The Golden Pie of Literature – The Stinging Fly

"Since moving towards a more full time-ish literary existence (with the addition of cat-sitting, residencies, reviewing, etc.), I have become an obsessive hobbyist: weightlifting, taking combat classes at my council gym, swimming at a cold dirty beach in Edinburgh. I need to do other human things, to instigate little rebellions against my literary life. These rebellions are necessary to become the thing I rebel against in my writing. The writing life needs just as much tension as the writing itself to be good."