Nine Questions
In this series Ink Sweat & Tears talks to practicing writers about their process and craft.
1. Where do you write? (do you have an office, room, bus or train journey that you find yourself and your writing? etc)
Somewhat geekily, in a moment of boredom, I recently made a log of where and when I wrote all the poems in my forthcoming collection. Most of the poems are marked B for Blackheath in South East London, where I've lived for the past five or six years. However, most of the book's last sequence was written during a writing trip to the West coast of the US last year. Some of the other notes read as follows: 'notes made at P School before young poets seminar', 'some written in Cambridge cafe', 'mostly written in notes on Carlisle Lane and Lower Marsh'. 'written in head on way and back to Costcutter'.
2. How do you write? (into a notebook or straight onto a computer? etc)
Mostly onto the screen, after making some notes, usually mental notes, but sometimes scribbled down on train tickets, scraps of paper. Occasionally, if out and about, I'll draft a poem on paper. The US sequence was written, mostly with no thought about line breaks, into a notebook while I was travelling.
3. Roughly how much time do you spend each week on creative writing related activities? (writing, editing, correspondence & submissions – give a daily average if possible)
Regular teaching: 6 hours per week during term time. Add about the same again for preparation and admin.
Irregular teaching (eg one-to-one private editorial work and freelance university teaching / marking): differs, but a few hours per week here and there.
Editorial work for Salt – in theory, one day per week but more or less hours as and when books are due.
Arranging and hosting of readings (my own BroadCast series and the new monthly Salt events): about 8-10 hours monthly.
Anthologising: currently at work on two anthologies due next year; hours fluctuate during such projects but certainly averages at quite a few hours per week over a period of nine months or so.
Reading poetry, for pleasure, but also to keep up with new books for teaching and editorial reasons: a few hours at least per week (often on trains).
Dealing with other emails / admin not mentioned above: few hours per week.
Travelling and giving readings: quite a bit of time when added up.
Writing and editing my own work: fluctuates but averages about four or five hours per week.
Daily average spent on all: about five or six hours each day, including weekends. I'd estimate less than half of it is paid work.
4. What time of day do you usually write?
Afternoon is most common though, being a night owl, afternoons are sort of my 'mornings'. During periods when I'm concentrating on my own writing (usually towards a book's completion), I'll often write for an hour or two in mid-afternoon, then another session early evening.
5. Do you set yourself a daily target for writing?
Never. Though, as with recently, when a book is being finished off, I make a list of things I might want to work on, add, finish off.
6. What does it feel like to write?
Two things come to mind – one is a struggle to feel as I did when I first wrote a lot in my teens and be true to what I wanted to do then (something which I think I let slip for a few years in the late 90s) – I mean aesthetic ideas rather than personal ambition. The other is to strive for the sort of better poem I feel I could write – if I screw my eyes shut, I can see the page and almost read the words. I sense that idea in a non-visual, non verbal way too, almost as an emotion, as a happy-sad yearning.
7. Are there any stimuli that will usually trigger you into writing?
Reading poetry is the most common one. Travel does it, intermittently, especially a long walk. For the long title poem of my next book, I used a very specific stimulus a lot of the time which was very strong Belgian beer – just one bottle (I don't actually like it that much!), but it gives a real kick and a high which I find creative. It's a sort of diaristic poem and the narrator is an actor. I imagined him having a strong drink to wind down after the show and recording his thoughts, slightly giddy from the performance and the drink.
8. Do you work in silence or have background noise? If you do have sounds, what are you listening to now?
Generally silence, though I can write if there is noise, though preferably not music which I find more distracting than the noise of people, traffic etc.
9. What are you working on now?
Terrific Melancholy, my sixth collection, is all but finished and due in May. Too early to say what I might do next in my own work. I'm also working on two anthologies due next year: The Salt Book of Younger Poets (co-edited with Eloise Stonborough) presents some of the finest new poets born since the mid-80s. Meanwhile, Best British Poetry 2011 selects from all the poems printed in magazines, journals and ezines between mid 10 and mid 11.
*Roddy Lumsden has
published five books of poetry. He lives in London and teaches for the
Poetry School. He is Commissioning Editor for Salt Publishing. Identity Parade, his anthology of recent UK / Irish poetry was published in 2010.