creative spotlight: Roy Gomez
I mean no disservice to the previous interviewees when I say this, but I really think these just keep getting better and better.
Roy is a writer, which will be evident as you read his interview. He’s lived a full life and has much to share. So hows about we get to it, eh?
Tell us a bit about yourself:
I was born in Castanos, Coahuila, Mexico on June 7, 1950. The ‘pueblo’ was so tiny it only had one plaza. Spanish is my first language.
We moved to Chicago, IL, during the summer of 1957. First grade was only weeks away. I vividly recall sitting with my mom at our dining room table as she patiently taught me the alphabet. I felt anxious. My need to learn English was critical. Mom and I shared an almost tearful panic during those lessons. I would’ve bailed out, I’m sure, if mom hadn’t led me by the hand.
I became a good reader. But had no clue it was shaping my life. As a migrant kid, see, I still stood out in my early classes – as different, let’s say. Perceptions began to change, however, when I read before my classmates and they heard I wasn’t so strange after all. I felt accepted. Confidence seeded.
One wintry afternoon I discovered Aesop’s hilarious Fables. It wasn’t the morals of his stories that particularly inspired me, it was his silly foils that tickled my sense of humor. I would read my favorites to mom. She’d pretend she didn’t understand and I’d have to explain. Clever mom! Thank you.
Along the course of my education, some English teachers suggested I consider becoming a writer. That did not compute. Not yet. In my adolescence I was a sports nut. I slept with my baseball glove and dreamed I’d become the next great shortstop for the Chicago White Sox.
During my freshman year in high school I had my first notable epiphany. Having read Steinbeck’s “The Pearl,” I achingly sensed that reading was no longer enough for me. It would be a while before I started to write. But that season something had changed. I now carried mangled paperbacks in the pockets of my jeans and jackets.
Tell us about your favorite creative activities
Good question. On my computer I have a sticky note that reads: “Don’t think. Act! And trust yourself.” I read it before every writing session. It’s like a mantra. At this point in my life, I’ve practiced this advice so often that it now works much like a switch: Turn off doubt. Let yourself be. It works most of the time.
I also enjoy translating writing tasks into daily activities. For instance, if I happen to be editing a piece that happens to coincide with the task of weeding our lawn, I encourage my subconscious to understand that the writing task is much like extracting weeds. I pull them with purpose! When done, I’ll step back and look at such a clean lawn and I’ll see with great clarity how my manuscript is supposed to look.
Let me also share this: When I’ve written something so dense that I’m blinded by it, I might put myself in the right mood by chopping firewood. When done, not only have I expelled nervous energy, I have that wonderful feeling of having broken down the complexity of my work into ‘manageable’ pieces. Their reordering seems much clearer.
When do you find it easiest to be creative?
I’m blessed here. Very little distracts me. I can space out and focus on an idea in the middle of a roaring crowd during a super bowl game.
Early morning, however, is the most natural time for me. I enjoy writing before attending anything else. Unlike a crowded stadium, where I must consciously decide to shut the world out, in the morning I’m already there.
What has been the greatest challenge for you when it comes to creativity?
Ideas flood me. As a life-long pantser, my greatest challenge has always been deciding which of any number of possibilities best suits a message. Learning to plot has helped me much in this regard. It’s so much easier to reach a destination if you first know where you’re going. I’m a smarter pantser now.
Where do you look for inspiration?
Everywhere. I practice mindfulness. I leave myself open to life. And inspiration arrives. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” comes to mind, as a fumbling attempt to explain the awe in which I live. It’s all such a grand symphony. From watching a spider dangle from a web, to peering deep into outer space, I remain a big-eyed kid. :-]
What is one suggestion you would give to someone who wants to further develop their creativity?
Play. Play anything. Play daily. Creativity is like a playful child looking for gamers.
Where can people find you or your work?
Unfortunately, much of my early work is published offline in newspapers, journals like Nuestro, Rio Grande Quarterly, Second Coming, Saguaro (University of Arizona at Tucson), Hispanic Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, anthologies like “North of the Rio Grande: The Mexican-American Experience in Short Fiction,” Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul, college textbooks like “Common Ground: Reading and Writing about America’s Cultures.”
I do have some pieces published online, at sites like Medium, 50-Word Stories, 101 Stories, The Drabble, Blink Ink, and others. I’m including links to samples of my fiction, memoir, and micro-fiction. Thank you.
Fiction: “The Aztecs Are Coming”
Micro-Flash Fiction: “A Lie for my Boy”