2. What audio environment works best for your writing? Silence or background chatter? AT: I definitely don't like chatter. I prefer silence or very soft Classical music (nothing with lyrics!). Nature sounds are fine: birds, fountains.
3. What is the feeling you get when you do your best writing? Does this happen often? AT: It doesn't have to be my best writing, just writing that pleases me at that moment. (I sometimes change my mind later.) At times, it's a peacefulness, because I can let go of my guilt about procrastination or writer's block. Other times, it's an adrenalin rush. I almost want to share it with the world right then, though I know that's not a good idea. (The adrenalin rush is typically after I hear my critique group's reaction.) Thankfully, the feeling comes pretty often and never gets old. I wrote professionally for many years and didn't have the luxury of waiting for inspiration. Now I don't pressure myself to write every day, but enough to be ready for my critique group.
Public Writing Experience
1. What
kinds of experience do you have with publicly sharing writing (besides this
class)? AT: If it's bringing a homework
assignment in for a critique, I generally enjoy it. If it's sharing what I just
wrote on-the-spot, I don't like feeling pressured to do that. My best writing
rarely happens sitting at a table of strangers and working on a tight deadline.2. What do you enjoy about public situations that involve sharing of writing? What is your favorite type of activity? AT: I love to share my writing at public readings and open mics. However, it took me many years to get over my stage fright. I like hearing and seeing the crowd's reactions. I'm often surprised which poems seem to be the evening's favorites. I can feel shy about sharing in a workshop if I don't feel I've had time to polish my work a little.
3. When you participate in a public activity you like, do you have any feelings similar to your good writing times? AT: YES! The satisfaction of reading my poems to an audience is really the culmination to my original feeling of wanting to share the poem.
4. What can you do to improve your personal satisfaction from writing? From public sharing of writing? AT: The best way to improve both craft and satisfaction is to work at it and repeat the process. If you'd told me 10-11 years ago that I'd one day enjoy giving public readings, I wouldn't have believed you.
Alarie Tennille
was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia with a genius older brother
destined for NASA, a ghost, and a yard full of cats. A Phi Beta Kappa, she
graduated from the University of Virginia in the first class that admitted
women (B.A. with distinction in English). She met her husband, graphic artist
Chris Purcell, in college. She still misses the ocean, but loves the
writing community she’s found in Kansas City. After a career ranging from
technical editor to greeting card writer, Alarie is retired and has more time
to focus on her poetry writing. She serves on the Emeritus Board of The Writers
Place. Her poem, “The Quilters of Gee’s Bend” was nominated for a Pushcart
Prize. In 2010, she published a chapbook, Spiraling into Control (The
Lives You Touch Publications). In 2014, Alarie celebrates her first full-length
poetry collection, Running
Counterclockwise (Kelsay Books: Aldrich Press), a Thorpe Menn Award
finalist. Her work appears in The Whirlybird Anthology of Kansas City
Writers and in numerous journals including Margie, Poetry East, Coal
City Review, I-70 Review, English Journal, Wild Goose Poetry Review, and Southern
Women’s Review. Website: http://alariepoet.com/
Reviews
A quartet
of locally rooted poets.The Kansas City Star.
Interview:
Alarie Tennille . Zingara Poet
