[Nick McRae]

Yea, if someone's sensitive and well attuned to their environment they'll be able to pull good work out of otherwise mundane experiences.

I guess I only mean that the more we do and experience, the more material we have to work with. So the idea that we need to pull ourselves away to focus on writing might present a false dichotomy. The time away from writing is field work that enriches our work.

[Julie Steiner]

Part of my writing process is finding time to read what other poets have done, or are doing.

For me, that means looking at past greats, of course, and I particularly enjoy the "riding on a great artist's coattails" effect of translating the poems I like from other languages.

But critiquing the mixed bag of stuff at Eratosphere, both good and not-quite-there-yet, is also very helpful. Having to articulate why something moves me, or doesn't, means that I can later be inspired to either repurpose or avoid certain things in my own work.

I think people rightly warn, though, about the tendency to conform to a sort of "house style" and want to write things to please the very small audience of mostly like-minded people in a particular workshop. So it's also good to find time to read poems by others in current magazines and books, to avoid a too-incestuous set of influences.

Sometimes, if I really like a poem by an unfamiliar author and I can track down contact info, I'll send a fan letter, and if they respond I might invite them to Eratosphere, if I'm not too intimidated and they aren't obviously well-established already. (I haven't done that in a while, though. Probably should start again.)