Ask the Author: James BlueWolf
Answered Questions (6)
James BlueWolf
That's really has no answer. Might wake up in the middle of the night. (advice- never go back to sleep thinking you'll remember whatever in the morning. Force yourself to get up and scripple it down on something and if you're up for another two hours--go with it. It'll be worth it.) Might just sit down with the computer like I'm doing now. This is writing too. Right? Sometimes I set aside a time of day for week or a month. Sometimes I just binge-write..but that's hard to do with a life. One thing, when I start it's hard to stop and getting interrupted really irritates me, so usually I inform my wife or whomever that I'm going to write and they usually stay away from me til I stop. S, OK?
James BlueWolf
I haven't been doing anything but blogging and essays since my son died. BUT I am starting slowly to work again. I have four projects going. My third book of poetry-- Walking the Last Trail (that always progresses slowly), a novel that's about half finished based on a poem I wrote almost forty years ago-- People Of The Blue Mountain, a book of essays written to local media when I lived in Calif-- Letters From A Life, and a non-fiction book on Indigenous and other world values in comparison with Anglo-Euro values and why its so hard for Natives to assimilate--Trying To Walk In Beauty. That's the plan anyway... wish me luck (never had much!)
James BlueWolf
First question is always "why do you write?". And I'll kick your butt if you give me the old cliche--"because I have to!" So why do I ask? Because if you're writing for fame and fortune you need to answer that you have endless ambition and drive to succeed by promoting the hell out of yourself! Additionally, if you just love talking yourself up and are willing to do just about anything to get there; like interviews, book signings, a traveling circus, etc. then you probably have the right temperament. Oh, and you have to have luck too. Anyone who got there otherwise was just lucky. On the other hand, if you're writing for therapy or your grandchildren or you just love seeing your words on the printed page...well that's an easier road. Just read and read and write and write and get some really hurtful but necessary criticism along the way. Think of yourself as a craftsman, and develop your craft. You may not end up writing the Great American Novel, but if you can read your own work without making yourself sick-- you're on your way!
James BlueWolf
If you're bored you'll always have a ton of really tedius formatting or editing to do!
James BlueWolf
Never had it. Got too big a mouth (and too small a mind) to keep quiet about anything. Always something to write. Advice? Don't write in one genre. Write in as many as you can. You'll never make any money or become famous but you'll also never have writer's block!
James BlueWolf
Do you mean the one most recently published or the three I'm writing now? I've only recently gotten a number of books published that have been finished for years. The three I'm currently working on are 1) a book of poetry which I just started three years after we lost our son, Wayah. 2) A novel which has been in the works for many years. I got the idea from a poem I wrote in the 1970's. 3) A book about the difficulties Natives have with assimilation due to the differences of values we share as compared to those of modern America. I went to a conference to receive an award for the book Speaking For Fire and went to a meeting where they said no one is writing for a certain audience and came home and wrote Dreaming Roundball which got me thinking about native values and assimilation so that will end up a book soon... 4) Got a bunch of essays I wrote to local media over the years in Cali laying around so guess I'll bunch 'em up into a book!
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