I might write a poem about something
I saw. So I usually have paper to jot notes down, so
I never lose an idea. The only problem, my handwriting
is so poor, that I can’t even read my own handwriting!
(One time, I was writing a poem on the train, and
some man said,  “What’s that? Sanskrit?”)

What kind of materials do you use?

I think it was Ray Bradbury who said,
“If you want to be a good writer, read more than you
write! Even read bad stuff, so your stuff won’t be like
that!” I read books everyday, but I can’t get by without
my laptop, either!

How long have you been writing?

Since the seventies! I was born in 1970,
and I have early childhood photos, those “square”
size photos they used to have, of me constantly
in front of the typewriter! In third grade, I went to
a young writers conference at school, and most of
the kids had a ten page short story, and I had a 140
page book! Then I wrote a book called, “The spy
in space,” a long epic, and my uncle borrowed it
to read it, and he lost it! But I’ve lost other pieces,
bodies of artwork, computers crashing, you
hopefully learn to protect your ideas better!

Who is your intended audience?

Humans! I guess if you’re trying
to get people to listen to your work and appreciate
it, you never know who will like it and who won’t!
I was asked to read a poem of mine two hours
away from me in an art gallery in the middle of
nowhere! The people loved it, and I got several
compliments on my work! But I don’t drive,
so if I didn’t get a ride, I couldn’t get there!

What do you do if you get writer’s block?

Rome was not built in one day?
I just started reading a book about Ernest
Hemingway, and on one of his super-famous
novels, he had five different endings he wanted
to use, but none of them fit. When I was in
writing school, they talked about the need to
rewrite, and it’s true. I’ve written whole novellas,
and realized they were terrible and was grateful
they weren’t published. But anyone could say that.

What else do you besides writing?

I’m also an artist, so with all my
interests, I’m never really bored. When I was in
my twenties, I’d tell my peers, “I’m never bored.”
But the truth is, I was always bored.  If you want
to be a writer, you sometimes have to be alone
a lot. And if you were married, or you had kids,
they would have to understand that when you’re
writing, you’re working. There are writers and
artists who make money, sometimes a lot,
and they’re not starving, nor are their families.
But I’ve been given a chance in the circumstance
I’m in to have the free-time to pursue writing.
I’m 46 years old, and I could look at it as I’ve
wasted time along the way. But who doesn’t
say, “If I knew then what I knew now?”

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Giving praise back to the creator
of the universe, who made “everything,” for
making me realize I can be “me” and still
be a child of God. And I love to be in the
company of other creative people, of whom
I know many. I belong to many writers
associations, and one is Rockford Writers
Guild in Illinois. They have a “Good news”
section of their newsletter, where you can
report publications, and I reported the
good news of publishing “balloons”
to Magnolia Review to Wilda Morris,
who is in charge of that, and she e-mailed
back and said, “I had a balloon poem
accepted as well!

Getting “Balloons” accepted made
me very happy, because I wrote it around
the time of my 46th birthday. It is a very
upbeat poem, and I was feeling very
happy at the time. My 46th year as it
has panned out has had some challenges,
family health issues, and so I could
choose to be sad. But I have writing
and art, and it is the greatest therapy
known to man! (and woman!)

(If this interview is published on the blog,
I want to thank Suzanna for accepting my
poem, and putting this interview on the blog,
if it goes on. And if anybody reads this
and hopes to be a writer, I hope that
something I said inspires you. Remember,
not everything has been done yet, and
each individual is a new voice. Every
life is worth a lot to the ultimate creator!)

Check out Mark Hudson’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2 and Volume 4, Issue 1.

Robert Beveridge–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

I started when I was four. Doing the math, that would be 1972-73, depending on when. Supposedly, the first notebook I used back then is still in existence somewhere. (I still remember much of what was in it. Today we’d call it “bad Speed Racer fanfic,” but that term wasn’t around in the seventies. The first story involved a Satanic goose. Nope, not kidding.)

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

Often a line pops into my head, and I start turning it over and over to see what I can do with it. That may have a genesis (it happens often at poetry readings, unsurprisingly), but at other times it may come out of thin air, like when I’m driving and bored.

I don’t think of “blocked” the way most people do, because writing every day has never been a specific goal. If I’m writing every day, wonderful. I don’t think I’ve done so for more than a couple of months since 1994, though. I’ve gone through three-year stretches where I haven’t written a single poem more than once. I don’t really think of it as frustrating; I’m usually just channelling creative output into another medium (criticism, music, etc.).

