Lee Triplett is a poet, voracious reader, seeker, bipolar depressive, pianist, queer, and South Carolinian. A student of poetry, piano performance, and computer science in college, she immerses herself in poets to whom she is drawn. Her poetry has been published in Amethyst Review and is forthcoming in Mused: The BellaOnline Literary Review. She currently lives in Tega Cay, South Carolina.
Coming Home to a Racket, Sound Effects, and Changing Seasons, Volume 5, Issue 1
Mitchell Waldman’s fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The Waterhouse Review, Crack the Spine, The Houston Literary Review, The Faircloth Review, Epiphany, Wilderness House Literary Magazine, The Battered Suitcase, and many other magazines and anthologies. He is also the author of the novel, A Face in the Moon, and the story collection, Petty Offenses and Crimes of the Heart (Wind Publications), and serves as Fiction Editor for Blue Lake Review. (For more info, see his website at http://mitchwaldman.homestead.com).
Stock Boy, Volume 5, Issue 1
Thomas Wattie studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. He answers the phone at a pizza place. His interests also include biking, cooking and trap music. He would prefer to answer the phone somewhere else.
Fork Juice in the Orange Section, Volume 5, Issue 1
Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?
I work at home mostly—I have a very tiny cramped office I write in during the winter (because it has a heater in it) and I recently turned my son’s former bedroom into another office, which has a window looking out into the back yard that’s turning out to be more distracting than I’d hoped.
What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?
I sometimes write by hand, but I mostly just write on my computer.
What is your routine for writing?
Wake up, do an hour or so of market research and submitting material, get my daughter ready for school, then write for the next 4-5 hours (until my daughter comes home from school).
How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?
Unofficially, I’ve been writing poetry and fiction since I was 4. Officially, I’ve been writing for publication since I was 15 (going on 32 years now).
Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?
Initially, I always write for myself, and then the question of audience comes later.
What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?
I’ve been writing for so long now that just the act of sitting at my desk inspires me to write. I worked as a journalist and a technical writer for a long time, so I didn’t have the luxury of being blocked—I always had intense deadlines to meet, so every moment I wasn’t writing was a moment dragging me closer to poverty. I maintain those same sort of deadlines for myself with fiction and poetry now, so I don’t really think about writer’s block.
What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?
I do a lot of handicrafts, like needlepoint and beadwork. When it’s nice out, I love to play in my garden. My husband and I write hiking and history books together, and a lot of our research involves big, long, wonderful walks through parks and the city, which I also love.
What is your favorite part of the creative process?
I love all of it. I love stumbling into a story or poem and feeling it grow into something separate from me. I love the moment after finishing something when I wonder, “How did this come about?” I love watching pages and pages fill up while I’m working on a book or a longer piece. It’s all wonderful.
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
Be persistent. Approach writing with joy.
Check out Holly’s work in Volume 3, Issue 1, and Volume 4, Issue 2. Two of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart, “Fred, Half Dead, Beethoven In His Head” in Volume 3, Issue 1, and “The Patch of Tulips I Never Planted” in Volume 4, Issue 2.
Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?
I usually work at home, as I tend to become distracted elsewhere. However, I jot down a verse or line on scrap paper occasionally whilst out and about, if it comes to me.
What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?
I typically type when I write, unless I am out for the day and happen to think of something I want to record. I do have a connection with old typewriters, though.
What is your routine for writing?
I can feel when I need to write. Poetry is very cathartic, for me, and I can basically resign myself to an entire day writing because I need that release.
How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?
I started writing in the third grade. I entered a poetry contest and won. I have never stopped.
Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?
I mostly write for myself, but I also write for my daughter.
What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?
I am inspired by emotion. If I’m blocked, I let it take its course. It will come eventually.
What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?
I am an artist as well. I sculpt, paint, make jewelry, and pose for painting classes.
What is your favorite part of the creative process?
When it is finished, whatever I have created, and it is beautiful to behold.
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
Be determined. Never give up. If you are relentless, you can reach your dreams. I did.
Check out Mela’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.
Check out David Anthony Sam‘s poetry collection, FINAL INVENTORY, available from Prolific Press here.
Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?
I usually write at home, or when I’m travelling. I consider writing very private, and it’s hard for me to do it in public.
What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?
I typically type because it saves me time later, but there is something visceral I love about writing on paper. If I’m out and about, I keep a pen and notebook on me in case inspiration strikes.
What is your routine for writing?
Oh, I should have a routine! The closest thing I have to a routine at this point is thinking near-constantly to myself, “I should do some writing today.” And if it all works out, I do.
How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?
At least since young adolescence. I remember writing poetry for sure in 6th grade, but I could have started sooner. But I’ve certainly had stretches—some over a year long—of doing no writing whatsoever.
Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?
I write for anyone who has ever felt like they’re alone—so, pretty much most everyone. The thing I love about poetry is how, if done right, it can take you into a moment so deeply and suddenly you realize: “I’ve had this moment before. I’ve felt what this poet is describing.” And there’s a sense of communion in that I strive for.
What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?
Nature is the great inspiration for me. Or big emotions: I’m not much of a crier, so when I need to get my feelings out I write instead. If I’m blocked, going for a walk helps, especially in the woods.
What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?
Well, I have my full-time day job. I also knit, dabble in photography, and ride my bike. Spending time with friends and family is important to me, too.
What is your favorite part of the creative process?
That would have to be the feeling when everything clicks, and you look back at what you’ve done and are really excited about it.
