Member Spotlights Member Spotlight: Carolyn Korsmeyer November 1, 2021 Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab) on Facebook (opens in a new tab) on Linkedin (opens in a new tab) via email Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I have always written something or other, even as a child. I began with (awful) poetry because I liked the sounds that could be made with words, continued with (incomplete) stories; diverted with a career of academic writing (philosophy); and am now back to fiction with novel writing. It is important to me partly because it is a way to explore other times and places through conjuring worlds in stories. It is important as a medium for the world in general, because humans have the great gift of language and enormous vocabularies. As a rule, only a fraction of that resource is used when we speak. Writing invites deeper exploration of ideas and subtleties of expression. What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I’m superstitious enough to worry about this statement, but I rarely experience writer’s block. (Touch wood.) Perhaps this is because I think on the page. As I write, ideas form and routes that suggest more continue open. For me, planning by way of outlines and so forth is more likely to stall, but sometimes ideas follow your fingers on the keyboard. What is your favorite time to write? Mornings. Or any other time when I am alone in the house. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Don’t wait for perfection before continuing to the next stage of whatever you are doing. Nothing is flawless. On the other hand, revise a lot! But you need a manuscript in order to revise, and if you insist on getting everything exactly right the first time around, that ms. might never develop. What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Actually, I find that the circumstances of writing today are more and more daunting. Too many voices screaming for attention, often issuing from social media. Writing takes a lot of time, and audiences are impatient. Carolyn Korsmeyer’s Charlotte’s Story is out now with Touchpoint Press.
