My Writing Life: Emily Rhodes
"Writing is fun but re-writing is torture."
1. What book should every writer read?
Mrs Dalloway – to see how much can be done in just a single day, to see how a book can bring together two totally different characters, and finally to understand that, really, there's no need to be afraid of Virginia Woolf!
2. What is the one thing you wish someone had told you before you started your writing career?
Writing is fun but re-writing is torture.
3. Who has been an influential figure in your writing career?
My agent Kay Peddle. I feel so lucky to have someone who wholly believes in me and my story. Kay is always my first reader and is unswervingly kind, encouraging, and very, very patient. Thank you Kay.
4. What is the best advice you’ve ever received about your writing?
My first job was as an editorial assistant at a publishing house. I got sent on a few training courses for various skills including one on writing selling copy, which aimed to help us with creating marketing material and jacket blurbs. This is where I was given the best advice: when you are faced with the brain-freezing sight of the blank page, simply tell yourself that you are definitely going to delete the first few sentences you write. Then write them. Before long, you're half-way down the page and the writing's suddenly flowing. It is such an effective way of removing the pressure that can cause a crippling block; I come back to it time and again. Very occasionally, I don't even need to delete those first sentences!
5. What was the proudest moment of your writing career?
The launch of Bookbanks last June was a very special moment. I've long fantasised about launching my first book – bringing friends and family together in a bookshop to thank them for their support and sending my work out into the world – but one thing or another has meant that the first book hasn't (yet) got out there.
Instead, this was a different kind of launch. Same setting: bookshop, friends, family, speeches and toasts, but instead of applauding a single book, we celebrated the inspiring power of what books can do. It was extraordinary to see how something that had begun simply with my giving out a few books while volunteering at my local food bank had developed into an official charity, with a host of people involved in helping to take it to the next stage of growth.
One of the speeches was given by a Bookbanks guest, who spoke incredibly movingly about what books, and Bookbanks, had meant to him. When he told me I'd been a lifesaver, I really felt proud of having channelled the power of books to a place where it is sorely needed.
6. What is your typical writing day like?
Before writing, there are three children and one whippet to deal with: breakfast, music, maths, phonics, so many shoes to get on ... then the walk to school and on to the park to throw a ball, before returning, exhausted, to make a second cup of coffee in a home that suddenly feels unbelievably quiet. Then I hide my phone, allow a mix of nerves and excitement and sit down at my desk to write. The dog curls into a ball and sleeps at my feet. I try to keep this first working hour or two to write creatively, before moving on to other work, which might be for Bookbanks, Emily's Walking Book Club, or freelance journalism.
What are you reading right now?
The Sleep Watcher by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan. She's staggeringly talented, with a poetic eye for the telling detail.
Bookmarker or page-folder?
Both! I use a bookmark to keep my place and, in addition, when there's a passage that strikes me as particularly apt, I fold over the bottom corner of the page, so that when I've finished I can easily flick back to my favourite bits.
Emily Rhodes is a writer and former bookseller, who uses books to build communities. She is the founder of Bookbanks, a new charity that brings books to food banks, and
, a 3,000-strong community that has been meeting for monthly walks on Hampstead Heath for over a decade. She writes about books and the arts for various publications, including the Financial Times Weekend, the Spectator, and the Guardian, and regularly interviews authors and hosts literary events. Emily has appeared on TV and radio programmes including BBC London News, BBC Radio 4’s Open Book, Ramblings and The Radio 2 Arts Show. She lives in London with her husband, three children and whippet.You can read more ‘My Writing Life’ interviews on our RLF Substack.
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