We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Quinn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ryan Quinn, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
There is a lot to be said for hard work in anything you do, and I tend to attribute my work ethic to my father enrolling me in organized sports in my youth. Swimming, one inglorious year of hockey, and competitive soccer up to the age of 18. I excelled through competition and hours of practice, even receiving an invite to try out for the Canadian National Team Under 16s. I believe my strong work ethic also comes from my ancestors who accomplished some great feats through their own work ethic and determination. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side was blind, but he built houses in his community and even delivered babies. My great X3-grandfather on my father’s side pulled his pregnant wife hundreds of miles in a wagon to what is today known as Oro-Medonte and cleared the land and built the family homestead which still stands to this day. My grandfather on my mother’s side stowed away on a cattle boat and came to Canada with nothing. He became a police officer and train engineer and built a family and life through sheer hard work, something I highly respect. My ancestors back in Ireland were potato pickers, peasant farmhands that worked the land hard, so I come from a line of hard workers.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a writer and that is my primary focus. I live tucked away up in the Canadian wilderness which greatly influences both my work and day-to-day life. Something about the fresh air and wide open spaces helps me feel more open and expansive in my writing as well. At present, I am working on numerous new collections of poetry, with plans to start working on both my first novel, as well as a second collection of short stories to be illustrated by talented artist Marcel Herms with whom I have worked with many times. Poetry is the most natural writing medium for me, but I do wish to branch out to other forms as well. I love working with visual artists when I can as their amazing art truly brings everything to life. There are so many super talented artists out there and it is an honour to get to work with them to create new things. I am also working on a new joint chapbook with my buddy and talented writer Catfish McDaris (as of yet untitled), as well as a new full length poetry collection through Dark Heart Press with my friend, and talented writer/publisher Kevin Ridgeway.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities I believe were most impactful in my own journey were a solid work ethic, a tenacious yearning and imagination, and an infinite curiosity about things. A good work ethic gives you a solid grounding upon which to stand. A tenacious yearning at the root of things is what propels everything along. Imagination and curiosity is what helps you travel beyond yourself and try to push things into areas you may not have even contemplated, they are the wandering qualities which I believe are instrumental to all artists, writers, creators etc. It also helps greatly to have a strong support system, my wife is that for me. We work as a team, she is a talented photographer and designs many of the covers for my books. In this way, you can create your own little creative world where you can work away, bounce ideas off each other and try to do the best work you can.
My advice to folks who are early in their journey is to be patient with yourself, even if that seems antithetical to the well-spring inside you. Work with that initial bursting of excitement and energy, that is where the magic is. But to avoid burn-out, it is important to manage your mental/physical health and other considerations as the decades go on. There will never be a feeling like those first moments and early years, so try to appreciate them as best you can, even though the natural impulse will be to create more, to work harder and move onto the next. I never took time to stop and enjoy the process, those just starting out should not make that same mistake.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Time is always the number one obstacle, especially as I get older. There are increasing health concerns for myself and family that must become the prime considerations. And there is never enough time to get things done. I try to put on blinders and forge ahead, carving out those moments, hours and days to create. But regardless of what The Rolling Stones sang, Time is not on your side, not for anyone. We must make the time to create, with the knowledge that this is a time we will never get back. Art and creating is a great way to spend your time though, I fell hard for it right from the start.
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Shona Flanagan
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