Reading time: About 2 minutes
Erin MacNair has had her stories published in The Baffler, The Walrus, Prairie Fire, subTerrain and others. She’s finished writing a collection of literary, speculative fiction short stories and is working on a novel. She lives in North Vancouver.
I was excited to talk to Erin about how she approaches writing.
Q. Roughly how much time do you spend writing every day?
I write between 20 minutes and three to four hours a day. It depends on the family, really, as I’m still in the “mom-mobile” mode. I always try to write a little. But if I get a block of time, I use it.
Q. What’s a simple activity or habit that makes you a better writer?
I find a ritual helps. For me, it’s getting a steaming cup of coffee, sitting down with yesterday’s work, and finding a way back to that place in my mind, conjuring the best way back to the “feeling” I am trying to capture. Then I write.
Q. What interferes with your writing?
Anything can interfere, if you let it. I get my best work done when I go someplace other than my home. At home there is always laundry or other chores niggling at the back of your thoughts. I tend to try to multitask at home, and that waters down my focus.
Q. How do you persuade yourself to sit down to write on days when you really, really DON’T feel like doing it?
Those days I do admin. I submit, I check my spreadsheets. I read or do research. If it’s not flowing, I do other writerly things, still doing the work, but less on the creative side.
Q. Is there a particular motto or saying that you’ve found helpful for writing?
Write what you want to know. This has sparked so many ideas in me, and helped my writing reach places I wouldn’t have tried otherwise. I like to see writing as always learning new things, about the world and about myself.
Q. Which stage of the writing process do you enjoy the most: researching, writing or editing/rewriting and why?
That’s a hard one! I love the research — this is the “excitement” phase for me. But then diving into the writing is equally uplifting — there’s pure joy in finding the right words. I’m learning to re-write and edit, but I find this the hardest part. It’s difficult for me to let go of work that isn’t pulling its weight, or to admit when a piece simply needs to be re-written.
Q. What’s the best book you’ve read (either fiction or non) in the last five years?
I keep coming back to Anthony Doer’s Cloud Cuckoo Land for its intimate moments and far-reaching scope. Amazing what a braided narrative can do in the right hands!
Q. What book are you reading right now?
I’m re-reading The Last Catastrophe by Allegra Hyde. She is an expert with the short story and I love her style. This time I’m reading it as a master class in inventive writing — looking for nuance and vision.
Q. What do you think is the biggest misperception that new writers have about the act of writing?
That they will make money? I wish I was joking, though this makes me laugh a little. You have to do it for the love and support yourself some other way, in this day and age.
You can see Erin MacNair’s website here.
