A Conversation with Author Ananda Leeke About Her Writing Process
A Conversation with Ananda Leeke (excerpt from That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery by Ananda Leeke)
1. Do you have a process that you use to write and create art?
My process starts with surrendering my will to Spirit, trusting the process, and listening to my inner wisdom. As my creative journey moves along, I take time to step away from the work by praying, singing, chanting, practicing yoga and meditation, walking and running in nature, drinking tea, reading magazines and books, listening and dancing to music, fasting from food, sitting in cafes and eavesdropping, and going to the movies. I do these things to keep myself relaxed and balanced. The more relaxed and balanced I feel, the better I write. I use whatever I am called to in the moment.
2. What books impacted you the most as a child and adolescent?
As a young child, Dr Seuss was my main squeeze. I can remember going to the New Carrollton Library after church on Sundays and borrowing Green Eggs and Ham. That book was da’ bomb. Because I was named Madelyn, I was given Madeline, a children’s book series by Ludwig Bemelmans. The first book in the series, Madeline became my favorite. I loved the cover which featured a picture of Miss Clavel, a Parisian nun, and twelve little white girls including one with red hair who was named Madeline. I can’t remember who told me that she was actually a mulatto Black girl, but it probably helped me accept my love for the books as I got older and self-identified as serious Afrocentric, natural hair wearing, spoken word poet, and artist in the 1990s. Any who … I think the book series planted the seeds for my dream to travel to Paris, eat cheese and croissants, visit the Louvre, stare at the Eiffel Tower, and spend time walking along the Seine looking at artwork created by Parisian artists. I ended up doing just that a few weeks before I turned 30 in 1994.
The books that impacted me the most as a adolescent that came of age during the late 1970s and early 1980s include Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf and Nappy Edges, Maya Angelou’s Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Diiie, James Baldwin’s Just Above My Head, Toni Cade Bambara’s The Black Woman: An Anthology, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and Langston Hughes’ poetry (especially “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”).
The first books that I purchased with my hard-earned paper route money were by Ntozake Shange and Maya Angelou in 1978. Their words helped me explain myself to myself as one of the few Black girls at St. Elizabeth Seton High School, a predominately white, all-girls Catholic school in Prince George’s County, Maryland. They also inspired me to tell my stories through writing my own poetry and sparked my interest in reading other Black women writers that I learned about while reading Essence.
Baldwin’s Just Above My Head was a book that my father owned. He and my mother had a whole collection of Baldwin’s books in our family library. Daddy suggested that I read it when I was in the ninth grade. Initially I was overwhelmed by the number of pages, but once I got started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. I fell in love with Baldwin’s voice as an author. His words were compelling. They stopped me in my tracks and caused me to pay more attention to the details of my life and my family. His storytelling style moved with a rhythm that stretched my brain cells.
Hughes had the same affect. I remember writing a report about Hughes’ poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in high school. His words were simple and soulful. They reminded me of the Negro spirituals and contemporary gospel songs that my mother’s choir sang during their weekly choir rehearsals in our living room.
Bambara and the Black women who contributed to The Black Woman: An Anthology poured water on the seeds that my mother planted in me. Their words later became a part of the foundation that I consciously chose to support and sustain my personal revolution that declared my independence as a twenty something natural Black womanist in the early 1990s.
The summer before I started my freshmen year at Seton, I received a reading list that included Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. When I went to the library to borrow the books, I got pissed because they were both filled with lots and lots of pages. I imagined that it would take me the entire summer to read both books and write book reports. Surprisingly, these two books became my best friends during the summer of 1978. I couldn’t put them down. The fact that Jane Eyre was a first-person narrative made it easy for me to read. I also enjoyed traveling through the five stages of Jane Eyre’s life in England. That’s probably why I am a big fan of English literature and movies that tell stories which occurred prior to the 20th century. Pride and Prejudice gave birth to my love of romantic comedies. Austen’s use of free indirect speech as narrative technique taught me how to tell my own stories.
3. What books that you read as an adolescent shaped certain beliefs that you currently hold today?
I think I always knew that there had to be some feminine aspects of God. Reading the words of the Lady in Red in Shange’s for colored girls gave me permission to really believe that God was made up of both feminine and masculine energy. I still come back to the Lady in Red’s words: “I found god in myself and I loved her/I loved her fiercely.” Shange’s poetry in Nappy Edges used both English and Spanish words. Her work taught me how language and location connect Black folks to Brown Spanish-speaking folks. She also reiterated what I learned the first time I traveled to Puerto Rico with my family in 1978: There are Brown Spanish-speaking people who look just like me. We all come from the same place – Africa.
