Thom Young is a writer from Texas. His work has been in PBS Newshour, The Wall Street Journal, The Oxford Review, and over a hundred literary journals. He's a 2008 Million Writers Award and 2016 Pushcart Prize nominee. His work was recently featured in the Friction Series in over 700 Barnes and Noble locations. Connect with him on IG: @tyypoet and Twitter: @thomyoung17. Check out his entire catalog of books on Amazon.
-------
GB: Thom, big thanks for taking time to chat. My first question is usually: can you share a little bit about yourself? Any background info that's NOT in the bio?
TY: Sure, thanks for the interview, I appreciate it. Well, I am a native Texan and have always enjoyed writing from a young age. I’m a big fan of cats and have about twenty that get in bed with me each night. The hairballs are bad but they’re totally worth it. I don’t want to bore you with any more details about the cats. I was an All-American track star in both the potato sack race and tandem cycle and accepted a full ride to Texas Tech University but broke my patella my Freshman year. As a result, I started Thom Young the writing collective in 1997 from the bowels of the Texas Tech English Department. Contrary, to what the Huffington Post said, we do have several writers and we had fun punking the media (it was all an elaborate hoax) and we were lucky that a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist wrote such an outstanding article for us to enjoy (if you actually finished it you’re better than us). So basically, a bunch of Instapoets and the media got upset over a joke. Looking back now, we should have been more understanding to the greatest poets of all time and for that we sincerely apologize. They should expect a ‘fruit cake’ just in time for the holidays as a token of our appreciation. I can’t reveal too much but most likely this is completely true.
GB: Instapoet is easily one of the best and most unique books I've read this past year. If you could use one word or phrase to describe its message, what would it be and why?
TY: Thank you, I feel it is a work of genius. I could fill volumes about the book on its greatness alone. But if I had to use one phrase it would be, “Only you can make yourself a moron.” That’s because that’s what the book is about. It’s a satirical work that holds a mirror up to our modern day moronic society. It’s definitely a book for the critical thinker because of all the theological and philosophical references alone but who wants to research those when I can tag ‘bae’ under a Kardashian selfie. Those that read it know how much time we spent on it and the thought put into it. I think Matt Blythe my co-author did a killer job on his part. So if you’re reading this go to the link on my Instagram and buy the damn book. We are damn proud it and warning it has many words and no doodles. Sorry rambled on here...
GB: How do you embrace various literary tools in your work? Any specifics you try to utilize more than others?
TY: Ok, this one will be to the point. I only use my brain. I suffered a traumatic brain injury - aka a stroke at age 13 - and basically learned how to do everything over again. That’s why it’s easy to judge anyone behind a screen and those that have called me a ‘shitty person’ on social media…. well I am writing satire which obviously is not understood very well considering the intellectual capacity of the average human today. But again, after my stroke I wanted to write all the time. No effort is involved at all with my creativity and writing. I can write anything off the top of my head with no effort. So my personality changed and after a brain injury or stroke you really are a different person. So I became much more of an introvert and I really don’t like being around people at all but have a small group of friends. Shout out to my best friend Paul since 1986. I’ll let you do the math on that. I also have no problem speaking my mind which can offend some. I think our world is too snowflake and PC today. If I hear one more person talk about being an activist I’m going to throw a piece of avocado toast at them and nobody needs to know you're vegan. If you want to flip tires or do side bends and sit ups feel free but I advise you not to write poetry about it. Literary tools? I envision the apes touching the monolith in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
GB: Does being an educator influence your writing at all? What impacts does it have on your work? I know I have my share of challenges.
TY: Teaching writing and writing yourself are entirely different, at least for me. How do you tell someone ‘ok I can write anything off the top of my head on any subject and make it interesting and entertaining. Here’s a piece a paper go ahead and get started...' It doesn’t work that way. So you have to make it more formula based, etc. Then you go from there. Plus writing today is all text language and memes and gibberish... and poetry is a few words with a doodle of a flower... we aren’t talking William Blake here. So yes it’s tougher to teach writing.
GB: What's your creative process like? Do you have any obstacles or roadblocks you've had to overcome?
TY: Well if no effort at being creative is a process then there you go. Pretty much all my poetry is written off the top of my head, and some I’ve written with no thought in 2 minutes are in university libraries and literary journals. I wrote a poetry book in thirty minutes off the top of my head and 8 poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize: It’s A Little Black Dress Called Madness (buy a copy). One of my favorite poets is Scott Laudati, and I liked his work before we met and became friends . Saying that because I know he edits really good and is pretty serious about it. I don’t edit anything in poetry but obviously with a story or novel there’s more involved. I have a phrase in my mind or word then I build on that for a poem. I really put a lot of thought into my poems with no thought involved if that makes sense.
GB: Who and what is on your MUST-READ list?
TY: I read more in the summer, but I am always reading like four books at once. I have several books on the Apaches that I started and recently I've read Blood Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy again, which really is the most imperfect perfect book. I read Kafka a lot and read The Hunger Artist again and I get something new every time I read it. Kafka was such a genius that he was ignored during his life and only later he got appreciated. One book I read every year is Beneath The Wheel by Hesse. This book changed my life but mainly in how I think about education. The ending is so great it brings you to tears but it’s so beautiful in its universal message about humanity. I read Scott Laudati’s poetry book Camp Winapooka - which is killer of course. I could go on and on... always throw some Bukowski or Dan Fantein there..just too many to list recently got Rimbaud’s Illuminations in both French and English... not an easy read... and there’s nothing Andrew Mcmeels is publishing that on my list yet... but you never know… (joke inserted here)
GB: What does "success" mean to you?
TY: I’ve sold thousands of books since I first put my books on Amazon back in 2009, but never made much money. Our society equates sales with success often but I’ve never been to a Taco Bell and seen a James Beard Award or asked my mechanic to fix my teeth, unless of course he is also a dentist. With writing, for me, it’s starting something like a novel and putting the time into it to write it how I want to. If only one person buys a copy to me it's worth it because they are reading something I created. I actually sold a lot more before social media so there’s good and bad I guess. William Blake was considered a lunatic during his life and a century after his death they were like 'wow this guy is a genius ' so there may be hope. I think success in anything is being able to walk away with a smile. For me, my faith in Christ allows me to do this for others it might be riding a bike. It’s like Bukowski said, “Find what you love and let it kill you.” ... oh wait he didn’t say that... it was Kinky Friedman.
GB: What's next for Thom Young? Got any forthcoming projects we can keep an eye out for?
TY: I like to promo novels a good six months or a year before I’m done... the new one is called ‘The Loser in the Static’ - it’s a modern Catcher in the Rye type thing, only much darker. It’s going to be great and I’m not just saying that... it’s going to blow minds. It’s the first one that I am just speaking into a microphone on my phone... and the words appear. Thanks for the interview... it’s been fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment