A Q&A with Amandalynne Paullada
Amanda Paullada was one of our Summer 2024 Digital Residents. As a part of this program, we give our residents the option to publish an excerpt of their work, write a process piece, or have a Q&A with us. Here, Amandalynne does a Q&A with Seventh Wave, giving us a glimpse into her words, work, and process. To see the other features, visit Well-Crafted, our community blog.
Seventh Wave: Tell us about your work or what you’re writing these days. What or who are you writing for?
Amandalynne: This wasn’t exactly a stated goal of mine, but lately I find that I spend a lot of time writing about violence. I write about language loss, language theft, and the violence of borders, and I write about the physical and emotional harm that people direct at themselves and others. I suspect this is because care and preservation are hard-fought priorities of mine, so I am obsessed by their opposites (neglect and destruction). But don’t worry, I also love to laugh and have fun!
TSW: What’s a mantra, motto, or piece of advice that you have in mind these days when you are writing or creating?
Amandalynne: I am not always writing to be read, but when I am, I keep the following in mind: No one is going to wrench your manuscript out of your hands before you want them to (I believe I first heard this in a class taught by Melissa Febos). Just write the crummy first draft as if nobody’s looking (because they aren’t), and then, figure out which of your friends have good taste and show it to them.
I believe very strongly in showing people my work before I feel “ready” to do so, because with something as delicate and humiliating as my own work, I will probably never feel “ready” to share it. I’m OK with embarrassing myself if it means getting useful feedback and/or entertaining somebody.
TSW: What motivates you to keep beginning?
Amandalynne: All of my writing comes from a curiosity that borders on obsession and a compulsion to document everything. Also, to quote a character from Mean Girls, I just have a lot of feelings.
TSW: What’s a question that another resident asked during our time together, and how would you answer it?
Amandalynne: Camille Iman asked, “Do you strive towards publishing your work?” My answer is not really! Or at least, not yet. I am at a point where I am generating a lot of writing — I have a project in Evernote that is approaching 60k words — and I am confident that at some point, I will refine that brain dump into something that another human being might care to look at. Ha ha.
