Member Spotlight: Sara Glass

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? When I left the Hasidic community of my childhood, I crawled my way out of the closet doors over the course of a decade, until I finally came out as a lesbian. I looked back and knew there were many others like me, still hiding, still stuck. I write because the written word is a way to reach people everywhere. I write because I believe storytelling can reach hearts and change minds.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block?

I tend to be conscious of my brain space capacity on a given day. There are times when I have blocked out the hours in my schedule for the purpose of writing, but my energy is just not there due to lack of sleep, other worries, etc. At those times, I use the hours to write what I know will be very subpar, unusable drafts. I know I will set those aside those later. However, those drafts do serve to clear my mind and prepare me for later work. I guess I am saying that writing can be the cure for writer’s block- writing with low expectations and a lot of self-compassion.

What is your favorite time to write? Early morning. To be clear, I rarely get to write in the early hours of the morning because I have an amazing four-year-old who wakes me most days. However, I will hold onto the dream that one day, I will get to slowly sit up as the light in my room changes, review my drafts over coffee, and then write without a timer on, without rushing off to the next task of the day. One day.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? For memoir and personal essay writing: “Write as if from the grave.”

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? I love having a social media presence that allows me to speak directly to my readers, and to show some behind-the-scenes content. (IG: @drsaraglass)

Sara Glass’s Kissing Girls on Shabbat is out now with Atria/One Signal Publishers.