Ask the Author: Joe Medler
Answered Questions (6)
Joe Medler
I don't write for long stretches. I don't think it's really writer's block, but I let myself focus on editing or arranging or trying to write lyrics or reading and when it's time to get back to a project based schedule I grind until I find a hook to hang a story on. I don't know I've really dealt with writer's block. I've lacked motivation, but I don't think it's the same thing.
Joe Medler
I genuinely love the accomplishment of solving a problem I've gotten myself into in a story. That part is fun. I also love words and playing with them and there are occasionally sentences I've written that I instantly love. I can surprise myself and it feels good.
But the best is someone reading and enjoying your work. Nothing better than that.
But the best is someone reading and enjoying your work. Nothing better than that.
Joe Medler
Write. Don't talk about writing unless you are talking to other writers. Writers are people who write. For so long I did everything a writer should do except write. Sounds simple and for many I'm sure it is, but for me it is all in the discipline. Setting down and writing whether I have inspiration or not is most important for me. Inspiration finds me most when I'm grinding out word counts.
Joe Medler
I'm currently editing a novel that tells the story of a family. Through love and tragedy, dreams and disappointments, hurt and healing. Told from three generations each with their own perspective. I think it's a quite lovely story.
Joe Medler
I just live with characters in my head. Sometimes they are amalgams of characters in my world. The world and my head collide and interact. Poke and retreat and if I settle on a sentence I write it down. Then its just discipline to keep at it. Keep pulling on the thread. I think of it like an old shoelace with a tattered end. I twist and pull it until it is a tiny thread (a first sentence), so I can push through the eyelet, then I keep pulling it through until the rest of the laces comes through the ring.
Joe Medler
My most recent work is a short story titled, "It All Started Down at the Stewarts". I promise, there is no apostrophe as it is the name of a northeastern convenience store and the decision was there's. Anyway, the idea for the book came as I was fleshing out the life story of a central character in a WIP Novel. When I fell into his father's world I just kept going. I essentially wrote it in 2 or 3 sittings and realized I had a self contained story I wanted to share.
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