Member Spotlight: Jennifer Faye

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I fell in love with reading as a small child and by elementary school I was writing short stories. Wish I still had those. I’m sure they’d provide a lot of amusement. So reading and writing is a part of me. I’d be lost without either of them. I think books are important to the world because they can put you in another person’s shoes. You can see another perspective. And maybe it will provide the reader with more empathy.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I have two remedies that so far have worked for me. *knock on wood* 1. Write every day. Even if it’s just a hundred words. Sometimes it’s just sitting down, putting my hands on the keyboard and centering my thoughts on the story that gets the words flowing. Then again, there are days when it doesn’t work. So I work on admin and try again the next day. 2. Sometimes I will write a book out of order. I will write the scenes that are screaming at me to be written. It really gets the words flowing. The price is that later I have to go back and write bridges for all of those scenes.

What is your favorite time to write? Morning! Hands down is the best time to write. It’s when I have the most energy and my imagination is running wild. lol. Afternoons are not so great. They are better for admin. After dinner, I can usually get a couple of hours of good writing.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Finish the book. It’s hands down the best advice. A lot of authors, myself included, get distracted with plot bunnies. Don’t chase them. I find it best to write down the ideas so you don’t forget them and revisit them later.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? That I get to be the captain of my own ship! I can go the traditional path or be indie or do the hybrid thing. I think it’s an amazing time to be an author. Are there new challenges every day? Yes. But none of those challenges stop me from putting words on the page and letting my imagination come to life, so to speak. I once heard someone say that writing is as close to magic as we can get and I agree. I mean when my characters take over the stories, it’s the most amazing feeling. My husband will ask me what I’m up to that day and I tell him that I have to go write because I want to know what happens next in the story. lol.

Jennifer Faye’s Puppy Love & Snowflake Kisses is out October 1 with Lazy Dazy Press.