Friday Feature: @JTRedwood

Dear Readers, Scribblers, Scribes, and Wordsmiths:

This week’s featured Proser is a musician, poet, and native of north-suburban Chicago, Illinois. He was gracious enough to give us an interview recently, which you’ll find transcribed below.

Who is @JTRedwood? What does he do?

Read on to find out...

“[My occupation has] been ever-changing throughout my life. I started out doing computer aided drafting and design. From there I got into the strange world of architectural terracotta masonry and helped restore old buildings. I recently made a bold move and started an apprenticeship to learn carpentry. I figure it will at least get me into shape.”

P: What is your relationship with writing and how has it evolved?

JT: I have always enjoyed reading and have been writing my thoughts down since I learned how. I fell in love with poetry in junior high and I penned many of my own poems. One night at a party sitting around a bonfire, a girl I was digging on asked me to recite one of these poems to her. Well, “I write a lot but I can’t remember any of my poems,” I tell her. From that night on I was determined to figure out how I can write poetry and memorize it all. I came up with a way to remember the lines by placing a silent beat to each poem. I now can think of the beat to a poem and all the words flow to me. Instead of just reciting poems to girls, I’d sing lullabies to them. Naturally this all worked well when I got into music and taught myself guitar and started writing my own songs. My writing has taken on its own character and a life of its own. Maybe I’m a slave to it, I don’t know.

P: Briefly discuss the value that reading adds to both your personal and professional life.

JT: I simply love and crave reading. I’ve learned almost everything I know through the act of reading and yet I will always have more to read about!

P: How would you describe your current literary ventures and what can we look forward to in future posts?

JT: I have started a daily journal documenting all the strange happenings I encounter in life. You really can’t make this stuff up so it’s the best inspiration for stories. I’m sure everyone knows what I’m talking about here. I’ve been gravitating toward short stories, been reading a lot of them and writing my own based on my own experiences or folk tales I pick up here and there. We’ll see where that takes me.

P: What called you to Prose? Describe your experience with the platform so far.

JT: I just stumbled over Prose while playing with my new iPad. It seemed like it could be refreshing and now has become something I look forward to. Reading new posts from other [“Prosers”] and spending the time to put down my own two cents can fill a void in my day. I really enjoy it all and believe it’s good for the human consciousness to read, to write, to think, to communicate.

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This #FridayFeature blog series is designed to help you get to know your fellow community members better. Would you like to nominate someone for interview? Have a question you’re dying to ask of someone on the platform? Send us a private message here or email info@theprose.com anytime.