Member Spotlight: Kathie Giorgio

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I believe that writers often say out loud what others are thinking, but don’t quite have the courage to say. We address current issues head on…and we often present all sides of a story, rather than just one aspect of it. “Story” is what brings sense to the world, a way of presenting dramatically what is happening. When readers read about a person, and about what happens to a person, it brings so much more impact and realization than just seeing numbers and headlines. Writers work hard to make the world understandable.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Frankly, I don’t believe in writer’s block. One of my favorite New Yorker comics showed a writer sitting by his typewriter (which shows how old this comic is!) and all around him are crumpled-up pieces of paper, where he started something and then gave up. The writer says, “I didn’t get anything done today. I must have writer’s block!” But all around him is the evidence of hard work that he didn’t follow through on. I think instead of writer’s block, what we have is writer’s fear. “Can I really say that? Should I say that?” And so we stop. Writing is all about the courage to keep moving forward and to say what needs to be said.

What is your favorite time to write? I’m an afternoon writer. I meet with students and clients in the morning, and then again in the evening. I think, though, if I had the opportunity, my favorite time to write would be all damn day.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? One of my mentors said to me, “If you write the story you’ve planned, you lose the story you’re given.” This made me give up, always and forever, the idea of outlining or planning everything out before I even started writing. I’m a big believer in the creative process. What we do is called “creative writing”. Planning is not creative. Let your mind go where it’s going to go, and the most amazing things happen.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I’m not quite sure how to answer that. There are so many changes going on in the publishing and writing industry, that I’m not sure if I should be excited or worried. But I will say that we certainly don’t have a shortage of things to write about!

Kathie Giorgio’s Hope Always Rises is out now with Black Rose Writing.