GRWM— featuring Paul Dalla Rosa

Issue #10

GRWM (Get Ready With Me) is a new (and dare I say sexy!) segment where I'll be interviewing writers retro-style-- cute little questionnaires about what writers are wearing, listening to, snacking on, etc.  We want to know what they're into and what gives them the ick.  We want writing prompts based on their books.  We want to know their favorite song, the worst writing advice they've ever received, and you better believe we want to know their brunch order.

It's time to stop asking writers the same boring questions and start getting REAL.

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Paul Dalla Rosa is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life. His stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, Meanjin, and New York Tyrant.

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What does getting ready for writing look like for you? 

I like to have large spans of time alone, ideally when I can read and think and slowly come to writing like gently waking from a dream. I’m working a lot at a job right now so that doesn’t really happen. I have a few hours in the morning so it’s wake up, feed my cat, make coffee and then write.

The impossible thing is always not looking at my phone.

What does your writing space look and feel like?

I write at a large executive desk bought off gumtree which is like craigslist but isn’t craigslist. I like it uncluttered but it gets away from me. The space fills with shit, refuse everywhere, receipts I don’t know why I have, empty foil drug packets, small paper bags from Chemist Warehouse, stacks of books. Beside me is a barred window that looks out on the street. Sometimes people pass and scream. Mostly in the morning people just walk very small dogs. Behind me is the guest bed, a coatrack, free weights, a rolled up shakti mat, a collapsed Temu shoerack and a mound of shoes that are meant to be on the rack.

I used to write in a beautiful, light filled studio. I looked out at the sky and the spires of a cathedral. Then I lost the studio. I think this is a good thing. I’m writing a novel about disappointment so maybe it’s what I need right now.

What’s your outfit of choice for a writing session?

At the moment it’s often basketball shorts while sitting in front of a space heater. Ideally, well cut trousers and a shirt.

What are you listening to?

I don’t listen to music when I write but will listen to music that somehow connects to the emotional register of what I’m writing or to hype myself up later in the day while thinking about writing. It’s often Kanye West.

What are you snacking on and or drinking?

I’ll drink a black coffee. I don’t eat in the morning. When I write I like to feel like an immaterial being.

What time of day do you write?

Early in the morning. Later in the day, or late at night, I might think more conceptually or emotively about the story.

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P.s. Did you hear we have merch?!

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