Andrew Simonet, author of debut young adult novel Wilder and current Artist-in-Residence at The Studios of Key West will give a talk Tuesday, December 11, at 6 pm at the store. The presentation “13 Thoughts on Writing and Fighting,” is geared towards teens and adults and will include excerpts from Wilder, stories from Andrew’s life, and reflections on masculinity and violence.
Andrew draws from a wide range of professional and artistic experiences from his work as a writer, choreographer, teacher, documentarian and artist advocate. We recently sat down to talk about writing process and the importance of artists having the skills, knowledge and community to build sustainable lives.
One of Andrew’s projects, Artists U, is a collaborative professional development workshop for and by artists designed to equip them with the tools for the business side of managing an artistic life, including financial and strategic planning. Andrew has written a book called Making Your Life as an Artist and, as part of his Studios residency, is teaching a workshop called “Building a Sustainable Life as an Artist.”
He has had a multifaceted career, running a dance company, teaching high school, building Artists U, and now publishing a YA novel. I asked him how all the pieces fit together and how he ended up following this particular path.
“I started dancing when I was 19 and it changed my life,” Andrew says. He’d always participated in theater and sports. “For me, dance has the physical movement and energy of sports combined with the creativity and artistic expression of theater.”
About 14 years ago, as Andrew was serving as choreographer for his dance company, Headlong Dance Theater, the desire to write “just showed up.” Writing, he says, is very different from the collaborative, social process of dance, but creatively the process felt seamless.
Since leaving the dance company to focus on fiction writing, Andrew has participated in a number of residencies, enjoying the opportunity to meet different artists and experience different communities. He thought spending time in Key West would have the added benefit of helping him flesh out the setting he planned for a follow-up to Wilder, but things didn’t work out quite as expected.
Though he completed the sequel, it didn’t get picked up by his publisher. That’s one of the things you have to know and accept about publishing, he says, “there are a lot of gatekeepers.” Knowing how to deal with rejection and move on to the next project is one of those key skills in building a sustainable life as an artist. “There is value in doing the work. [That project] made me a better writer,” Andrew says.
~ Robin Wood, Associate Manager