Member Spotlight: Elisabeth Haggblade

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I like to leave a personal record. We use the medium of writing to record our civilization, our human history, and to share our thoughts with future generations of all cultures. Oral traditions alone would not allow for the wealth and detail of the written word.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I once heard a student explain to his professor that he did not know how to begin writing his thesis. After spilling out his troubles, the professor said: “Begin by writing down what you have just told me.” Yes, just writing down the problem is a start.

What is your favorite time to write? During the initial composing, any time is a good writing time. In advanced composing, very early morning till noon is the best writing time.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Be clear about the target of your writing. Ask yourself: Is it mainly to serve you, the writer, to satisfy the need to express yourself, or Is your writing aimed more at the reader? Are you trying to reach a particular audience? Stay on your target throughout your writing.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Writing now is in flux: Cross-genre, genre-free. Any voice can make itself heard. For every voice there is an audience. And the different print forms, audio, and multimedia make a writer’s work available to a larger reader audience today.

Elisabeth Haggeblade’s Trauterose: Growing Up in Postwar Munich is out now with Glass Spider Publishing.