Ask the Author: Bill Bowling
Answered Questions (11)
Bill Bowling
He woke up, stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the light. What leered back at him was not his face.
Bill Bowling
To give what is probably the most obvious answer that anyone could give, my itinerary would include Middle Earth (there are so many worlds, you see) and as for what I would do there, I would be a wizard in training under the tutelage of Gandalf the White, a member of the Istari Order.
Bill Bowling
Most of the reading I've got planned is related to research I'm doing for projects I'm working on in the area of human rights, activism, social issues and such. I don't always register that category of reading material on this site. I'm also reading materials to help me move forward with publishing on a more stable footing than prior projects, and actually building a real platform; I still harbor some resistance to those dodgy buzzwords. Marketing is necessary, though if one is to sell, and sell I must because I have a strong desire to eat. Those materials I usually don't post here either. I'm also attempting to refamiliarize myself with the complex undertaking of building a solid piece of fiction. It'll be soon; get ready for it.
Bill Bowling
First, let me preface by saying that I'm probably, no probably about it, I'm definitely, stretching the concept of a couple here; I would guarantee I am. Anyway, I won't ever take the expected path I guess. I'm sorry if folks were expecting Romeo and Juliet, Ron and Hermione, or a host of those love couples, Rhett and Scarlett, whatever. I choose Lenny Small and George Milton; you see it's not love in that way, not heterosexual or homosexual or any sexual; it's love in another way, that misty wavering connection that brings people together without any discernable rhyme or reason, the true odd couple. George and Lenny represent what is good and what is flawed in all of us. George could've ditched Lennie at every turn, but he would never do it; he's Lenny's guardian, protector, and Lenny provides him an unconditional mirror. It's a match made in dustbowl hell, and as we can intimate, there were a lot of strange arrangements made in the business of getting by. Of Mice and Men was one of the earlier pieces I read, and this relationship between these two opposite characters affected me deeply; Steinbeck is cool.
Bill Bowling
Hi Richard,
Yeats is one of the first who opened up that sense of poetry as being a viable vehicle toward saying something, rather than the sing-songy “by the shores of gitchie-goomie� Longfellow variety. His poetry had guts and didn't mind going against the grain for his time. The “Balloon of the Mind� is one of my favorites, very short but to some 'expanded' point. I've read just about everything, but one that stays in my mind, another short one, is “A Coat� because I love the last line: “There's more enterprise in walking naked,� which says something about poetry, I presume. The 'Crazy Jane' poems are pretty cool, too. I know it's been a while since you posted, and I wanted to take a moment to step out of the whirlwind to honor your question. Sorry it took so long to answer. Thanks for connecting. Namaste.
Yeats is one of the first who opened up that sense of poetry as being a viable vehicle toward saying something, rather than the sing-songy “by the shores of gitchie-goomie� Longfellow variety. His poetry had guts and didn't mind going against the grain for his time. The “Balloon of the Mind� is one of my favorites, very short but to some 'expanded' point. I've read just about everything, but one that stays in my mind, another short one, is “A Coat� because I love the last line: “There's more enterprise in walking naked,� which says something about poetry, I presume. The 'Crazy Jane' poems are pretty cool, too. I know it's been a while since you posted, and I wanted to take a moment to step out of the whirlwind to honor your question. Sorry it took so long to answer. Thanks for connecting. Namaste.
Bill Bowling
I'm a generalist by nature. I'm aware that it's not a popular thing to claim. But I tend to distrust the buzz-wordy, jargony terms such as 'niche' and 'platform'. I'm not sure at what point writing crossed over into the sharky world of marketing enterprise. I suppose it's necessary in our money driven world. This large circular overflight is to point out that inspiration doesn't necessarily come from one prescribed source. In other words, inspiration shouldn't become captive to the notion of where you fit in the writerly world. That is to say, I try to tune in to me, not some outside catalyst to drive my writing. I respond a lot to stuff in the news; I swear to you, there's stuff happening in the real world everyday that could keep a writer busy till the end of time. It's stuff that you can't even dredge up out of the imagination. Speaking of which--I rely also on one key question to find stuff to write about: What if...? I also have been lucky enough to have been stung by an 'a-ha' bug or two, and that's a good thing. other than that, I try to stay alert, focused and conscious, connected to the world, and people, and nature, eavesdrop on conversations, etc., etc., etc.
Bill Bowling
My most recent project was nonfiction, and it came directly from the experience of being there while my wife adjusted to the onset of a major soy allergy. Her research and my adjunct research piled up and I thought it might be helpful to many others with the same issues regarding that particular allergen, and I put in the time to manifest the book. Hopefully it'll go out into the world and find a rightful home. It's educational, it's got a lot of useful information organized together in one place, and based on that, I think it has a good chance of moving forward. We'll see; I'll run some prayer beads, knock on the old wood, and keep the fingers crossed.
Bill Bowling
I'm teaming up with my daughter on a fantasy novel. It's a fantastic project. Talk about a learning process. I've gained priceless insight into the purity of storytelling. I love how she intuitively moves the story along while I over-think and rethink. You build the world and allow the characters to move around in it and live in their world; that's it. That's all. It's so tempting to take over and become the puppet-master.
Bill Bowling
The first bit of advice, as if I'm one to be giving it, I would give is to lose the descriptor 'aspiring'. Yes, you can be aspiring, but for how long, and who's going to sign off on it when you've reached the next 'level'. There isn't anyone, really. Writing is totally processual; there isn't a point of arrival. The writer is always in a state of flux and evolution. I was, for the longest time, one of those people who read and studied books on writing because I thought it would help me become the best writer. It won't; it never will. The only way to be a writer is to first of all own that you are one, and then you write, and you write, and you write some more. Of course, you rewrite, but that's separate. I can only be who I am; you can only be who you are. Ultimately you can only be a voice; you can never be the voice. Guess what! That's enough. Forget aspiring; forget the destination; the journey's the thing. And, P.S., if you happen to meet a strange half-goat, half-man entity on your journey, a good writer won't recoil and run away; a good writer will invite him to sit a spell, share a sandwich, and converse about all manner of wondrous things. 'Write'-ly so; bloody well 'write'; 'write' on.
Bill Bowling
The best thing about being a writer is that sense of extraordinary extension into the world at large. I get a real charge out of the notion that something I marked down has connected with someone else on that other inter-dimensional level that you can't really see, but it's the level that affects everything else, really. I know that's a little goofy, perhaps, but, I'm talking about, you know, thought sharing, the communication behind the glyph. Alright, I'll shut up, now.
Bill Bowling
Writer's block isn't an issue with me because I can always find something to write about. If I get stuck on a present project, I'll give it a rest, read the news and write responses to stories that affect me just for practice. I won't do anything with them, but the process helps me to realize that you never run out of things to say; rather, any stuckness comes from an obstacle I've set up for myself, and I write my way through it and move on. Another way I deal with 'writer's block'(?) is that I have few different projects going at once, and if I get stuck on one, I'll move over and work on another. I'm aware that that kind of juggling doesn't work for some folks, but it's something that works for me.
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