{"id":129,"date":"2011-01-11T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T16:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=129"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:12:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:12:12","slug":"what-makes-writers-tick-roddy-lumsden-answers-ists-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/what-makes-writers-tick-roddy-lumsden-answers-ists-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes writers tick – Roddy Lumsden answers IS&T's questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine Questions<\/span>

In this series Ink Sweat & Tears talks to practicing writers about their process and craft.<\/span>

1. Where do you write?<\/span> (do you have an office, room, bus or train journey that you find yourself and your writing? etc)<\/span>

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'.<\/span>

2. How do you write?<\/span> (into a notebook or straight onto a computer? etc)<\/span>

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.<\/span>

3. Roughly how much time do you spend each week on creative writing related activities?<\/span> (writing, editing, correspondence & submissions \u2013 give a daily average if possible)<\/span>

Regular teaching: 6 hours per week during term time. Add about the same again for preparation and admin.<\/span>
Irregular teaching (eg one-to-one private editorial work and freelance university teaching \/ marking): differs, but a few hours per week here and there.<\/span>
Editorial work for Salt – in theory, one day per week but more or less hours as and when books are due.<\/span>
Arranging and hosting of readings (my own BroadCast series and the new monthly Salt events): about 8-10 hours monthly.<\/span>
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.<\/span>
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).<\/span>
Dealing with other emails \/ admin not mentioned above: few hours per week.<\/span>
Travelling and giving readings: quite a bit of time when added up.<\/span>
Writing and editing my own work: fluctuates but averages about four or five hours per week.<\/span>
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.<\/span>

4. What time of day do you usually write?<\/span>

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. <\/span>

5. Do you set yourself a daily target for writing?<\/span>

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.<\/span>

6. What does it feel like to write? <\/span>

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. <\/span>

7. Are there any stimuli that will usually trigger you into writing?<\/span>

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.<\/span>

8. Do you work in silence or have background noise? If you do have sounds, what are you listening to now?<\/span>

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.<\/span>

9. What are you working on now?<\/span>

Terrific Melancholy<\/span>, 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: <\/span>The Salt Book of Younger Poets<\/span> (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.<\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n

 *Roddy Lumsden<\/a> <\/span>has
\n published five books of poetry. He lives in London and teaches for the
\nPoetry School. He is Commissioning Editor for Salt Publishing. Identity Parade<\/span>, his anthology of recent UK \/ Irish poetry was published in 2010.<\/font>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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