Member Spotlight: Teresa Tumminello Brader

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing is an important way for me to process the memories of events and feelings that have stayed with me through the years, whether it be in a nonfictional or fictional form. It also is a way for me to imagine how things might’ve been or still could be different. Anyone can benefit from writing anything at any time, if one is attuned to getting beneath the surface of quotidian life and thoughts. It helps the writer know what they know, and also exercises one’s empathy for the rest of the world.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? If I don’t feel like writing (which is unusual), or I don’t have time to write (which is more usual), I just don’t. I try not to obsess over it, though that’s hard to do late at night when I should be sleeping. I’m a voracious reader, so usually something I’m reading will nudge me into a thought I want to get down on the page, and I make sure I do as soon as I can.

What is your favorite time to write? Early afternoon. I’ve cleared the deck of morning chores, and it’s before hunger calls me into the kitchen for dinner.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Don’t throw any of your writing away. Inevitably you will want to reuse a sentence, a phrase, a thought, or even just a perfect single word, from something you’ve given up on.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The camaraderie I feel with readers and writers I haven’t met. The community and support is real.

Teresa Tumminello Brader’s Letting In Air and Light is out now with Belle Point Press.