Six Questions with Sarah Elwell

To celebrate 1000 posts here on Journalling through Photos, I am going to do something a little different. I am going to take a step back and feature the words and images of others I have come to know and love over the nearly three years of blogging here. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be featuring here some wow women bloggers I have come to know through this online community. They are all wonderful women who provide inspiration through their creativity. The warmth of their personalities shine through in their blogs.

Sarah Elwell takes dreamy photos (three of which are featured here) and writes beautifully at Knitting the Wind and Pilgrim Soul. If you are not familiar with her work, be sure to check her out. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks so much Sarah, for sharing with us your thoughts and some of your photos.

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1. Describe yourself in three words.

Mother, writer, windblown.

2. What is the best thing about being you right now?

I am so blessed to be the mother of a lovely and interesting child. Motherhood truly fulfills me, and to be able to experience it with a daughter I not only love but really like is wonderful.

3. Where do you find your inspiration?

I am inspired in my mothering by the example of others, mostly those I know through the internet, such as Kyrie Mead and Lesley Austin - women who strive to raise their families with an atmosphere of grace and peace. With photography, I don't really work on inspiration, I just take pictures. There is no need for inspiration to find beauty in the world. And with writing, almost anything can prove inspiring, but especially music and my muse.

4. Unschooling… what is it and how does it work for you?

I guess you could simply say that unschooling is child-centred learning. Families apply that in different ways. For me, it has changed over the years. At the moment, my daughter is undergoing a vocational education, focussing on her sport in the hopes of becoming professional one day. We have determined this is the most effective path towards her future. Because of the unique demands of her sport, nothing but unschooling works for our schedule, and I put life before lessons.

I do believe younger children benefit from structure and from the calm and steady provision of information to help them progress into mastery. But for older children, it seems unkind to keep them from getting on with their own life.

5. How does motherhood influence your creative life?

It adds the element of time pressure which forces me to write, and write fast, in the spare moments I have available. Also, gone are my superstitions about the writing environment. I can knock out a poem even with children hollering and dogs barking in the same room as me.

6. What would be one piece of advice you would give to new writers?

I believe the craft of writing is very subjective. People write for all kinds of reasons, and sometimes they have an aptitude which matches their reason for writing, and sometimes they don't. My advice would be to work out why you want to write, and let that guide you. For me personally, writing is a craft I've taken very seriously. I studied the masters. I trained my writing voice long before I attempted to find my own individual voice. Not everyone will find that path helpful. I did it because I love language and always wished to have a career in writing. Other people may simply want to share a message with the world, and so they will need less technical skill, just a weblog and a sense of purpose. Knowing where you want to go is the best guide to getting there.

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Do check back tomorrow for more interviews!