After a wonderfully
relaxing vacation in Southern Spain, I came home to find an email from Maria
Maldonado inviting me to participate in The Writing Blog Tour. As you can
imagine, changing the scenery from rustic beaches, majestic mountains spotted
with lazy bulls and sunflower valleys to the urban landscape of New York City
was not easy. So getting invited to a 'blog hop' was exactly what I needed.
I’ve known Maria
Maldonado for a life time. Not only is she a clinical associate professor of
medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and
the program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Stamford
Hospital, she is also an integral part of my family. Her work has been
published in the Washington Post, the “Narrative Matters” section of
Health Affairs, and
the Journal of the American Medical Association. She blogs on medical
education, health equity, and other matters pertaining to medicine at http://mmaldonadomd.tumblr.com/. You should visit her site. She’s a
wonderfully, deep feeling writer.
The
purpose of this blog tour is to talk about writing so we can learn from
one another and connect ourselves with other intellectuals who share in this
uniquely personal art form. To me, writing has always been a dance with
solitude. Although the audience is always out there, the act itself is an
intimate and complex tango with all the demons and angels that make up my
identity. Yes, I suppose anyone can write. But few have the tenacity and courage
to make a life of it. It requires surrender; an acceptance of success and
failure as equals and the recognition that in the silence of the moment writing never fails to enlighten.
So, with
this purpose in mind, here are the questions I’ve been asked to ponder:
What am I working on? I’m currently
working on a novel that was born out of a conversation with my son who
suggested I write about a new society. I had been stuck on revising old
projects for a while and he proposed a completely new, dystopian novel (I
believe he said it was absolutely okay to do what other writers are doing) Then
he added, “Write something I’d like to
read.” Since I consider my son a philosopher with deep thoughts and big
questions about life and existence— I felt compelled by his request. I’ve been
working on this novel since and as it turns out, I’m enjoying myself tremendously.
The developing story is about an independent community charged with fulfilling
a young adult’s vision that makes them question the true nature of leadership
& our responsibility to others. The novel is my primary project these days
although I will continue to post on my blogs.
How
does your work differ from others of its genre? I’ve been told my writing speaks to the
intellect and the spirit. This makes sense because I’m an educator with a
thirst for knowledge and a respect for research. But, I’m also an artist which
makes me a rare breed. On the good days, I like to call myself an alchemist of
the soul. Years ago when I attended New York University, I wrote a research
paper intermingled with poetry. The professor loved it but she didn’t know how
to grade it since it was supposed to be academic writing. Fortunately, she
figured out a way to give me credit for the piece without having to throw out
her tightly defined rubric. This goes to show you that even back then I had a
tendency to mix things up a bit. In sum, my writing is infused with questions I
hope will inspire people to examine the world we live in and how we can make a
difference.
Why do
you write what you do? I write about topics that help me build trust with
myself, with God, with people and with the world. I write about themes that matter
the most, themes that are universal and integral to our existence. I often use
my writing as a platform to rant and rave. Life and living are sorely imperfect
and writing is an opportunity for me to make peace with the ugly. I write about
topics that stimulate the brain, help us transcend the mundane and rethink
ourselves out of the box.
How
does your writing process work? I’m a spiral writer and just in case I just made that term up, let
me explain. I write and then spiral back to the previous page, edit and then continue
on, spiral back a bit, edit and continue on. This is for two reasons. First, I
need to revisit what I’ve written so I can get back into the zone. Second, I’m
a teacher at heart so I find it painful to write without revising at the same
time. I’ve read this is the worst thing you can do as a writer—revise while you
write, but after many years of doing it compulsively, I’ve accepted this as
part of my personal process. Fortunately, it somehow works out in the end. As for
the novel I’m working on right now, I’m experimenting with something completely
new. I’m writing without a master plan. I’m allowing the novel to unfold like
an onion. The truth is, I have no idea where it’s headed. Each day (and I’ve
made a commitment to write at least 10 pages a day), the story reveals itself
in the moment. It’s not to say I don’t ruminate about it when I’m not
writing (that’s impossible!) but I don’t really have it all charted out. This
has been extremely liberating to say the least. When I told my daughter (who is
a budding writer herself) she said, “Isn’t that so much more fun?” Yup. It is!
It gives me great pleasure to pass on this
conversation to a writer and educator who I met a few years ago while grappling with one of my first writing projects.
His name is Jude Hollins. Jude lives in Harlem, teaches in the South Bronx and
wakes up around 4:30am to write. His current novel project involves a
futuristic NYC with diverse characters that reflect the “majority minority”
reality that already exists in many American cities. I highly recommend you
visit his blog and website where he discusses the YA genre with all of its peculiarities. Jude’s writing is fresh, inventive and quirky. He effortlessly
captures the creative lingo of the young people he writes for. Jude will be
posting his Writing Blog Tour on August 21. Check him out at shuiverse.blogspot.com and http://jude-hollins.squarespace.com
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