Member Spotlight: Gary Scarpa

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? It’s important to me because I have stories to tell, and I have the talent and facility to write and publish those stories. My impression is that just about everyone has stories to tell. People tell me this all the time. Their problem is they don’t have the various factors needed to tell their stories. I feel fortunate that I do.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I have published three books in the last five years, and for reasons I can’t explain, I have never suffered from writer’s block. I suppose I’m just lucky in that sense.

What is your favorite time to write? I like to write between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. That said, I am retired.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? “Don’t write it right, just write it – and then make it right later.” I believe this quote is attributed to different people, but it doesn’t matter who said it because it’s great advice. Getting the story down on paper is the key. Making it “right” in the revising stage makes sense. Personally, I love revising!

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The wonderful thing about creating a published work, no matter how much a writer is making or isn’t making, is that the work lives on forever. As a person who created theater, once the live play closes, it’s over and done with. Perhaps it exists in video form, but it just isn’t the same thing. A book is different. It lives on in its original form, there to be enjoyed by others forever.

Gary Scarpa’s Still Life is out now.