Mariah E. Wilson and the writing life will complete this month’s Three by Five interview.
VAH: Are you a full time writer?
MEW: I’m working my way toward being a full time writer. Currently I have three school aged children, so they do take up a lot of my time. My husband works full time out of the house and I have the immense luxury of being a stay at home mom. If I wasn’t writing, I’d be a stay at home mom that doesn’t write.
VAH: When the page is blank what gets you writing?
MEW: Songs. Sometimes songs can inspire me to get the juices flowing. But often, if I find myself stuck with my fiction, I switch to poetry (or the other way around) and the change is usually enough to get my brain into gear.
VAH: What is your “process” when working on a new piece of writing?
MEW: When I have a new idea I’m consumed by it. I’ll sit down and make a few notes, but then I dive right in and start writing it. And I keep going until I can’t. Then I toss it aside for a while, in some cases years, and I rewrite it. Sometimes it take a rewrite or two or four but eventually I get a good handle on what it is I’m really trying to say.
VAH: What does your typical writing day include?
MEW: My typical writing day involves coffee. I like to get up before the kids and have some quiet time, though it’s not necessary, I can write in any situation almost. I get up, I make a coffee, I check my social media while I wake up, then I open my word processor and try to get a good thirty minutes in. Like I said, I’m a stay at home mom so my writing comes in fits and starts all day long whether or not my kids are at home. If they’re not here, as soon as I drop them off at school I try to get another two hours of writing and writing related activities in before I have to come back to the real world and do things like cook and clean. Once the kids are in bed I can usually sneak in another thirty minutes to an hour of writing.
VAH: What words of wisdom do you have for the emerging writer?
MEW: Finish what you start. This is the number one most important thing you will learn how to do. Finishing projects not only gives you a sense of accomplishment, which is important any writer, but it also give you something to revise and edit. Which brings me to my second bit of advice. Don’t edit it until you’ve finished it. If you want to change something, make a note and do it after you’ve got the story down. You can fix anything except a blank page.
VAH: Mariah thanks for taking part in the Three by Five Interview Series.
Mariah Wilson Sampler:
The Echo Remains in the 2014 Best New Poem Contest
Sinkholes of Emptiness in GERM Magazine
Talking to Strangers in The Literati Quarterly
Saudade in The Steel Chisel
Kummerspeck and Retired Jesus in The Lake
Jellybean Jealousy in Walking is Still Honest
Connecting….in Luciferous
Mariah Wilson Social Media: Twitter Facebook Tsu Website Blog Wattpad
Mariah E. Wilson’s contemporary romance, The Demon in Him will be released in 2015.
Harley Black is trapped in an impossible situation. Caught between love and family, between dreams and duty, Harley will have to decide if she’s willing to risk everything, including her father’s freedom, for the man she loves.
Mariah E. Wilson is a writer from beautiful British Columbia. She has been published in Thin Air Magazine, Every Day Poets, The Kitchen Poet, Literary Orphans and The Corner Club Press, for which she is also now the Poetry Editor. Her first poetry collection, We Walk Alone, was published by Writers AMuse Me Publishing. Her debut novel, The Demon in Him will be released in 2015.
Return next month on days that end in three for more featured authors and emerging writers.
Next month: Canadian poet Carol A. Stephen.
Vicki Hudson 