M. Scott Douglass Interview

November 2008 Interview

Q: Welcome! Please tell us, how did you get started as a writer?
MSD: I started by reading a book my father gave my mother when they were first married entitled, “A Treasury of the Familiar.” I was about eight years old when I first started reading it. I was particularly drawn to Tennyson because of the rhyme and the strong lines. The name of our company’s self-publishing label (Pure Heart Press) was actually taken from a stanza in “Sir Galahad.”

I was also drawn to Blake and Poe and several others that were heavy on rhyme. Consequently, when I first started writing my own work, I was writing bad quatrains. Nonetheless, I was convinced that they were wonderful and deserved page space and at the age of 12 I was in the library researching magazines in The Writers’ Market . By age 14, I had taped rejection notices to one wall of my bedroom.

At 15, I started taking it seriously by taking Creative Writing classes in high school. I’d won a couple of awards by then for short stories, but I want to write poetry. Before I turned 16, I had a handful of acceptances.

Q: Have you always been interested in writing?
MSD: Yes. I’ve done a variety of things to pay the bills, but I’ve always written.

Q: How do you keep your creative juices flowing?
MSD: Reading is the easy answer, but I think you have to get out and involve yourself in the world to really have something to write about. I travel. I talk to strangers. My wife thinks I’m nuts because I’ll strike up a conversation with just about anyone, just about anywhere. The grocery store is a great place to meet characters—especially when you’re out of town.

I keep folders of work in progress that I’ll review from time to time and I keep a notebook to jot down images, phrases—things that are inspired by what encounters, events, etc.

Q: Do you have any projects you’d like to tell us about?
MSD: Not really. Main Street Rag Publishing Company is becoming better known and I’m the guy in charge. I sometimes find myself and my work being judged on that basis and although it’s nice to get published, it’s more important (to me) that my work be accepted on the basis of what is rather than the fact I wrote it. As a result, I use a lot of pseudonyms. I’ve been published under nearly a dozen names and if I tell you my projects, it could be a giveaway one or more of those names.

Q: What is something you wish other creative artists understood?
MSD: Time is the most valuable asset any of us have. If someone stole everything I own—if the stock market completely crashed today—I could go out tomorrow and start rebuilding. But waste one minute of my time and you’ve taken away something I can never replace.

This is the primary reason why I’m so against simultaneous submissions. If I invest the time to consider someone’s work, respond in a matter of 3-6 weeks—faster than most—and when I tell the author that I want to publish a particular piece they tell me, “Sorry, someone else has already taken that piece,” well… our guides at MSR are clear. This person just wasted my time because he/she disregarded my guidelines. I’ll never consider anything from that person again.

I realize that sounds hard-line—and it is—but I think writers and publishers need to respect each other equally. If someone doesn’t respect me enough to follow my guides, then I’m not going to invest any more of my most valuable asset (time) in reading their work. There are over 10,000 small press print options out there. Many of them have volunteer staffs or they do this as a hobby. They don’t have a lot of skin in the game. I do this for a living. I have people I pay for their time. Time matters. Copyright laws matter.

Q: What are some of the challenges and obstacles you faced during your career?
MSD: Paying the bills mostly. They don’t pay poets to “poe” and I’m not part of academia. I’ve done things for a living that would make some folks ill, things that would scare others, things that I enjoyed that didn’t pay enough to sustain me and things that paid well but made me a less-than-pleasant person to be around. You gotta roll with the punches.

Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?
MSD: Seeing the faces of people I publish when they receive copies of their books. Reading the feedback from them or from readers of our magazine.

Q: What inspires you?
MSD: I’m easily inspired. Almost any stimulus creates an image for me around which I can build a story. I’m also a news junky. As I’m writing this, I’ve got Morning Cup of Joe (MSNBC) on over my shoulder. When I’m not listening to that, I’m listening to NPR as I work. I tend to see or hear things and follow them to a conclusion; projecting out into the future. That often becomes the basis of a column or poem.

Q: How do you manage your time when you are working on more than one project?
MSD: I’ve never believed in forced writing. I know it works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me. Give me a couple of hours and I’ll have to fight to edit it down to 1500-3000 words. I do a lot of writing in my head while I’m driving or walking the dog, then sit down and spill it all out at once.

I am currently juggling about 5 poetry collections. I let them come to me. When a particular instance or poem pushes me one way, I go with it. It’s not rocket science; its words and I’ve never been short of those.

Because I’m always multi-tasking, I tend to get up early. I’m usually in my office by 6am. Since most of the world doesn’t start after me until 9am, that gives me a time to sort out priorities and get the stuff done that needs my full attention before the rest of the world catches up to me.

Q: What do you do to relax and to just have fun?
MSD: Walk, bicycle, watch football. I carve wood, paint; I also search out photo opportunities. Most people on vacation sleep in. I get up early to catch morning shots because that’s the best light.

Q: What is the number one thing you would like to tell new writers?
MSD: People are different. Writers are different. Don’t let anyone pigeon-hole you or squeeze you into an uncomfortable mold. Create and keep your own voice. That doesn’t mean don’t grow. You’re going to get influences from those around you, those you read. What it means is: if you want to be successful as a writer, readers need to hear a unique voice in their head when they read your work.

Q: If, at the age you are today, you could spend a day with you at age seven, what would you take back in time, what would you say, what would you do?
MSD: Stay away from women. They’ll still be there when you turn thirty.

