Lou:
It must have been exhilarating to see the attention triggered by the original post. I think reaching 2.5+ million readers qualifies as viral post. And you didn’t even need to include a cat video.
Ella:
Exhilarating, surreal, plain weird. It was so hard to relate to it, because visualising those numbers of people is darn near impossible. I hate to think what would have happened if one of the 11 words had been cat-related.
Lou:
What I find particularly unique is that artists don’t usually write and those who write struggle with the visual side. But you bring both together in your work. Even if you didn’t recognize it at the time, did this gift surface during your childhood?
Ella:
Someone mentioned this to me recently and so I’ve been thinking about it a little more. As you say, it seems that some people who struggle to express themselves in words can produce amazing visual art, and writers often don’t have any desire to pick up a paintbrush, or really need to. For me, it’s very simple: I’ve always written, and I’ve always made a mess with crayons and paint and ink and whatever else I can get my paws on.
Lou:
I enjoyed this passage in one of your recent posts:
“They don’t teach you how to behave when people can go into a bookstore and flick through the pages, the ones covered in you, your blood and sweat and tears and whatever else it took to finish this thing. They turn the unnumbered pages, looking inside you, yet not really knowing you at all. But that’s OK, because this is exciting, this is real.”
Ella:
Thank you! I have less and less time to write, but sometimes (above is an example) there’s something I have to put down into words, otherwise I will not sleep.
Lou:
What allows you to write and illustrate how you feel? It’s not easy.
Ella:
Many things. Frustration, humans, necessity, beauty. Some days nothing, some days everything.
Lou:
Any thoughts on storytelling in today’s world where people are pummeled with so much information 24 X 7.
Ella:
Oh, many. We are fed on a steady (frantic) diet of images, news, more images, advertising. In general people aren’t very good at slowing down — reading more slowly, living more gently. I think storytelling is a brilliant way of reminding us we are human, because stories are all that we are. Where we have come from, and hopefully how we will stay together.
Lou:
One final question. Can you share a teaser on your second book? Will it be something along the lines of “Return of Lost in Translation” or you headed a new direction?
Ella:
I don’t think I can scream its title to the skies yet, but it is in a similar vein to Lost in Translation, yes. There will be words, there will be pictures, and it has languages from all over our small world.
Lou:
Thanks a ton for taking the time.
Ella:
You are most welcome.