Warren will teach the class, Dawn and Dusk: Crepuscular Writing, during Gemini Ink’s Summer Literary Festival. The class will take place July 18^th-20^th at Government Canyon State Natural Area and Gemini Ink. At the state park, class participants will hike at dawn and dusk, create journal entries about their experiences, and then, craft their journal entries into poems at Gemini Ink.

Gemini Ink intern Iris Ayala interviewed Warren about her upcoming class, the relationship between nature and art, her favorite poem about nature, and the current state of the environment.

After reading your interview with Denise Gamino from the Austin American-Statesman, I learned that you lead a haiku hike once a month. If any, what elements will you use from the haiku hike for the Dawn and Dusk: Crepuscular Writing class?

The thing that people who come on Haiku Hikes always say they appreciate the most is the silence.  I have participants hike at a very slow pace, no talking allowed, in order to allow the windows of the senses to fully open.  Silence is like a pair of binoculars — you suddenly notice details that are very surprising.  The Crepuscular Writing workshop will utilize the same elements of hiking and silence, but I’ll also be sharing writing prompts I don’t use on Haiku Hikes, and we’ll be paying special attention to how the quality of light affects our sense of being, our imaginations, and the rhythms of our writing.

What is it about the crepuscular time that interests you? Have you explored the time between dawn and dusk before?

I’m a runner and my favorite time to run is early in the morning, because the gradual shift from dark to dawn feeds my spirit in a way nothing else does. For the same reason, my favorite time to take walks is at dusk.  The blending of light and dark, the brief overlap of day and night evokes peace and reflection. I’m better able to listen to myself during crepuscular interludes.

From a naturalist perspective, how would you explain the relationship between nature and the inspiration to write or create art? When writing poems about nature, do you think writers are simply trying to make sense of nature or is it much deeper than that?

I would say that the inspiration to write or create is itself a force of nature, a sign that one is in “right relationship” to the ground of our being. That ground of being can’t be separated from the natural world, from the long trajectory of earth’s history, from the laws of physics.  I personally find it very helpful to get out of the city from time to time in order to hike and sit in a wildscape like Government Canyon — it feeds the roots of imagination by literally grounding me.  But you don’t have to leave the city to make this connection. Sky, bird, insect, rock, breeze — these are available everywhere, and to me these are the most essential vocabulary of poetry.

Who is your favorite naturalist poet? What is your favorite poem about nature?

I could not survive without poetry.  I really admire the work of Mark Doty, Linda Hogan, Issa, Randall Jarrell, Mary Oliver, and Pattiann Rogers. But I have to say my favorite poem is Mark Doty’s “A Green Crab’s Shell.”

With the Gulf Coast oil spill in mind, what do you think about the current state of the environment? How can we, as writers, give nature a voice? And how can we also listen to nature better?

The BP oil spill has torn a huge hole in my heart that gets bigger every day. And it is only one tragic consequence of our whole addiction to fossil fuels. It is past wake up time. I believe we all have a responsibility to address climate change by making deep, essential changes in the way we live.  Because writers are deep listeners, we have a unique role to help others listen. Through our use of image, sound, and story, we can help others re-imagine both our present path and our collective future.

Rosdahl will conduct the class, Structural Biomimicry in Short Prose, during Gemini Ink’s Summer Literary Festival. The class will be held the week of July 12 through July 15. Class participants will examine some of nature’s processes and models and use those insights to create similar structures within their writing.

Gemini Ink intern Megan Peak interviewed Rosdahl and discussed his writing process, fascination with Oulipo, and what inspires him to write.

Megan Peak: Can you tell us more about your interest in Oulipo and how you use those techniques in your own writing?

Lyle Rosdahl: Oulipo is a literary movement that, generally, uses constraints. We all use constraints, though they are often overlooked. I find that when I am conscious of the constraints I use, my writing opens up and I am surprised and pleased by what it produces. I’m partial to visual constraints, but love the idea of patterns (in structure or in ideas) and series. Some constraints that I’ve used recently are using tarot cards to push a story in mysterious directions. I let the cultural subconscious understanding of tarot cards (and the images more literally) affect the direction of the story. Recently I’ve used structures informed by nature to write stories (the path of a slug or the lines on a snail’s shell). I find this challenging and liberating.

How does photography influence and connect to your writing?

