Angel Eduardo
Interviewed by Peggy Jackson
June 1, 2021
NJCU Alumna
& Writer
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City. His work has appeared in Newsweek, Areo Magazine, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, and elsewhere. He is a staff writer and content creator for idealist.org, and contributes a monthly column for the Center for Inquiry called Searching for Better Angels.
Find more of his work at angeleduardo.com.
What does a typical day of writing look like for you? What is your process, schedule, ritual(s), and/or habit(s)?
A.E: For the last two years, writing has been a significant part of my day job, so I’m constantly writing a variety of different things for work—from email campaigns to newsletters to marketing copy to blog posts. Some might find this exhausting and feel that it leaves little energy for creative writing, but for me it’s the opposite. I find it invigorating to be constantly flexing that muscle in different ways, and I still have plenty of energy to write other things on my own time.
My creative process is a bit haphazard, though. A lot of writers journal, but that’s never worked for me. For some reason I need to keep it all bottled up until it’s ready to burst out of me. In the meantime, I keep myself occupied with other creative work. I like to say that I procrastinate doing one creative thing by doing another, so I’m never unproductive. With short stories, memoir pieces, or essays, I do a lot of drafting in my head and I don’t sit down to write until I’ve gone over it again and again. Sometimes I have a title and basic sketch in mind, and I let it rattle around until one moment in the shower or during dinner something clicks and I realize it’s ready to go. With poetry, however, I really enjoy the process of discovery—just starting with a blank page, letting myself go, and seeing what images arise.
I’ve made a conscious effort since I was in high school to avoid habits and rituals when it comes to writing. I was always afraid that it’d become something I couldn’t write without—and if the circumstances didn’t permit that cup of coffee or that special chair or that particular white noise, I’d be stuck and the writing wouldn’t get done.
My goal has been to remain as flexible and dexterous as possible as a creative. I can write on the train with two commuters arguing a foot away from me. I can write in bed or on the couch (not with my wife in the room, though. Her beauty is too distracting). Sometimes it’s more difficult for me to get in the right headspace, but generally I can make it happen when I need to.
I’d love to tell you that I sit down every morning at 6 a.m. and write ten pages, but my brain—and my muse—just doesn’t work that way. I’ve learned over the years to trust my process and get out of its way. Still, for all my disorganization and procrastination, I’ve never missed a deadline. I have a very hard rule about that.
As someone who writes cross-genres, how do you think different creative outlets affect your writing process overall?
A.E: One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from an artist who told me, “Anything you have the slightest inkling of interest in creatively, you should pursue it as far as you can.” At the time I was writing and playing music, but as a result of that advice I picked up photography and design and became interested in finding as many avenues as I could to express myself. I discovered two things from that. The first is that one creative endeavor can feed the other. I sometimes go through phases where I’m more into photography or writing, or I’m more obsessed with music—but no matter what is currently a priority, all those plates are always spinning, and similarly to how writing for my day job motivates me to write more, being creative in one medium fuels my creativity in another.
The second thing I learned is that, at bottom, all of these creative outlets are fundamentally the same: it’s all storytelling. Whether it’s a photograph or a poem or a song or even the layout of a website, you are guiding a reader or listener or viewer through an experience in order to elicit a response. That realization, that everything from sculpture to songwriting is all storytelling, has allowed me to be more flexible with both form and function and move more freely between mediums. So, beyond simply writing in multiple genres of literature, I encourage all writers to pick up an instrument, or try photography or painting or film, and gain that other perspective. Another great quote I once read is, “How you do anything is how you do everything,” and it’s really true.
How important is having a writing community to your creativity? And how do you cultivate those relationships?
A.E: Having a community is incredibly important, especially when you’re just starting out. After I left NJCU I fell into a group with other alumni and some friends, and we started meeting once a month to share our work and offer one another feedback and support. At the time I had begun what I thought could maybe be a book-length memoir project, but I had no idea how I would tackle it. Driving home from that first meeting, I realized I could use this to help me put the book together. There’s simply no way to overstate how valuable a group of fellow creatives can be for your own progress and development as an artist. If you find the right people—and I did—it can really make all the difference. That book project is almost finished, and it’s in large part thanks to that community.
The best way to cultivate those relationships is to be honest, be giving, and seek out people whose work you truly admire and respect so you can learn from them. If you come in with that attitude, as well as a steadfast determination to really get work done, you can get a lot out of it. It can take time to find people you resonate with, but the classroom is a great place to start. Find people who have similar goals with your writing and treat one another like workout buddies. Keep each other on track.
How would you break down your editorial routine? And more importantly, how do you stay sane and organized during the process?
A.E: Any time I pause or hit a road block during writing, I go back to the beginning and start reading through. This does two things for me: The first is that it lets me jump back into the flow of the piece, and usually I can get over the road block that way. The second is that I can lightly edit as I go, allowing me to refine what I’ve got so far and sharpen the overall idea of the piece in my head, which makes writing the rest easier.
I have always followed Edi Giunta’s advice that if you read through and spot an error, there’s probably another one, so you should read it through again. I took that to heart, and I don’t call a piece finished until I can’t find anything else to cut or nitpick about.
Since a piece has usually been living in my head for a while before getting out, I become very impatient and obsessive about getting it edited and polished as soon as possible. I have had to force myself to walk away and do something else so that I can see the piece with fresh eyes after a day or two. I have a few close friends I send my work to, and I usually do the thing where I email a draft, pretend I’m going to keep myself busy until they respond, and end up sending another draft or two before they’ve had the chance to read the first one.
It’s very difficult to stay sane during that process, but I think it’s important to recognize that you’re better off giving yourself some distance after you’ve written and want to switch to editing mode. It’s a different muscle and skill set, and to be as judicious as you should you really need to detach from the work. That takes time, and though it drives me nuts I have had to force myself to allow for it.
How has your writing process been positively or negatively impacted by the pandemic? Do you find it easier or more difficult to stay creatively focused during these strange times?
A.E: At first it was definitely hard to find the space—both literally and figuratively—to be and feel creative, but interestingly enough the pandemic has been very good for me in terms of writing. I was lucky to find a few outlets that were interested in what I had to say, and I had a lot of pent up creativity from not being able to play music or even get outside very much. There was also a lot going on in the news and the discourse in general that I felt I wanted to respond to, so during the course of the pandemic I became probably more prolific than I’ve ever been in my entire life. The focus of my writing shifted from narrative and creative work to opinion editorials for various publications, and that was a great new avenue for me to explore. Now that more of us are vaccinated I’ll be getting together with people and making music again, which I’m excited about because it’s been a long time. I’ll still always be writing, though. As I mentioned before, one thing feeds the other.
