Ask the Author: Cheryl Pearson
Answered Questions (5)
Cheryl Pearson
My first book, “Oysterlight”, is a collection of poems, mostly inspired by love, nature, and mythology. With regards to ideas for individual poems, I get inspiration from all over the place – news stories and podcasts, lines I’ve read in other poems, things I do, and people I know. My next collection is in progress, and a lot of poems in that book are looking at life through eyes that aren’t my own – a fishwife, the old woman who lived in the fairytale shoe, a mermaid trapped in an aquarium. I’ve felt more like a storyteller in this book – I wanted to explore other people, and imagine other existences, and I’ve loved creating those little glimpses into other worlds. Being a writer is a bit like being a baker sometimes, I think – you pull together the ingredients, shape them into something with your hands, and then you get to watch that something rise and change. I love that process so much.
Cheryl Pearson
My second poetry collection, a short story, a rhyming children’s book, a crime thriller, and a novel about the selkie myth, which I’ve always been obsessed with. This is why I find it so hard to finish anything – I spread myself too thinly sometimes between too many projects. But I write the same way I read – I usually have four or five books on the go at once, and dip in and out of each depending on what I feel like reading on a particular day. I find that way I never get bored, and I’m never just plodding through something I’m writing or reading just because it’s the only thing I’ve got on the go.
Cheryl Pearson
Read, read, read, read, read! I’ve always loved to read writing guides, and in every one I’ve ever read, those writers say the same thing: you can’t be a good writer if you don’t read. Also, keep a notebook with you at all times, or make notes in whatever way you can – on your phone, on paper scraps, on a napkin. I jot things down all the time – something I’ve heard on a podcast, or seen in a newspaper headline, a snippet of conversation I overheard on the bus. Sometimes I’ll flick through notes I made years and years ago, and although a particular line didn’t turn into anything then, it will spark something when I read it again, and off I’ll go.
Cheryl Pearson
The writing! That sounds flippant, but it’s absolutely true– there’s no better high than when I’m completely lost in puzzling out what words fit where in the poem I’m trying to build. I also love when someone tells me they’ve liked something I’ve read – I almost forget sometimes that my poem is out in the world, and other peoples’ eyes are on it. That’s a lovely thing.
Cheryl Pearson
I’ve been writing long enough now that I know that writing droughts always pass eventually, so I don’t panic any more. I know there is the wax and then the wane, so I use the time to do other things that help my writing instead of stressing that I’m not writing myself – reading is a huge help (and usually gets the cogs turning again), and there is always plenty of admin to keep up with. I have a very complex (and beautifully colour coded!) spreadsheet I use to keep track of all my writing, as well as which publications are currently accepting submissions, so that takes some looking after - it’s always good to get it completely up to date.
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