How did you become a writer? At my Montessori preschool, they had a playset called "the farm" which was a plastic barn with lots of animals and accessories, and then there was a shoebox full of laminated words. The idea was, you'd pose the animals doing something interesting, then use the words to create a sentence narrating whatever was going on. I was so obsessed with the farm, the teachers would try to coax me away from it, which isn't how Montessori is meant to go--the child's supposed to decide when they're done with a task, not the adult. I think it made me see words as toys, just like the little plastic pigs and hay bales. I'd go home and narrate whatever I was playing there, too, like a TV voiceover. Writing, reading, and making up stories has just always been my favorite way to spend time. It's how I make sense of the world.

Name your writing influences. I had the great fortune to study with the late R.H.W. Dillard at Hollins University during my master's program. He was a consummate cinephile who had a hilarious knack for blending high and low culture. His favorite director was Federico Fellini, but he'd also co-written the script forFrankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965), often hailed as one of the worst films of all time. We did an independent study of Edgar Allan Poe where we read everything he'd ever written, and it turned into a concurrent crash course on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's funny, when I think about our conversations, I don't remember talking about my writing much. But I learned what my writing could become from the books and movies he showed me.

When and where do you write? I really envy writers who can work on the move, in public, or whenever they have a spare moment. I jot stuff down when it comes to me, but I can't do any serious work on the fly. To make real headway on a story, my focus issues require a large block of uninterrupted time, ideally in the morning, and absolutely at my own desk in my home office, where I can listen to music and no one will bother me.

What are you working on now? My debut collection, Horse Show, is all about how we've treated horses throughout television, film, and photographic history. While I was writing it, I came upon a lot of strange history involving fish, dogs, lions, giraffes, and other animals that I'm spinning into new short stories. I'm fascinated by the human impulse to domesticate our fellow creatures, and all the ways that relationship can go wrong. It's a very deep well for me. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Yes. For me, it's directly related to stress. If I'm stressed out, I'm not even getting in the chair, and if I don't get in the chair, there's no chance I'm getting unstuck! I try to go easy on myself at these times--read something really wild, or book some sessions in a sensory deprivation tank to let my mind wander.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? The sci-fi author Sarah Pinsker once posted a list of which activities filled her creative cup and therefore counted as writing, and which activities didn't. I've found it really freeing to think about writing in that way, and not in terms of the number of words or pages I produce. Writing doesn't just happen on the page. It never did, but I am bad at remembering that. So gardening, riding horses, watching weird old movies, and puttering around in my aquariums is all writing for me now, all part of the process. It's a nice way to give yourself grace, as a working artist. Takes the pressure off. And ironically, results in more words, more pages.

What’s your advice to new writers? Read (and reread!) anything and everything you can get your hands on. It's the only shortcut to mastery! 

Jess Bowers is the author of Horse Show, a collection of short fiction out now from Santa Fe Writers Project. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she works as an Associate Professor of English and Humanities at Maryville University, hangs out in museums, and watches far too much TV. Find her on Twitter/X @prettyminotaur, on Instagram @bowersjess, or at www.jessbowers.org.