Member Spotlight: Anastasia Stacy Rubis

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing is important because I love to read – if I didn’t read, life would be diminished. Writing reveals our shared humanity and can help us laugh, cry, and understand ourselves and others better.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? The need for income. Just sitting down in the chair and—I’ve even set a timer. Re-reading a piece of my writing that I’ve forgotten, that surprises me because I think it’s good. That gives me hope and courage.

What is your favorite time to write? 11-4 pm, sometime in there.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Never give up. Don’t expect to make a living from writing.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Publishing a novel is the fulfillment of a childhood dream. My parents were from Greece and being a writer was not in the profession choices of teaching or engineering. I honestly don’t think it’s great to be a writer today, with the advent of AI and the closing of so many journalistic outlets.

Anastasia Stacy Rubis’s Oriana: A Novel of Oriana Fallaci is out now with Delphinium.