Award-winning author Gayle Brandeis says motherhood has profoundly affected her writing. Her novel, The Book of Dead Birds, won the prestigious Bellwether Prize for Fiction in 2002, and she was named one of “Six Writers Who Made a Difference” by The Writer magazine in 2004. Brandeis has performed as a dancer in Southern California and is currently the writer-in-residence for the Mission Inn Foundation’s Family Voices Project in Riverside, CA.  

MWLM: What are you reading now? Which writers and books have been most influential on your writing and on your life?

GB: I just finished reading The Girls by Lori Lansens, a really gorgeous and compassionate novel narrated by conjoined twins—it took my breath away. I recently started re-reading Disobedience by Jane Hamilton, which I first read several years ago; it has some resonance with the novel I’m writing now, and I wanted to both find inspiration in its pages, and make sure I haven't been subconsciously copying aspects of it in my work. I have stacks of books all over the house that I can't wait to get to—I am particularly excited to read Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.

So many books and writers have influenced me. Two books of poetry in particular have had a profound impact on my work—The Dead and the Living by Sharon Olds, which taught me that it's okay to write honestly about our physical selves, and American Primitive by Mary Oliver, which celebrates nature and the body in such a beautiful way (as does A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, another one of my favorite books.) Nabokov's Lolita invigorated my relationship with language; Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver showed me how to wed art and social conscience. I learn something from every book I read.

MWLM: What impact does your background in dance, theater and poetry have on your fiction, and vice versa? Do these things help release your fiction muse and would you recommend them (and other creative outlets) for aspiring writers?

GB: I think creativity begets creativity—the same creative energy that moves through a poem moves through a dance or a play or a painting, and one form of art can easily feed another. Every form of art can recharge my writing, give it a shot of zing. Acting is a fairly new experience for me, and I've been delighted to find parallels to fiction writing—with both, you have to surrender to the character, let go of the self to find the right voice. Poetry has taught me to pay close attention to language, which I'm sure has helped my fiction. And I try to bring the muscularity of dance to the page.

I don't know whether I would recommend dabbling in different art forms to aspiring writers. I think when you're in the early stages of a craft, it's good to focus on that craft and not spread yourself too thin. It's all very individual, though. If you think a dance class will invigorate your writing, by all means go for it. But if you think it will just distract you from your writing, trust that impulse. Even if you don't decide to pull on a leotard or join a theater group, though, I highly recommend a good diet of the arts—going to museums, concerts, poetry readings, etc. can be so incredibly inspiring. It's good to see what other people are doing with their creative energy, and it can help us tap into our own.

MWLM: How has motherhood affected your writing? How do you share your love of writing and reading with your children?

GB: I think motherhood has grounded my writing in a way that nothing else ever could. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, dealing with the daily needs of children, all have helped me appreciate the creativity of the body so intensely. I am in awe over the fact that we can create and nurture life with our bodies, and know that my writing life has been deeply informed by this experience. My connection to my creative process is much more organic and rooted as a result. Motherhood has helped me pay attention to the little details of the world, too—I miss the days of getting down on the ground with my kids and looking at bugs and weeds pushing through the cracks in the sidewalk, but I can still do that by lingering on little details as I write.

I read to my kids constantly when they were little, so books have always been an important part of their lives. They are 12 and 15 now, and they both still love to read, which makes me very happy. My daughter happens to be an amazing writer, and I love sharing resources with her, finding places where she can submit her work, etc. But I'm very careful to stand back and let her writing be her own thing—I don't want her to feel like I'm judging or trying to control or push her work in any way just because I write, too. I just want to encourage and support her as she travels her own writing path.

MWLM: Your writing has been described as lush, lyrical, "forged in crystalline prose." Where does it come from? Is it a struggle for you to write such wonderful prose, or does it flow easily from you?

