Interview Anthology Helps Writers Be 'Brave'

Because writing is often a solitary endeavor, writers can sometimes feel isolated. Brave on the Page, an anthology of interviews with a diverse cross-section of writers, offers a sense of camaraderie and a communion with kindred spirits.

 

Edited by Laura Stanfill, Brave on the Page (Forest Avenue Press, 198 pages) features interviews with writers of many different genres: travel, sci fi, children’s literature, just to name a few.

 

In Brave on the Page, writers provide insight into the creative process and how they get ideas; how they find time to write while managing families and, in some cases, day jobs; and how to deal with agents and publishers and cope with – and learn from – rejection.

 

As a writer myself, I drew a lot of inspiration and motivation from Brave on the Page. Here are just a sampling of some of the insights I found most helpful:

 

“I don’t know if this works for all writers, but I just tried to keep submitting at a certain rate (say ten places a month with various stories) without even thinking about it too much. I’d get a rejection and I’d mark that submission off the list and that simply meant I had another one to send out. I was more like a detached secretary with regard to this process.”

 

-   Yuri Zalkow, author, of the critically-acclaimed comedic novel, A Brilliant Novel in the Works

 

“Attend and try to do local readings. If you’re serious about being a writer, then you have to be a team player and go to writer’s events. We all know it’s all about you, but you have to at least pretend otherwise. Don’t be competitive; we’re all in this together.”

 

-   Kristy Athens, author of the nonfiction book, Get Your Pitchfork On!: The Real Dirt on Country Living

“It’s very hard to get the world to pay attention to anything for long, especially a debut novel. But then I remind myself why we do this – we write for ourselves and out of loyalty to the stories we need to tell.”

 

-   Scott Sparling, author of the technology-inspired crime novel, Wire to Wire

“I lie on a twin bed squeezed against my long-limbed daughter, who insists on too many stuffed animals. … My daughter moves from songs to stories, from stories to slowed-down breaths. I lie there, eyes shut, until the story inside me gets restless. I must write one thing down.”

 

-   Laura Stanfill, novelist, award-winning journalist, freelance editor and publisher

 

Although the writers featured in Brave on the Page live and/or work in the Pacific Northwest region (the subtitle is Oregon Writers on Craft and the Creative Life), the insights they share are universal. For more information, visit http://www.forestavenuepress.com.