While there are still many uncertainties as 2020 moves ever onward, today I am excited to chat with J.S. Bowers about his pages penned in pandemic.
What does the pandemic currently look like in your city?
I'm lucky to live in a state, New York, where the threat of the virus is taken seriously. In my neighborhood, what the pandemic looks like is people wearing masks even when they're walking their dogs.
What are some favorite books you've read during quarantine?
What a pleasure it is to have some uninterrupted reading time! I've been re-reading some of the novels of Ursula K. LeGuin. In my view, there's no writer I'd rather study and learn from. She had an extraordinary imagination, and her prose is tight, beautiful, and surprising. I'm not a big reader of self-help books, but I feel tremendously lucky to have discovered 100 Days by Susan Balogh, a western New York writer.
How has the pandemic affected your writing?
It's not so much the pandemic, but the circumstance of my retirement from higher education, that has freed me up to spend more of my time and energy writing fiction. I have an ironic gratitude toward the wave of layoffs that affected Kentucky state universities over the past few years. As a result, I retired from my IT career at a time that was perfect for me, rather than years past my prime. I'm energized and optimistic.
Are there any projects you are excited to keep working on? If so, can you give us any details (no spoilers please!) about your project?
I'm writing a novel called "Wash Away" about a chemical company that has automated its factory and inadvertently created an artificial intelligence that is now re-programming itself, expanding its own capabilities. At the same time, one of the scientists there has manipulated DNA to develop a life form that may be the fulfillment of generations of mythology. My challenge: to tell this story without writing a science fiction novel.
If asked ten years from now what the past few months have taught you about being a writer, what would come to mind?
Be a productive user of time. It feels like time is endless and what we don't do today we can always do tomorrow. But that feeling is false.
Have there been any fellow writers or people in your life who have helped you stay connected during the pandemic?
I moved to western New York in September 2019, only a few months before the coronavirus began spreading. I knew that I wanted to meet other writers, so I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to go to meetings and events. I'm so grateful for NaNoWriMo, for the Buffalo Erie County Public Library, and for Meetup in helping me find other creative people. I'm truly fortunate that before the lockdown began, I made some good friends who have wanted to continue having group meetings online. Kayla King is one of those -- thank you, Kayla, for inviting me to contribute to your "Pages Penned in Pandemic" project! My writing group friends from Kentucky, too, have been kind enough to keep me in their circle. Interacting with other writers is essential. Thank you, from the heart, to all my writing friends.
Are you a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I used to hold the ideal that outlining is a virtue, and I thought I lacked an essential creative skill because my outlines always disintegrated after a few chapters. I am a discovery writer, but I think plot is the most important element of a narrative. When I'm working on a project, I feel that an intuitive mental outline is guiding me, even if I can't put that outline on a page.
Where is your favorite place to write? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I like to write on my back porch. Weirdly enough, I used to write in my car quite often. I'd drive to some deserted parking lot and take advantage of the quiet for a couple of hours.
If you curated a playlist for writing life in the pandemic, what top 5 songs would be on your list?
I can't listen to music while I'm writing, but I listen to music as a reward when I'm done. Some of my top reward songs:
1.) "Golden Years" by David Bowie
2.) "Cumberland Blues" by the Grateful Dead
3.) "Peach" by Prince
4.) "Tightrope" by Janelle Monae
5.) I'm a songwriting collaborator with C.P. Butchvarov, and I love his music, all of which is available free online.
While the future is just as unknowable as ever, what is something you are most looking forward to this year?
I hope to find a literary agent to represent my completed YA fantasy novel, Silver Sparks. The pandemic has given me time I need to research and query. It's a tough process, handing off your perfect little jewel to people who are going to reject it.
About J.S. Bowers
J.S. Bowers is a fiction writer, novelist, and editor of Nobody’s Wife, the memoirs of Joan Haverty Kerouac.
Don’t forget to check out “Frog Talk,” published by Deep South Magazine! And be sure to follow J.S. Bowers and his writing journey at his website or on Twitter.
Thanks for chatting, J.S!