GB: Thank you for those sweet words! Honestly, I have no idea where my writing comes from most of the time; it pours out of my fingers and sometimes shocks the hell out of me. If I try to write in a beautiful way, it usually comes out very stilted and stiff. I need to get out of my own way to let the words flow. Of course a lot of what flows out is utter garbage, so during the revision process, I do have to work more consciously to hone and shape the language, but I think the most interesting stuff usually comes out in that first creative gush.

MWLM:  Do you ever have writer's block? If so, how do you overcome it?

GB: I never had writer's block until I became a published writer. When I was on tour with my book Fruitflesh, I found out that The Book of Dead Birds had won the Bellwether Prize and would be published the following year. This was all deeply exciting (especially when I learned that Maxine Hong Kingston and Toni Morrison had been the Bellwether judges along with Barbara Kingsolver), but it threw a real wrench in my creative process. I was traveling around, talking to groups about writing, but I wasn't doing much writing myself. I felt intimidated by this new success; I felt as if I suddenly had a cloud of expectation over my head that I could never live up to. I wanted every word I wrote to be perfect and brilliant, and of course that wasn't going to happen, and it made me freeze. The thing that helped me break through this was participating in National Novel Writing Month. When you decide to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you can't give yourself the luxury of worrying whether the words are any good—you just trudge forward with them.

MWLM: What advice do you have for aspiring mom writers who find it difficult to carve out time to write while meeting all the demands others place on us and all the demands we place on ourselves?

GB: The day goes by so quickly, but we have more time than we realize. Think of little things you can let go of—watching half an hour of TV, etc.—to create more time for your writing. (I personally find extra time by being a slob; I would much rather write than sweep the floor!) Even if it's just 10 minutes a day—even 10 minutes a week--having that creative outlet should help recharge your batteries and keep your connection to your writing alive. I used to bring a notebook into the bathroom when the kids were babies and the bathroom was my only retreat; it helped me stay centered. My best advice, though—as both a mom and a writer--is to let go of expectation, let go of ideas of perfection. Enjoy the process in all its raggedy glory. Revel in the surprise of it.

MWLM: What did you learn from writing your award-winning novel The Book of Dead Birds?

GB: I don't know where to begin—I learned so much in the process of writing that book (both about the world--about Korea, about birds, about prostitution on US military bases, etc.—and about myself). I suppose the main thing I learned was to be fearless, to not be afraid to write about darkness, about the things that scare me, to not be afraid to go into those forbidden corners and see what might be staring back out. I also learned to listen to dreams and signs—I think they can often point us in the right direction in our work. I was ready to give up writing The Book of Dead Birds when a dead crow appeared on my patio; that seemed like a sign to keep going. And then a strep-throat fever-dream convinced me to change the entire point-of-view of the novel from third person to first person, and that shift really brought the book to life for me.

MWLM: What are you working on now?

GB: I'm gearing up for the release of my second novel, Self Storage, which comes out in January. I am also writing a new novel, tentatively titled My Life with the Lincolns, about a 12-year-old girl who believes her family is the Lincoln family reincarnated, and it's her job to save them from their fate. My daughter asked me a while back to write a more kid-friendly book (she's starting to get embarrassed by some of the subjects in my work, especially the sexier ones.) I'm not sure if this book will be exactly kid-friendly, since it's geared toward an adult audience, but the age of the narrator seems to appease my daughter for now! Of course, I can't worry about appeasing her when I write—I need to be true to the story, and if I worry too much about how my family or anyone else will react to it, the story will suffer. So the main thing I am working on now (and always) as a writer is being as open and brave as possible so I can honor the words that want to come through.

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer, wife, mother and coffee addict living in Florida. Her syndicated humor column, Airing My Dirty Laundry, tickles the funny bone with tales of troublesome teenagers, the agony of aging gums, laughing llamas and bizarre Blackberry behavior – and that’s just for starters. Her work appears regularly in a variety of publications, including the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Oklahoman and Total 180 magazine, as well as on several websites. You can read more of her work at JackiePapandrew.com or contact her at Jackie@JackiePapandrew.com.