Imagery is very important in my work. Not only do I love to use senses in my work, but I love the interconnectedness of image/language (what is language, but image?). I created and have been facilitating a collaborative (Postcard Fiction Collaborative) for almost a year now in which I and other writer friends respond to an image (usually a photograph of some kind). They are short fictional (mostly) responses and it’s interesting to see where our ideas intersect and diverge. Photography is such a powerful art form (and one that I enjoy pursuing) and my interest in cross genre and cross form work naturally moves toward it.

You have a blog, “dead rats press,” how is it the “ultimate workout” and is there any significance behind the rat?

I change the “description” every so often and I liked the pun on this considering I had originally started a website by that name (the address is different now: lylerosdahl.com) with the intent to self-publish, maybe even start a small press of some kind. The pun is in using “press” as an action — both mental and physical. The idea of using a dead rat to exercise with is rather ridiculously funny. I also hope that people will take something away from the site, that it will challenge the reader. I did do a little self-publishing, but I’m not very good at promoting myself. I kept the name for no real reason other than it being something I had picked originally. I do like the rather morbid idea of a dead rat. They’re tough buggers (I mean they can eat through metal) and somehow their mortality is poignant to me in that Buddhist sort of way of staring at a human skull for days as a way to enlightenment. I guess I think of writing like that.

What does your revision process look like?

I tend to be a pretty erratic writer as it is. That is I get up and walk around and wash the dishes or do laundry as I’m writing. I find that breaking up the experience lets my mind breath a little bit. That also means that I’m constantly revising because I’m thinking about what I wrote and how to continue. I believe that writers shouldn’t just bull their way ahead (though, of course, everyone is different), but should stop and think about where the story is taking them. That said, it’s very important to sit down and write and then put the work away (sometimes for weeks or even months) and then come back to it with a fresh eye. I probably don’t do this often enough, but whenever I do I find that there are changes I can make to create a stronger story (typos, of course, but larger issues and questions often crop up).

What, or who, inspires you to continue writing?

It sounds a little corny and overused, but I feel compelled to write. Or rather I feel awful if I don’t. That impulse is really a horrible feeling of guilt. Sure I can bask in the glow of a story or prose poem or what have you (the wonderful way that words play into each other, the ideas they create, language), but that feeling is temporary. It’s the lack of sleep and frayed nerves that really get me going. I suppose when it comes down to it, that means writing is an integral part of my psyche. And a fairly cruel part at that.

Carolina G. Flores in her Blue Star Art Complex studio. Photo by: Anisa Onofre.

Artist Carolina G. Flores recently teamed up with Gemini Ink’s Writers in Communities (WIC), to create broadsides inspired by poetry written by 7^th and 8^th grade students from Edward H. White Middle School.  The “My Part of Town” project was funded by Rackspace, and gave students the opportunity to compose poems that depict their neighborhood.  Although Flores did not work directly with the students, she has taken their poems and given them life through her bold water color illustrations.

“How I paint is more joy than anything,” Flores said. “The joy of just being alive, celebrating my family history, the beauty of the flowers … I think what my paintings do, is, make people very happy.”

Her vibrant pieces of work done in watercolor, oils, silks and ceramic are displayed at the Carolina G. Flores Studio, located in the Blue Star Art Complex.

Flores credits her middle school teacher, Ms. Brown as the person that introduced her to art.

“She was very, very much involved with my talent and I didn’t realize it was worth much, but she took so much interest in me,” Flores said.

It is no wonder that Flores’s dedication to community-based work and teaching has always been a part of her life.  In fall of 2009, her first venture with WIC was a ceramics project with students from East Central Independent School District.

Flores is currently a part-time art teacher at The Winston School, a school for children with learning disabilities.

“I’ve realized that if I don’t teach, I miss it,” Flores said.  “I miss communicating with young people and sharing what I know.”

Flores still makes time to paint for herself.  As part of collaboration with two other artists named Carolina, 25 of Flores’s paintings were exhibited at the Centro Cultural Aztlan show, Carolina por Tres.

“I’m at a point where I want to do as many paintings and say as many things as I want to say with my canvasses,” Flores said.

– by Melinda Gonzales, Gemini Ink intern

Joe McKinney

McKinney will also conduct the class, Writing Modern Horror on Saturday, April 10. In the class, participants will  reexamine their characters through in-class writing exercises and by the end of the day, the skeleton of a story will have some real meat on it.

Gemini Ink intern Melinda Gonzalez interviewed McKinney and discussed how he realized he wanted to become a writer, and what frightful projects he’s been working on.

