The wind is changing and I’m not even talking about the elections. This particular wind is breezing through my blog, which is now eight years old.
For eight years I’ve kept the same hybrid format, publishing my eclectic musings about the creative process and creative life, as well as providing a monthly platform for other writers to discuss various dilemmas they encounter in their writing with the hope that these will resonate with the readers – often themselves writers, or publishing industry professionals.
So far, at least judging by readers’ responses and blog subscription numbers, it seems this has worked. And I’d like to keep providing a space for writers and other people interested in books and/or creativity to workshop ideas and trade various literary aches as well as joys; a space that offers some emotional support and practical tools, but without a guaranteed happy ending. Because not every creative problem has a solution. And I believe that accepting this should be as much a part of our writing process as our habitual problem solving.
There is so much more to dissect, moan about, and be thankful for in creative life. But I also feel like shaking up the format a little, freshening it up. Eight years down the track, I want to approach the mystery of creation from some new angles. Initially, I considered doing Q&As with authors, but there are already many of those around – I’m thinking particularly of The Paris Review interviews. Who can beat THAT?
But then I thought – here is something I’d like us writers to talk more about. Reading. Not any reading, not the book pile currently on our bedside table, not even our research materials, but rather a formative kind of reading. I want to explore the legacies of the greats that many of us, I suspect, live with – blinded and burdened by their shine and weight or the opposite, nourished by them as we carry inside our psyches small particles of greatness we’ve absorbed. These particles, I believe, often become our beacons to guide us through the dim jungles of our own budding narratives, helping us to sharpen our visions and make them grander, bolder.
In which ways and why do writers get inspired by other writers? How does our (best) reading shape our voice, ideas, even writing habits? I don’t know about you, but personally I am endlessly curious about this. It is my hunch that by reading about how other writers absorb greatness into their pores we, too, can become better, more conscious and efficient sponges. Not copycats, but sponges. Taking in as much moisture as we can to become who we are meant to be creatively.
So, while some of my guest bloggers for this year will continue sharing their dilemmas around the art and craft of writing, I have asked a few others to discuss their literary influences and show how these have shaped their practice and body of work. The first post about influences will be out in a couple of weeks. There, Australian author and former bookseller Katerina Cosgrove discusses the importance of Paul Bowles in her life.
Myself, I’ve already reflected in this blog (as well as in my most recent book, The Writer Laid Bare) on some of my influences, choosing particular books rather than writers –Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita and Geoff Dyer’s Out of Sheer Rage. This year, I’m planning to write a couple of posts about writers who have meant a great deal to me, whether by showing me what is possible to achieve on the page or by inspiring me to be more courageous in my work or to be more adventurous and self-aware in how I live my (writing) life. At this stage, I’m thinking of such writers as Joan Didion, Katie Roiphe, Karl Ove Knausgaard and Robert Dessaix, but we’ll see.
As we go along with this format I’m trialling this year, or already now that you have read this post, I’ll be grateful to hear your thoughts – whether this format interests you, whether it works and whether or not you are getting something out of it. I’d also love to hear any other suggestions you may have about the ways I can approach exploration of creativity on this blog. Let’s change the wind together.
I love your blog! And this branching out sounds great… thanks xh
I’m so glad to hear! And thank you xx
Agreed. Go for it, Lee.
thank you for your encouragement, dear Margaret! x
Your future ideas are good, how what I read affects my writing. Paul bowles influenced my thinking. Also, Joan Dideon, “we tell ourselves stories in order to live”, I find heartening
Thank you, Rod, and good to know we share some reading interests!
A great idea, Lee. We might be surprised by the choices that writers come up with, almost certainly showing a little more about themselves, as well as their writing. Many of us are still carrying echoes of authors from the past in some ineffable way in our works. I know that French and South American authors have influenced the rhythms, motifs or atmosphere in my output, even today, long after first reading them. Thanks for your invaluable input, too.
Anne, many thanks for your kind feedback! And how interesting to hear about the authors that have meant a great deal to you. I don’t feel I’ve read enough South American literature, but I love Francois Sagan and really obsessed with Marguerite Duras.
Brilliant idea and I can’t wait. I love your blog and look forward to it. Thank you!
Sandra, big thank you! This is so good to hear.
Hi Lee,
I look forward to reading these posts! As you say, it’s always great to crack open influence upon a writer’s mind. I find inspiration from all kinds of art (visual art, film, and music) so I’d love to know if these things are part of your creative universe as well. I’d also love to know some of the books you enjoyed but are now appreciating even more in hindsight, given what you now know and have experienced. Here’s to many more years of a wonderful blog.
