#writers space

[lightofthemoon23]

Finally got my desk how I want it 🖥️🌺🪴

[goddessstorm]

Writing

So I am doing #NaNoWrMo this year. Off to a great start. Got my word count in, 1,600 words. Today's goal is 2,000 words. Just easier to add to the current word count.

I have found that you can add add-ons to Google docs. So I have added a word count feature. Now I can keep track of how many words I have written. It is very helpful.

There are other add-ons I might add later.

Today is a full day before I write. Gotta get my writing space cleaned up and rearranged. Front room needs cleaning. Also need to fold laundry. Gonna tackle laundry after I finish off this post.

So the plan is to clean and work on novel today. I've got this.

[tdsnews]

Arts Council Of Wales Supports Write & Sip Writer-2-Writer Mentorship Program In Cameroon -

The best daily source for news, politics and more.

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“Beneath the Hangman’s Tree” Cheyenne Sioux

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A tasteful frenzy

[h-ngm-n]

Writers’ Spaces Interview: Ryan Collins

In this week’s installment of the WRITERS’ SPACE series, Ryan Collins talks to H_NGM_N about where he wrote A NEW AMERICAN FIELD GUIDE & SONG BOOK, about his writing habits, and about how he makes use of distraction. 

Where
 do 
you 
live?


Rock Island, IL, not far from where I was born & raised, two blocks from the Mississippi River & its largest island, which is home to “the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the United States.”


Where 
did 
you 
write 
the 
majority 
of
 your 
book? 

I wrote the book mostly in my apartment, where I do most of my writing. I always have a journal with me and in recent years I use my note pad and voice recorder on my phone more & more for notes, etc. But I eventually transcribe/collage/edit/revision most everything in my living room on my laptop.

Most of our books, films, music, comics, etc. are in the living room, which is good because I generally like having white noise or other stimuli happening while I’m working. It’s good to have our library available for feeding “sound & vision,” for reference, for everything. It’s also the room where our cat Falstaff spends the majority of his time, and it’s also where I have my drums set up, so I can also stretch a little without leaving home.

Describe
 your
 writing 
habits and creative 
process.
 Do
 you 
write
 notes 
in 
a
 journal 
first?
 Is
 everything 
done
 on 
the 
computer? 


I work in series frequently, & I like prompts/forms/call & response, so if I have a form or a series I’m working in (as with this book), I will try to write into that as much as I can. I have a longer project I am starting to work on with more regularity, which involves some research & note taking in a way that’s a little different than the half-scatterbrained way I usually keep notes in my Moleskine, which is slow & rewarding so far.  

I also start MS Word documents & continually add to them (sometimes with forms/series, or notes/fragments for them/hyperlinks/etc.); I’ve become sort of fanatical about dating everything I write, wherever & however I write it, so I add the date/time signature when I start & when I stop, & go back later for revision, sometimes over weeks or months.

To a degree, I edit/revise while I write, but I always try to get a full first draft, a (mostly) complete first thought, every time I start a poem; if I don’t/can’t, I frequently don’t get back to those (yet!), because they feel like failed attempts/false starts—thoughts that my interest couldn’t hold with enough force, or that I wasn’t able to generate enough momentum to follow through.  




Do
 you
 have
 a 
certain
 room/space/atmosphere 
that 
you 
like
 to 
write 
in? 
And
what
 is it 
about
 this 
space
 that
 feeds
 your
 writing 
life?
 How
 does 
your 
outer
landscape
 work
 with your 
inner 
landscape?

I like working at home in our living room. It’s a big room with a high ceiling, several large windows, so it’s abundant with light & space & air when we can open the windows. My partner is active in the theatre, and she writes & draws & designs costumes & sews, so there are always piles of projects around: her dress form, papers & books & notebooks, sketches & fabric everywhere, lots of kitten mischief. It’s a good creative atmosphere, if a bit distracting at times.

But I try to make good use of distraction. I write anywhere I can—when I lived in Chicago, I used to write on the trains & while walking around. I practiced reading/writing in crowded areas, immersed in noise & traffic. Traveling is something I’ve always found to be generative, regardless to where/for what I might be traveling.    

Place deeply affects my writing, & I’ve written into/about the place where I live now a lot, maybe too much. With the … Song Book project, I’ve found that I can be (mostly) in one place & immerse myself in an extended project—a project in part about dislocation & travel—& I can build it out while still feeling like I can see it from multiple perspectives. Which was surprising in a terrific way.   

What 
do 
you
 do 
when 
you’re
 not
 writing?

Spending as much time as possible with my daughter. Working (I’m the Executive Director of the Midwest Writing Center, a literary arts non-profit in Davenport, IA). Teaching (I’m an adjunct instructor at St. Ambrose University and Scott Community College). Playing drums (though not doing nearly as much of that as I need/want to be). Cooking. Watching movies. Watching Falstaff be ridiculous. Sleeping.

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