Mark Hudson–Interview

What is your creative space? Where do you write?

Sometimes observations of things in real
life inspire me, I might write a poem about something
I saw. So I usually have paper to jot notes down, so
I never lose an idea. The only problem, my handwriting
is so poor, that I can’t even read my own handwriting!
(One time, I was writing a poem on the train, and
some man said,  “What’s that? Sanskrit?”)

What kind of materials do you use?

I think it was Ray Bradbury who said,
“If you want to be a good writer, read more than you
write! Even read bad stuff, so your stuff won’t be like
that!” I read books everyday, but I can’t get by without
my laptop, either!

How long have you been writing?

Since the seventies! I was born in 1970,
and I have early childhood photos, those “square”
size photos they used to have, of me constantly
in front of the typewriter! In third grade, I went to
a young writers conference at school, and most of
the kids had a ten page short story, and I had a 140
page book! Then I wrote a book called, “The spy
in space,” a long epic, and my uncle borrowed it
to read it, and he lost it! But I’ve lost other pieces,
bodies of artwork, computers crashing, you
hopefully learn to protect your ideas better!

Who is your intended audience?

Humans! I guess if you’re trying
to get people to listen to your work and appreciate
it, you never know who will like it and who won’t!
I was asked to read a poem of mine two hours
away from me in an art gallery in the middle of
nowhere! The people loved it, and I got several
compliments on my work! But I don’t drive,
so if I didn’t get a ride, I couldn’t get there!

What do you do if you get writer’s block?

Rome was not built in one day?
I just started reading a book about Ernest
Hemingway, and on one of his super-famous
novels, he had five different endings he wanted
to use, but none of them fit. When I was in
writing school, they talked about the need to
rewrite, and it’s true. I’ve written whole novellas,
and realized they were terrible and was grateful
they weren’t published. But anyone could say that.

What else do you besides writing?

I’m also an artist, so with all my
interests, I’m never really bored. When I was in
my twenties, I’d tell my peers, “I’m never bored.”
But the truth is, I was always bored.  If you want
to be a writer, you sometimes have to be alone
a lot. And if you were married, or you had kids,
they would have to understand that when you’re
writing, you’re working. There are writers and
artists who make money, sometimes a lot,
and they’re not starving, nor are their families.
But I’ve been given a chance in the circumstance
I’m in to have the free-time to pursue writing.
I’m 46 years old, and I could look at it as I’ve
wasted time along the way. But who doesn’t
say, “If I knew then what I knew now?”

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Giving praise back to the creator
of the universe, who made “everything,” for
making me realize I can be “me” and still
be a child of God. And I love to be in the
company of other creative people, of whom
I know many. I belong to many writers
associations, and one is Rockford Writers
Guild in Illinois. They have a “Good news”
section of their newsletter, where you can
report publications, and I reported the
good news of publishing “balloons”
to Magnolia Review to Wilda Morris,
who is in charge of that, and she e-mailed
back and said, “I had a balloon poem
accepted as well!

Getting “Balloons” accepted made
me very happy, because I wrote it around
the time of my 46^th birthday. It is a very
upbeat poem, and I was feeling very
happy at the time. My 46^th year as it
has panned out has had some challenges,
family health issues, and so I could
choose to be sad. But I have writing
and art, and it is the greatest therapy
known to man! (and woman!)

(If this interview is published on the blog,
I want to thank Suzanna for accepting my
poem, and putting this interview on the blog,
if it goes on. And if anybody reads this
and hopes to be a writer, I hope that
something I said inspires you. Remember,
not everything has been done yet, and
each individual is a new voice. Every
life is worth a lot to the ultimate creator!)

Check out Mark Hudson’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2 and Volume 4, Issue 1.