4. What authors inspired you to share your creative gifts the way you do today?
As a writer, poet, and artist, I believe I am called to be a vessel of authentic expression that comes straight from my soul and heart. I think Ntozake Shange, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, and Langston Hughes tell stories and write poetry in an authentic voice that reflects the inner workings of their souls and multi-layered emotions that can be seen as threads woven into the center of their hearts. Their work gave me a creative blueprint on how to develop a connection with the reader. They also gave me the recipe for making that happen: complete surrender to the creative process.
5. What artists influenced your artwork?
My brother Mike, a comic book graphic artist, and his wife Lu, an artist, taught me to take myself seriously as a self-taught artist. I always looked up to them because they attended Philadelphia College of Art. Mike and Lu emphasized the importance of learning my craft and contemporaries. They also encouraged me to study artists that I felt connected to and made me prepare sketches and concept papers for my art collections. They introduced me to gouache and pastel crayons. Sokari Douglas Camp’s capacity to creatively integrate Yoruba cultural traditions with contemporary artistic technologies and Renee Stout’s use of Erzulie and West African Yoruba deities gave me the courage to explore African and world spiritual and cultural practices in my work. Wire toys made by children in Botswana and South Africa, and Alexander Calder’s wire sculptures encouraged me to use coat hangers and wire to create silhouettes of women in my work. Faith Ringgold’s quilts helped me visualize my wire sculpture quilts with collages and poetry. The assemblages of Betye Saar and collages of Romare Bearden and Chris Ofili gave me permission to express my art with magazine clippings and other found objects. I am also a big fan of the Dada movement because it advocated that artists refrain from following any known rules in their creative expression. The collages of Dada artists Francis Picabia, Hannah Hoch, and Raoul Hausmann encouraged me to experiment with water color, photography, text, and magazine clippings. Collage cards made by Claudine Hellmuth and Leah Standley inspired me to create greeting cards and handmade journals. Amelia Amaki’s collage boxes inspired my use of boxes, photographs, and containers in my work. Sister Gertrude Morgan’s folk art and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s use of graffiti helped me learn how to boldly write my own thoughts on paintings. Lesley Dill’s mixed-media sculptures and wall assemblages taught me how to use language, specifically poetry, in my work as way of exploring the power of the human spirit. Frida Kahlo’s strong spirit to express whatever she felt reminds me to tell my truth in my art out loud for all to see. Adrian Piper’s conceptual art and life as an artist, philosopher, professor, and yogini helped me accept and express my multilayered identities in my work. Joyce Scott’s use of jewelry in her sculptors convinced me to use beads and vintage jewelry in my sculpture.
In 2008, I discovered the artwork of Milton Bowens and Ben Jones. Bowens’ mixed media work gave me a vision of how powerful a painter can be when he or she surrenders and chooses to tell stories that speak truth and echo ancestral cries that demand to be heard. Each time he paints a piece of mixed media artwork, he creates a new kind of soul food gumbo. When I see his artwork, my five senses inhale a mélange of spirit, history, culture, colors, patterns, textures, words, music, and rhythm. I want my work to have the same effect on people. This cat from Oakland that I have only talked to once via a radio show interview is authentic and generous with his expression. I am in awe of how he transforms his canvas into a platform that offers political and social commentary, captures popular culture, creates sacred space to honor the African Diaspora experience in America, preaches sermons about the importance of art in education and civil society, and teaches the masses about real life. Bowens’ work moves me out of my hiding places and forces me to dig deeper into my creative reservoir. Visiting his web site to explore his portfolio of artwork is both a spiritual and emotional experience. I always leave with a mandate to create only that which awakens my soul. It feels like a call and response kind of inspiration.
Jones’ artwork evokes reflection, revelation, and resurrection. It also echoes an ancestral reverence that I immediately connected with when I read my friend Toni’s catalogue of his work. My heart felt a kindred connection to the themes of Yoruba spirituality, Cuba, Ghanaian Andinkra symbols, dance, and music in Jones’ artwork. Every time I look at his work, I see the light of color and Spirit. His work has encouraged me to dig deeper into my artistic expression so I can reflect Spirit’s light and rainbow colors. When I met Jones at the 2009 James A. Porter Colloquium for African American Art at Howard University, I witnessed a generosity of spirit that affirms how I initially felt about his artwork.
