I tried very hard not to be a writer. I told myself it was foolish and impractical. A path littered with disappointment and rejection. Yet I could never really convince myself to stay off it. So, one day, I took a deep breath and started writing. Since then. I haven’t stopped. Would you please tell … Read more
At the end of the day, if your book doesn’t land where you’d hoped, if your words never get read, if you have to put a manuscript in a drawer, the thing that has to keep you moving forward is the joy of telling a tale. Would you please tell us a little about your … Read more
Hemingway has inspired me the most – his ability to capture hardship, and the human valor in soldiering onwards despite it is the highest expression of human optimism. Would you please tell us a little about your writing process? I like to write first drafts in broad strokes and reflect on them over time. Sometimes … Read more
Once I left the judicial robes behind the things I was permitted to engage with exploded. I regained my intellectual agency, and my words just came back to me one day. I am drifting towards protest poetry and replanting the Greek myths in prairie landscapes at this stage in my long-delayed writing career. Would you … Read more
Write down the bright ideas as soon as they appear. Don’t save them for later. Don’t worry about word count. Just write. Would you please tell us a little about your writing process? Usually, an idea drifts down from the sky, and I catch it and keep it safe in my heart. Day by day, … Read more
You can spend morning to evening on the couch reading novels and still feel like you had a productive day. Would you please tell us a little about your writing process? I usually write in the early morning. I work in short, intense bursts of energy, with long periods of reflection between them. When I’m … Read more
I have recently experienced an evening that I am slowly starting to understand affected me in more ways than I initially thought. So, my instinct was to write a piece of creative non-fiction about it, to excise it, to exorcise it. And that’s exactly what I did. Nearly 1,500 words later, I’m a little more … Read more
Poetry creates shared language and uses that shared language to communicate ideas and bait them with beauty. I’m still learning both how to communicate beautifully and how to chase beauty until it communicates something. Would you please tell us a little about your writing process? My writing process might sound a little strange: the majority … Read more
I had the poems and pictures bound into a small book that I sent to each of my uncle’s family members. It was my way of showing up even from my home overseas. Would you tell us a bit about your writing process? I’ve been writing a poem a day for about a year now. … Read more
Sincere thanks to Anaïs for everything shared in these illuminating responses, especially the entirety of this stirring definition of the role of the writer: “To tell the truth, even when no one wants to hear it. To ask questions that don’t have easy answers. To document, to distort, to imagine, to entertain. To warn. To … Read more