Member Spotlight: Tracy Smith

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? All my life I’ve gotten therapy from writing. First my young diaries, then school reports, essays, poems, and dream journals, then lists galore and notebooks of memories, and in all the years of writing, words have flown out of me much better on paper than in speech. The world needs to respect and preserve the written pages of our lives and produce more despite this digital age. Nothing feels as good as getting an old-fashioned letter in the mail, except maybe finding one in the attic.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I make a phone call to a close friend or my sisters. I will find a friendly voice to bounce ideas around with. I will ask them for a memory…or quiz them on something random about their life. Just connecting with my favorite people inspires me to write something down. Even if it’s just their silly reply with no real answer, or a personal anecdote, it’s a start. It could even be an important conversation piece to somebody, somewhere, someday.

What is your favorite time to write? I write when I’m inspired to write, but mostly I do my work in the afternoon and early evening. Mornings are devoted to personal growth, exercise, animals, home chores, and afternoons to work. If I’m on a roll, though, I have been known to write for hours into the evening. I just never start late.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? I heard an editor once say: Write drunk. Edit sober. This has always stuck! Now, I don’t even drink. But the point is these 2 key writer’s tasks are opposites! Writing should be creative, messy, and uninhibited. Like a drunkard! But when it comes to the business of polishing it up, things get particular and proper.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Having the ability to share my personal stories with a global audience…at the touch of a button. Knowing that I can give honor to heroes, military veterans, adoptees and their families and others along the way is all the motivation I need to keep writing.

Tracy Smith’s Pennies from Vietnam: A Sister at Home, a Brother at War is out now with McFarland.