“It’s a pleasant thing to be young and have ten toes, and you may lay to that.”
Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island (1883)
Writers, artists, songwriters . . . all are often asked where do you get your ideas? I’ve talked about my methods in a post here. What truly fascinates me is that moment when the creative has the idea . . . what happens then? How do they think about it? Where do they go with it? In short, how does the creative person’s mind work when it is working—at the point of the idea and then in the follow through?
The notion of a child sitting and counting their toes—perhaps just discovering that they have ten toes—struck me as an amusing approach to take in talking with creative people: playful, curious, wandering wonderment.
The interviews are collaborative. My process is to ask what sorts of things the person might want to talk about, then create questions for them based on that. I send them the questions, they write back, and I perhaps send more questions, either for clarification or because something they said struck me. Once we agree the conversation is satisfactory on both sides, I’ll post it here.
My first interview will be with Kenneth Schweiger, a fine artist in St. Paul, MN (USA) and an instructor at The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art in nearby Minneapolis. We are just finalizing our conversation.
Some folks I have lined up for Ten Toes Interviews in the coming months include:
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- Marcelle Heath
Author of Is That All There Is? (2022) and the creator/curator of Apparel for Authors on Instagram, a visual/text interview series on writers, fashion, and the public sphere. - Bill Whitley
Consulting Typographer, Craftsman, Writer - Lou Host-Jablonski
Architect (resource-efficient, ‘sustainable’ design and planning), Artist, Children’s museum exhibit designer, Writer, Sewist, Woodcraftsman, Musician (fiddle and bagpipes). - Ali Bacon
Writer of contemporary and historical fiction. Winner of ASLS Best Scottish Book of 2018 for her novel In The Blink of an Eye. - Day Host-Jablonski
Emergence Medic, Educator, Writer, Herbalist, Perfumier, Live-action role play actor.
- Marcelle Heath
I am looking for more people to interview. Please drop me a line via my Contact page with your ideas.
© J.A. Jablonski 2023. All rights reserved.
HOW TO CITE THIS POST
Jablonski, J.A. (2023, Feb 17). Ten Toes Interview | An Upcoming Conversational Series. Blog post. J.A. Jablonski (website). https://jajablonski.com/2023/02/17/ten-toes-interviews/
IMAGE CREDITS
“A Historical Lecture.” A sketch by Isobel Strong of her stepfather Robert Louis Stevenson entertaining her son Austin with a story. From the RLS Website.
Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson (slightly modified). Photo taken by Charles L. Ritzmann. c. 1865. From the Berg Collection, New York Public Library (image id no. 484059). As noted on The Victorian Web.
