Amy Shearn is an author
of fiction, essays, poetry, and humor. Shearn's debut novel How Far Is The Ocean From Here was
published by Shaye Areheart Books.
Her
book The Mermaid of Brooklyn comes
out from Simon & Schuster in April 2013. She blogs about babies, books, and Brooklyn at household words.
Tell us about your relationship to your art.
I’d describe it as symbiosis,
maybe? One of us is a parasite, I think, I’m just not sure which one. Maybe it
varies.
What's a project (yours or another's) that has been exciting you
lately?
I’m lucky enough to have this great
part-time job writing for Oprah.com, which brings me into contact with all
sorts of life-affirming projects that thrill me. I love everything AmyKrouse Rosenthal does and the daily drawings of Chris Piascik and just
recently discovered the 365 Grateful Project.
The poet Matthea
Harvey is always up to something amazing -- she seems to have a kind of
genius for collaboration. I loved her book Of
Lamb with Amy Jean Porter. I also have friends working on books I can’t
wait to see – Amanda Fields’ novel is sure to be amazing when it’s fully
gestated, and oh I don’t know, I think everyone I know is working on something.
As for me, I have just just just
finished exhaustive and exhausting revisions of my second book, which is due
out next spring. And I have a
teensy inkling of a new book, just a title and a shadow of an outline and a
character and first line – so I’m at that most exciting precipice of a project.
I’m also thinking about a short story that will have something to do with
teenage girls and group hysteria.
Tell us a little of your motherhood journey.
I have two kids; Harper is 2 and
Alton is 1. They are the most charming and tiring and fascinating lunatics. The
other day after they both freaked out at the grocery store I said, “You guys
are animals,” and Harper said, “Did you mean to say, we are your little lambs?”
That pretty much sums it up I think.
What are some crucial elements of your process? How has that
changed since having children?
I think having children has proven
to me that nothing is crucial except somehow finding the time to write. I would
love to write every morning and read every evening, I think that would be
ideal. But now I’m just happy when I find some time, any time. I revised part
of my novel waiting in line to register for toddler ballet. I mean, it’s all so
absurd.
Do you find your attitude towards your art might be different because
of your parenting / has it changed since you became a parent?
Well, nothing seems like as a big a
deal as it used to. I’m just happy to be able to write sometimes, and I worry
less about career/accomplishments/that kind of thing. I want my kids to feel
like creativity is just another part of life, a way to deal with feelings, a
way to connect with others, a way to interact with the world in a meaningful,
and possibly fun, way– so I try to embody that.
Hm, well,
I did just write a book about a stressed-out Brooklyn mother to two small
children…but it’s all fiction, I swear. Her family is not my family. I think
the mother in my novel – she’s angry and conflicted, and feels incompetent and
a bit frightened – is how all mothers of young children are .001% of the time –
she just has the misfortune to be like that all the time. So anyway, I probably
worked out some of early motherhood in this book, although refracted to the
worst possible outcome, because you know, you need some trouble in a work of
fiction. Assumptions of autobiography are probably inevitable, though
unfortunate, since she’s a basketcase and her husband’s a bit of a cad. (Mine’s
very nice, really!)
I do blog
about my kids, here
and here,
which started off as me wondering if I could write some Erma Bombeck-ish
personal essays or something. I think the answer to that is, not really. It’s
been fun but I can feel my interest in it kind of dwindling – I certainly don’t
want to be doing that by the time they are old enough to realize what’s going
on. I say that and yet Harper is constantly pretending to type and saying, “I
need to write a blog about what you just said!” So maybe the jig is up there.
How does travel figure into your art? Do/did your children come
along? How has that worked out?
Traveling with two small children
is a unique type of torture. I plan to avoid it as much as possible until they
are both fully bribable. I have vague plans of exciting writerly travel when
I’m, like, 60.
What about promoting the arts with your own
children--any fun projects to share?
Oh yes, Harper just wrote her first
picture book, Princess Harper and Pirate Babe, which my mother illustrated. It
begins like this: “Once upon a time there were seven princesses, and ten
pirates, and really long cats.” It is probably the greatest book ever.
We also like to do art projects at
home – finger-painting with jell-o was a recent highlight. Today when asked
what we should do Harper said, “Let’s make a mess!”
How do you escape?
The same way I always have: reading
novels. All I ever really want to do is read novels in the bathtub. I guess I’d
get pruney though.
What advice do you have for expectant mothers in your field?
Don’t put pressure on
yourself while you’re pregnant to be creative. Your body is already being as
creative as is humanly possible!
And know that yes, you might take a little break from being super
productive while your baby is small, and that’s okay, you’re storing up stuff
for later. The mothers I know with older kids assure me it gets easier as they
are less demanding on your time, and I have to believe that that’s true. Oh,
and find another mother/writer and arrange a writing time/babysitting exchange.
Make a pact that while the other mother is watching your baby you MUST use the
time for writing. And while you’re at it, get Kate Hopper’s book Use
Your Words, a Writing Guide for Mothers! It’s no Princess Harper and Pirate Babe, but it’s pretty great.
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