Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Matt Mills
Book Title: The Workshop: Week One
Released: 05/17/23
Genre: Humorous Literary Fiction Novella novella
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “The Workshop: Week One”?
Mills: For years I toiled [and continue to toil?] in the world of screenwriting, trying to either write something so brilliant that no production company could ever say no to my agent or write something so ingenious that I could shoot it myself for ~free and promptly profit $100 million off of and never have to worry again... Sick of writing scripts for absurd, impossible, and impersonal goals, I shifted gears toward a medium where I could directly sell my writing to an audience (well, "sell" might be going too far, but—it's available, at least!) rather than navigating a complicated network of industry and greed and production and compromise (yuck). I quickly found myself falling in love with the ~prose medium and, once I allowed myself to commit to the meta, eclectic, and art-criticism-criticizing concept of The Workshop, it felt right in a way that I've never felt before—like I've finally slipped into the right size of shoe after a lifetime of foot pain (my analogies get better, I promise). The original inspiration for the premise is, shockingly, a creative writing workshop I attended that turned out to be one of my favorite classes ever. Add in some fiction and manufactured character and conflict and I found a world that I love playing with repeatedly, stretching my creative mind in every various direction of literature, life/hope, fear/dissociation, and bedtime snacks.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Mills: Meditation and reading are my number one and two, respectively, but changing locations is very helpful too. Meditation seems to be the best reset of my brain but reading is a productive break that mentally settles and shifts gears to power back up for battle. Walks are helpful, but a big little change I discovered was simply moving my "office" around the house. Even just facing a different direction in the same room reduces how stagnant and draining and repetitive the process can feel. Lastly, I try to simply be conscious and honest about what's happening (eg "You're avoiding writing intentionally right now because your brain is somewhat dumb!"), as I write this from a dissociative state on my high horse.
What are you working on next?
Mills: The Workshop: Week Three will be out soon [release date TBD], followed promptly by Week Four, Week Five, and... a lot more novellas coming down the pipeline, so those, plus eventually forming a new band and a mockumentary sitcom and another novel. Why not? Anyway, stay tuned for more Workshop, for now, at least—available pretty much everywhere you get eBooks and paperback is available via Amazon.
Learn More About the Author and The Workshop: Week One:
Instagram: @ the_workshop_ebook
Website: MattMillsWrites.com
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Find it for purchase here
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