Welcome to my podcast Creative Momentum with Meg Dunley where I interview creatives about their process, routines and inspiration.
Season 1: The Chateau Season
This first season of the podcast, The Chateau Season features creatives I interviewed during my writing residency the Chateau d'Orquevaux Artist and Writers Residency in France. The episodes feature writers, filmmakers, visual artists, verbatim storytellers and more. Each episode gives you insight into the creative mind, taking you behind the studio doors to hear about process, routine, inspiration and wisdom. These pocket-sized episodes are to encourage you on your creative pathway.
Episode 4: Colleen Flynn, journalist and writer
Colleen Flynn lives in upstate New York in America. She is a creative fiction writer and journalist. I hope you enjoy this short episode where Colleen shares a little about her creative process and routine and about the vulnerability of sharing writing with others.
Interview transcript
MD: Hi, Colleen.
CF: Hello.
MD: Thank you for agreeing to have a chat with me about your creative process and creativity. Can you just start by telling me your name and where you're from?
CF: Yeah, I'm Colleen Flynn. I'm from New York, upstate, so very countryside, not the city. Kind of like this?
No, not quite as beautiful, not luxurious. Apple farms. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I love it.
MD: Can you please tell me what you do creatively? What's your discipline?
CF: I like to write. I was a reporter before coming here, so I would do news articles.
And I sew occasionally. I'm not very good at it, but I'm learning.
MD: I love that. You sew too?
CF: Yeah.
MD: And I love that kind of thinking, like, you know, I'm not good at it, but I'm learning.
CF: Yeah, I like to tailor my clothes.
MD: That's a lot of fun. Tell me, what is your creative process?
CF: I don't know if I have a set process. When I was reporting, I would obviously do research on what I'm writing about, try to learn as much as I can, and kind of write down bullet points. So if I'm talking to someone and kind of get frustrated or like lost in my mind, I'll look at that and kind of ground myself and like bring me back to what I've been researching.
And I feel like that's helped a lot. I don't know. I feel like I write down a few of my ideas before fully typing out what I want to say.
MD: Yeah, yeah. Where or who is your, where do you get your inspiration from, your creative inspiration? Or who do you get your creative inspiration from?
CF: I feel like my emotions a lot. I am in therapy. So a lot of my creative process came from my therapy homework, where she would tell me to write before I go to bed or like if I get too emotional one day to paint out my feelings.
And I feel like that has helped me kind of be grounded in how I'm feeling and be enjoying what I'm writing at the same time.
MD: I love that. Yeah. And, you know, tapping into those feelings. And do you feel what effect do you feel like that has on your writing?
CF: Um, I feel like I personally love when people talk about issues that are going on in their life because I love when it's normalised, like people aren't glamorous, like their life isn't perfect. And I like learning about that because I think other people are perfect, but they're not. So I guess like, to me, I want to show that like life isn't great all the time.
MD: Yeah, I love that. Tell me, do you have a routine for your writing?
CF: I feel like no, I write down what comes in my mind and then I think I'll go back and change a lot of what I wrote before. And I think that's really it for my process. I'll try to get feedback from people, but that's usually like a close knit group of people that I know and trust.
So it's hard being here and being like, oh, please read this. Like, tell me, tell me what's wrong because it's a little scary not knowing everyone, but it's something I'm trying to learn.
MD: If you were to have a chat with someone who was just like beginning their writing or some other kind of creative pursuit, what piece of wisdom would you want to pass on to them?
CF: I guess like keep trying. I think writing a different style for me is so intimidating. But it was scary when I first started my reporting job.
But as time went on and like as I wrote more of that style, it got easier and I learned a lot through that. So I think trying to write stories and chapters now here, it's very intimidating and it's my first time writing that way. So it's really scary.
But I know with time I'll get better and I'll grow. So I think just keep writing, keep trying, keep learning.
MD: Anything else that you want to share with them? You mentioned something about having a close group of people that you can share your writing with. Do you think that's something that is beneficial as a writer?
CF: Yeah, at least for me, I feel like it's such a personal thing where it's hard to open up that way. I feel so exposed when people are reading my work, especially if I'm sitting in the same room. It's hard for me to like sit down and watch someone read and critique what I'm doing, even though that's how you grow and learn.
But it just feels very vulnerable. So being in that space with someone you know and trust is definitely helpful for me.
MD: How long before you shared any of your writing with anyone else?
CF: I've never sent out any of my work to any of my friends yet. Every time I've written a news article or a news piece or a freelance project, my friends would be like, send me something you would want us to read. And I'm like, okay.
And then I never do. So it's kind of like, if they want to go out and find my work, they could. And then they would probably tell me about it.
But I don't know, I haven't really shared any of my pieces yet. Maybe my mom, she's read something.
MD: I think for writers it can feel incredibly vulnerable because so much of us is in our own writing. I'm sure it is with art as well, but I know writing more than I know art. Thank you for your little pieces of wisdom and sharing about your creative process and your routine.
Colleen Flynn, Writer + Journalist
You can connect to Colleen here:
* Email: cflynn235@gmail.com
* Website: cflynn235.wixsite.com/colleenflynnportfoli
* Instagram: @colleen.flynnn
If you liked this episode, please let me know in the comments and like, follow, share and subscribe!
x M
