Alchemy Interview with Kyran Pittman

This interview originally appeared in the Fall 2010 session of Alchemy: The Art & Craft of Writing. (Learn more about Alchemy writing courses and register for upcoming classes here).

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Kyran Pittman is a writer, blogger, mom to three boys, and wife to her soulmate Patrick. A native of Newfoundland, she now lives in the American south. Kyran is the author of Planting Dandelions: Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life and a contributing editor for Good Housekeeping magazine. I asked Kyran to share what she's learned about finding and writing stories.

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1. On your blog and in your book, you write about your 
life. How do you choose the stories you write about? How do you decide what is 
"story worthy?"

I try not to make evaluations about "worthiness" at the outset. For me, that's a 
stalling mechanism. If I'm moved to write about something, I need to start 
writing. If there's a story in it, it will reveal itself in the process; if 
not, the process will peter out, or suggest something else. The essential thing 
is to keep moving forward, to receive inspiration as it comes. In my case, she 
who hesitates truly does get lost.



It's been important for me to learn distinguish between my editorial and 
creative functions, and to shift from one to the other appropriately. There's a 
time to make choices about where, when or if to publish, and that time is after 
the story is written down. A blog is a great way to practice saying "yes" to the 
stories as they come, without attaching expectations. The ephemeral quality of 
the medium makes it easier to hold the words lightly. Every time you click the 
"publish" button, it's an act of releasing outcomes, something any creative 
person needs to learn to do.



In writing the book, I was able to look at the blog as a sketchpad -- capturing 
moments and details that would have otherwise been lost to the bustle of daily 
life. Those sketches became the basis for much of the book, quick studies 
transferred to a larger canvas and colored in.



And there aren't words to adequately convey the value of working with a good 
editor. It's like having a personal trainer who really pushes you: your ass is 
kicked, but you look so much better.

2. You live in Arkansas now, but you grew up in Newfoundland. Does being a 
"stranger in a strange land" make it easier to find stories in your everyday 
life?

A few weeks ago, I was telling a local person how exotic Arkansas (and the rest 
of America) was to me when I first moved here, and they were really startled by 
the idea. I still find it exotic. The white picket fence is exotic to me. I grew 
up on the fringes, in an artistic family on an island at the edge of the world. 
The legacy of that is a lifelong fascination with convention that has sometimes 
betrayed me (see: first, short-lived marriage to an MBA graduate), but also 
makes me a passionate observer of so-called ordinary life.




3. Do you ever feel stuck for something to write about? What do you do then?

If I'm stuck, it's not usually for want of a subject. I've noticed I often get 
stuck when I'm in transition -- moving to a different project, chapter, or 
simply a new stage of my own development as a writer. My husband has played 
guitar for years, and he says that the learning curve with his instrument always 
seems to flatten out for a while before it goes to the next level. That's helped 
me plod through my own sticky phases. It helps sometimes to shift gears; if I'm 
not feeling it on the blog, maybe I'll compose an email, or work up a pitch for 
an article. Not writing anything, anywhere, for days on end, is not an option.



4. What advice can you offer to someone struggling to find subject matter 
for her writing?

Well, you're not going to find it in the struggle. You have to be in a receptive 
mode; alert but relaxed. Remember the Magic Eye books, with the stereoscopic 
images? In order to see the hidden image, you have to peer into the middle 
distance, with a focus that's neither too soft nor too sharp. You get a glimmer 
of it, maybe, and you panic, and lose it. Then you find it again, and BAM. There 
it is, so clearly. How did you not see it before?

You keep putting one word out in front of the other, and trust the ground 
beneath them -- the story -- to appear. Faith is essential. It can be in a higher 
power or purpose, or just in your own potential. But you've got to believe in 
it.

5. What is the biggest writing hurdle you've overcome so far? What still 
challenges you about writing?

Learning to embrace my extroversion and figuring out how to work with it has 
been the biggest hurdle. For a long time, I thought there was something wrong 
with me, because I didn't fit the mold of the introverted writer, who wants 
nothing more than to be left alone with her notebooks, in the proverbial room of 
her own. It took blogging to make me realize that was NEVER going to work for 
me. I thrive on feedback and interaction. I can't function in utter silence. 
It's like pulling the plug. Being an extroverted writer can be a liability when 
it comes time to sit down and write a book, but it's an asset when it comes to 
pitching ideas and connecting with an audience. 


As for ongoing challenges, there are the usual occupational hazards: 
procrastination, self-distraction, perfectionism, pressures of time and money.

6. How do you decide where different stories end up? In other words, how do 
you decide which stories go on your blog and which go into your Good 
Housekeeping articles?

For a long time, I didn't. I put pretty much everything on the blog. My editor 
at Good Housekeeping sees something there she likes, and we'll rework it 
slightly for the monthly blog feature in the magazine. Something from my blog 
winds up there three or four times a year. I've also had some success with 
pitching feature articles to them. It's sort of a mystery to me what sticks, and 
what doesn't, and when it doesn't, I just move to the next idea.

I have the luxury now of being a little more choosy. I might compose a blog 
post, and hold on to it instead of publishing it online, because I think I might 
offer it to a magazine, or save it for the next book. It's a transitional period 
for me right now, so I can't really say yet how it's working.

7. Do you have a specific writing process?

I prefer not to think about this too much, because I'm afraid it will be like 
trying to figure out how I walk, and I'll wind up falling over. I do like a 
certain level of impersonal, ambient activity. I'll often take my laptop to a 
coffee shop to write, because my house is too quiet when the kids are in school.



8. What do you know about writing now that you didn't know 10 years ago?

Wow, what DIDN'T I know? Everything. But mostly, to surrender. It would be 
disingenuous of me to pretend I'm above worldly ambition. I would love to write 
books that are beloved by all and make me rich and famous (of course, I would 
only use my powers to help others. And crush my enemies). But ultimately, I 
accept that my job is to write. The outcome is none of my business. I serve it. 
It doesn't serve me.

9. Do you have any writing quirks or pet peeves?

I dislike exclamation points. I love semi-colons; maybe too much.


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