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Jill Kelly

 

Jill Kelly, PhD, is an editor, author, and painter. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where she works as a text and developmental editor and coach for writers and other creatives. Her three cats, Frannie, Evie, and Mr. Sam, do all the chores so she can be creative 24/7. More about Jill at jillkellyeditor.com.

What’s your creative process? Night owl or early bird? Writing group or lone wolf?

I am an early bird and I write almost every morning first thing for 30-45 minutes. I either draft new fiction or new poems in that morning time. I don’t edit my work then because I want to take advantage of being so close to the dream time. I also write every Friday that I’m in Portland with a group of women writers who meet at my home from 10 to 4. I often edit during this time. And four times a year I go on a writing retreat of 6-9 days at some local place or retreat center with others, who share expenses. We are in silence all day on these retreats and writing until evening. I both edit and continue with big projects. All this helps me be really productive.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I am feasting on Volume II of My Struggle by Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard. I am also finishing Theodore Zeldin’s amazing book, An Intimate History of Humanity, about how people connect with each other. I tend to read in a pattern: literary fiction, non-fiction, mystery/thriller. Each day I also read poetry: currently enjoying CK Williams.

Name some of your favorite books of all time.

The Stranger, Candide, The Master and Margarita, and everything by Dostoyevsky for classics. More contemporary: Karen Fisher’s amazing A Sudden Country, Austin Wright’s unforgettable Tony and Susan, and what I consider the real great American novel: Wendell Barry’s Jayber Crowe.