Jon MacDougal
ORP: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?
Jon MacDougal: I dabbled in writing throughout the years, but it didn’t become a serious undertaking until I was midway through an English degree in my early thirties. I enrolled in a poetry writing course, thinking I might learn some craft notes I could apply to composing poetry for my wife. I soon discovered that writing about joyous feelings is challenging when you’re preoccupied with old ghosts.
ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?
JM: There are two parts. First, if someone reads my work and it resonates with them, the way others’ stories have resonated with me, that’s sublime. My secondary marker of success is finding publication in the same places that have featured other writers whose work I have read and admired; it’s very validating.
ORP: What books have you read many times?
JM: I seldom reread a book. The only ones I recall rereading for personal value are Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Orwell’s Animal Farm. Life is short, and I read slowly.
I constantly reread poetry, though. My most reread poem is probably Philip Levine’s “The Simple Truth.” He performs a stunning reading, too.
ORP: What do you hope readers (or your audience) will take away from your creative work?
JM: The best memoirs I’ve read have at some point, usually during a depiction of familial dysfunction, made me think, “Aha! I know that feeling!” There’s a quiet camaraderie in sharing those feelings of understanding with a stranger. While I’m sure some people read memoirs for the juice, more often I suspect they’re looking to get something useful from the narrative. I hope someone gets that from my work.