Member Spotlight: Martha Gies

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? It is the only thing I know how to do, though I’m not sure that it continues to be an important medium for the world. Maybe we all need more silence, or the sound of the rising seas.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Writer’s block? Never. But if I’m feeling a little flat, music will change that–either flamenco (Paco de Lucía) or Bach (Suites for Cello, Pablo Casals).

What is your favorite time to write? Early morning, over first cup of black coffee. And then for the rest of the morning.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Back in 1980, in a class with Raymond Carver, he told us he earned one dollar when he published his first poem. “One dollar!” one of the students groaned. “But then, nobody ever asked you to write,” Carver said, with a smile of amusement. I think of that line often, and tell that story in my memoir of Ray– included in the new book.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Turning 80, having lived long enough to have a significant past, understanding that my future will have an end; and feeling gratitude that writing still excites me.

Martha Gies’s Broken Open is out now with Trail to Table.