Member Spotlight: Timothy J. Hillegonds

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing—in ways big and small—is how I process this wonderful, strange, difficult, fun, tragic, and incredible ride we’re all on. It gives me a way to take this experience, this one wild and precious life as Mary Oliver put it, and examine it under a microscope so I can see it in all its complexity. Writing has given me a way into myself, and also out of myself, and I’m grateful that I found it. Writing is also the way we humans relate to one another. We tell stories that become part of other people’s stories, and it’s within those layers that our humanity lives.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? To show up to the page even when you’re not feeling it. To not fight the block. To understand that there is no one way to write and that not everyday is going to produce work that you’re proud of. It also helps to remember that it’s not about the output. It’s about the process and the discipline and the courage to show up even when you don’t want to, even when it’s hard, even when the words don’t seem to show up with you.

What is your favorite time to write? Early mornings, after a run, with a steaming cup of coffee.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? In grad school, when I was working on my first book, The Distance Between, my professor said, “You learn to write a book by writing a book.” Boy was she right.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Today, in the Age of AI, writing without an LLM, by which I mean doing the hard work of thinking, feels more important than ever. That excites me because it’s an incredible opportunity for us writers.

Timothy J. Hillegonds’s And You Will Call It Fate is out now with University of Nebraska Press.