Ask the Author: Rick Bailey
Answered Questions (5)
Rick Bailey
I just keep slogging forward. Occasionally I have to abandon a piece of writing, but I try to move forward. I post stuff on a blog. I think of the blog as a way of getting rid of a piece of writing. "Okay, that's good enough for now. I can always come back to this piece." And something catches my attention. I want to write something about Funk 49 and music . . . and that opens up a new line of inquiry.
Rick Bailey
Honing a certain way of paying attention to the world, to what's going on around you.
Rick Bailey
I try to write every day. I developed that habit when I taught online. In my current practice, inspiration comes from the writing, while I'm writing. Curiosity and desire is aroused in the work.
Rick Bailey
I'm currently working on a essay about the challenges of remote teaching. It's coronavirus time. Schools are replacing bricks and mortar teaching with virtual teaching. I taught online for 25 years. I know this: you don't move curriculum from traditional format to remote format in a couple weeks. The adjustments amount to a Copernican shift.
Rick Bailey
I get topics for my essays from everyday life, from reading, music, comments my wife makes . . . Memory is triggered. I explore memory in my work. I also get ideas from research I do on a topic. For instance, I wrote an essay about the great bug die-off. The essay was triggered by an article I read, which caused me to recall bugs on the windshield when I was a kid (where are all those bugs now??). And further reading I did on algae blooms gave me additional material for the essay. My work is sort of memory project + investigative reporting.
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