Up Close With: Jo ann Smith
Meet the wonderful writers and patrons behind LWS.
Every week since we started these profiles more than two years ago, we’ve asked our members for their advice to other writers. I think this week’s advice from Jo ann Smith is among the best: “Make the time,” she says, before adding: “Vacuum later.” Bronx-based Jo ann writes short stories and novels, and joins writers hour in all three sessions that aren’t the middle of the NYC night. She’s inspired by reading, walking, trees, and water, “being on, in, and under water”. Her personal experiences, fears, and challenges all make their way into her writing somehow.
Jo ann Smith
- Based in the Bronx, New York
- Aged 65
- Writes short stories and occasional novels
What are you working on right now?
A novella that I am expanding into a novel. I’m also working on a collection of linked stories.
Where and when do you write?
With LWS! NY time: 8am, 11am, 4pm.
How do you write?
The first draft is always by hand. If it’s a story, the first revision will also be by hand. If it’s a longer piece, I’ll revise on the computer.
Why do you write?
I admire people who have an answer for this. I just know that from as early as second grade I knew I wanted to write, and I was always fascinated by what words could do when they were linked together.
When I was launching my first collection of short stories in 2021, I became aware that I was writing about characters who often find themselves lonely and afraid. I think writing about those emotions helps me to keep a light shining for me and for my characters. That’s not to say I’m dismally depressed, but when I’m writing I always feel more hopeful.
I’ve had cancer, so that’s always shadowing me. When I write about characters who have had cancer or who fear getting cancer, I always let them find something that will give them some peace and take them away from that fear at least for a little while. So I suppose that on some level, I’m giving that to myself too.
What inspires your creativity?
Reading. There’s always something an author shows me. Sometimes it’s the way a word is used or the way the phrase is put together. Sometimes it’s the structure or the point of view. There’s always something to be learned from anything I need. Walking inspires me. Being around trees. Almost any body of water. Being on, in, and under water.
What’s your favourite book?
I’m fickle. It was anything by Alice Munroe for a while. Then it was Colm McCann. For a while it was Julian Barnes. But the book that that sent me me on a years-long Celtic journey was The Mists of Avalon.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Affirmations by Shakti Gawain. Peace. Be still and know that God is here. And I am part of God.
What’s the one thing you would tell other/aspiring writers?
Make the time. Vacuum later.
How can we discover more about you and your work?
A Heaven of Their Choosing can be found on various bookseller sites. You can see a little about me on my webite: joannsmith.org
