Nora Hickey is a triple threat writer. When I met her, she was getting her MFA in poetry at UNM, she has since published some gripping creative nonfiction (some of which you can read if you subscribe to Plume for February!), and right now she’s hard at work on a novel with a plucky protagonist named Maud. She read from this manuscript at a Plume event earlier this year, and it was both riotously funny and heart-wrenching. Nora’s writing is the real deal. We are so pleased to have her as our featured Plume writer for February. We hope you enjoy our interview with her!
Plume: When did you know you were a writer?
Nora Hickey: I wrote a lot about dogs growing up so didn’t really see writing as something that was a place where I could survive – where I could confront the dark woods of myself, and our world, and emerge knowing more about the place than I did before. I think writing became more crucial for me in my senior year of college. My post-college years were when I thought maybe I could actually do it, make it a part of my life.
P: Where do you get your ideas?
Nora Hickey: Oh, boy, that’s an interesting one…I think, for me, it’s really hard to trace the genesis of stuff in my work – well, I should say that I can usually point to specific aspects that appear – it might be something like dusk, a daily occurrence, and I start to wonder why does it hold such potency? Every day? And then I may start thinking about dusk and dawn, and wondering if there is a moment when each could be confused for the other, and then I think about sundowning and that psychological mechanism, and in that cloud of thought a line strikes me – “the confusion of dusk” – and a poem or story or scene might build from there.
Because I love kernels of something that could become metaphor – could signify some sort of emotional experience – I gravitate towards my concise encyclopedia, print books I have in my bookshelves, taking walks and making myself notice what’s happening around me. Then, I’ll go write down things that strike me and revisit them when needed.
P: Where do you write?
NH: Home or a studio without internet when I can get it!
P: Do you have any writing rituals?
NH: Got to have that coffee…got to block that internet…
P: How supportive is your local community for writers?
NH: I love my Albuquerque community of writers! I feel lucky that I was able to meet so many generous, sharp, multifaceted writers in my MFA program at UNM and that I can continue writing, reading, and hanging with them post-graduation.
P: What are some of your self-care practices?
NH: Walking my dog (Lulu!) on long walks is one of my favorite things and, (mostly) luckily I get to do that every day. The more I battle the compulsion to look on my phone, read The Bachelor reddit page (maybe that is self-care…), open my computer, I notice how self-care has come to mean less time connected on technology, so I’m trying to work on finding more ways to log off.
P: What is your favorite book about writing?
NH: None jump out, but I love the Paris Review’s interviews with writers from over the years. It’s fascinating, inspiring, and sometimes eye-roll worthy to see what so many great writers are thinking.
P: What are you currently working on?
NH: I’m habitually writing short, researched nonfiction pieces for my history and culture podcast, City on the Edge. I am also about to dive back into my longtime novel in progress about a young woman who leaves Chicago to go live with her grandpa in South Bend, Indiana (pre-Mayor Pete). I’ve got a few poems floating in different draft stages, too!
Sign up for Plume for February and you’ll receive a letter of encouragement from Nora, as well as some of her creative work!