Elizabeth Brundage
I started writing as a young child. I remember reading the Box Car Children and later The Outsiders and those stories got me writing. As a kid, I was always making up stories, wanting to fix the bad things I saw, the problems. I think you can be born with a voice for words like having an ear for music. I studied poetry in high school, read all the Russian poets, and then discovered e.e cummings – I was working the soda machine at Nathan’s and this other kid turned me onto him and suddenly language with all its grace and trickery became a passion. In college in the early 80s I discovered film, the great directors of the 60s and 70s, and wrote my first screenplay, and later, almost by default, wrote a short story. It was a revelation to me because I realized I could be a translator for people out there whose voices are never heard and all that was required was a pen and paper. This is a crazy, complicated and deceptive world and there is never any shortage of material. Most writers want to get the truth down on the page and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s not as simple as it sounds. You want to capture that authenticity in the work. Finally, I write because I have to. Writing is something I call a joyful affliction. You can’t shake it. You are compelled to write the world that you see.