We recently connected with Ryan Quinn Flanagan and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan Quinn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was ten years old and I had just moved to a new house/school across town. I had only been at the new school a week or two, when we were asked to recite a poem for the class. Everyone went to the grade school library to find a poem to recite (plenty of Casey at the Bats). For some reason, I wrote my own poem instead. I have no idea why. Like everyone else, I was insanely nervous. The teacher drew from a hat and I was chosen to read second. They enjoyed the poem so much, that I was asked to perform it for all the other classes in the school. I was also asked to perform it for the Kiwanis Lions Club of community leaders and it was published in book form in the school library, as well as the local newspaper. I was very nervous and hated performing the poem, but I really did enjoy the creation process and that is what started me down the path of writing even though I had no idea what that would really entail so many decades on.

Ryan Quinn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Canadian writer living with my wife in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is a small town of about 10, 000 people, cut out of the Canadian wilderness. Bears walk down the streets and right up to your door. I was originally born in Barrie, Ontario and later attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where I received a Master’s Degree in Military History.

Aside from appearing in a few campus publications, I did not truly begin publishing until I left school. I found a vibrant underground press at that time (especially in the United States), and began writing and connecting with many other writers and publishers.

That then expanded to publishing full length books and poems both in print and online internationally. I found that India, Australia, UK and Europe (though not exclusively) also had many publishers/venues and quickly became involved there as well.

I now publish worldwide, and am most proud to be part of such a vibrant writing community. So many good and passionate creators and people out there (fellow writers, painters, publishers, interviewers etc.). I am constantly amazed by the creative impulse and what artists can do!

My work tends to be hard-boiled realism, but with a heavy surrealist bent. I also enjoy exploring art and artistic movements quite a bit in my work. Stream of conscious free verse is also key for me. Besides poetry, I have written one collection of short stories, and hope to begin writing my first novel in the next year or two.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Social media. It has truly opened up the world, and aided greatly in connecting with fellow creatives and fans of art all over the globe. So many opportunities have come through the friends and connections made on social media. When I was starting out, there wasn’t anything like that. Writing was almost completely solitary (as it often is), but so was the submitting and publishing process. You kind of had to work away in a bubble and reach out blind at the start and form connections from there. Everything was still pretty much done by paper as well, so postage was a killer! The SASE and bundles of large Manila envelopes, along with snail mail submissions. I never really heard back from most, but I just kept writing and submitting until the medium became more digital, which I know was a great relief to myself and so many other writers and creatives I know.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect for me is the freedom to create. I have my own process I follow at home when writing, but the ability to just sit down and express whatever I wish is such an enriching experience. The high you get from those first early creations is a better high than any drug. Decades later I am still creating, chasing that first original high. In a world where so much of what we do is regimented by others and constraints (monetary, time, life etc.), sitting down to write/create with limited interference is what fills my soul in a way that perhaps only travel can do for someone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ryanquinnflanagan.yolasite.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014102676963