Ask the Author: Joanie Strulowitz
Answered Questions (8)
Joanie Strulowitz
I find inspiration everywhere, but if I waited for it to strike, I'd never get anything written. I truly believe that--as the old saying goes--the hardest part about writing is sitting down to start. Once I do though, I don't want to stop.
Sometimes the words pour out whole, and I write page after page nonstop. Other days, I feel like I'm plodding through to reach what Michelangelo called "the angel in the stone". Either way, I truly love the process. And can't not write.
Some things that inspire me: Stacks of yellow, narrow-ruled legal tablets. Buckets of Papermate Flair Medium pens. The side of a grocery bag as I walk home. Sitting on the floor. My Mac computer. Memories. Textures. Colors. The aroma of coffee. Random conversations, sights, experiences. Children. White noise. White light. Crystals. Books by amazing authors. And always, always the arts.
Sometimes the words pour out whole, and I write page after page nonstop. Other days, I feel like I'm plodding through to reach what Michelangelo called "the angel in the stone". Either way, I truly love the process. And can't not write.
Some things that inspire me: Stacks of yellow, narrow-ruled legal tablets. Buckets of Papermate Flair Medium pens. The side of a grocery bag as I walk home. Sitting on the floor. My Mac computer. Memories. Textures. Colors. The aroma of coffee. Random conversations, sights, experiences. Children. White noise. White light. Crystals. Books by amazing authors. And always, always the arts.
Joanie Strulowitz
To me, there are so many best things about it. Writing takes me inside myself and outside myself at the same time. It grounds me in the here and now--in my imagination--and in the Beyond, all at once.
As I say on my website, "Now, if I were ever stranded alone on a desert island? I would write on cave walls with a rock, sing to the moon, and dance by the thunder of the waves. Now, I seek to be the voice I was looking for when I was growing up, so the lessons I learned can help others find the gifts in their differences . . . and believe in themselves and their dreams."
As I say on my website, "Now, if I were ever stranded alone on a desert island? I would write on cave walls with a rock, sing to the moon, and dance by the thunder of the waves. Now, I seek to be the voice I was looking for when I was growing up, so the lessons I learned can help others find the gifts in their differences . . . and believe in themselves and their dreams."
Joanie Strulowitz
One day, when my pen touched the page of my journal, it was if my hand took on a life of its own . . . and pages started pouring out of me. When I finally stopped writing and looked at my words, I was completely amazed. Because I had the beginning of a Young Adult novel . . . a fantasy . . . with a 17-year-old male protagonist!
Me, who had always written literary style nonfiction, or for young children. And had always felt that a novel was something totally out of my reach. For ages, I couldn't figure out where it all came from. And then it struck me . . . this book had been jelling inside me for seven or eight years! What blew me away even more though? Was that writing for teens felt like home!
Me, who had always written literary style nonfiction, or for young children. And had always felt that a novel was something totally out of my reach. For ages, I couldn't figure out where it all came from. And then it struck me . . . this book had been jelling inside me for seven or eight years! What blew me away even more though? Was that writing for teens felt like home!
Joanie Strulowitz
Book 2 of the BALLAD portal fantasy series. And jotting down ideas for Book 3.
Joanie Strulowitz
The world of Page One--in my YA portal fantasy, BALLAD, THE LIGHT FOLLOWER (Book 1)--is a nearly Utopian world that is so real to me, I could move there in a blink. Like Ballad, the seventeen-year-old Light Follower and visionary, and his best friend, Nic, I would be completely obsessed with solving the mysteries that lie behind its near perfection--and why the original Pioneers fled there from the Other Side through a mystical Keyhole in the Sky. Like them, I would be compelled to take a Quest with my friends, through that same portal, to find answers to protect our settlement.
Joanie Strulowitz
Do you sleep with a pen and pad beside your bed, so you can jot down thoughts that wake you in the middle of the night? Stick your arm out of the shower to write down a phrase before it slips away? Do some of your best writing while you're getting dressed? And think more clearly when you're holding a pen?
If these are things you "have" to do because they're part of who you are and how you live . . . then you're not an "aspiring writer" . . . you're a writer. So whether you're published or prepublished, just keep going. Write every day no matter what, even if all you can get out is one paragraph, or some random thoughts. Because writing is like working out. If I have to skip a day, I'm okay. If I skip two days, I feel agitated. Three days . . . it takes another three days 'til the writing starts to flow again. Which feels beyond miserable. But I love the process despite everything that comes with it . . . and wouldn't trade being a writer for anything!
If these are things you "have" to do because they're part of who you are and how you live . . . then you're not an "aspiring writer" . . . you're a writer. So whether you're published or prepublished, just keep going. Write every day no matter what, even if all you can get out is one paragraph, or some random thoughts. Because writing is like working out. If I have to skip a day, I'm okay. If I skip two days, I feel agitated. Three days . . . it takes another three days 'til the writing starts to flow again. Which feels beyond miserable. But I love the process despite everything that comes with it . . . and wouldn't trade being a writer for anything!
Joanie Strulowitz
At the risk of sounding arrogant (not my style), when I first started writing seriously, I put up a "wall" against writer's block so that it has never been able to come in. That being said, there are times that my thoughts pour out whole, and other times that I'll rework a part until I decide I need to take a totally different way in . . . take it where it needs to be . . . save it to possibly use later . . . or sometimes decide it's "a darling that needs to be killed."
I also keep quotations from authors, editors, etc. who I admire hugely. Things that help me see through different eyes when I'm too close to my words to see them clearly. Other times, I'll "trick" my mind, by sitting on the floor to write. Or by writing in places where the judge isn't on my shoulder . . . working out during a Pilates session, or walking down the street. Other times, if I'm sounding too writerly, I'll just "ask" myself, "Okay, Joanie, what do you really think?"
I also keep quotations from authors, editors, etc. who I admire hugely. Things that help me see through different eyes when I'm too close to my words to see them clearly. Other times, I'll "trick" my mind, by sitting on the floor to write. Or by writing in places where the judge isn't on my shoulder . . . working out during a Pilates session, or walking down the street. Other times, if I'm sounding too writerly, I'll just "ask" myself, "Okay, Joanie, what do you really think?"
Joanie Strulowitz
My taste is extremely eclectic, so I love books all across the board. I'm especially drawn to YA as so much of it is timeless and ageless. When I was growing up, I went to books . . . all of the arts . . . for answers, and to find where I fit into the world. Now, I seek to be the voice I searched for, so the lessons I learned can help others find the gifts in their differences . . . and to believe in themselves and their dreams. I'm currently working on Book 2 of my YA portal fantasy series, BALLAD.
A few of the books that I'm excited about reading are: Books 9 and 10 of KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES by Shannon Messenger, RED HOOD by Elana K. Arnold, ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART by Stephanie Garber, and LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I MEAN by Joan Didion.
A few of the books that I'm excited about reading are: Books 9 and 10 of KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES by Shannon Messenger, RED HOOD by Elana K. Arnold, ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART by Stephanie Garber, and LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I MEAN by Joan Didion.
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