Q: When you feel creatively blocked what do you do to get yourself back into the creative flow? When your muse is napping what do you do to wake him/her up?
MSD: I don’t worry about that stuff. Forced writing is usually bad writing. Go out. Have a beer. Watch people.

Q: How do you recharge your creativity?
MSD: It’s never really been a real issue. I work with my hands as well as my head, so I almost always doing something creative. Of course, it depends on your definition of creativity. When I’m gutting and re-designing a bathroom, I’m being creative.

Q: What is your greatest inspiration?
MSD: People.

Q: What makes you smile?
MSD: My dog.

Q: What advice can you offer to a creative artist who is struggling with their inner critic?
MSD: It’s good to be critical, it’s better to be finished. Write first, edit second.

Q: Many artistic people struggle to develop a routine that allows them time for their creative work. What advice can you give that will help them create a balance between work and social life?
MSD: Learn to sleep less. I operate on about 4-5 hours every night. I write early because that’s when everyone else is sleeping and can’t interrupt me. I’m usually done with whatever writing I’m working on by 9-10am. That leaves a whole day to work, socialize—whatever life allows.

Q: What creative individuals do you admire?
MSD: Just about anyone who works with his or her hands. We’ve been devaluing that in America lately. We reward the thinkers, the investors, but not the makers.

Q: What is your favorite first sentence in a book?
MSD: There was a sentence in Dune by Frank Herbert where Paul Atreides (as M’uah D’ib)—is met in the doorway of a cave where his Fremen have captured an entire platoon of the Emperor’s fierce Saudakar soldiers. The Saudakar decide to fight because they see a chance to kill the leader of the rebellion and Paul’s body guard wipes them all out. In reflection he notes (something like): History will record how M’uah D’ib single-handedly defeated an entire platoon of the Emperor’s soldiers when in fact I never lifted my sword. I think it speaks to the way human beings tend to mythologize their heroes and their inspirations.

Of course, I also think Isaac Asimov did an interesting thing with his book, The Gods Themselves. It has three chapters. The chapter titles are: Against Stupidity / The Gods Themselves / Contend in Vain. I think of that often during important elections.

Q: Are you listening to music as you answer these questions? If yes, what are you listening to?
MSD: Since I like music with lyrics (I’m not a fan of jazz or classical), I tend to get distracted by them, so, when I’m writing, I don’t listen to music.

Q: If you only had one more day to live what would you do with the 24 hours?
MSD: Grab my wife; get in the car and drive.

Q: What traits, if any, do you think that creative people have as compared to people who are not creative?
MSD: That’s too broad of a generalization. I’ve seen creativity in the most mundane places, with people whom others may not consider creative. I suppose I have a broader definition of creativity than some, but I think it’s everywhere in everyone, it’s just a matter of recognizing it.

Q: When do you feel most energized?
MSD: The minute my eyes pop open in the morning.

Q: Who is the most creative person that you have ever known?
MSD: Possibly my mother, her father or her grandfather. They were all creative in different ways.

Q: Can you see your finished project before you start it?
MSD: Not usually, but sometimes I can see a blurry finish line ahead.

Q: Do you feel that you chose your passion, or did it choose you?
MSD: No one chooses their passion—if it’s truly passion. It will always choose you. People flirt with things trying to find the right fit, but, if it’s a passion, it grabs you by the nose and drags you with it.

Q: What book are you reading right now?
MSD: Are you kidding me? I read for a living. I make books for a living. When I’m not working, the last thing I want to do is read. But, okay, I did pick up a book at a conference a week ago that I’ve been meaning to get for about a year. I originally read it about 20 years ago in another format. I have collector’s edition of it that are sealed and valuable, so when I heard the movie was coming out next year, I wanted to review the story. It’s a graphic novel, Watchmen written by Alan Moore, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and John Higgins.

Before that was David Sedaris’ When You Are Engulfed in Flames and before that was Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter. In among those I probably read about 250 poetry books, but the truth is: I don’t read many novels. I have a short attention span and if they don’t grab me right off, I set them down. I lean more toward reading magazines like National Geographic, Scientific America, Motor Trend —whatever has a pretty picture on the cover.

Q: What is the last movie you watched?
MSD: There Will Be Blood. Netflix —now why couldn’t I have invented that? Q: What is the favorite question you were ever asked and what was your answer?
MSD: I’m a smart ass by nature and I’ve laid some real zingers out there, but I’m afraid I don’t retain that kind of stuff very well.

Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
MSD: Just be yourself.

Q: Your famous last words, will you share with us a piece of advice, a favorite quote, a tip, whatever you wish?
MSD: We were having a holiday get together at our house and my mother forced my brother and me to rake the leaves. My friends were getting together for a game of football at around noon and I couldn’t go play until the yard had been raked. We had two rakes. One had three tines, the other was brand new. My brother took the new one and stood over in the yard playing with it while I raked my ass off trying to get done so I could leave. Since he obviously wasn’t going to work, I tried to swap rakes with him so I could get done faster. That caused a loud disagreement that brought my Dad out to holler at us. My grandfather came out as well. He heard my bitching and moaning and my soft-spoken grandfather walked up to me and asked me what the problem was. I told him how my brother wasn’t carrying his share of the work and that—as long as he wasn’t—he should go ahead and give me the good rake so I could finish the job. My grandfather said, “Any man can do a good job with a good tool. It takes a good man to do a good job with a lousy tool.” One sentence from nearly forty years ago that may have changed my entire life.