Member Spotlight: Erin Becker

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing connects people. It’s always a thrill to read a book and realize the author has put into words something you’ve always felt, but have never quite known how to articulate. I love how books can make you feel seen and understood.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I try to treat it like any other job. I put it in my calendar and do my best to complete my “shifts.” I think the less I put writing up on a pedestal, the better. It’s clocking in and clocking out!

What is your favorite time to write? My brain definitely works best in the morning, so I schedule two hours of writing in the morning before I start my day job. I also try to sneak off Friday afternoons to write when I can, ideally to a café to make it feel more fun, but it doesn’t always happen.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? This is for novelists: your character needs to want something, and that desire should drive every scene in the book. Once you nail that, the rest becomes so much easier!

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? There’s less hierarchy around genre, category, and medium than ever before. I write for young people, and I don’t have adult fiction writers saying, “Oh, that’s cute.” The sort of thing you used to hear. Audiobooks are cool, graphic novels are cool, mixing genres and playing within different categories is cool. It’s an exciting time to be a storyteller. I think we’re in a rich era for experimentation.

Erin Becker’s Crushing It is out Tuesday with‎ Penguin Workshop.