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

I was a media critic (mostly amateur, sometimes semi-pro, and pro for a couple of months in 2000; a couple of my reviews can still be found on CNN’s website if you know where to look) for thirty years, and I’ve been in bands more often than not since 1982; my current flagship project, XTerminal, is a little over eighteen years old as of this writing.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

I do a lot of answering questions on the website Quora, and I can’t believe how often I have to say this to people… if you’re getting into writing for the money… don’t. The number of novelists who make a living from writing full-time has increased tremendously with the rise of self-publishing, but it’s still a minuscule number compared to the number of novelists. And that’s a mainstream form of artistic expression. If you focus on short stories or poetry, well, the number of people I have known over the past almost fifty years who have made a living with one of those, without having another job, has been in the single digits. (With poetry, there’s Bukowski, and… yeah. That’s it.) Philip Levine was a factory worker for years while being one of America’s most celebrated poets. A lot of them are professors. A few are on disability. Hey, it counts as a source of income. You don’t make a living, much less get rich, doing this stuff. My first publication credit came in 1988. I crossed the 500 publication mark early in 2016. I’m closing in on grossing $200. (I should add that from 1988 through 2015 inclusive, the amount of money I made from publishing poetry was $3.)

Check out Robert’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2.

Larry D. Thacker–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

I’ve forced myself to learn to work in any place, especially in busy cafes, which I enjoy, since we don’t often get to choose when we can do work, but at least half of my writing is done very early in the morning, at home, at my desk via keyboard. At other times I enjoy using pen and pad in old cemeteries or slogging out a few hours of writing in a busy cafe.

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

Keyboard, pen and pad, notebook on smartphone (very handy for spur of the moment starters). I have no favorite anything. No ideal setting. That’s too much pressure on inanimate objects.

What is your routine for writing?

Up very early. Try to write, read, revise, and submit some every day. At least four

(usually more) hours of writing activity a day.

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

Seriously writing for about ten years.

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

This is difficult. Much of my work is Appalachian / mountain-centered, though the my hope is that readers from within and without the region find the work. For the more earth-based work, everyone. Depends on the project. I’m not limited by region or issue or topic or mood.

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

I just completed a YEAR of a poem-a-day, writing a poem or more a day for that period, so being blocked is a common myth we tell ourselves. Uninspired? Sometimes. Tire? Yes. Blocked? Never. No one is.

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

I was in higher ed for 15 years. I’m a painter and photographer. Write lots of fiction as well. Blog. Help manage an antique / vintage store. Buy and sell vintage lovelies.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Bringing something new into the world.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Read. Read. Read. Frakin write. Revise like hell. Submit your work. Get over the possibility that someone won’t like or “get” your work. That WILL happen.

Check out Larry’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2.

John Grey–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

These days I work strictly in my tiny, beyond-cramped study.

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

All of my writing is done by typing in the computer. I’m one of those who still remembers composing on a typewriter, and I have no wish to go back to those days.

What is your routine for writing?

Mondy to Friday, I write (and perform all the secretarial work involved) from 7.00 in the morning until 7.00 at night with a couple of breaks in between. On weekends, I’m more flexible. In other words, I do my best to maintain a happy, healthy marriage.

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

I started writing as soon as I got hold of a pencil and began scribbling stories in the margins of my big sister’s books. I’ve been doing it, off and on, for more than forty years.

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

I like to think I write for an intelligent audience that’s appreciative of good poetry.

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

I guess I’m one of the fortunate few who doesn’t suffer from writer’s block. I’ve just developed so many of what I call triggers over the years, and my study is full of them.

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

I enjoy travel and eating at restaurants from the fine kind to the local diner. My wife and I are also walkers.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Sometimes it’s completing a work I’m proud of. Other times, it’s receiving an acceptance from a site or magazine that I admire.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Find your voice, keep at it, develop a thick skin, take advice, and ignore advice.

Check out John’s work in Volume 1, Issue 1, and Volume 3, Issue 2.

Jack D. Harvey–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

I work at home.

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

I write by hand with a pen and when the poem gets close to its final form, I type it on Word on my computer.

What is your routine for writing?

I don’t have a set routine and write at all times of the day or night.

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

I have been writing some sixty-odd years, from the time I was about sixteen.

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

I don’t have any intended or ideal audience. Basically I write because I feel compelled to write.

