Just Written Volume 27: Jimmy Cajoleas
Hi friends,
Our featured guest today is Jimmy Cajoleas, who is not only a fabulous writer, but also a good friend. I met Jimmy during the height of the pandemic at the soup kitchen where he works part time and we bonded over shared connections growing up in the south. Jimmy is kind and a relentless worker - he was generous enough to spend some time with the below questions. I‘m so glad to share with you - enjoy!
Jimmy has written four novels and, most recently, published a short story, Tongues, in Joyland Magazine. He is from Jackson, Mississippi, and holds an MFA from the University of Mississippi. He lives in New York.
- Joseph
What are the tools of the trade you can’t live without?
I usually just type on a computer. Sometimes when I need to write a scene that is really important and that I can’t seem to get right, I’ll switch over to a spiral-bound notebook and a pen. Doesn’t matter what kind, just so long as they’re cheap. The one thing I have a hard time doing without is headphones. I very much prefer music when I’m writing.
Where do your stories come from?
I usually start with a line or a phrase I like and wonder who would say it and why. Once I can pick up on a voice, I can figure a character out, and story always springs from character. Sometimes I’ll get stuck on an image and work the story in that direction. I rarely if ever plan anything in advance. I like to surprise myself.
What advice would you give to an aspiring to be a novelist?
Write as much as possible and read everything you can get your hands on. Watch all the movies and go see all of the art. Meet strangers and have conversations with people who believe differently than you. (In real life, not on the internet. You have to have these conversations in places where conversations are actually possible.) Figure out how to enjoy working alone in a room for hours. And when you’re writing, try not to think too much. There’s nothing worse for writing than too much thinking. Just sit down and type. You can think all you want later, when you’re editing.
You write both young adult and literary fiction. How does your process change when writing in different genres?
It’s funny, I only started writing the young adult and middle grade stuff because a teacher in undergrad told me I didn’t understand how to write a plot. So I went back to folktales and creation myths and campfire stories, things like that. The beginning of narrative, the most basic things. And I found I was pretty good at writing stories with a folktale bent, so I kept at it, and they became kids’ books. Something about the freedom of making up a world made it a lot easier to have an escalating sequence of interconnected events happen, which I guess is what plot means. They’re also really fun books to write. You can think up anything and just put it in there. It’s nice.
I still don’t understand how plot works in the real world, so I have to introduce at least one completely impossible thing for me to have enough distance from reality that I can impose some kind of structure on it. Part of the reason I like writing short fiction so much is that it doesn’t often require “plot” exactly—just movement and a thought and there you go. Something happens and then that’s all. I guess “Tongues” is a bit more novelistic than most of my stories, but that’s probably because it was a failed novel first that became a short story after I couldn’t figure out how to write it right.
How does your reading life shape your writing?
I try to read at least two books a week. It’s gotten harder in the pandemic, as I’ve taken up some proofreading gigs that require a lot of my reading time. I read lots of poetry, especially T’ang Dynasty-era Chinese poets. I read everything Eliot Weinberger writes, no matter what it’s about. I don’t go anywhere without Frank Stanford or Emily Dickinson or Rita Dove handy. I’m just after the startling word or phrase or image that can spark my brain in an interesting way and get me thinking down a new path. I read a shitload of detective/crime novels as well, and I love them dearly. Tons of comic books too, especially Hellblazer. I like reading Christian mystics, like Julian of Norwich and St. Teresa of Avila and the Cloud Author. To be honest, I would happily read a toaster instruction manual if the sentences were good.
What encouragement/caveats would you give to someone thinking about pursuing an MFA?
I loved my MFA. For one, it was free, with a generous stipend. My teachers were kind and knowledgeable and a lot of fun. The attitude of the place (for me) was to give students a lot of space to figure things out on their own, as well as room to make huge artistic mistakes without making them feel stupid. This feeling of freedom was absolutely crucial to me. I think I met with my thesis advisor all of two times ever, which was more than enough. Most importantly, I made some truly wonderful lifelong writer friends there, folks I still talk to every week. That is definitely the best part about getting an MFA—meeting pals.
Still, I would be wary of paying for one. Go to the free places!
Your writing is shaped by your religious background and upbringing. How has that informed your work?
The religion I was born and raised into (Southern Protestant Christianity of a Charismatic bent) is such a part of who I am that I can’t escape it, for better and for worse. It’s the way I understand the world, even if there are significant portions of it I have left behind. Church can really fuck you up, but it can be really beautiful too. It’s weird that way.
Things I think about a lot: God is everywhere and always watching and also loves you deeply, without reservation or exception, no matter what. You’re supposed to give your money away and take care of people in need and, most of all, never judge anyone ever, for any reason. People are inherently flawed to the core and also the height of beauty of God’s own creation, “fearfully and wonderfully made,” as it says in Psalms. Ideas like that are so powerful and so fully ingrained in me that they can’t help but come out in the writing. Also, my struggles with those things has been the engine for everything I’ve ever written. So yeah, I don’t know. I don’t feel like I had much choice in the matter, to be honest. It’s just what I’ve got, so I write about it.
What we’re reading:
Joseph: I know, we linked this in the intro, but I love Jimmy’s story in Joyland so here it is again: Tongues. If you enjoy stories exploring religion, specifically evangelicalism, in the south, set aside a half hour to sit down with this one. My favorite line: “Can I tell you a secret? Youth group is fucking awesome.”
Cort: What We’ve Lost in Rejecting the Sabbath by Sohrab Ahmari (Wall Street Journal). We live in a culture that glamorizes the grind and is always on the go. And we’re all getting burned out because of it. It wasn’t always this way though, and now more and more people—both religious and non-religious—are seeing the wisdom in practicing the Sabbath. I just came out of a very hectic season of life, and this essay has helped me think about how to establish healthier rhythms and habits.