It was interesting to get to see your writing spaces. I have noticed that we have one thing in common; moving a lot. I am always on the move because of the nature of my work and interests and that means that on average, I do not get to stay in one place for a long time. For the past year 2014, I was mostly in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Germany.
Kigali streets
In Western Kenya
Sunset through my window in Bonn
In all these places, I gather experiences that I turn into stories. If you look carefully I move with a backpack which contains my notepad, laptop and books I am reading. I should then say that my writing materials are simple too. Sometimes I write short poetry in the “Notes” section of my smart phone. Other times it is just a matter of jotting down the opening lines of a story idea I have that I later work on.
Professionally, I work with two Organizations that both promote Writing; Writing Our World and Kahini and some of my responsibilities include Organizing and running Creative Writing classes. In as much as I am an organizer, I have taken the initiative to actively participate in these classes myself (whether I am teaching or supervising) and from these, I create time to write new work and to get feedback on work I have created.
Teaching in Kigali
I was glad to meet both you and Nora Bossong while I was in Berlin last December and of course like many of my travels, I was able to pick up interesting insights on the writing scene and how I can work to better my writing.
Meeting Nora at Starbucks Berlin
Meeting you in Berlin
As I write this, I am in my room in Kampala and I have been debating whether to take a picture. On second thought, I have decided not to “hang my dirty linen” in public because I have taken days without setting it up 
But just so you know, I sit on my bed and work away at my laptop or read a book.
That reminds me, reading is something I believe builds my writing and therefore even when on the move, I still read. Last July, I read NoViolet Bulawayo’s “We Need New Names” for the duration of my flight from Entebbe in Uganda to Bonn, Germany. Sometimes I read on the bus, cafe or at home.
As you can see from my writing spaces, I am evidence that people should not give excuses for not writing. Anywhere you are or whatever you do, you can write. Stories are everywhere.
Hi Ronald, thanks for sharing about your travels and spaces. One question though. I also carry a novel/book and journal wherever I go and often write poetry on the move and as I listen to music – but I remember reading somewhere ( i think Stephen King wrote it) not to read another person’s work while creating your own because it will influence your writing and veil your voice beneath that of another writer. Do you think this can happen? I don’t feel concerned with it when it comes to poetry, but with prose, I really wonder if it is better to write in a vacuum period without other people’s work influencing me. What do you think?
Hey Gloria,
I sometimes fear that too. And sometimes I really discover other writers voices in “my voice”. This can be a good thing since it keeps my writing on the move. I can revise it afterwards to make it mine. But you are right, sometimes it can lead to a total different direction. What me always helps is to read my own text a few times before I go on writing. Trying to be a reader of my own.
Hello Gloria,
That is an interesting question and insight. Now that I think about it, I think the argument holds water. You just reminded me of one of my favourite TED talks “Steal like an Artist” by Austin Kleon which basically examines the concept of creativity and originality. I believe that as artists, indeed plagiarism is evil and unacceptable but borrowing ideas and copying styles is fine. I should say that I have and will continue to be influenced by what I read and experience. Actually, even when I create characters, some of them are picked up from ideas that are not my own. For me, a writer or writing experience is a mirror of society through different lens; be it through the eyes of writers I read.
On the whole though, I think we have to develop the stamina to dissociate ourselves from that overwhelming influence. If you read my story and argued upon your life that it could have been written by such and such writer, then I feel it is imperative that as a writer, I work on my voice.
Otherwise, I appreciate that we are all inspired or influenced by different prompts. If you find it best to write away from what you read, I feel you should keep up that because it is what works for you.
Kind regards.
Good morning, Ronald. I agree that writing and reading dance together; personally I would fall if the one isn’t there to leg me up. At the beginning of this interview is Morrison’s take on the inter-dependency between writing and reading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUr_XoMCPFA As for plagiarism, Heraclitus might have said that one cannot step twice in the same river but Cratylus outsmarted him with the conception that one cannot step even once in the same river. Texts change, irrevocably if you ask me, every time they make their entrance into someone’s head; and thank God, otherwise it would be unoriginal to dream after Kafka.
Hey Ronald,
you wrote: “In all these places, I gather experiences that I turn into stories.” That’s an interesting statement for me because I have made the opposite experience. The feeling I had during my travels through Europe was merely that of a loss of experience, that there is nothing to learn about the famous cities anymore, that you already have been there because you grew up with this never-ending flow of images, which goes straight to your head and stays there. And getting lost of these pictures is very difficult.
There seems to be a certain set of things to expect from a journey: The people I met during the travels all told the same stories again and again. The cities look more and more the same, become cleaner and increasingly “normalized”. My impression was, that all visitors were indeed hungry for the “experience of travelling”, which actually didn’t take place. People tend to hace certain expectations but the places don’t seem to fulfill them or maybe can’t fulfill them anymore. So everybody was looking for something he or she couldn’t get. There is this big promise about travelling: of finding places with an “aura”, which means the feeling of a big farness, no matter how close you get. I guess, that’s what people are looking for.
What actually came close to this , I didn’t find in the places I wanted to visit, but more in the places, where I ended up by chance. And it was a very rare experience. The main feeling was that of loss, that I cannot read the cities anymore, that they don’t tell me anything. And I think, that literature is able to reflect on these issues, to turn this loss into an aesthetic experience once more, to gain potential from the difference between image and impression, to see how different “configurations” of images interfere with each other and in this way constitute our image of reality.
These are my experiences from travelling in Europe and the USA. You seem to have made different ones. I’d like to know more about the link betweend writing and travelling. How does the experience “on the road” turn into the text?
Wow Phillip,
That is deep! Let me think.
I cannot tell from your text which part of the world you come from but that is not important. What stood out for me in your observations and questions is the disparity between what we see and what others see or do not see. I am tempted to say that it all comes from our background. We move and go into places with our realities and these form a basis for our experiences or lack of it. That Europe and USA looked normal and therefore did not speak to you like random places you went to is an experience I have felted myself. To be honest, I am not fascinated by what ordinarily fascinates most travelers. Things like architecture, nature, etc are things I see but do not connect with. But again, that is beside the point I want to make. I think as writers, we are able to pen stories or text from our impressions of place, time, culture, name it. It would be interesting for example to read your stories of loss. These emotions and feelings of emptiness were inspired by the fact that you moved and experienced new environments. I do not think you have to necessarily connect or like them; all you need as a writer is the questions that come in your mind, the ideas that flood you and you cannot wait to express them.
For me, that is the greatest link between travel and my writing. Wherever I am, I am able to generate different emotions which propel me to tell different stories, to ask new questions, to create new characters, to move my characters in different setting and so on and so forth.
Otherwise, I am reading and rereading your text here because I feel it asks quite important questions that I can use for self discovery. Thank you.