Fine Flu Journal Fine Flu Journal- june 2014 | Page 23

11) Do you work from a preconceived idea or from spontaneous
invention?
As I said above, the answer is really both, depending on the
circumstances, but usually I work from spontaneous invention.
It’s really easy for me to see why the Greeks believed in those
deities of inspiration, the Muses, because in the right mood the
poem seems to flow from somewhere outside myself – or
somewhere deep inside that seemed unreachable before the spell
of the writing began. That’s not to say I believe in some kind of
dictating angel, but that the Greeks found an apt name and
symbol for what it feels like to be in the throes of the creative act.
12)

What does your revision process entail?

Reading and re-reading and re-reading some more, and complete
brutality in dealing with my missteps. I try to read my work as if
someone else had written it, and, as much as possible, not to let myself
fall in love with my own words. Telling oneself that a line or phrase or
description falls flat or crosses the line into cliché, sentimentality,
banality or mere raving can prove difficult, but I find it necessary not to
let myself get away with anything that would bother me in someone
else’s work.

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