Member Spotlight: Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing to me is simply a natural way I process the world. It’s a way to document, share and contemplate our existence and perspectives on life. Writing is important because it produces a form of art for our pleasure. It produces art that helps us think in new ways and helps us learn from the past to build new futures. The medium helps provide mirrors for those who feel unseen, it opens new worlds to others. And it’s an art form that you can participate in at your own pace, and perhaps privately.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Ah, I don’t get writer’s block (knocks on wood). Time, and what I chose to put my intention to, are the only limitations to what I write and publish.

What is your favorite time to write? Always morning.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Take what you know and write about what you love. Also: don’t self-censor when you’re in that wild, free, imaginative first draft stage, especially if you are a woman.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I can choose to participate in any kind of publishing model that works for me. Indie books are getting more respect, and libraries seem to be the ones catching up to this first. There’s still a lot of work to be done in how we value, welcome and evaluate indie books but we’re getting somewhere.

Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos’s To Love like Venus is out now with Janus Point Press.