What am I working on?
I’ve got a bunch of projects in late stages. These include my first full-length manuscript of poems, a chapbook that Apt 9. Press will be publishing later this year, the web series “Other Men.” Once some or all of these projects have begun to see the light of day, I’ll be ready to move onto new things.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don’t think there’s anything I bring to the table that no other writer brings. The most anyone can hope to do, probably, is bring a unique combination of things to the table. In terms of poetry, I just hope to write good stuff that at least a few people will be glad to have read.
Maybe I have a slightly different attitude when it comes to screenwriting. Maybe, with “Other Men,” I am actually motivated by the thought that myself (and the rest of the team) can make something that does differ from what’s already out there. If you’re legitimately curious about what I mean, you can watch me babble in this interview.
Why do I write what I do?
“It takes guts to know some happiness / & not make a poem about it.” That’s from The Brave Never Write Poetry by Daniel Jones. I write poetry because I am not brave.
How does your writing process work?
There are periods of my life when I’m inclined to fall in love with certain words or combinations of words. It isn’t important what the words are, it’s just important that I’m falling in love. It can be stupid stuff, like the phrase “do it to it,” or the word “essential,” or even dumber stuff. If I find myself being drawn to any words at all, I know that I should be putting time aside to write poems. So I do that.
The question I still struggle with, though, is, how do I get myself into that mode? I never enter it the same way twice. What I’ve come to terms with, in the past year or two, is that if it isn’t going to happen, it isn’t going to happen. Really and truly. Poetry is an impossible full-time job for me. (I take a lot of comfort in the fact that most of my favourite poets were/are not all that prolific.)
If I’m not in that particular mode, I try to at least consume all sorts of nutritional art (books, readings, good tv shows, museum exhibits, all that stuff, yum yum), in hopes of activating something in my brain. I also try not to beat myself up about it.
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I was supposed to “pass the torch” and ask three other writers to participate in this survey. However, almost all the writer blogs I follow have already participated, and also, I ran out of time. I feel bad, so here are links to some of my favourite writers’ blogs. Some of these people did the survey and some did not. They’re all worth a visit.
Amanda Earl
Jeff Blackman
Cameron Anstee
Justin Million
rob mclennan
half-assed crafts (jesslyn delia smith)
I Am A Visitor Here (David Emery)
Film Title Review Blog (Jenn Huzera)
seed and pearl (Rachael Simpson, who invited me to do this survey in the first place. Thanks Rachael!)
Ben Ladouceur 