For many, writing continues to be a necessary form of catharsis. Bobbie Crafts discusses just this, and today I'm excited to chat with her about the pages penned penned in pandemic.
What does the pandemic currently look like in your city?
I live in rural Virginia and the County has 70,000 people. We wear masks to stores and people generally stay home. Restaurants have expanded onto sidewalks, some stores are stricter than others about masks, but people are going about their lives, eyes on the ground.
What are some favorite books you've read during quarantine?
I am reading H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald, a non-fiction, poetic account of a naturalist's relationship with a hawk she trains as a falconer. It’s sad and thrilling, and a perfect escape from the crazy tumult of society.
If you haven't been reading, what are some books you're most looking forward to reading?
I want to read more good novels. I want to read Moby Dick, which I've never read, more Robert Frost poetry, and more poetry by Louise Gluck, the recent Nobel prize winner. Also, more modern novels by European and South American writers.
Have there been any movies, tv shows, podcasts, etc. that have helped keep you at ease the past few months?
Although I'm not a TV person, I did enjoy re-visiting the John Huston film, "The African Queen" with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn; a beautiful escape piece and gentle romance.
How has the pandemic affected your writing?
I have a caustic sense of humor and conditions now have brought out the darkest of it. Cartoons are my friends and I relate to the dark wisdom hidden in many of them, disguised by clever drawings. I want to write sharp, angry and pointed stories, but also stories about human connection, a long ago seeming thing, lost to us now.
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 work on three or four stories to sharpen them for my critique group, at any given time. I seem to be stuck in a time warp where thirteen year old girls and boys are my favorite first person narrators. I have four or five stories about young characters interacting with the world, finding themselves out. One is about a boy in love with baseball who discovers his mother is cheating on his father. He grows into a more mature person in how he deals with it.
If you haven't been able to write, are there any projects you're hoping to work on next?
I always want to write, and it is pouring out! More fiction than poetry, although I love to write that also.
If asked ten years from now what the past few months have taught you about being a writer, what would come to mind?
To be my own best editor, based on what I have learned in my wonderful critique group of four amazing women.
Have there been any fellow writers or people in your life who have helped you stay connected during the pandemic?
See above!! They really do help me stay connected, plus my equally amazing husband. Horses are central to my life, as well. I have a rescue operation and ride a beautiful bay gelding, Rodrigo, several times a week.
Is there anything that excites you about the changes being incited in the publishing world in light of recent events?
I am not in touch with much in the world of publishing, so that is hard to answer. I think writers are writing more, but I don't know where that writing is going.
Is there anything that worries you about the changes being incited in the publishing world in light of recent events?
I see many smaller journals are shutting down or don't exist. It has to be difficult to staff operations now, and financially, everyone is taking a hit.
Are you a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between? Has this changed during the pandemic?
I am into character first and the plot grows from the character's actions. I frequently get stumped on plot because I'm too wound up in character. I think I am a pantser, as I understand the word, in that I don't always give much thought to where the story is going. Although I'll never be an "outline" person, I am trying to "see" the ending or faint promise of an ending as I write. But it's best when the story writes itself, and the ending naturally happens. I wait for that.
Where is your favorite place to write? Has this changed during the pandemic?
Either in bed with a legal pad or my computer, in the next room.
If you curated a playlist for writing life in the pandemic, what top 5 songs would be on your list?
1.) Bach, almost anything
2.) Mozart, almost anything
3.) Bob Dylan, almost anything
4.) Billy Joel, same.
5.) Also Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Satchmo, Billie Holliday (not all).
Without too many spoilers, what is your favorite poem(s) you've written since the pandemic began?
I wrote a few poems about the daughter I lost to suicide in 2010. The loss has become closer and as painful as it was then since the pandemic.
While the future is just as unknowable as ever, what is something you are most looking forward to this year?
My husband and I are working on opening a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy clinic in our county: it will be huge in our area, and should take off in others as well.
Is there any advice you would give to young writers during this time?
Find fanciful outlets for your writing. Use the chaos around you to ground you in your writing and search your imagination for new ways of looking at what you see and feel every day.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I am not sure why I am prolific now: I have reached out to other writers and feel supported in ways I haven't before. I think writing affords that opportunity in a unique way and I am grateful for it. So many new ways of writing are coming to me.
In 1995, I was accepted at Yaddo, the artist's colony near Saratoga Springs, NY. It was a life-changing experience, as I functioned both as a photographer and a writer during that amazing month. My time there made me understand how all- encompassing art is when an artist is allowed to immerse oneself in it. I was able, for the first time, to put writing and photography into the forefront of my life, to give them passion and energy.
My energy had been directed at keeping a house and relationship together, and dealing with a bipolar child. It was a huge gift to be able to focus on what really got my heart and spirit going. The period I'm in now is similar, although I am at home. I have more freedom to write and produce and motivation is high.
ABOUT bobbie crafts
Bobbie Crafts has been a writer and photographer for most of her life. Writing came first. Although never published except for a non-fiction interview in a photography magazine, she belongs to a critique group and and online poetry group. She lives, near her horse rescue farm in Virginia.
Thanks for chatting, Bobbie!
