Member Spotlight: Allison Pottern

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? A high school English teacher once told me: “You only get to live one life. But reading lets you live many lives.” I take that idea with me into my work. Writing is about the cultivation of imagination. I try to make sure that the worlds and characters I’m portraying are allowing my readers to look beyond their own lives, ultimately in order to examine their own more deeply. Our world could use more imaginative thinking, more opportunities to connect with others, to dwell in intimate experience. I think speculative fiction is especially well-suited to the challenge — it allows writers to push readers even further outside their comfort zones, to ask questions about our future or what makes us human.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I try not to view writer’s block as being a reflection on my ability as a writer. But I do find it helpful to acknowledge that the block *is* coming from inside *me.* Sometimes it’s not something I can help — health reasons or family reasons, preventing me from finding the space and time to write the way I need to. But other times the block has more to do with my own mindset. Self-doubt, dejection, jealousy all of these can make the writing feel impossible. So I do my best to notice what the cause of the block is and do something about that *first.* That’s usually a big help. Usually, if I know the vague shape of a thing, I just have to sit down and push through the hard, unknown bits to get to the scenes I’m excited for. If I don’t know the shape of the thing (and I don’t have an urgent deadline), then that usually means I need to be patient and work on something else until inspiration strikes.

What is your favorite time to write? I find I get some of my best writing done in the afternoon, after I’ve put it off for as long as possible and right before my kids get home from school (of course!)

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? “Writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum.” I used to think this meant good writing comes from a life of experiences. And while I still think that’s true, what it has mostly come to mean to me as I’ve developed my writing career, is that writing can’t thrive in isolation. If I had not chosen to actively grow my creative community, I would not be the writer I am today, and I certainly would not be published and continuing to pursue publication. Read as much as you can, engage with the work in whatever ways are meaningful to you. Join writing communities, interact with fellow writers online, attend author events and workshops when you can. It is *work* and it doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s joyful work, if you pursue it.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Especially as a sci-fi/fantasy author, I’m most excited about the glorious feast of speculative fiction that’s currently getting written, published, and read. The genre has expanded in so many incredible ways. There’s still a lot of work to do and there aren’t as many traditional outlets as there once were. But there are a growing number of choices and opportunities for writers of all stripes to have their voices heard and that’s a beautiful thing.

New Year, New You: A Speculative Anthology of Reinvention is out now with ‎Immortal Jellyfish Press.