Member Spotlight: David R. Roth

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? The task of committing words to the page is a testament to the attention we pay to that which is within and without us. And paying attention is the prerequisite to a meaningful life. That to which we pay attention speaks volumes about who we are. Writing about the experience speaks to what we think. Taken together, the attention and documentation speak to our humanity.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Writer’s block is a failure of imagination, of curiosity. To avoid it I simply ask myself what don’t I know? I am never wanting for answers.

What is your favorite time to write? I am of the Toni Morrison school of writing: I write when you feel like it.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? My advice is to ignore most of the advice you hear/read and focus on figuring out why you sat down in front of a blank piece of paper or computer screen in the first place. (And avoid giving other people advice too.) But if you are in desperate need of a tip, here’s my favorite suggestion: pay attention.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Nothing about being a writer excites me; the excitement is in the act of writing. And that excitement–the wonder, the craft and the art, the mystery, the solitude–is ageless.

David R. Roth’s The Femme Fatale Hypothesis is out now with Regal House Publishing.