Some writing lures in readers with its generosity, and that’s often because the writers behind it are generous with their work. When I think about generosity in writing, I think about
. Clover is one of the good guys: she upholds other authors, reads others’ work, blurbs others books and cheers them on behind the scenes. But for the thousands of people who read her work, she’s wildly generous on the page, too. Her books, The Wild Other, My Wild and Sleepless Nights, The Red of My Blood and, as of today (!) The Giant on the Skyline, gently hold the reader by the hand through the beautiful, often bloody mess of life’s most human parts: grief, love, loss, mothering, rebellion and transcendence.As much as Clover has drawn back the curtain on these matters, so she has with writing - and so we wanted to celebrate the release of The Giant on the Skyline, which explores the notion of home, uprooting and the separation of a growing family, by asking her about her writing life - and how she does, and doesn’t, get it done.
‘Phones, in fact, are far, far more damaging than motherhood to the writer.’
What's stopped you writing this week?
My phone. It’s not my kids that stop me writing, it’s my phone. I’m very addicted to my phone, but also need it constantly for work, or at least I tell myself that lie. When I’m really trying to write and am on a book deadline, for example, I have to get extremely serious about managing where my phone is. Being anywhere near it does massive damage to my concentration. Phones are terrible for deep thought and intense creativity, pixelating thoughts and shattering everything. Phones, in fact, are far, far more damaging than motherhood to the writer. Bringing up five kids has been a breeze for me as a writer in comparison to managing what my phone does to me.
In the final four months of writing The Giant on the Skyline, I rented a completely empty room in a house that was being renovated, in a small town near to my home in the countryside. It had nothing but a desk and a chair and so was also very cheap. I would leave my phone locked in my car ten minutes walk away and write all day, stopping only to eat sandwiches I’d made that morning while preparing the kids packed lunches. I got very into my Thermos flask too. In that little empty room, with damp on the walls and no heating, I experienced one of the most richly creative writing periods of my life. It was extreme and beautiful, and that world I inhabited there is written onto the pages of The Giant on the Skyline. It was also really exhausting. I think people give up on writing because they’re not prepared for it to take real stamina. I actually love that feeling of pushing myself creatively and that’s what I’m trying to do with each book I write: to take myself into a new space to express things in a new way, with greater emotional clarity and depth.
And what's kept you going?
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