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QUILLS & QUEUES Ashland author discusses realities of the artistic life Comment By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Aug. 25, 2016 at 5:09 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Aug. 25, 2016 at 5:09 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Quills & Queues: A conversation with Blackstone Audio's Josh Stanton... • Camelot's 'Spotlight' shines on Broadway • Quills & Queues: Father's life, funeral and writings fuel son's memoir... • Quills & Queues: Schneider Museum of Art Director Malbaurn no longer 'interim' direc... » Social News In the interest of finding out more about the experiences of young creatives living in the ever more expensive Rogue Valley, I sat down with Ashland author Ryan W. Bradley for a chat about his artistic life. JG: Ryan, tell me about your experience of being a young creative, especially a writer, surviving in the Rogue Valley? RWB: Well, first off, I'm not so young anymore and I'm fairly incognito as a creative. I have some friends who are writers and artists here in the valley, but most people who know me probably recognize me more as a working stiff who tends to be a hermit during non-work hours. Surviving as an artist of any kind is notably difficult and that's probably one of the reasons I tend to identify more with the 40 hours of work each week than the 10 hours a week I have to focus on writing. JG: What has been your most satisfying creative writing project to date? RWB: My latest book, "Nothing but the Dead and Dying," was released back in December and it was the culmination of roughly eight years of work. It is a collection of short stories based in my home state of Alaska and dealing primarily with blue collar men and women. I poured a lot of myself and my experiences into that book and I can't imagine being prouder of anything else I might write. JG: Tell me a little bit about your creative influences, favorite writers and genres? RWB: It's easy to say Hemingway, and that is certainly true in my case, but there are a lot of contemporary writers like Jack Driscoll whose work means a lot to me. Two books I've read this year that have really inspired me in recent projects are "United States of Japan" by Peter Tieryas and "Zero Saints" by Gabino Iglesias. My writing is also heavily influenced by filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard. JG: Tell me about what you're working on now? RWB: After publishing eight books (four poetry, four fiction) over a four-year period, I have been clawing myself out of a prolonged absence from writing. I'm currently overhauling a novel that had been sitting on my hard drive for a few years. I decided to try something new, do something I've never done before, so I'm taking what I had originally written as a very straightforward novel and flipping it on its head. I figure there's no better time to experiment with something different, so I'm excited to be closing in on finishing this new version of an old manuscript. JG: Thanks, Ryan! Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Aug. 25, 2016 at 5:09 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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