Member Spotlight: Laurie Vanzura

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Facts don’t matter, but storytelling does. If we have any hope of changing the world for the better, we need uplifting or enlightening media that create a better world through storytelling.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I don’t get writer’s block. If I get stuck in a book it means I haven’t fully thought it through. I take a break and do something mindless and let my mind wander. Unless you have a medical condition causing true cognitive issues, calling the mulling process writer’s block is self-indulgent procrastination in my opinion.

What is your favorite time to write? Morning.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Just do it. Really. Stop ruminating and fantasizing. Get the words on the page. That’s the only way it gets done. Let it be crap. It’s part of the process.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The sky is the limit. Writers are in charge of their own destiny these days. The only thing holding you back is yourself.

The Keepsake Sisters by Laurie Vanzura writing as Lori Wilde is out now with William Morrow Publishers.