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

Not sure what inspires me; the Greeks and the Romans had the idea that the muse breathes in (cf. the English word inspire- through the Greek- pneo, Latin spiro, “breathe in”) to you; in other words, there is some outside influence at work when you create something. I am not really sure whether this is true or not, but sometimes, while writing, words or thoughts come to me. From where, who knows? If I am blocked, I stop writing and come back to the piece later.

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

I study Chinese, go to the gym daily and walk daily with my wife.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Writing the piece and the usually laborious process of getting it to a final form.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Write as often as possible and read as much as you can; try to read the old masters—they are rarely wrong and you can learn a lot from them.

Check out Jack’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2.

Jesse Minkert–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

I have an office which was supposed to be a second bedroom, so it has long, shallow closets along one wall. The left one has a filing cabinet, two guitar cases, scraps of Foamcore, and a low rolling cabinet on which rests a Braille embosser. That’s a printer for Braille that creates bumps on heavy paper. The right closet is where my clothes and shoes are piled up. One or two folding card tables on the floor. My desk is by the door to the hall. A bookcase holds racks of Blues CDs and reference works. Under the windows are short shelves crammed with books, journals, and a boom box.

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

I work at home on most of my tasks. I submit a lot, so that happens on the computer. I’m revising a novel, near the end, which means probably no more than one more year. That also happens on the computer. I started out as a visual artist, so I find myself still drawn to the flow of ink onto paper. I transcribe my notes once a month, create files of stages of editing, and with some luck, eventually, arrive at some poetry that doesn’t embarrass me.

I’ve been experimenting with different sizes of pen recently. Arthritis has made my thumbs almost useless. I’ve tried several ways to hold them so that thumbs are not necessary.

What is your routine for writing?

I’m terrible at maintaining routines. I start the mornings with submissions. I bounce back and forth between poems and the novel. Usually, more often than not, I think of something that interrupts the regular pattern, so I have to look into that immediately. I read too much news. After lunch, or at lunch, I go out with my spiral notebook and read and write in burger joints and Starbucks along Broadway on Capitol Hill in Seattle. With the release of Rookland, I’ve stepped up my attendance at open mics around town. I hustle spots as a featured reader. Performing before audiences is crucial to me. I write for the mood. I revise for the sound.

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

That story is too long for this questionnaire. Short version: as I mentioned, I was a visual artist. I got an M.A. as a sculptor in 1981. I moved to Seattle and my eyes started bleeding inside. Diabetic Retinopathy is a primary cause of blindness. Treatment was a matter of laser beams being shot at my retinae, over 1800 per eye. I came away with most of my vision, and with a resolve to find art to do that didn’t depend on vision. I started to write, for radio, stage plays, short stories, and poems. Figure I started about 1985. That’s 32 years.

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

Always a tricky question. My novel audience may not resemble my poetry audience at all. Ideal audiences don’t exist. Real audiences exist, so I like them the best. Poetry on the page is one way to look at poetry, but poetry coming from a human mouth and into human ears is more exciting, more seductive, more terrifying. I work on page form, I take the look of a poem seriously, but I can’t imagine getting my blood to surge because of the shape of a poem on a page. I live for the microphone. Actually, I don’t need a microphone. Just listeners.

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

I’m inspired to write from the fact that I have an expiration date. I need to get as much done as I can before I turn sour and undrinkable. Some days I walk away with a blank page. Some days I fill a page with useless crap. I have my box of tricks, some I learned in design classes in art school. It all comes down to three actions: transform, reshape, and rephrase.

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

I operate a nonprofit corporation called Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences. I create access projects to the arts for blind and visually impaired people. I’ve slowed down in recent years, but I still work with an organization called the Jack Straw Cultural Center on workshops for very young students, blind and sighted, to create projects related to installations in the Jack Straw New Media Gallery, and to train the staff and gallery artists on how to effectively interact with blind and visually impaired people. In the summers for the past 21 years, I’ve worked with kids 9-18 in audio production workshops. I lead the radio theater, or audio storytelling, section. It involves writing, teaching kids about what goes into stories, performance, production, and how to work with coaches and engineers.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

In prose, I like the moment when I realize the sentence I’ve worked an hour to rebuild can now be reasonably spoken. In poetry, it’s that rush after the reading is done. Sure, sometimes people say nice things, good job, I loved that thing you read, etc., and I can’t say I don’t like that, but before that is the spinning head and the thumping heart. Okay, Minkert, they say, you really set yourself on fire this time.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Go over every phrase you have written down. If you believe you might have stumbled across it anywhere other than out of your head, cut it. Make up some phrase that nobody has ever heard before, and put that in its place. When reading to an audience, embrace the fear. If you find yourself reading with total confidence, you are screwing up. Fear keeps you honest. Fear means you are taking the risks you need to take. Submit a lot.