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
I still consider myself an aspiring writer, so this is a loaded question! But I guess the advice I would give is it’s never too late to start, and never too late to get serious about it, either. Be patient with yourself. There isn’t a rush.
Check out Kelsey’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.
The issue will be available July 2019.
The optional theme is Questions. See the Submit tab for details on how to submit. We accept photography, art, comics, creative nonfiction, fiction, flash fiction, experimental work, hybrid work, and poetry.
Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?
I have an office, I’ve always set things up so I have a space that is basically an office. This one contains a 6-foot table from Ikea, a 17” iMac and a fancy adjustable office chair I purchased (with the client’s money) for one of the industrial videos I wrote and directed. I’ve cobbled together a couple pieces so I can use the desk either seated or standing up.
What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type?
I touch type about 90 wpm, so that’s the usual. I have written fiction in bars, restaurants, Starbucks, and I sort of like to do that in a way, you can pick up so much when you look up: a gesture, an expression, the way her hair falls across her forehead and the sort of quizzical expression that sometimes flickers across her face. If I lived in New York or Paris or Barcelona I’d probably do it more often. On the other hand, it’s pretty damned convenient not to change out of your pajamas.
What is your routine for writing?
If I have something underway I’m serious about that I really want to get done, like the one (unpublishably pornographic) novel I’ve written, then I set a schedule: first thing in the morning, work for either three hours or 1,000 words, whichever comes first. Then that’s it. This allows the rest of the day to be remorse-free. I think if one doesn’t do something like this, then the free-floating guilt of never getting enough done seems to hover constantly overhead, like Pigpen’s cloud. And of course your sub-mind continues to mess with the story anyway, no matter what else you think you’re doing.
How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?
I’ve worked as a writer of one sort or another my whole life, so I figure I’ve probably written maybe four million words altogether. I discovered Joseph Conrad and Guy de Maupassant in the bound sets of books that came with the bookcase from my uncle’s furniture store when I was about 12, and that was probably the beginning of my downfall. I wrote for the high school paper and wrote a little in college, but I really began trying to figure out fiction when I was between jobs in the 1980s. My wife and I sold a weekly newspaper in Washington state, moved the family to San Diego, and I freelanced until I got a job writing promotional campaigns for television stations. I worked with a guy who went by Captain Buzzword, who called me Billy Blue Sky. The art director was Tommy Two Tone. A great many creative meetings took place at the Mexican restaurant we favored. (I should probably put this into a story, huh?)
Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?
Not long ago I ran across what Jeffrey Eugenides told The Paris Review, and it works for me, too: “…when you write, you should pretend you’re writing the best letter you ever wrote to the smartest friend you have. That way, you’ll never dumb things down. You won’t have to explain things that don’t need explaining. You’ll assume an intimacy and a natural shorthand, which is good because readers are smart and don’t wish to be condescended to. I think about the reader. I care about the reader. Not ‘audience.’ Not ‘readership.’ Just the reader.”
What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?
I get an idea, it just sort of bubbles up, maybe for a story, maybe for a beginning or an ending or a situation or a character and it feels like something drops into focus and I see a way into it or out of it. For example, with this story, “Schoolboy,” for some reason or other I was thinking about that particular time in my life, probably ruminating on regrets, which is a bad idea to start with unless you’re some sort of creative artist and doomed to this sort of stuff, and the feeling for the ending came to me, not all of it, just the very last last line that embodies it all. The beginning of the story, the crank calls, getting the unknown girl on the phone, all that is just as it happened at the time. The second part, going to meet the girl, that’s all fiction. I think the beginning of the story isn’t very strong, and it only picks up momentum when the narrator gets off the bus. Or to put it another way, my fiction is much more interesting than my life. Which strikes me as the way things should be.
If you Google “writer’s block” you get about five and a half million hits. A guy who knew a lot more about this stuff than I do once said to me, “There is a time of breathing in and a time of breathing out.” And, “It’s not a machine, it’s a fountain.”
What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?
I play golf once a week with my son, see as much of my grandchildren as I can. I try to get enough exercise, and of course I read. I participate at the online writing site Scribophile using another name identity.
What is your favorite part of the creative process?
It used to be (like I’ve heard so many others say) “having written.” Writing is so damn hard. In the last few years, though, I’ve come to enjoy the process, messing around down there in the engine room, tinkering with things, changing out the pipes and valves, which I think is probably a healthier approach, though the grease and the spider webs can be annoying.
What is your advice to aspiring writers?
Let me be specific: Master your tools. If you don’t already, learn to touch type. You can do it in a week if that’s all you do that week. If you don’t know Microsoft Word top to bottom and a lot of the keyboard shortcuts, stop bitching about it and learn it. Read “Techniques of the Selling Writer” by Dwight Swain, memorize Strunk & White. Watch all of Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on YouTube and Jordan B. Peterson’s lectures on YouTube no matter what genre you’re interested in.
Keep in mind that making up a story entails both making up an author and making up an audience. That’s an interesting question for a writer to ask oneself when writing a story (or an interview): who am I being as author? Isn’t this story, like every story, a masquerade? Why do you believe your disguise is working? These are John Edgar Wideman’s ideas.
If you’re still young, figure out what you’re going to do for a day job that’s not going to turn you into somebody you don’t want to be.
And that’s enough of that.
Check out William’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2, and upcoming in Volume 5, Issue 1.
Check out Sarah A. Etlinger‘s poetry collection, NEVER ONE FOR PROMISES, available here. Her poems are available in Volume 4, Issue 2, and “Two Fools” was nominated for a Pushcart.
The Magnolia Review 