Blake Burkhead asked Michael A. Arnzen:

Are you actually the Devil in disguise? Alternatively: when feeling unmotivated what do you do to get your writing meat back to writing?

Michael A. Arnzen No, I'm one of the lower demons, originally sequestered in Hell's equivalent of Sesame Street -- Pustulupagus is my true name.

I often don't feel unmotivated...there's so many proverbial irons in the fire that if one feels cold, I leave it steeping in the flames, and pick up another one, shifting from poetry to fiction to criticism to humor, etc. When when I'm truly feeling unmotivated I try to take stock: is there a physical reason for my block or is it just mental? If it's just mental, I chug a cup of coffee and just start playing with the keyboard -- opening with poetry -- but it's really more like free-writing just to loosen up. I would compare it to how musicians warm up before the show, limbering up their fingers and what not. When ideas start to percolate, shapes and structures start to emerge, and then I'm back in the groove... But if it's physical, I try to rest or do something enjoyable -- but something related to the arts or to sleep and dreams. I don't consider it laziness to take a break from a writing project. We are workers of the unconscious, and that needs to be respected.

Loved this question, Blake. Thanks and best wishes with your upcoming poetry book! -- Mike Arnzen

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