Questioning a Sightseer: The Journey of a Time Traveler

A How and Why Inspection with (the Wonderful) Joanie Adams

Welcome, dear readers!

This is an intimate dialogue with a new friend of mine; Joanie has graciously agreed to share her expedition as a Sightseer with us!

I hope you enjoy this interview about her journey! I am deeply inspired by Joanie’s writing and I believe you will be too.

“How did you become a Writer?”

Joanie:

“I remember when I was O so young, staring at the nights sky. There I was, staring at something that moved me in ways I could not put to words — all these Stars so distant, viewing me, as I believed as strangers yet never objectifying or passing a judgement to cause a tickling shiver down the timbers of my limbs. As the years went on, I gandered things like a fully grown field of wheat with the highest of revelries; golden sweeping grasses, as the wind sweeps over me, how is this?

What is this, is there anyone else out there who might feel it this way?

Of course, I grew and realized the starkness of the indifference around me, yet that never curved my happenstance of me to my own and my world within worlds. So it was all these moments, incidental and cute for me to reminisce about, but it has it all become so quaint, in a field somewhere, staring at that yonder nights sky. I had say the unspoken, what was so evasive to me.”

“What inspired you?”

Joanie:

“I think this perfectly segues from the last one. What always grabbed my attention when I was a wee spirit in this, a long time ago was what wasn’t being said, what was being alluded to; the whys and wherefore behind someone’s decisions, or what they said, down to the last word. I always asked Why, it can be confounding at times, but slowly, I tempered it to be truly useful. So there, Kendalin, my inspirations began with the Whys and now I find myself here!”

“How do your travels through time influence your writing?”

Joanie:

“Imagine this image: Two plains, one Orange and the other grey, in between the two is a mild blue space, like the sky. The orange plain is at the top whilst the grey is at the bottom, seemingly at least. Now see a figure standing in between, it is me, and the sun is fully shining, the light glimpsing through the two plains. And like the sun of the Earth, it cycles between night and day.

I haven’t moved, that is what this time travel feels like.

I can stand in one place and perceive and rather receive a multitude of threads and weave together a complex image if I so desire now and then.

The past, aside from the tangible experience that is lost, through memory, act, and substance, is never truly lost, and through my happenstances of perception, I may bring it all together into a new experience, certainly not pure to the moments that have been lost to the March of time, yet I can slowly view it, as an overseer and translate it all.”

“How do your dreams influence your writing?”

Joanie:

“Mostly it depends on the night before; we’ve all had dreams which have affected us for weeks, and I have those, but every once in a while I do dream up an idea, such as a song or a phrase or even a whole novel idea, and do the wanton task of trying to describe that evasive and often hazy thing. And of course, I don’t just confine dreaming to the dark sacred nights but I do a good amount of daydreaming; going a bit blank in the eyes like Gandalf before having a mild Eureka moment, that is how I dream.”

If you’d like to share your answers to these questions in the comments, please feel free to tell us about your journey too!

“Where do you write?”

Joanie:

“Mostly in my mind first! Oh, I know, instead of fearing I’ll lose it — take that as a double-entendre — I let it percolate in my mind first before I dare to write to done somewhere. I could be taking a long walk, or tumbling down a cliff, it could be anywhere but it starts first in my mind.”

“Do you have any specific rituals?”

Joanie:

“Oh, I was never one for routine or any pressing for rituals. Happy happenstance I call a number of my works, especially poetry, which I regard as the present’s play on the past. To quote Macbeth: Come what, come May.”

“Do you prefer silence or music?”

Joanie:

“Ah, my dear Kendalin, you picked that answer well. As someone who regards themselves as musically inclined, with all my noodling upon the piano and songwriting, I much prefer silence. It is like fasting but for the ears, all sounds better after a bout of nothingness.”

I greatly admire spontaneity in artists.

I think some of the best creations happen when we aren’t necessarily trying to create something — the art seems to emanate naturally like the flow of a waterfall after heavy rain. Inspiration is a gift that must be found serendipitously.

Like Joanie, I believe inspiration can happen anywhere; it starts in the mind!

What does your creative process look like?

Please take the time to enjoy the richness and wisdom in this extraordinary, versatile writer’s works. I consistently read through her library of poetry, chronicles, and sage advice. I highly recommend you do the same.

Some of my favorite articles of Joanie’s below:

I cannot express my gratitude enough, dear Joanie.

When I started writing on Medium I did not expect to make such valuable connections, much less have the opportunity to collaborate with someone who I genuinely look up to as an artist.

You are so generous to share your words with us.

I hope you feel proud of your writing! You hold yourself to a high standard and it shows. We are often our own harshest critics… From someone who appreciates your talent very much, you deserve to revel in your creations.

And thank YOU for reading!

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