Member Spotlight: Jennifer Della’Zanna

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I firmly believe that writers are the world’s truth-tellers, and that is important if we are to survive within our communities, societies, and as a civilization. We often make connections between events and thoughts that non-writers don’t. We reveal societal ills, and ways to fix them. Writing them down allows these thoughts and truths to be carried down to the next generations and be built upon–instead of each generation having to start fresh each time.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Clean the kitchen.

What is your favorite time to write? Midnight to 2am is my most creative time, but noon to 2pm is probably my most productive time. I have no idea why they’re 12 hours apart.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Write what you need to write when you need to write it. The market will come around. Sometimes you have to hang on to something a while, and sometimes you have only a small amount of time to get it out there. Follow your brain where it goes and be open to the universe’s prompts for when it’s ready for the work you did.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The very many ways our work can be experienced.

Jennifer Della’Zanna’s Making It in Country Music: An Insider’s Look at the Industry, co-written with Rich Redmond, is out now with Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.