Melinda Gonzalez: What is the first horror book/story you remember reading?
Joe McKinney: I’m not sure, to tell you the truth. It was probably something by Ray Bradbury or Charles Beaumont. But I do remember the first horror book that really, really made an impression on me. It was Stephen King’s Nightshift collection. I remember going through those stories and thinking that I had just discovered something incredible.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve heard other writers say they always knew. I didn’t. I mean, I had the overpowering urge to write way back when. I remember being 10 or 12 and skipping out of an afternoon of bike riding and exploring to write stories. Throughout my teens I wrote stories, stapled the pages together, put them on the corner of my desk, and then promptly forgot about them. I knew writing was an important, even a necessary, part of who I was, but I never had a desire to publish anything. I never saw writing as a job I could have one day. I guess I didn’t start thinking of it that way until my first daughter was born. I don’t know if other parents identify with this feeling or not, but when my daughter came along, I suddenly felt this overpowering need to capture who I was on paper, almost as though I wanted to freeze that moment in time, preserve it. I got lucky when my impulse turned into a full time writing gig. I’ve been fortunate.

What type of obstacles did you experience before having your first book, Dead City, published?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard. I wrote the manuscript, revised it quite a few times, and then sent it out to a few publishers. I got back politely written rejections, some offering genuine encouragement. Well, I knew the book was a good one, so I figured I’d get an agent. At the time, being a complete stranger to the publishing business, I had no idea how difficult a process that is for some writers. I sent it out to half a dozen agents, got a nibble, and that agent turned around and sold the manuscript to one of the publishers that had rejected me only a few months before. All of my obstacles and learning experiences have come since then, and most of those deal with the technical points of contracts. My advice there … writers beware. There are some unethical people out there. Just because somebody sticks a contract in front of you doesn’t mean you automatically have to sign. Read the fine print.

What, or who, has influenced your writing?
I read somewhere that nearly every horror writer today was either heavily influenced by Stephen King, or is lying when he or she says they were not heavily influenced by Stephen King.  That is pretty much true.  The man stands taller than the Marston House over modern horror.  But influence, for a writer, is more than a single source.  It’s more like being part of a web.  Every professional writer I know reads voraciously … and not just horror.  They read EVERYTHING they can get their hands on.  It is impossible to point to a single source and say, “My influence stopped there.”  There’s just too much input for that to be true.

What does your family think of your writing?
My mom was so proud when she went to buy my first novel from the store. Then she took it home and read it. A few days later, she came up to me, her expression sad and a little confused. “You were such a happy child,” she said. “Did we do something wrong?” Since then, of course, they’ve grown used to it. Nowadays, they have no problem introducing me as their son who writes about zombies and ghouls and ghosties. I think they even get a secret thrill out of it.

Who is your favorite author and what is it about them that you find most intriguing?
John McPhee. If I had to point to just one favorite (and man, that is a hard task), it would be John McPhee. I love science writing, and I love elegant, moving prose, and McPhee combines them both. If you’ve ever read Basin and Range, or Assembling California, or The Curve of Binding Energy, you know what I mean. The man’s writing leaves me speechless.

Are there any current projects or ideas that you would like to tell us about?
As a matter of fact, yes.  I’m the co-founder of a new crime fiction publishing house called Gutter Books. Our intent is to publish a mixture of new and old pulp novels and short stories. So far, we’ve got my novel, Dodging Bullets, a short story anthology, a John D. MacDonald reprint, a Graham Greene reprint, and two other modern crime novels all set to go. We plan to release three books this year, three or four the next, and see where the ride takes us.  My partner, Matt Louis, and I both love the classic pulps of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, but those stories, great as they are, don’t mix well with modern reading tastes. We’re looking to mix the classic elements of pulp fiction with modern sensibilities.  I think it’s going to be a great series of books.  I’m also beginning work on a second anthology for 23 House, which I’m co-editing with Mark Onspaugh. This one will be a collection of stories about abandoned buildings, and hopefully it will bring in a good mix of genres as well. My first anthology for 23 House, Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology, will be out in April. I’m also publishing the second and third books in the Dead City series. The second one, Apocalypse of the Dead, is due out in November, and the third one, The Zombie King, is due out in September, 2011. I’ve also got two short novels coming out from Bad Moon Books in 2011. The first, called The Lost Girl of the Lake, is a coming of age horror story.  The second, called The Red Empire, is about super intelligent giant fire ants. In all, it’s going to be a busy time.

Anything else you would like to add?
You bet.  I do a monthly column for a true crime website called In Cold Blog.  You can read my articles there, or you can stop by my website, Old Major’s Dream, for news and updates.