#9 Charlotte Kerr, writer, musician & artist
'Everything good, focused and pure happens in the morning'.
Charlotte Kerr is an Australian writer and singer based in Naarm (Melbourne). Her work has been published in Art Connect (Berlin), Un Projects (Melbourne), and at KINGS gallery (Melbourne). She's also an incredibly talented musician – you can follow her at @harveynormal.
Where do you write?
I’ll either write at my very small desk at home or in a cafe, depending on whether I feel like a decent coffee or not. When I lived in Berlin, I’d also write by the canal I was lucky enough to live right next to. Just somewhere quiet and secluded with the right lighting.
I have only a small space to work with in my current home, so my desk is tiny and, sadly not facing a window. Featuring a self-made ceramic vase with a handle missing because somebody else's work exploded next to mine in the kiln.
Morning writer or late-night words?
Morning, absolutely. Everything good, focused and pure happens in the morning. But I like the nighttime for lyrics.
Coffee, tea or any other drinks?
Coffee.
Handwritten notes or phone files?
Both. Whatever is closest to me at the time. I love 2 document things 4eva.
Something to nibble while you write?
Nah, I’m good, thanks mate.
What's your most tempting distraction?
My phone.
Any desk essentials?
A candle, something living (a plant), a tarot deck, a small stack of books, and a coffee. Then a selection of notebooks, blank-paged (lines are horrible!), tucked away in the desk drawer. My desk has an in-built side shelf, and I also like to have books handy in there that are about writing or creativity.
What's on the speakers?
I like to listen to those binaural ‘healing’ recordings, or otherwise music that is just ambient and doesn’t have any lyrics. But weirdly also like old Kanye West does it for me as well, which makes no sense, but there you go.
Writer uniform?
At my desk, if it’s cold, I’ve got a favourite checkered oversize blazer to wrap myself in. It usually sits on the back of my chair. Feeling my hair falling over the shoulders of it feels really nice and writerly.
What are your pre-writing rituals?
I try to do as little as possible before I write in the morning. Just make a coffee, and try not to speak to anybody.
The best word in the English language?
I don’t know, there are so many cool words!! At the moment I like the sound of ‘panoply’.
A poem that has changed your life:
It isn’t a poem, so I’m CHEATING, but an experimental novel containing prose: Virginia Woolf’s ‘The Waves’.