Ask the Author: Frances Southwick
Answered Questions (6)
Frances Southwick
I just seemed to keep writing about the same topic in a writing course I was taking. And so I allowed my subconscious self to take over and continue to write what it wanted. It was very specific.
Frances Southwick
I go to inspiring events. Sometimes I don't know they will be inspiring, but then I go, and I'm just so happy I went. Example - Karen Savoca concert. Another example - Patti Smith evening with the author. Another - poetry readings by authors I should know but don't. It's great - they renew my spark, because I remember I'm in their club...and they make me want to renew my membership!
Frances Southwick
A few little things, here and there. (shhhh...don't tell Frances I told you - but she is writing about growing up in rural Colorado...)
Frances Southwick
I like Ira Glass's advice...about how when we start out, we are beginners...
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Now that I have persevered through my first book...What freedom I have, to know I have my own little world at my fingertips at all times.
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Now that I have persevered through my first book...What freedom I have, to know I have my own little world at my fingertips at all times.
Frances Southwick
Discovering what I didn't know I already knew.
Frances Southwick
I wait until I'm about to fall asleep, and I get out some paper while I'm reclining. Sleepiness mutes my automatic inner judge, and I'm able to get out a few sentences. The next day, I use those sentences as a starting point.
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