You know that friend you have from far off who always attends the same summer camp as you? That’s my friend Tonya Canada. We’ve spent the past three summers in Portland at the Tin House Writer’s Workshop. Her work is funny, fearless, and concise. She tagged me in this blog tour, where you discuss your writing, as well as the process. Read about hers here.
How I Write:
What are you working on? I’m writing my teenage boot camp captivity narrative, Unreformed. My parents were fundamentalist Christians from Mississippi. I didn’t fit the mold. When I was fifteen, they sent me to a Focus on the Family recommended reform school in the Dominican Republic (Escuela Caribe). Unreformed is about how I survived the D.R. It’s also about how I thrived in Athens, GA after I got out.
How does your work differ from others of its genre? For at least seven generations my people lived in the Mississippi Delta. I’m trying to explore what it’s like to be uprooted, the ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma, the mechanistic force of modern religion. All this in addition to reform school. Sometimes I feel like Hamlet. I wonder if I’m trying to do too much.
Why do you write what you do? I had to tell this story or it would have destroyed me. Writing is my way of vanquishing it.
How does your writing process work? During the work week, I wake up around five a.m., shotgun coffee, and disappear into my backyard studio, writing for an hour before work. When I have longer periods to write (the summer, weekends), I take breaks for exercise or meditation. Often while I’m exercising I figure problems out.
Everything I write starts by hand. Once I have a written draft, I type it. Print it. Read it out loud. Annotate by hand. Revise again. Take it to workshop. There I read it to my peers, take notes of where it seems their attention or mine wanders. I take notes on their feedback. Repeat the process.
I don’t publish much outside of interviews. I’m still learning the craft. I log everything. It keeps me from getting lost. I also create maps of places or themes. Sometimes I sketch what I want to describe.
Next up:
Hope Hilton@hopehilton is an artist and a writer. She’s also a multi-generational Southerner. Irreverent as all get-out. My partner in crime.
Deirdre Lockwood @deirdrelockwood is from the Northwest. We met at Tin House (“You’re the other Deirdre!”). She writes about science for money, poetry and fiction for pleasure.
Sabrina Orah Mark @SabrinaOrahMark migrated to Athens via Brooklyn. She writes fantabulist fiction and poetry. She’s transformed my approach to writing with her workshop. She nailed it at the last New Town Revue.