ILLUMINATION Writers
Interview with Earnest Painter
Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION
The purpose of this story is to share with you an interview that I conducted with Earnest Painter.
Earnest Painter is an experienced writer on ILLUMINATION. As soon as I set up the Slack group for our writers, Earnest joined the group and has been actively engaging with writers and editors on our Slack group consists of 500+ members. His remarkable stories and poems inspire our readers. In addition, his collaborative nature, what I like about Earnest is his artistic capability.
Not sure whether it is a coincidence but, as his surname suggests, he is a painter. I love his paintings. For example, I found this beautiful painting of his cat fascinating and heartwarming. The color of the cat is unique and contrasting color tone of the overall painting reflects optimism to me. By the way, he is a cat lover and creates fantastic stories about them.
One of my favorite paintings from the collection of Earnest is the one which serves as a cover photo to his interesting Haiku titled Regret. The use of color purple blending to a special yellow tone is breath taking.
Let’s explore the background of this successful writer, poet, and artist!
Tell us a bit about your background, Earnest.
I was born in Texas and have lived here all my life. Texas is large; living in the Panhandle is almost nothing like Central Texas where I live now. San Antonio — where I more or less where I grew up as an adult — is very much a mix of the two cultures, English speaking Texas/USA and Mexico, which is a stone’s throw away.
I learned Spanish as a young adult and I’ve made myself a part of both cultures for as long as I can remember, and it breaks my heart that it’s not safe to travel in Mexico right now.
My mother was a librarian and I was a bookseller for a while. The written word runs in the blood.
Why do you write on Medium?
Years ago began with free blog that I called bemol Ardiente, just as a way to get back into the practice of writing. As I began taking writing more seriously I created RatherEarnestPainter.com and moved bemol Ardiente there. I began looking for magazines and journals to submit writing to; I did research, made lists and began to send submissions.
A friend introduced me to Medium. I find the community to be much like Twitter — so many personalities expressing themselves; some articles are educational, some are entertaining and some are written for different audiences than myself. And you would never have a creative community if everybody was the same.
What are your values as a writer?
Sincerity.
I can tell if I’m not being sincere and I know that my audience can as well. It’s embarrassing for both of us. By sincere I don’t mean telling the truth. Fiction can be sincere.
Courage.
In order to be sincere, I have to have courage. Courage to open up about myself and allow people the opportunity to hate me or love me. Or even worse, to walk by without noticing. But for me there is very little reason to write otherwise.
Integrity.
My writing is my writing. You can like it or you can not like it, but it is my writing, my thoughts and my style.
What are the top three books affected your life?
The Witching Hour by Ann Rice.
Fascinating book.
The writing is rich. I love the story, but I also love the biblical references, the extended family saga, the Gothic stories about a wealthy New Orleans family and its dark secrets.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
This book is simple but it is so very beautiful. It made me think, ‘I want to write like that.’ Not in the style of Harper Lee per se, but I want people who read my books to feel the way I feel when reading To Kill a Mockingbird. We had a dinner party and I found myself slipping away to my bedroom to read a few pages of it, leaving my partner alone with the guests while I stole just a few precious minutes. That’s good writing.
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace.
It is almost 1100 pages, complete with 388 endnotes, some of which have footnotes of their own. This is a novel, by the way, a work of fiction. Who does that? Sentences go on and on; paragraphs can be several pages long. You read it with two bookmarks and you keep a dictionary nearby.
The stories and the world he built, with corporations subsidizing one-year blocks of time for desperately needed tax revenue, alcoholics, addicts, boxers, gamblers, students, Québécois Wheelchair Assassins… it’s a mess and if you have six months to dedicate to a reading project I highly recommend it.
What are your hobbies?
I paint, I read and I write. Are those hobbies?
I used to play the piano, but my right wrist was strained and I’ve never gotten back to it. Painting, reading and writing, though, I’ve been pretty good at blending.
My first book is about to be released, a novella based on some of my cats. I did a painting of the main character, Carmela, and that painting ended up on the cover of the book. (I had other people help make the decision on the cover to make sure it wasn’t just vanity on my part.)
How do you connect with your readers?
I’ve been thinking about this one and how I’m going to approach it.
My blog, bemol Ardiente is all over the place, and that’s what it was for. It was a playground. But, to go to the next level I need to find a more narrow field. I decided to combine two things that I have experience with: art and mental health. (This is where courage comes in.) This came to me for a couple of reasons.
First, I do have experience with both of these, and with using art to address mental health. MY mental health.
Second, in my experience as a writer, I get more feedback from articles in one or both of those topics, so that tells me that I’m connecting with an audience where they are.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION and how do you find it so far?
I got a little lost and overwhelmed exploring Medium.
Eventually I came across a story in a publication called Illumination. I enjoyed the story and I looked at Illumination’s page and thought, this is me, this is my tribe. I need to be here. I have loved it.
Everybody is professional and there is a common goal to be a strong publication with integrity and creative approaches.
Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?
Sayeed Ibrahim Ahmed
He writes about economics, which I know nothing about, and he writes it in a way that I feel comfortable with. I don’t feel lost and that’s good writing.
Timothy Key
Timothy is active and I enjoy his writing. He’s also been spearheading some engagement programs and it’s nice to touch on his stories and see what other writers he takes me to.
Allison Gaines
Reading Allison’s work gives me a perspective that I would not have had otherwise. She’s educated, she typically a reference section where she cites sources, which really brings home the integrity of her writing. She’s a convincing writer, she has something important to say, something she feels passionate about, and that comes through in her work.
Rasheed Hooda
That man is a mess. I guess he thought to himself, I have a good life going; I think I’m going to walk across the United States of America — WALK — along the historic Route 66. And sleep on picnic tables in parks.
Terry Mansfield
I enjoy his short poems; they’re witty and fun. I had just joined Illumination when he wrote an article that was about the stroke he had had. Not one from long ago, but a stroke he had JUST had. Then he wrote a series of small entries on his road to recovery. He was upbeat about the whole thing and it kind of blew me away.
Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D.
Dr. LeRoy’s writing is inspirational and motivating. I read it over and over again to remind myself about my potential. Reading her work helps keep me from falling into complacency and deciding that what I have is good enough.
Amy Marley
Her poems and prose seem to go between emotion and organic, either exploring herself and her children, or exploring the earth and how we interact with it. Her writing is uplifting.
Tree Langdon
She spends half her time encouraging and teaching others, and the other half promoting the well-being of our planet and how we can protect it and get the most out of it.
William Pardo
I love reading his dark stories. For one they’re edgy, and also I love stretching myself to read in Portuguese.
Terri DelCampo-Nelson
Somebody I’ve recently discovered and begun following. I love her sass and her icon.
What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
Here are my five stories.
Collecting Things
A friend of mine was a hoarder in the true sense. Here I was trying to explore why we keep things, why we like things and how our behaviors (with regards to keeping or hoarding) affect those close to us. It really resonated with people when I first wrote it years ago, because so many have the tendency to hoard, even if we keep it controlled.
My Subconscious Made Me Do It
My goal was to touch the lives of others. We all share some insecurities and struggles, and by talking about them, we can help each other. Here I wanted to address our tendency to undermine our own efforts through insecurity and doubt. Sometimes we have to make a conscious effort to stop. My intention was to help people remember to make that effort. If enough of us write and talk about this, it will become more natural for us to do it.
How did I End Up Writing a Novel About Cats?
This was a study in my own path and I wrote it hoping it would resonate with other people who are writing. One can write and write, trudging up a hill. But then a topic comes along that just flows off your pen. Often those are set aside for the more “serious” writing topics, and that’s a mindset that we need to overcome. People liked my cat stories, but most encouraged me on a mystery I’ve been writing, because Mystery is an established genre with more sales potential. I tried with the mystery, but eventually I relented to myself and took a chance on the story that was fighting to come out.
A Leaf Blowing in the Wind
I posted this in response to a comment I received. They said something to the effect that they didn’t know what I was going through but hoped I found the home I craved. So, I posted this as kind of an explanation. I do think that there is a certain type of person who can relate, and hopefully it will also help our friends and families understand how we feel, if not why.
Studio and Storage
So, Anastasia is a character who wrote herself into my mind and I gave her a column on my blog. She’s Southern and sassy. This particular entry describes my situation, living with a hoarder. That situation can be maddening, but I tried to treat it in a lighthearted way.
What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?
Engagement. Your question was plural, but it all boils down to engagement, which leads to everything else. Things like, creating an income from medium, building a following for my writing, both here and for the books that I write and the art that I produce, to build a group of writers with whom to have a closer relationship, to be able to work together and encourage each other. All of those stem from engagement.
What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?
Write.
The more you write the better you’ll be.
Be courteous.
Read the writing of other people, take the time to comment and let them know you’ve read. Even disagreeing with something they’ve written can be positive engagement as long as it’s respectful. In fact, it can lead to the most interesting conversations. But, don’t derail it with anger or belittling comments.
What are your future plans as a writer?
To support myself with my writing. Hopefully through my stories your readers will understand why I have such an urgency about this. I’ll keep writing around it on Medium and on Illumination. (Hopefully y’all continue to welcome my writing.) I will explore different ways to write (i.e. books, novels, short stories, blogging) and I will forge a path for myself that both leads to an income and allows me to be true to myself.
Thank you for your valuable time Earnest Painter. I enjoy reading your remarkable stories on ILLUMINATION frequently. Your artistic, writing, and poetic capabilities are appealing and inspirational to me and our readers. I appreciate your wonderful support to our publication, writers, and readers. It is a pleasure to converse with you on our Slack channel. It is like a warm virtual room. You are gem on Medium to be discovered by many readers soon.
You can connect with Earnest on his Medium profile.
You can read creative writer bio of Earnest from this link.
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