Alice Wilson

Hello! My name is Alice. I live in Yorkshire in the UK and am currently spending my free time setting up a podcast called The Digital Inkwell which looks at the intersections of web3, AI, and writing.

Question 1: What inspired you to start writing?

Hm. I think I have felt the desire to write like an appetite for food or water for as long as I can remember myself. I don't know if it makes sense for me to say that I am 'inspired' to write, more that I feel wrong when I don't do it and something closer to right when I do do it.

Question 2: What have you written that you're the most proud of?

I think my flash fiction "The Job Centre." It was first published in The Apple Valley review and was one of my first ever accepted pieces in a literary magazine. It went on to get nominated for the Pushcart Prize and was also selected for the Sonder Press Best Short Fiction anthology in 2022.

Question 3: What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?

Writer's block means fear. More specifically, it means fear of failing to meet expectations. The expectations can be my own or those of others. I can always write, but I can't always write something that I am proud of or that feels like the writing I 'should' be doing. I feel the hanging axe of writer's block most often in my academic work because academia has very narrowly defined parameters of what constitutes good and publishable writing. I have become less and less interested in academic writing over the years as a result of this. Without expectation and the fear that accompanies it, there is no writers block.

Question 4: When did you first call yourself a writer?

I think once I started selling work as a journalist in 2020. It's a shame that selling writing for money in the marketplace was the defining factor that signalled to me in my own head that I was somehow now more 'real' or legitimate as a writer. Now I don't really work as a journalist anymore but still very much consider myself as a writer, thanks in part to glorious magical literary magazines like Livina accepting my work.

Question 5: What is your writing process like? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser?

I am all pants. It is one of my most chaotic and unlikable qualities. I refuse to change, against my own better judgement and the sage recommendations of my friends.

Question 6: If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?

Cory Doctorow. The most resplendent, heartbreaking, honest sci-fi writer I have encountered. I hate the world's he writes and I love the people in them.

Question 7: Do you play music while you write — and, if so, what’s your favorite?

I am a silent writer. I suspect that it's because I used to sing in a blues/jazz band that I find music so absorbing; I can't do anything that requires my thoughts and attention when music is playing. The beat just takes me over. I'm like Baloo the Bear.

Question 8: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?

Pretty much everything that Julia cameron of The Artist's Way has ever said about writing is the most valuable piece of advice I have ever been given about writing.

Question 9: What do you think is the best way to improve writing skills?

This is tremendously unoriginal but I think that is for a reason; nothing else improves your writing as much as writing. Write rubbish. Write embarrassing, sloppy bilge. Write cringey, too-earnest love letters about your best friend. Write complaints to the editor. Write a haiku about earthworms and stick it the back of a bus seat. Write.

Question 10: Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

My little sister is my biggest cheerleader in all things. She is my constant supporter and always has words of encouragement and praise for me. I owe her a lot.