Interview on poetry exercises

Jennifer LoveGrove interviews me for her series on poetry exercises and prompts over at Open Book where she is this month's writer-in-residence.
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Kathryn Mockler on Poetry Exercises
by Jennifer LoveGrove

Today in my series on poetry prompts and exercises, I'm featuring writer Kathryn Mockler. She teaches creative writing, poetry, and screenwriting at Western University, and runs private workshops through her new online writing school Mockler’s Writing Workshop. She has had six short films produced and is the author of the poetry books The Purpose Pitch (Mansfield Press), The Saddest Place on Earth (DC Books) and Onion Man (Tightrope Books). Currently, she is the Toronto Editor of Joyland and Publisher/Founder of The Rusty Toque. 

What do you do when you’re stuck, when the writing is not coming readily, or maybe not at all? Or perhaps you only have a limited block of time in which to write and you want to dive in but you aren’t sure where to begin? What do you do to get started?
When I first started writing, I used to get really stressed out if I couldn’t think of anything to write. I would beat myself up and fret and go blank. It was horrible. But over the years, I have learned that those moments, which seem like they are not productive because I’m not actually writing anything, are just part of the process. I’d like to say the fear goes away, but it doesn’t. Writing anything new or anything I am stuck on always makes me feel like I’m jumping off a cliff. I’ve just learned how to cope with it better.

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