Get to Know: Billie Stubley | Part One

Recent graduate of Bath Spa University with a first degree in Creative Writing, Billie Stubley, 21, aspiring novelist and co-director of Bath’s Rhyme and Reason poetry night, sits down with me in Costa after her shift to discuss writing, inspiration, her creative projects, and life after the degree.

How are you?

I’m good, yeah, tired from work but yeah it’s good. How are you?

Prepared with my questions. Okay, hit me. So the angle I’m taking on this article is ‘my life after the degree’ and you studied creative writing at Bath Spa and you’re currently continuing with two different creative projects right now, aren’t you? With Rhyme and Reason and your debut novel? Yes. Can you tell me a little bit about those? Rhyme and Reason is a poetry collective. We run events in and around Bath with plans to expand to Bristol. We have two events at Bath Spa SU a month, but we’re slowing those down, as we’re getting a little bit less traction but they’re still a good outlet for students. We also have a night at The Bath Brewhouse on the last Wednesday of the month, which is our more professional nights; we have a headliner and people with slots that we’ve seen before so we know the quality of the work. That one is our showcase of the month. And then my novel is… I always ‘brand’ it as a younger, filthier, ‘Bridget Jones’. Or an X-rated ‘Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging’. It’s called ‘A Constant State Of Mediocrity’ and it’s based around a character Kate who’s 21, in her second year at uni and she’s going through life and relationships. It’s a lot about sex and the modern age and the university experience, especially in England because I found there wasn’t a lot written about that except for all the extreme stereotypes. I just wanted my novel to be the humour in the normality of it, her going about her life. With your writing what would you say is your process? Like where and how do you write? It depends really. Whenever I have an idea for a poem it’s when and where. So I write it or write down an idea, and when I get home I type it up. And with the novel, it’s more that I force myself to do it. I find if I don’t sit down and think “Today I’m writing my novel” then I don’t write it. It’s good to have a day where you decide that today’s the day you work on your novel, and it’s getting into that routine and making it feel normal to be writing the novel. I always write on my laptop, usually in bed with Buzzfeed up in the background distracting me. Or giving me ideas because Buzzfeed is very millennial which is great for my novel cause it’s just like ‘25 Things 20 Year Olds Love’ and I read it like “oh this is good for the novel”. And you work full-time? Yes, I do. I work full time at Odeon cinema. I’m actually a manager now which is quite fun, but it does make it a little harder to write. I always find time on my days off, though. That’s what I was going to ask. What’s it like fitting your projects around a full time job? It’s hard. Especially because I don’t have a set schedule, so I don’t know if I’m working days or nights or what days I’ll get off. But I try and find some time whether it’s after or before work or a certain time on my day off. It’s difficult to juggle but it is a reality. That’s the whole theme of the article, the realities of being a writer. Because not everyone can go into a Masters degree or automatically publish. Yeah that was not an option for me. I just couldn’t feasibly warrant spending seven grand for a Masters when I could write my book myself without paying for it. Not that a Masters is not a great opportunity and if you have the means to do it it’s a great thing to do, I just couldn’t think of it as a good enough option for me.