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1 -
How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work
compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
That remains to be seen.
The Saltbox Olive is my first novel. I can only compare it to how I felt as a
new mother: joy, relief, worry, excitement, and extreme vulnerability.
2 -
How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?
I’ve had a long career as a
journalist - writing scripts and documentaries for CBC. That was my training
ground - I learned to really listen to what people say and to be faithful to
their words and intent when quoting. When I took my first creative writing
class with Lisa Moore, I was petrified, until I felt the crackle of energy that
comes from writing back and forth over the invisible line between truth and
fiction.
3 -
How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your
writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear
looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious
notes?
I’m pretty slow, but I’m
writing things all the time in my phone, in various paper journals (I have a
sort-of system) and on my laptop. Some days it’s an article for theIndependent.ca about
Energy Futures, some days it’s academic writing (I’m doing an interdisciplinary
PhD in energy humanities and I’m interested in climate disinformation and
speculation). Although I find both those worlds extremely generative for
fiction writing - it can be hard to make the switch to fiction writing. As
cheesy as it may sound, if I’m having trouble, I use the pomodoro method; set
my timer for 20 minutes and write without stopping, that can usually move the
internal lever from non-fiction to fiction. Walking also helps.
4 -
Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short
pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a
"book" from the very beginning?
I write a ton of short pieces,
sometimes it’s just dialogue or quirky things people have whispered to me. It’s
like quilting. I have a Scrivener file that holds all those scraps and I go
back to it often to rework the pieces and darn them onto other pieces to turn
them into something longer.
Although, when I started The Saltbox Olive, it was always going to be a novel, one that I’ve wanted to write for a long time, but I had no idea how to do that. I was fortunate to have the support of Trudy Morgan Cole through the WritersNL Mentorship program. That helped me get started. I just kept writing and writing until I arrived at characters and a structure that felt authentic and meaningful.
5 -
Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the
sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I’m a big believer in the
power of readings to foster community, but I haven’t read The Saltbox Olive
yet! I’m in Germany on a fellowship and just this week received a physical
copy. There is talk in the farmhouse I share with the other researchers, that
there’ll be cake and a reading this week which will be nice. The first official
reading will be at Writers at Woody Point this summer - I’ve been a co-host
there for over a decade and I’ll be interviewed by my friend and former CBC
colleague Shelagh Rogers and it will be like reading to family.
6 -
Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of
questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the
current questions are?
All my work: art, journalism,
research, and fiction is eco-critical and explores how language can mask
injustice, manipulate, disempower, as well as set the stage for the future. In
short, I’m interested in the abuse of power - a topic that will (unfortunately)
always be in vogue. I try to illuminate that in my work and give readers a
chance to get closer to a more embodied kind of truth.
7 –
What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they
even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
To challenge stasis and
connect readers with the world’s injustices and beauty.
8 -
Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or
essential (or both)?
Essential.
9 -
What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you
directly)?
Put your characters in peril.
10 -
How easy has it been for you to move between genres (fiction to journalism to
filmmaking)? What do you see as the appeal?
I don’t know about easy, but
moving between genres can be quite generative, when I’m writing journalism, I
get ideas for research and fiction and vice versa and I hope that it all makes
me a better thinker and writer.
11 -
What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How
does a typical day (for you) begin?
I sit up in bed and start. If
I can’t shake off the sleepiness, I get a coffee and get back in bed and keep
writing. At some point in the day, I’ll be embarrassed that I’m still in my
PJs; get dressed, and migrate to my desk.
12 -
When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a
better word) inspiration?
I draw or paint or garden,
look at art, and read about it - that always loosens the cogs. When The Saltbox
Olive stalled, I looked at WW2 photos from the Imperial War Museum’s digital
collection, they have 11 million images! I think that’s where I discovered the
work of South African photographer Constance Stuart Larrabee upon whom I based
the character Barbara Kerr.
13 -
What fragrance reminds you of home?
Blackcurrants.
14 -
David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other
forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
l studied a lot of archival
military maps and used Google maps to explore parts of Italy where the men of
the 166th fought and lived; that’s how I put together the puzzle of where they
were at different points in the war - a spacial timeline - I mostly stayed true
to; you can’t exactly make up a new date for the Battle of Cassino! I also used
that timeline to create an itinerary for a 166th research trip that I took with
my husband in 2018.
The other medium that influenced the characters was audio. Through the MUN folklore archive, I was able to listen to a 1940s radio show Calling Newfoundland that aired taped messages from the men while they were overseas. Hearing the gentle hesitation in their voices helped me write Arch, Slade and Tom (Tombstone) in contrast to the hero soldier archetype we often read or see via American media.
15 -
What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life
outside of your work?
All the generous, creative,
and collaborative writers in Newfoundland, as well as philosophers TimothyMorton and Rosi Braidotti…and the brilliant Naomi Klein.
16 -
What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Farm. In Emilia-Romagna.
17 -
If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or,
alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a
writer?
See above.
18 -
What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Reading Death on the Ice, River Thieves, and February.
19 -
What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
I absolutely love Ali Smith’s writing and am reading the last of her seasonal quartet of novels. Truth be
told, I’m not actually finishing, but sleeping alongside the book, and putting
off reading the last chapter, because it’s so wonderful, I don’t want it to
end.
As for film, I loved Christian Sparkes’ Sweetland - the adaptation of Michael Crummey’s novel.
20 -
What are you currently working on?
I’m writing
a speculative podcast script about a post-oil future on a North American
archipelago. It’s called Hag Islands and it’s part of my PhD project. I do hope
to turn it into a novel.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
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