Ask the Author: David McLoghlin
Answered Questions (7)
David McLoghlin
Probably Tolkien's world, or Narnia.
David McLoghlin
Santiago Sketches was written in 1993-1994 when I was an Erasmus student in Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain. There was no "idea", per say. Instead, while I was wandering around the city during the quite large amount of free time I had there (I was alone, I was a student, I didn't know that many people at first - all of these things were good for me as a writer), I started to jot down impressions in my notebook. At the end of a week I would transcribe these pocket notebooks into more permanent, page-a-day leather-bound journals. This way, I ended up writing something like four pages a day of poetry; this totaled something like 1,300 pages in the end. It was a natural process, the accretion of those pages, and the really satisfying thing about it was that I wasn't trying to write a book. I was just immersed in the process. That, to me, is a touchstone that I should return to more: write for the love of it. The poems remained in those notebooks from 1994 until 2009, when I went to The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland's premier retreat centre for artists. I'd been there several times before, but this time I went expressly to transcribe the poems. It took me two weeks of carpal tunnel, but I got the maybes and the yeses onto my laptop. They stayed there until 2013, when I began the editing process. So, from 1,300 pages to 94 pages, that was how the book was made. I didn't know in the beginning that there would be anything worthwhile in the pages, when I began the process of editing in 2013, but like all writing, it's a question of having faith in the process.
David McLoghlin
Usually, the writing of morning pages in my diary / journal is the raw material for inspiration. Which sounds like the reverse of inspiration, right? Write first so that inspiration can strike. You can wait a long time for inspiration. Rilke wrote the New Poems out of this insight - he was influenced by Rodin's dictum, "always work". Poetic inspiration, while real, can also be an excuse for procrastination. Then again, when it strikes, I try to write down as much of the poem as possible, and then I get to work on it a few days or a few days later. Anything can inspire me. We all have our obsessions, both artistic and personal, and the issues we face in our personal lives tend to feed into our writing.
David McLoghlin
I'm working on a collection of poetry called "Crash Centre", which is the continuation of the middle section of my first book, Waiting for Saint Brendan. The middle section of that book is about surviving clerical sexual abuse. Two thirds of "Crash Centre" is about that experience. The title comes from an unofficial name for a position in rugby. I'm also working on a memoir about my childhood as a "third culture kid" living between Ireland, the USA and Belgium.
David McLoghlin
I think that aspiring writers should remember that there are two aspects to writing: the first is the craft and the vocation of writing, the second is the "career". To confuse the two can create suffering and heartache. The first is connected to why you started writing in the first place: the joy of discovery and self-discovery, a reaction to the world outside or the world within, or the need to "process" or work through a question or issue that is troubling. In this way, something that might belong to the realm of self-help can become art. So, that's vocation. Craft is practice. And the more the better. Read, read, read. Interact with other writers, both those at your level and potential mentors. A book by a beloved author can be a mentor. On the level of career, well, there are things about it you can control and things you can't. Separate vocation and career in your mind, and don't let the former be pushed out by the latter. Remember why you do it in the first place.
David McLoghlin
I think there's two parts to it. The first is doing the writing itself, which can be challenging and joyful. The process of writing is about loving the process. The more you do it, it creates a practice, a kind of territory that belongs to you. This is intangible, but very real: as Steven Pressfield would say in The War of Art, it's a kind of bank account you keep investing in, and it grows and can benefit you immeasurably. In this, I'm not talking about outward success but a kind of spiritual or inner growth. The second answer to this question is getting to interact with readers, at readings, via email, on social media. Part of the purpose of writing is for the work to be read, and contact with readers is enriching.
David McLoghlin
I write a diary / journal every day. I found Julia Cameron's concept of "morning pages" very helpful (in her book The Artist's Way). Writing three pages every day helps to clear out the cobwebs. I also carry a pocket notebook and pen with me everywhere, and write down ideas. This way, there's always a pipeline of material in process, so even when I'm stuck, there's something to tinker with.
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