Member Spotlight: J L Wilson

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing gives me a chance to create new worlds where people eventually find a solution to problems and where the girl and guy find each other — after a lot of angst, usually.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Several ways: go for a drive. Put the car in cruise control and let your mind roam. Find an online mindless game (mine is Bubble Mags); play for a while and hear dialog in your head. I write in different genres and I find switching to a different genre reawakens my creative side. Try doing a novella or try another genre, just for a few scenes, and see if that spurs something. When in doubt: set the house on fire. In your book, not in real life 8) Force your hero/heroine out of their comfort zone and see what happens.

What is your favorite time to write? I do sketches/snippets in the morning. Then I weave them together in the evening. Somehow I never write much in the afternoon.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Define what success means for you and strive for that. Don’t compare yourself to other writers — they’re on their journey, you’re on yours.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The ability to self-publish books that would not find a home with a major publisher. I’m getting ready to release an 18-book series (that spans several decades initially then goes to other planets in the future). I doubt I’d find a publisher interested in that kind of scope. And I write about older heroes and heroines, and when I started (15 years ago), I could not find a publisher interested in that age demographic.

J L Wilson’s Mirrored is out now with Wild Rose Press.