Interview by Lucas Coyne
Malia Bradshaw received her BA in Psychology from St. Edward’s University, and has returned to St. Edwards to pursue a Masters of Liberal Arts with emphasis in Creative Writing. Before returning to St. Edward’s, she spent a year writing for several local magazines. She is also a yoga instructor in Austin.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing ever since I could. Growing up, I’d write little stories about M&Ms going on adventures. Then in high school I started taking creative writing courses, which is when I got into their literary journal and started publishing. I started out with poetry, and then in college I got into nonfiction. When I graduated with my BA in Psychology from St. Edward’s, I decided I wanted to go the artistic route instead of the science route – which was a really tough decision. I started taking writing classes at Austin Community College and applied for some places to get my MFA in Creative Nonfiction. I got accepted to a few schools and planned on attending when my mom got sick so I ended up staying in Austin. That’s when I found the MLA program at St. Edward’s and I can basically do whatever I want here so I’m focused on writing.
Do you write on a regular basis?
Yes. I mean, since I’m taking courses I kind of have to, but I also find that I have to, even if I’m not taking courses. When I’m in class, it’s a lot easier to give myself the time… or make myself have the time to write. When I’m not constantly in that creative environment, life happens, and then I inevitably don’t write as much.
You’ve written poetry, non-fiction, creative writing… what is your favorite format, and what draws you to that?
Poetry is what comes most easily to me. I think that’s how my brain works- in short little snippets of emotion. But then I got into creative nonfiction because it seems like poetry doesn’t have as great an audience right now. I thought if I write a memoir, then that might be something that readers would respond to more. Also, I think nonfiction is more alluring to me because I was a Psychology major and people are really fascinating to me. Then I started taking a fiction course this semester for the first time, and realized that I can take all these crazy people I incorporate into my nonfiction but turn the story into whatever I want. So I actually like the freedom of fiction now too. So… I don’t know. All of them, I guess.
Do you find you can use what you’ve learned from poetry in other formats?
Yes, I think it’s helpful to have. I actually don’t realize that I’m putting any poetic elements in my nonfiction writing but people tell me that all the time, and I guess if that’s the style you like, that’s good. I don’t know what non-poetic nonfiction would look like. I don’t know how to make it non-poetic honestly.
Would you say your style is influenced by any other writers?
I think it changes constantly. Lately I’ve been really into Junot Diaz. His work is so genius in its emotional appeal. And Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild is an incredibly inspiring nonfiction piece. Whenever I can’t find any inspiration elsewhere, I have to sit down and read. When I read something amazing I think to myself, I want to write exactly like that, and then I’ll sit down and start writing. I’ll go to online literary journals and read people that you don’t really know of yet, that have these amazing current works. Anti-Poetry is one of my favorite ones for poetry, or Brevity and Hippocampus for nonfiction.
What else inspires your work?
Life. However cliche that sounds… things that people say all day long, or things you see on the news, or even scenery. If you take these seemingly ordinary things and look at them in an artistic way, I think it becomes more powerful emotionally. Because where else are you going to get inspiration besides life? There’s really nothing else.
Then, whenever I’m really not inspired, I’ll sit down and think: ”What makes me really angry? What gets me really passionate?” Before I wrote one of the poems New Literati is publishing, The Birds and the Bees, I wasn’t feeling inspired so I sat down and thought “What makes me angry right now?” This idea came up of rape culture and victim blaming and all that sort of – excuse me – shit that you see around us all the time. So it was like “Okay, I have to transform this into something that is artistic” and then I wrote that poem. It’s almost therapeutic in a way to transform this ugly emotion into something that’s concretely artistic, if that makes sense. It becomes beautiful but in a really heartbreaking way.
What are your plans for the future? Do you want to pursue writing as a career?
Yes, that’s the plan, but we all know most writers don’t make much money. So while it’d be ideal to write full-time, I have to make a living somehow. I plan to teach, hopefully at the university level, and then publish. And I’ve dabbled in journalism. I wrote for a local magazine for a year, and it was a great experience, but it’s different. It’s absolutely different from purely creative writing.
Do you have any advice that you’d give other writers?
I think, letting the creative process be really organic. A lot of times, teachers or books will tell you: sit here and write and eventually something will come to you. No, you’re going to sit there and write crap over and over and over again. So I think, at least for me, I have to let it come organically. The hard part is giving myself the time to sit down and let myself truly go to that creative place. But if it’s not coming, me forcing it is only going to make for incredibly inauthentic writing, which I think the reader can pick up on. So, my advice would be that if you’re not feeling inspired, step away. Find something that really inspires you and then come back. Don’t just sit there struggling.
Malia’s work in this issue:
The Birds and the Bees
Thirty Seconds Apart
The Uncertainty Principle
Painting in Header: Blue Landscape, by Danielle Denham
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