Laurie, thank you for this excellent feedback! I’m like you – David Lynch, Chagall, The Doors and Dali are just some of my inspirations. You just gave me wonderful ideas how to diversify the blog even further. Maybe you should do one of such posts? Email me please if you’re interested x
I read because I love the way you write. Whether you’re writing about books, blogs or housebricks—it’s all good:)
Oh, Leanne… Just what I needed to hear on this grey morning 🙂 Thank you x
Lee, anything the bursts the monotony bubble or readjusts routine has potential to be inventive. Thanks for staying eclectic and relevant. As a beginning writer I find many posts helpful and thought-provoking.
Ernie, this means a lot – to hear this. Thank you. I hope your writing flows and flows!
Great idea, Lee! The books that stay with us say so much about our writerly preoccupations. I love absorbing information about works in other languages too, even when I haven’t read them – it expands my world. I’m also interested in ‘children’s’ books; the ones that stay with us, thematically speaking to threads in our own lives and entering our writing voices. Looking forward to reading more on your blog, however it unfolds!
Josephine, thank you for your kind feedback! I also think children’s books can profound affect, if not even shape, our later writing. I’m still feeling I’m in dialogue with the fairytales of my childhood when I write.
One of the surprising ways that I have been influenced – and seek to be influenced – in recent times is through audiobooks and audio articles. I subscribe to Audm and listen (whenever I can) to feature articles published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, the London Book Review and elsewhere. My hope is that the pace, musicality and rhythm of the words seep into my subconscious. And when I start writing, I have the voices of master narrators – Julia Whelan, Eduardo Bellerini – playing in my head. Would my words sound right coming from their mouths? If not, I revise.
Dyani, I can relate to your experiences. I also write for rhythm. To me writing is another way of experiencing music. And I love audiobooks too. Thank you for sharing your influences!
Dear Lee, what a wonderful idea! I’m sure we writers will benefit from recognising the literary influences that have shaped us, both as humans and as creatives. When asked in a recent interview what my ‘favourite’ books were, I surprised myself by coming up with the Russian classics: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishnent. Both different, but powerful influences on my life and work. Thank you for your wonderful blog! Dina
Dina, thank you for your very beautiful words! And I love the weight and riches of your influences. Anna Karenina is such a spectacular work… And I’m yet to read Crime and Punishment, to my shame 🙂
A fantastic idea, Lee. I’m so excited to read more from you and your guests. xx
Kim, and I’m excited to have had you contribute to my blog – thank you! xx
Absolutely. For me, discovering Southern Gothic was life-changing. I read many writers who fell under that banner, for the first time, in my teens and 20s (and I read them very differently now – but, oh, the heartache of ‘then’). One of my children carries one of their names as her middle one – Carson. Another child carries another one’s name – Harper. Alienation…transgressive thoughts…and the landscape that was as much a character as the wonderful (and often grotesque) characters. A life-long love affair.
Claire, thank you for the wonderful description. You wet my appetite! I don’t think I’ve ever read any of those books, but have been meaning to for ages. So maybe this year should be the year…
Thank you, Lee, for opening up these prospective new worlds to us. I’m sure our writing will be enriched.
Lilian, thank you for your kind words!
Lee this is a wonderous idea. I love it. It makes me begin already to think not just about the books and authors I feel drawn to and inspired to write like, it’s the ones who move me in my writing and in my life. Yay yay. Wanting more. Thank you.
Tessa, what a beautiful response, thank you so much! Would be interesting to see who these authors/books are 🙂
Hi again Lee – of course one of my fav books is The Writer Laid Bare and I have Split (so looking forward to that), lined up to read. Love Ann Lamott (Bird by Bird) and Charlotte Wood (anything she writes or collates) as well. Reading Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days at the moment. I’m keen to write as a developing writer something on the process of writing from the beginner perspective and have written the beginnings of a two chapters (inspired by authors such as your good self). But love the short memoir stories that Ann Patchett writes. I long to write even a sentence in the poetic style of Hannah Kent. As I have learned from you – so many authors to learn from and develop my own unique voice and style. Thank you Lee
Tessa, thank you for your generous and rich response. I love this idea of writing about the writing process from a (relative??? You must be very modest…) beginner’s perspective. I hope your project will spread its wings and soar!