1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
I was in second year of college, just discovering creative writing, when a prof started a college press and invited me to do a book. It was a work of juvenilia – quite bad. But it did get me thinking that it was possible to write and publish. That I could be a writer. I published a bunch in my early adult years, then turned to teaching and family and earning a livelihood. My new book comes after many years of no book publications, so in some ways it was like starting over.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Poetry spoke to me, to my emotions and internal conversation. I read fiction and non-fiction, and have written both, but poetry maintained its place at the centre. When I start some notes or a draft of something, I think my default is usually poetry.
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 still usually draft with pen and ink, and there are many, many, scribbles, half-full journals, and folders of notes on my work space. A very few poems have emerged in close to their final form. Almost all go through multiple rewrites and edits. The writing can happen quickly, but I do go long periods without writing much at all.
4 - Where does a poem or 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 do both. I have created collections by finding poems with overlapping themes, and clustering them together. On one project (forthcoming, I hope), there’s a concept and scope right from the get-go.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
In the years that I am actively writing, I have also typically been an active participant in readings – as an organizer, audience member, and reader. Like many writers, I am essentially introverted, but do want to share my work, and enjoy reading. That said, I’m not the ‘pop up in a crowded bar and launch into a poem’ type.
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?
I am not a theorist at heart. I have strong opinions and ideals about society and our culture but most of my work falls into conversational and lyric forms. “I lean toward clarity,” past U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón said to me in a workshop I was fortunate to take with her some years ago. That resonates with me. I want my work to be relatively accessible to everyday readers.
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?
Writers exist to give creative expression to the human experience. That’s a very broad role. Some writers are going to give voice to that expression in more pointed, political, and culturally focused ways. Others not. We don’t need to define what writers should be doing; they will do it.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Essential. I didn’t always realize how helpful an editor could be, but I do now.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
When something broke or went missing, my mother had an expression, “It’s just a thing.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that. Life is not our things.
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to non-fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?
I’ve gone through stages of writing both. In middle age, I wrote a lot of non-fiction in the form of essays, newspaper columns, and book reviews. I quite enjoyed that. Its appeal is that a larger proportion of the community regularly reads non-fiction. You can reach a lot of people.
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 don’t have a routine. My most productive writing is when I can get away from home for a retreat, whether that’s a few days of cat-sitting for friends, or a longer stay. It doesn’t have to be far away from home, but I sure work better when I step away from perceived tasks, chores and responsibilities. In my early years, I attended a number of retreats through writers’ organizations. More recently, I tend to just book a getaway spot and go on my own.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
Reading and walking, walking and reading.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Lilac blooms (my mother had a lilac), and the dusty aroma of cut hay on the prairies.
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?
Nature always inspires, but it also makes me feel that I’ll never create a work that matches what nature itself can do. Which is to be expected. I always find visual art stimulating, and I find the nuances of cities can generate creative responses. I am interested in how people gather, move, and live in community.
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
In recent years, poets who have made lasting impressions on me include Ada Limón, Jane Hirshfield and Jack Gilbert. E.B. White was a clear favourite in the years when I was writing short non-fiction. I have also been intrigued by the writing of map maker David Thompson for decades – his Narrative is a compelling story, and William E. Moreau’s compilations of versions of Thompson’s work are fascinating to me.
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Stay healthy, stay active (mentally, physically), keep engaging with writers and readers. So, a continuation of where I’m at now.
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?
I think I might have enjoyed architecture, though a good friend who is an architect would no doubt tell me that the fantasy does not fit the reality.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Reading led me to scribble, and my scribbles found some readers. It was a progression, less than a conscious decision.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Jane Hirshfield’s The Asking, and Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss.
20 - What are you currently working on?
A prose-poem collection focused on place, in west-central Alberta.
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