Member Spotlight: Gary Graham

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing grants me an opportunity to translate science and other realities into believable visions that are accessible to broad audiences. It enables the right side of my brain to do its creative job expressing my overactive imagination. Writing invites the world to slow down enough to be contemplative, opening new portals of awareness and joy.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Thankfully, that has not happened frequently. When it does, I step away from the story for a while, listen to music, take a walk, or take a shower. These activities create periods of white space where my mind wanders, which leads to solutions and inspirations hard to grasp when I’m pressured by the immediacy of putting words on a page.

What is your favorite time to write? When I was younger, I wrote best late at night as in 10 p.m. until after midnight. Now that I’m not as young and can’t get by with only 5-6 hours of sleep each night, I’m prefer mornings through noon with several cups of coffee. Apart from clock hours, my favorite time to write is when the spirit, the inspirations hit me, and the words fly from my head to the page.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? During a writing class at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, an accomplished guest writer came out swinging with a statement that to be read, to be recognized, writers should take chances with their characters and even writing styles. That totally changed how I developed the characters in my novel, Parallels That Cross. I think such advice could help other writers move out of their comfort zones periodically and in doing so capture the attention of more readers.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The thing I enjoy the most about writing now is that it allows me to explore science and nature-based themes in ways that encourage readers to dive in and experience them. I hope that my writing also provides as enjoyable an escape from the tensions created by our political environment as it does for me.

Gary Graham’s Parallels That Cross is out now with Outskirts Press.