Member Spotlight: Barbara Worton

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I have been writing since I was very young. Writing is how I make sense out of the world–even if I’m writing fiction–and it’s how I hope to connect with other people who relate to and see themselves in my stories. I think that storytelling can bring total strangers together and change how they see the world or think about others and their experiences. That is a superpower–one reason I write and why writing is so important today.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Automatic writing gets me through many blocks. I’ve been automatic writing since it was first introduced to me by Armand Schwerner when I was in college. I have also spent some time with “The Artist’s Way” and still often write three pages before I go to sleep. I start with whatever word or phrase pops into my head and keep going. That usually digs me out of any hole, particularly if I do it before sleeping. It’s like a scrub brush to my brain, and I wake up clear-headed and knowing what to write next. “What am I trying to say?” is the question I ask myself as soon as I feel myself getting blocked. Sometimes, a block might happen for a good reason, and I consider what is stopping me getting my words out. I look at my theme, characters, plot and story arc and try to figure out what I’m missing and what it holding me back.

What is your favorite time to write? I’m usually at my best in the morning, before breakfast. Before my husband is up, I’m at my desk writing, and I get back into it after lunch. If I’m on a deadline, I’ll stick with the writing all day, only breaking for lunch, cookies and tea.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? If you have something you need to say, say it. Just start writing and get it down on paper. Keep going until you’re at the end. Then go back and edit. That first draft was for you. Now, write your story for the rest of the world. You deserve to be heard.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? There are so many ways to publish today. That gives more people the opportunity to be heard and read. I like that. I do not like AI, but I do like my MacBook Pro and all the tools it offers to eliminate the barriers to getting what’s in my head down on the page.

Barbara Worton’s Chatterbox is out now with Susan Schadt Press.