Check out Jesse’s work in Volume 3 Issue 2, and check out his book ROOKLAND here.

Gary Beck–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates
  1. I work at home, or at Bryant Park
  2. I write by hand because I am a poor typist, and I use ballpoint pens.
  3. I’ve been writing for a long time in various cycles, determined by my work in theater when I focused on playwriting and translations of the classics.
  4. My intended audience is adults, ‘or older,’ ideally who enjoy issues, storytelling, and a commitment to literature.
  5. I have an urgent need to communicate with audience,s and I’m concerned with the state of the nation and the condition of the world. I have too much to do.
  6. I mentor some young people and play speed chess.
  7. The actual act of writing and the mental state when it just flows out of the pen.
  8. If it’s vitally important to you, persevere, no matter how you’re scorned or rejected. Never accept family or friends comments as objective assessment.

Check out Gary’s work in Volume 1, Issue 1, Volume 2, Issue 1, and Volume 3, Issue 2.

Ellie White–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

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

It varies. Sometimes, I am able to work at home. Other times, I have to make myself go somewhere like the library or a coffee shop. It really depends on how difficult it is for me write at the time. If I’m in a period of inspiration, it’s no problem for me to write at home. If I’m struggling to create new work, home is too comfortable. It’s too easy to get distracted there. I have to force myself into a public space where I am less comfortable to get anything done.

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

When I started writing, I usually wrote by hand. I spent a lot of time at various writing groups, open mics, etc. and my laptop was very heavy to carry around. Now that laptops are much lighter, and I usually write alone, I type everything.

What is your routine for writing?

To be honest, I don’t have one. I write when I feel like writing, and if I don’t, I work on other creative projects. If it seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve written, I’ll push myself to write a few new pieces. But I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who writes every day. My writing comes in spurts.

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

I started writing in the fall of 2010, so about 7 years now. I always joke that I was peer pressured into becoming a poet because I used to attend poetry slams as a spectator, and a group of poets convinced me to attend their writing group, and then they convinced me to get on the mic, and so began my journey. I slammed for about 2 years, took a few workshop classes in undergrad, and then got accepted into an MFA program. I sometimes think about trying to slam again now that grad school is done.

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

I’ve asked myself this question a lot. Ultimately, I think I am writing for anyone who may feel alone or misunderstood in their feelings. I write a lot about trauma, but I like to think that I write from a place of hope. My hope doesn’t necessarily look the way some people think it should. When you experience trauma, going back to “normal” afterwards isn’t really an option. You are different. The world looks different to you. There are times when you truly feel haunted by shit. But you are still alive in your little haunted house. So, I often write about living with my various ghosts.

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

I find inspiration in the strangest things. Roadkill has inspired a number of my recent poems, as have some of the not-so-sexy realities of having sex. Life is messy, and I guess I find the mess inspiring. When I can’t write in my primary genre, which is poetry, I usually turn to something else. I sometimes write nonfiction. I also have a comic called “Uterus & Ellie.” I’m terrible at making comics since I can’t draw or use graphic design software worth a damn. But I have fun with it. I recently made a collage type thing because I’m blocked. It’s weird looking. I think I’ll hang it on the wall.

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

Well there’s the comic I just mentioned. Besides that, and my thrilling day job in insurance, about all I do is try to exercise enough to counteract my horrible diet. Around the time I turned 30, I started freaking out about my cardiovascular health. I ran outdoors for about 18 months, and then my knee started giving out about 5 months ago and it hasn’t healed. So, no more running. I was swimming for a bit, but then I developed a rare skin condition. So, no more swimming. I just joined a gym, so we’ll see how that goes.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

I love writing the endings of my poems. I’ve got a thing for endings. I like for them to be unexpected, and I get really excited when I come up with something super creepy.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

This is difficult because I never set out to become a writer. It just sort of happened and I ran with it. So, “run with it” maybe? Also, don’t freak out and think you’re not a writer anymore if you go through a period in your life where you don’t write much. Don’t let the people who have their daily writing routine set in stone make you feel like that is the only way to do this. Being a writer looks different for everybody. Do it on your terms, not someone else’s.

Check out Ellie’s work (Pushcart nomination) in Volume 3 Issue 2.