Member Spotlight: Dawn McIntyre

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? The written word influences and teaches and forms bonds between people. Writing is how we make our mark on the world and how we record our history. I enjoy writing because it’s something I have a knack for, and I believe we should use the gifts we’ve been given. I also enjoy entertaining people with my stories.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Setting the story aside, working on something else, then reading the troublesome piece (or as much as I have written) from start to finish. Sometimes a little more research is helpful.

What is your favorite time to write? In the evening after dinner, or Saturday mornings. If I get a really great idea, I’ll steal a moment anywhere I can. My very favorite time is whenever a story is going particularly well and just flies onto the pages.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Set your scene, place your characters in it, then write your story. Outlining runs a close second. Even if it’s done casually, outlining keeps me from going off on tangents and helps me write a book in less than twenty years–always a good thing.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I’m more excited about writing now than I was as a young woman because everything that I’ve learned has fallen into place and I can produce stories that I’m proud of. I’ve also become more prolific, writing many more pieces in the twelve years after turning fifty than I did in the decades before.

Dawn McIntyre’s The Paper Pirate is out now with Running Wild Press.