Member Spotlight: Diane O’Neill

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I’ve written since I was nine years old, after falling in love with books when I was eight. I was a shy kid, and book characters became my friends, their stories a window to a world outside my unhappy home. When I was nine, during Holy Week break, I had an existential moment, thinking of life and death–I went to a very Catholic School, and this was Holy Thursday or Good Friday–and realized that the author names on the spines of my books lived on. So I decided I wanted to be an “author” when I grew up. Today I write poetry and essays for adults, but I especially love writing fiction for kids, and I’ve just had my second children’s picture book published. Both books deal with serious topics–food insecurity and drug addiction. I want to let children know that they’re not alone, and that hope exists. I write lighthearted picture books too, though, including one about an Easter Bunny with a poor sense of direction (based on yours truly’s difficulties with north and south, east and west). Writing is miraculous in its power to connect people. The written word provides intimate insight into another person’s thoughts and feelings– a person who could be on the other side of the globe or who lived centuries ago. Writing helps us understand each other, despite our differences. I love James Baldwin’s words: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I juggle! I typically work on more than one piece at a time. If I’m blocked on one story, I’m usually not stuck on another, or maybe a poem will call to me. Working on something else gives my subconscious a chance to work, and when I turn back to the original piece, I often have an inspired “ah ha!” moment. That said, there have been times in my life when my writers’ block was major, not so easily surmountable. I find Toni Morrison’s words comforting: “I tell my students there is such a thing as ‘writer’s block,’ and they should respect it. You shouldn’t write through it. It’s blocked because it ought to be blocked, because you haven’t got it right now. All the frustration and nuttiness that comes from ‘Oh, my God, I cannot write now’ should be displaced. It’s just a message to you saying, ‘That’s right, you can’t write now, so don’t.’ … When I read a book, I can always tell if the writer has written through a block. If he or she had just waited, it would have been better or different, or a little more natural. You can see the seams.”

What is your favorite time to write? I don’t think I have one. I typically start my writing day at 7 a.m. with a London Writers’ Salon (LWS) online writing hour, and at 7 p.m., I close all my documents and exit the LWS virtual cabin. I take breaks, of course! But my writing day is bookended by virtual writing time with fellow scribblers. In addition to the London Writers’ Salon sessions, I enjoy virtual writing with the Office of Modern Composition and a Shut Up and Write group. In all these sessions, you tell the group, either verbally or in the chat, what you plan to work on, and then you write in silence with others–alone, but together. At the end, we say how it went. That’s all– and it’s magical. I call these sessions “play dates” with faraway friends.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? I like Julia Cameron’s words about discipline: “Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline … True, our artist may rise at dawn to greet the typewriter or easel in the morning stillness. But this event has more to do with a child’s love of secret adventure than with ironclad discipline. What other people may view as discipline is actually a play date that we make with our artist child: “I’ll meet you at 6:00 a.m. and we’ll goof around with that script, painting, sculpture… Our artist child can best be enticed to work by treating work as play.”

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? This is a golden age for writers! There’s a wealth of online courses and resources, many of them free. It’s much easier to get your work out there in nontraditional ways. I don’t blog or use Substack myself, but these platforms help writers find an audience for their words and ideas, without having to pass through traditional publishing gatekeepers or spend time lingering in slushpiles! What I love most today is the connection with other writers. When I was pregnant with my son, a well-meaning friend told me I’d have to kiss my writing goodbye. I immediately signed up for a writing class–but I wondered. Did new moms write? That question seems laughable now, because I belong to so many writing groups with new moms quite visible! But back then, it wasn’t as easy to connect. Thanks to the magic of the Internet and Zoom, I have global writing buddies. I’m in Chicago, but my accountability buddy lives in Northern Ireland, and I write in a virtual cabin alongside a writing pal in Canada, me crafting picture book drafts while she works on her dissertation. I’ve just made a poetry pal who lives in California. Truly a magical time for us scribes!

Diane O’Neill’s Please Be OK: A Story About Addiction, illustrated by Anastasiya Kanavaliuk, is out now with Albert Whitman & Company.