Ask the Author: Jason Stoneking
Answered Questions (14)
Jason Stoneking
I fell in love. It ended.
Jason Stoneking
After several years of writing essays, and releasing them in a trilogy of volumes, I have turned myself loose from the structure of that project and allowed myself to drift freely back into the realm of undefined inspirations. The result has been that I've found myself writing poems again. Longhand, in a little notebook, sitting by the river. It's like I'm in my twenties. Almost like the last decade didn't happen. We shall see where it leads.
Jason Stoneking
Hi Kate! The Audience project was imagined as a trilogy pretty early on, and I think that the three forms it took (writing to one person; writing to several, and then writing to the unspecified audience) rounded out the idea for me. I might still write some essays at some point, and I might even return to some form of writing them by request. But right now, I feel like that project is at its natural stopping place. So far I've spent the spring writing poems again!
Jason Stoneking
You might be able to pick up some mechanics in school, but you're not going to find your voice there. If you live the average mainstream lifestyle, it will lead you to average mainstream observations and insights. The core of your art needs to come from the way you live. Don't allow yourself to live in banality and then expect the rest of us to read your thoughts.
Jason Stoneking
"How long can I go on saying no to money for a living?"
Jason Stoneking
All time? The whole world? Like the four most important people who ever lived? To me? Or to people in general? This is a really hard question. And my answer would probably change every night depending on my mood.
Jason Stoneking
That by recording the things that are beautiful to me, I can give them the chance to outlive the things that are not. They say that the winners write the history, but it's actually the writers who write the history. So they also get to decide who won.
Jason Stoneking
I've dealt with it in many different ways over the years and found that hardly anything keeps working for long. I think the key is to shake things up. If you're sober and getting up early and have writer's block, then get loaded and start writing at night. If you're comfortable and well-fed and have writer's block, then quit your job and go live on the street for a while. If you're strung out on drugs, living on the street, and you have writer's block, then clean up and move inside for a while. If you stay in one place and have writer's block, then start moving. If you move all the time and have writer's block then stay put for a few months. Just break up your routine. Challenge your preconceptions. Eliminate your dependency on any familiar perspective. Knock yourself off balance and make your instincts kick in.
Jason Stoneking
I want to be the most honest and courageous possible version of myself.
Jason Stoneking
The biggest compliment someone could give me is probably to say that they respect the difficulty of the emotional isolation I often suffer as a result of my insistence on trying to live a more challenging life and that they admire my choice to accept that trade-off. The biggest insult would be to say that I was dishonest.
Jason Stoneking
Not at all. Their popularity has long been a mystery to me.
Jason Stoneking
I have no idea. But I know someone I could ask!
Jason Stoneking
I would be happy to! Great title. No guarantees on how fast I will get it done, as it's a busy time right now. But I will certainly put the title on top of a blank page and get to work on it when I have a chance. It would be the least I could do ;).
Jason Stoneking
I think that they remain private until I answer them (which I am now doing). So public, then.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more