Member Spotlight: Travis Starnes

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing is important (to me and to the world) because it is how we share the human experience. The thing that allows people to better understand and empathize with those in other cultures is to hear their stories, and writing is a way to get far beyond your personal sphere and experience the world through someone else’s eyes. Writing makes the world a better place.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Write something else, but keep writing. I always have multiple works going at a time, so I just switch what I’m working on and let the story I’m stuck on percolate in the back of my head.

What is your favorite time to write? Late at night when everyone else is asleep. Cause that’s when it’s quiet.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Treat it like a business, even if it’s your side hustle. Schedule time to write every day. Set deadlines. No one will take your writing seriously until you take it seriously.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The ability to reach readers without going through gatekeepers. A hundred years ago, traditional publishing was the only way to get your works out there, and there were whole sections of the world that couldn’t get the physical book. Now, it’s easy to get your books everywhere.

Travis Starnes’s Second Down is out now with Renegade Publishing.