6. Self-care is a major theme in your writing too. What does self-care mean?
Self-care is the daily intention and practice of honoring your spirit, heart, mind, and body with love, healing, healthy living, positive experiences, nurturing relationships and communities, and fulfilling work. My belief system is rooted in loving and accepting myself more each day. Prayer, meditation, Reiki healing touch, healthy eating, physical exercise, journaling, bodywork, life coaching sessions, and yoga help me maintain my self-care commitment.
7. How has yoga helped your creative writing process?
Yoga has helped me surrender my ego and need to control the creative process. Whenever I find myself becoming anxious about the process, I take a deep breath, raise my arms above my head in worship pose with my hands in prayer. As I exhale, I chant the Sanskrit mantra “Namaha” which means surrender. I take another deep breath and lower my arms slowly while chanting Namaha. My teacher Debra Mishalove taught me this exercise. It helps center me and calms my need to push for things that are out of my control. Whenever I have writer’s block, I come into child’s pose on my yoga mat or in my bed. Most times, I stretch my arms out in front of me. My fingers are widened and get a nice web-like stretch. Generally, I hold this pose for 15 to 20 because it relaxes me and releases stress from my lower back. I love to focus my breathing on opening my third eye, the sixth chakra, which governs my intuition and allows for clarity and understanding.
Another pose I like to do when I have writer’s block is forward fold because it creates a blood rush in my brain. It gives me a little buzz. I also enjoy doing downward facing dog for the same reason.
When I am not in the mood to write, but know I have to, I do a series of four to six sun salutations. The series awakens my mind and warms my body. It becomes a magical elixir. If I have nonstop mind chatter that prevents me from focusing, I come into easy pose and cleanse my chakras by chanting each seed mantra (lam-vam-ram-yam-ham-om-soham). I close the experience by chanting one of my favorite enlightenment mantras such as Om Namah Shivaya, Om Mani Padme Hum, Moola Mantra or the Gayatri Mantra.
When things are really tight and I can’t breakthrough with any of these exercises, I lay in corpse pose and breathe deeply while giving myself Reiki healing touch. This always does the trick. It refreshes me and allows me to come into my higher self.
8. You use social media tools to promote your writing, artwork, and yoga services. When did your social media adventures begin?They started with my first blog on Blogger.com in 2005. Since then, I have developed a passion for social networking sites (Myspace, Facebook, Meetup, and Ning.com sites), video and photography social media sites (YouTube and Flckr), microblogging sites ( Twitter and Utterz), social bookmarking sites (AddThis, Delicious, Reddit, Mixx It, and Stumble It), podcasts (Gcast and Gabcast), Meetup groups, and online radio shows (Talkshoe.com and Blogtalk Radio).9. Why do you love social media tools?Most of the tools are free to use or have a low fee. Also, you don’t have to be a techie whiz to use social media tools. You just have to have time and energy to learn how to use them.
10. Do you have any social media suggestions for authors, artists, and entrepreneurs?
Explore and experiment with different social media tools to see which ones meet your needs. It might take a few months or even a year to see which ones work for you. So be patient and stay open.
Determine how much time and energy you have to invest in using and maintaining these tools.
Create a schedule for updating and sharing your creative content on your blogs, social networking sites, and social bookmarking sites.
Subscribe to a social media blog, Web site, podcast, or radio show that provides information about new tools, intellectual property law for the internet, and marketing strategies. I subscribe to the following:
http://ezinearticles.com/?cat=Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Networking
http://phillipsgivenslaw.blogspot.com
http://ebookwritingandmarketingsecrets.com
Participate in online and offline educational events so you can learn about new social media tools and marketing strategies. Conferences are great resources. I attended Blogging While Brown in July 2008 and Fem 2.0 (www.fem2pt0.com) in February 2009. I will be attending Blogging While Brown (www.bloggingwhilebrown.com) in June 2009 and Blogher (www.blogher.com) in July 2009.
Evaluate your use of social media tools every quarter or twice a year so you can streamline your efforts.
11. Tell us about your next creative project that will benefit from your social media experiences?
I am working on my second novel, Love’s Troubadours – Symon: Book Two. It tells the story of Symon Allure, a thirtysomething Brooklyn-born African American man with an eclectic background. It includes working class Afro-Cuban roots and a professional persona that mirrors Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois’ Talented Tenth. Symon is a proud graduate of Howard University’s School of Business and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He works as an investment banker in Washington, D.C. and enjoys a bougie lifestyle with his 15th Street bachelor pad home and BMW.
- Login Or register To Post Comments
- Send To A Friend
- Share With:
