Member Spotlight: Christi Harlan

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? J.D. Salinger wrote in “Seymour: An Introduction” in a letter from Seymour Glass to his brother, Buddy: “When was writing ever your profession? It’s never been anything but your religion. Never.” I’ve never believed that the writers who have touched me were writing for me. I am glad they were writing for themselves and let me read their works.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I never touch the keyboard until the words are in my head. I write while I walk, while I shower, while I wash dishes. The last place I write is on the computer.

What is your favorite time to write? Any time the words are ready in my head. Even when I had a full-time job as a writer, I would capture my thoughts when they were ready, whether on paper, on a computer, on a BlackBerry, on an Android phone.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? From J.D. Salinger, again, in Seymour: An Introduction, the advice from reader Seymour Glass to writer Buddy Glass: “Keep me up till five only because all your stars are out, and for no other reason.” Translated: Don’t keep me awake because I see errors or inconsistencies. Keep me awake because I am dazzled by your words, your ideas or your revelations. “All your stars.”

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I have an opportunity to apply 20 years of skills as a newspaper reporter and another 20 years in public affairs to craft and promote a book that is historically important and otherwise unknown. It’s a scoop, and that makes my heart beat fast.

Christi Harlan’s Mr. President, The Class Is Yours: Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School Lessons in Washington, D.C. is out now.