I’ve been keeping a journal for almost 30 years now. I use my journal as a wild garden for writing ideas—I sow all kinds of concepts, quotes, stories and facts there, then come back later to harvest the good ones for poems or book ideas.
Molly Brodak
I have eight pet chickens. I love cats, but my husband is deathly allergic to them, so we adopted chickens as our pet compromise. They have a lot of personality and getting fresh eggs on a daily basis is a huge perk.
I can’t stand sitting at a desk to write. I always write in bed, surrounded by pillows and snacks.
I don’t read much fiction. I think there is so much to learn about the world, and so many well-researched and important books of nonfiction that I just don’t have that much time for novels. I’ve always used books as a way towards reality, not as an escape from it.
I’m not that brave. I’ve had a lot of readers say, “oh you’re so brave for putting your story out there and writing about hard family stuff, I could never do that...”. To me, it was more of an act of exasperation with the secrecy that encouraged me to publish my story rather than an act of bravery. I simply had to let go of this story or it was going to kill me.
I don’t know if my Dad read my book, Bandit, which details my life growing up with a him, a bank robber and criminal. Everyone asks me that, and I wish I had a better answer. It’s possible someone sent it to him in prison, but I may never know. I hope he does read it because I think he could learn a lot about himself and his family from reading about our experiences and how deeply his criminality affected all of us.
I’m not mad at my father. I have mixed feelings about him, but generally I feel sorry for him rather than being angry. He deserves help in recovering from gambling addiction and he needs empathy training. I wish him only the best and I hope he can reintegrate into society when he is released from prison without incident.
I believe in deep, serious revision, the kind that takes patience. Writing is not a math problem that you either solve right away or you don’t—it benefits from time, and from looking at it with fresh editorial eyes over and over.
I don’t think memoir is automatically therapeutic. It can be an exercise in self-absorption if you’re not careful and thoughtful about it. I genuinely believe everyone should write about their lives, and should start by thinking about it as a humbling learning experience for themselves by digging into the hardest, scariest places for a purpose.
I love writing in cursive. It’s simply joyful to use one long line, with all of the necessary twists and knots, to make each word. It’s just like knitting.
