Member Spotlight: MJ Pankey

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I love to write about emotional and social conflict in my stories. Thinking about my characters’ motivations and how they react to these situations helps me to understand myself and others better in similar situations. It’s a personal growth experience as well as an outlet of understanding the world and people around me.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? This happens to me a lot. I’ve learned to accept this as my Muse telling me I’m going in the wrong direction with my story. Usually, when I explore a different direction, the writer’s block goes away. Sometimes this means letting go of an idea I really liked, but I can’t remember a time when this decision wasn’t the best thing for my story.

What is your favorite time to write? I like writing first thing when I wake up and the last thing before I go to bed. Last thing before I go to bed allows me to have sorted out my thoughts over the course of the day into something coherent and organized. And first thing in the morning let’s me revise what I wrote the night before and continue building on it while it’s still fresh.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? You’re not going to please every single reader, so don’t let the obsession with perfection slow down your progress. There’s no such thing as writing a novel that doesn’t require some amount of editing. Do the best you can, make sure the chapter accomplishes what you need it to, and then move on. Perfection can come during the editing phase.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? What excites me most is just how many avenues to writing exist. There’s no one way to do it, you can get a writing degree or not, you can get a coach or not, you can find an agent or not, you can trad pub or not, hire a marketing team or not, do it all yourself or not. There’s no right or wrong way, no one way or only way to be an author or be successful at it. There are tons of options, which can be overwhelming at times, and some avenues work better than others, but for those of us passionate enough to stick with it, there is a way.

MJ Pankey’s Oracle of Helinthia: The Gripping Tale of Gods and Mortals in Ancient Greece Continues! is out now with Muse and Quill Press.