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Interview With Poet Liz Gallagher, Part 2

Liz Gallagher’s collection of poems, The Wrong Miracle, are not only love poems, but poems with a unique view on love.  Check out the synopsis at Salt Publishing.

If you missed the first part of my interview with Liz, please check it out here.

Most writers will read inspirational/how-to manuals, take workshops, or belong to writing groups. Did you subscribe to any of these aids and if so which did you find most helpful? Please feel free to name any “writing” books you enjoyed most (i.e. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott).

I’ve never been a member of a ‘real-life’ writer’s group because of there not being any that I know of in existence here in the Canaries. I’ve only ever been to one or two workshops. My mainstay for writing has been online workshops, namely Inside the Writers´ Studio Forum that is run by Rachel Mallino.  I’ve had lots of inspiring experiences in there on the thirty poems in thirty days forum.  I’ve  also dipped into some writing manuals . . . one in particular that I found very useful at the beginning was “The Practice of Poetry” edited by Robin Behin & Chase Twichell.

When writing poetry, prose, essays, and other works do you listen to music, do you have a particular playlist for each genre you work in or does the playlist stay the same? What are the top 5 songs on that playlist? If you don’t listen to music while writing, do you have any other routines or habits?

I don’t listen to music when writing, I need complete silence, which means I can only really ‘write, write’ in my writing den at home. : ) I drink tea too. Most of the poems in The Wrong Miracle were written while my cat, Mr. Puss, sat alongside me purring and kneading the cushion, sadly, he is no longer with us, that may be why I am finding it very hard to find time and the will to sit down and write just now. I definitely miss him, he was my writing mascot. 

In terms of friendships, have your friendships changed since you began focusing on writing? Are there more writers among your friends or have your relationships remained the same?

My ‘real-life’ friends are mostly non-writers but great readers. Practically all of  my online friendships are with writers. I have met some online writer friends in person who have then become ‘real life’ writer friends. 

Do you have any favorite foods or foods that you find keep you inspired? What are the ways in which you pump yourself up to keep writing and overcome writer’s block?

No, no favourite foods.  I don’t really believe in the idea of having to wait for inspiration to hit. There may be times when I feel more in the humour for writing than others but in general, I think it is a case of just getting started and keeping with it for a set time to see what comes up.  Reading usually kick-starts me into wanting to write.  And a commitment to daily writing is really the ideal way for me to keep going.

Please describe your writing space and how it would differ from your ideal writing space. 

I love the writing space I have: futon, laptop, low-level lighting, quietness, a valley and vivid natural light on the doorstep.  I can’t think of anything else to add other than having a constant supply of tea at hand, and maybe the sound of the faint pull and sway of the sea outside.  : ) 

Please share with the Savvy Verse & Wit readers a little about your latest projects.

For the next 6 months, I’ll be involved in ‘non-creative writing’ writerly things, but come July 2010, I want to revise a load of poems that I have and begin writing more non-fiction. I am also toying with the idea of writing poems and stories for children. I’ll have to wait and see though;it seems very far off just now.

Plans for the immediate future include some readings of The Wrong Miracle that are coming up here in the Canaries. 

Thanks very much for having me here on your Blog, Serena, it has been a pleasure, I have enjoyed your thought-provoking questions. Have a great festive season and all the best for the New Year. 

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please feel free to check out the next stop on her online tour today, Dec. 17:  South Africa-based Michelle’s Blog Peony Moon

Also, I wanted to let you all know that a portion of the proceeds from The Wrong Miracle will benefit SAND:  Stillbirth and Neo-natal Death Charity.