Member Spotlight: Lisa G Hewitt

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing transports. Writing democratizes. Writing connects people, provokes discussion, transforms communities, topples empires. “The pen is mightier than the sword” isn’t an aphorism: it’s truth. There’s a reason autocrats hate books and try to burn them, and it isn’t because they think bonfires are pretty. Writing (generally) requires reading, and reading transforms brains. Reading inculcates comprehension and critical thinking in children. The Orlando Children’s Hospital says reading to your child can reduce their stress, slow the progression of mental illness, and even increase life expectancy. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “The first six years of life are essential for developing language and reading connections.” My mother, who studied early childhood development, says reading helps children establish linear thinking: cause and effect, and logical progressions. Don’t even get me started on Marshall McLuhan’s research. Social media, on the other hand, affects dopamine pathways, setting up addictive behavior that’s devilishly hard to break. According to Amen Clinics, “…studies have noted that excessive smartphone use is associated with difficulties in cognitive-emotion regulation, impulsivity, and impaired cognitive function.” I’ve noticed, myself, that excessive social media usage changes how I read—literally, how my eyes track a page—and shortens my attention span. THAT is unacceptable. Writing is important to me because it’s one of the purest forms of self-expression our world has. And it’s the only legacy I’ll leave. People might forget my singing, my gardening, or my education; but my books will be here and accessible—and hopefully still read—long after I’m gone.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I just start writing. I put words on the page. Once I’m inside my protagonist’s head, I follow her around for a while and see where she leads. I ask a lot of “what if?” questions. The more outrageous, the better. I jot down those rabbit trails. If I end up not using them, who cares? I’ve broken the block. I pick up a book that has prose I love, and get lost. I pray. If I’m stuck, I go for a walk. Being in nature somehow unblocks me, and it’s not half bad for my health, either.

What is your favorite time to write? When I’m tired. Oddly, it’s almost as if I enter a dream state, and it’s easier to get lost in the flow of story. When I’m wide awake, my editor’s brain kicks in.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Read as much as you can, especially authors whose works you respect. Read fiction, poetry, nonfiction. Read outside your genre. Ask librarians for ideas. Check out BookPage and the Booker website and Kirkus and Poets & Writers. Your output is derived from your input. I can’t read bad writing anymore; it shows up on my page. I have way too many “did not finish” books because I’ve become very particular about the books I stick with.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? We’re countercultural. Everybody’s online, and we writers are hanging out in the stacks, so to speak. I suppose I’m a bit of a rebel that way; I always have been, although my “countercultural” habits don’t show up in obvious ways. Writers are natural rebels, I think—we’re trying to share this inner world through our writing, and we end up changing the real world through our writing, for good or ill. That’s why we have to be very careful what we put on the page. What will the reader take away from our latest book? How will it change her thinking, her perceptions, her self-regard, her vote? I think writers come far closer to “playing God” than even scientists do, even if we take into account all the AI and genetic manipulation that’s happening now—and that’s saying something.

Lisa G. Hewitt’s Radical, written under her pen name L Maristatter, is out September 15 with NiffyCat Press.