Deevette Short
Each month, our blog focuses on a different writer from our soon-to-be-published anthology, WILD. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know our writers better, learning about their creative process, and discovering how they came to be part of the Moor Imagination community.
This month, I spoke with one of our long standing members, Deevette Short, who has always been a wonderful, supportive energy in the room. Generous with her feedback and encouragement, Deevette is not only a talented writer herself, but someone who brings warmth, creativity, and kindness to our group.
We are now so close to reaching our GoFundMe target, just a few more donations and we’ll have reached our goal! If you’ve already donated, thank you so much. Your support means the world to us. And if you’re not able to donate, sharing the link and shining a spotlight on our project really does make all the difference.
Thank you, now let’s meet this month’s featured writer…
Deevette Short
Author of “Dart Life”
Tell us a little about you.
Where are you based, what do you write, and how did you find your way into the Moor Imagination community?
“I live in Okehampton and I write and perform poetry, I have been looking for along time
to be connected to a writing community. I was so happy to find ‘Moor Imagination’.”
When and how did you get into writing?
Was there a moment, a story, or a spark that got you started?
“I have been writing on and off since I was in my teens. On reflection my writing has
always increased when I have not been working full time during my life and now I am
retired it is something that I have plenty of time for.”
Tell us about your piece in the anthology.
What inspired it? What makes it special or unique to you?
“My piece in the anthology, “Dart Life” evolved from my love of the river Dart and over
the years I often wonder about the origins of this powerful river as I walk the moors.
Where does it spring from? how does it evolve as it journeys from the high moor to the
sea.? I started to research these questions and the poem slowly started to grow.”
What’s the best (and the most challenging) thing about writing for you?
“The best thing about writing is losing my self in the painting of a poem. For me every
poem is like painting a picture, each word is a color, a shape or a sense. I love that
feeling of creating and losing sense of time and place.
The worst this about writing for me is trying to ‘get going’ and giving myself permission to
just do what I love.”
Are there any themes, ideas or images you find yourself returning to in your writing?
“Many people say my poems are visceral, I am not sure what they mean, except that I do
like to write about instinctive feeling or reaction, felt in the gut rather than from logic or
thought.”
Do you have a writing routine, or are you more of a “when inspiration strikes” writer? How often do you write, and what helps get you in the flow?
“I am very much a ‘when inspiration strikes’ type writer and a when I can give myself the
time.”
What’s your favourite piece of writing advice, or something you’ve learned along the way?
Big or small, wise or weird, we’ll take it.
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” – Anton Chekhov
What’s your favourite thing about being part of the Moor Imagination community?
What’s it meant to you as a writer?
“It offers me so much inspiration and motivation for my writing. I love the writing
exercises, I love the critiques of my work and I love hearing about other members work.”
Finally, is there a writer, book, or piece of writing you always come back to?
Something that comforts you, inspires you, or reminds you why you write?
“Jane Austin is my guru because her study of human life and interaction that is so
beautifully delivered in her prose and story structure.”
Thank you to Deevette Short for letting us step into their creative world. Their contribution is one of the many pieces that make WILD such a rich and exciting collection, and we’re delighted to be celebrating their work as part of the Moor Imagination community.
With publication getting closer, we’re thrilled to say we’re almost at our fundraising target. If you’d like to help us get this anthology printed and out into the world, now is a wonderful time to donate or share our campaign.
This book is full of local voices, wild imagination, and stories rooted in community and we can’t wait for you to read it.
Join us again next month to meet another of the brilliant writers behind WILD.
Moor Imagination 