Recently, the wonderful coach and mentor, editor, podcaster, writer, retreatist (?) extraordinaire and lovely human Meg Dunley recorded our conversation about writing, and here it is.
Meg is so easy to talk to, and I had a lot of fun. However, I’ve watched most of Meg’s interviews with artists and writers, and I seem to have used the most ‘ums’ of anyone. It is instructive/interesting/dismaying to watch yourself talking. My face is very mobile, I see. And my hands also. But my voice isn’t what I think it is, and certainly not what I hear when I talk. Not just the ‘ums’, but the…is it the tone, or the timbre?
Our internet connection that day was not good, and so the picture quality isn’t the best, which is a salve for my vanity. Double chins! My official ‘author pic’, taken by my dear husband, is several years old and rather flattering.
Could I use this author pic, taken in 1980 by a photographer friend, instead? Actually, I would not want to turn back time and be 22 again. I like the view from here – nearly 70 – so much better, though not the creaky joints. I was indeed the very serious
young person I appear to be, intent on writing very, very literary short stories. My goddesses at the time were Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood. I wonder what I would have said about my writing practice then? It was pretty scatty. Lots of beginnings. Lots of notes and first pages and then…nothing. My problem was that I rarely finished anything because of the unpleasant, carping, bitching, negative person in my head telling me that my writing was – basically – crap. My biggest breakthrough in writing was when I realised I could tell that voice that yes, it’s true, it’s crap – but I will finish it anyway. I took all the effort of fighting that nasty critic, stepped sideways and out of sight, and kept going. And these days I recognise that the nasty critic was simply doing its job, trying to protect me from disappointment of rejection.
For a writer (this writer, anyway) hearing other writers talk about writing is fascinating. We all work so differently, and I know I have changed a great deal over the 4o odd years of my career. Right now, I am concerned with enjoying my work. Not flogging myself about productivity. Having a schedule loose enough to fit in the unexpected, but not so loose that nothing gets done. A couple of weeks ago I hustled to get 10,000 words ready to submit to Varuna for one of their residencies. I’ve had 2 before, and both have led to finished books I’m proud of, and to publication. Three’s a charm? It would be lovely to go to Varuna again, but not essential. It was just good to push myself a little.
And note to self: read the submission requirements properly next time. I spent a couple of days writing a 1,000 word synopsis. My husband, reading and re-reading it, did comment that it seemed an unusually long synopsis… It turned out to be 1,000 characters required, not words. Bugger!
And here’s the link to Meg’s site. Well worth a look, and a listen.