Coffee Chat with Alyssa Bushell
Pour yourself a nice steaming cup and settle in to get to know Alyssa Bushell a little better.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you? Where are you located? Do you have a day job?
I love the crackling sound bread makes when you first take it out of the oven. I love the smell of the pages of a book, whether crisp and brand-new or aged, yellowed and dusty. I love being near the water; it is soothing to the soul. I love listening to the rain, the first sip of coffee in the morning, and sitting on a dock at dawn, watching the rising sun slowly make the morning mist disappear off the water. Life doesn’t have to be complicated to be beautiful.
How do you take your coffee? Cappuccino, extra foam, in a coffee shop with good vibes for writing.
What Blank Spaces issue were you first published in? Volume 6, Issue 4, June 2022.
When did you first know you wanted to write? My first taste of "real" writing was a short story contest that Hubba Bubba Bubblegum ran when I was 10 or 11. I can't remember what my story was about now, but it won the grand prize--a year's supply of Hubba Bubba. As it turns out, a year's supply fits into a cheap branded lunch cooler and doesn't last a year when you hand out full packs of gum to all your classmates. It made me pretty popular, though, until I got down to the mouth-puckering sour blue raspberry flavour that no one liked. The experience gave me a love of writing stories that has never left me.
What are you reading right now? What is it about and what keeps you coming back to the pages? I'm currently enjoying The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr. It's an engrossing read that delves into the psychology of storytelling and how neuroscience can be applied to writing and ultimately help you craft a better story. His philosophy on perception vs reality and how we create worlds in our own minds is fascinating.
A favourite quote:
“These gaps in explanation are the places in story in which they insert themselves: their preconceptions; their values; their memories; their connections; their emotions—all become an active part of the story . . . Only by the reader insinuating themselves into a work can it create a resonance that has the power to shake them as only art can.”
What role has Blank Spaces played in your creative journey? Blank Spaces was the first literary magazine I ever submitted a creative non-fiction piece to. It felt very vulnerable, putting such a raw piece of my story out there for strangers' eyes, but it has been oddly freeing. It has made me a little less bashful, a little less protective of my words and more inclined to let my personal story colour my writing in new and meaningful ways.
How do you invest in your writing goals? I think time is the most valuable commodity you can invest in any goal. I try to work small blocks of time for writing into my weekly schedule, but I'm at my most productive when I can dedicate a large chunk of time in a quiet location to my work in progress. Twice annual 12-hour intensives with Chicken House Press have become a highlight of the year. This year I'm planning a long weekend writing retreat on my own as well. I also can't say enough about finding a community of supportive writers; NaNoWriMo and WritersHQ have been invaluable in finding that connection and sense of camaraderie. Finally, I keep an eye on the socials of writers/editors I admire and respect, and when they recommend a craft book or host a workshop, I'm all over it!
If you could tell your young creative self anything, what would it be? Don't stop writing. I wrote all the time as a child and into my teens--short stories, poetry, and journaling. Then, as soon as I "grew up," I let social pressure convince me it was a waste of time. Creativity is never a waste of time; it's a valuable emotional outlet, and creating just for the joy of it is completely valid.
Who are your writing influences and how do they motivate you? I'm heavily influenced by the female sleuths and female writers I grew up on. It started with Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables, of course, and Enid Blyton's Famous Five, then Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone and Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski. Agatha Christie writes the meticulous plots I aspire to, and Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes write the most real, complex, layered characters that I strive to emulate.
What advice do you have for writers struggling to break into the industry? Read widely. Read outside your genre. Read work that makes you uncomfortable. Be familiar with the type of work your dream publications are putting out. Then, just as important, know your own work and know it well. It's all so subjective, but your work has a much better chance of being published if you submit it to the places that are right for you.
What are you currently working on? I'm currently polishing up the first in what I hope will become a series of cozy mystery novels. Sneaking Suspicions follows "almost" pastry chef and aspiring author Amber to a weekend writing retreat where she works to solve a murder that no one else believes has happened. As Amber tries to justify her suspicions, the other guests are covering up secrets of their own.
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Learn more about Alyssa’s work that has been featured in Blank Spaces here.
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