Write Out Loud’s writing VIP for May is Heather Eigler. Heather lives in Calgary with her husband and young daughter, and writes flash fiction, as well as non-fiction.  Her prose can be found online at The Canadian Writers Collective, Island Grove Press, and her own blog Maternal Spark. Maternal Spark is for and about Creative Moms.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know Heather just as much as I have!

Write Out Loud: Where do your creativity, ideas and inspiration come from?

Heather Eigler: Creativity is just a part of me. It’s just there and I don’t think it comes from anything but genetics or restlessness or an affliction for becoming easily bored.

Ideas and inspiration are different. Ideas come from experiences, from dreams, from questions and from problem solving. Inspiration – that comes from the people I surround myself with. My daughter, my husband and the creative moms I write about for my website.

WOL: Do your stories more often start with a character idea or a plot idea?

HE: Hmmm I’ve never thought about that before and it’s a muddy area. It’s hard to pinpoint when a story is born exactly but I’d say it’s pretty 50/50. Sometimes I want to write about a person – other times it’s an event or feeling that starts me going.

WOL: How often and for how long you write each day?

HE: I don’t write everyday. When I do write I spend between 20 min and 1 hour at it. It depends what I’m working on at any given time.

WOL: Where is your favorite place to write?

HE: Non-fiction – on the couch with my laptop…that’s where I am right now. Fiction – in my office. I need separation and quiet for fiction work which is why I don’t do too much of it these days.

WOL: What does your writing routine look like? Do you schedule your writing or do you write when inspiration strikes?

HE: I don’t have a strict schedule and if I tried to maintain one I’d go loopy. I just go with the flow and write when I want to. I do most of my writing during naptime or after my daughter is in bed.

WOL: You are the creator of Maternal Spark, a website and forum for creative moms. As a mother and wife, how do you balance family and writing?

HE: I have a fantastic husband who takes care of things like laundry and dishes. He’s very supportive although I tend to push the limits with my Internet time!

WOL: I’m not married yet, and I don’t have any children, but I find that I’m pretty exhausted after a long day (or week) of full-time work. Often so much so that I lack the time and energy for being creative. Do you find that your creativity is stifled by the routine and daily grind of family life?

HE: The exact opposite is true for me and that’s why I started Maternal Spark. When I became a mom I had incredible hormone swings and I went through a brief period where I was compelled to create.

I had this new baby whose arrival into the world was dramatic and stressful to say the least – there was a moment when we thought we might lose her. But we didn’t and I was so full of love for her, and amazement of her and I went crazy writing poems and posing her for photographs and making scrapbook pages.

Now, things are a little different. My daughter is still a huge source of emotion and inspiration but I use Maternal Spark to force myself to take time out for creative thoughts…otherwise it would be easy to brush it off out of sheer exhaustion.

WOL: While I know that being a mother and wife is a full-time job in itself, do you have a job outside of the home? If so, what do you do and how does it affect your writing?

HE: Yes, I work 4 days a week outside the home and on Wednesdays I work from home via a virtual network. I have a crazy job that involves everything from data entry to photography to naming products. I was writing before this job and I’ll be writing after it. It doesn’t really affect my creativity.

WOL: We writers are known for our vices. What is your biggest writers’ vice?

HE: Caffeine without a doubt! I love to make a big pot of tea and have it on my desk as I work. If I’m reading – I have coffee in my mug.

Thanks to Heather for joining us here at Write Out Loud. If you’d like to chat with Heather about her writing (or anything else), you can find her on Twitter. Visit the websites mentioned above to read more of her writing, or join the forums at Maternal Spark for writing discussions, crafty chat and more talk about what makes Creative Moms tick.