Member Spotlights Member Spotlight: Deborah Derrickson Kossmann January 23, 2025 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? Books are my first love and a safe harbor for me. Reading helps us develop empathy. It lowers stress. It helps our imagination and memory. Most importantly, it connects us to each other through our experiences. I have wanted to be a writer since I was little, it gave me a place to live in my imagination when the outside world wasn’t easy. What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Give yourself space and time to fill yourself up. Change of scenery, reading another writer’s work (poetry often works for me), visiting new places or seeing things–visual art, dance, nature– that aren’t writing related all can help jump start you. That said, writing can be hard and takes courage. Sometimes you need to push through the fear and just get it out. Just do that first draft even if you think it’s terrible. There’s always the seed of something useful in it. What is your favorite time to write? I feel like that’s a luxury to have a specific time. That doesn’t work for me. I see clients as a clinical psychologist in private practice although I’m trying to scale back my business to focus more on my writing. Any time I have some time is good for me to write. I’ve learned to be very efficient and write when I can even if it’s for shorter periods. That adds up! So if a client cancels or I have the morning off, I use that time. I do try and get into a residency once a year if I’m accepted. That time has been invaluable. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? I’ve had so many great mentors who’ve imparted useful advice. Writing to me has always been a calling. Good writing takes time to ripen. You need to respect your own process and what you need to do to grow it. You write because you love it whether you get published or not. No matter what, you always need to be sending work out into the world when it’s ready. Rejection happens repeatedly to all of us. Don’t let that stop you. What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Lost Found Kept is my first book and already I’ve had so many different kinds of people from all over reach out and talk about their own experiences and feelings about the book. There are so many venues to find out about good books. We all have to deal with social media, but one of the useful things is connecting with different audiences. I’m able to do book groups all over the world. Check out lostfoundkept.com for more information about ordering, events and news. Deborah Derrickson Kossmann’s Lost Found Kept is out now with Trio House Press.