Ask the Author: David Ruekberg
Answered Questions (7)
David Ruekberg
The headline announcing his re-election made me laugh so hard, my fresh abdominal stitches burst open, but my laughter stuck in my throat like a sharpened beef bone when I saw the orange-tinted hair emerge from the abscess. I reached for the oxy, but remembered what the doctor said: it would be useless to take it once the pain had already established itself.
David Ruekberg
As I said above: write every day, and lower your standards (William Stafford, https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent....).
David Ruekberg
Reading other people's writing and understanding what they must have gone through to make it readable. Just like trying to learn how to paint has taught me how difficult painting really is, attempting to communicate in writing makes me appreciate the art of writing all the more.
David Ruekberg
Write every day. Read every day. Get outside.
David Ruekberg
I've been pretty much finished withe the manuscript for my second collection, "Hour of the Green Light," for a year. I still tinker with it, moving stuff around, taking stuff out, making small revisions. In April, 2018 I had a good Grind month, and started in a new direction. I'm not sure how to define it yet, but one thing I'm trying to focus on is being more concrete.
David Ruekberg
For the most part, I just sit down and write, even if I feel I have nothing to write. In the summer, I write something almost every day. During the school year, when teaching and grading homework keeps me pretty busy, I only write on weekends. I try to do it first thing in the morning, right after meditation. Otherwise, it usually doesn't happen. Occasionally I participate in a group begun by Ross White called "The Grind," in which a group of about eight writers share work via email. The rules are simple: write one thing every day and send it out. No commenting on each others' work, just grind it out. Write every day: that's the secret. I learned a lot from William Stafford's suggestion to lower your standards. It doesn't matter what you write, as long as you do it. It's like practicing for a game: you have to exercise and do drills every day if you want to play your best. I don't wait for inspiration, but my writing muscles are tuned up when it comes.
David Ruekberg
This book began as my thesis manuscript for graduation from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for writers. That thesis. titled "Penumbra," was a collection of what I considered to be both the best work I had produced in the program and to have a coherent thread among the poems. In creating this book, I removed some poems that over time I felt were not as strong or coherent, and added some poems written outside the program. It has gone through many, many revisions. In fact, as I was working on my second collection, "Hour of the Green Light" (currently seeking publication), I decided to set this manuscript aside. After 40 submissions and no takers, I had kind of given up on it; plus, I wanted to focus on the new manuscript. However, I sent it out a couple of times in 2016 and 2017, and lo and behold Karen Kelsay at Kelsay Books showed interest in August 2017. It's sort of the same way I met my wife. I had finally given up on trying to find a girlfriend when I lived in Colorado Springs. Pretty soon after, I met Leah. I guess those are object lessons in letting go.
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