Ask the Author: T.L. Cooper
Answered Questions (8)
T.L. Cooper
You're welcome!
T.L. Cooper
I don't really have a summer reading list, but I have a shelf of to-be-read books... I tend to read around 4 books at a time. One poetry, one fiction, and two nonfiction, generally speaking. Sometimes I shake that up a bit. A few books in my to-be-read pile include The After Party by Jana Prikayl, Mad Country by Sanrat Upadhyay, Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Qwynne, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, No Acute Distress by Jennifer Richter, and I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Wasn't) by Brene Brown.
T.L. Cooper
I believe writer's block is simply a writer's mind telling the writer something isn't working for one reason or another. It can be wording that doesn't work, an emotion one doesn't want to face, or a lack of knowledge about a particular topic. For example, several years ago I was having what I thought was terrible writer's block. The words fought me every step of the way. I stepped back and looked at what I was writing. I was trying to write a scene where my characters were playing golf only I didn't know enough about golf to write it. I signed up for golf classes. After I took the classes, the scene wrote itself, and I discovered I truly enjoy playing golf! Win-win!
So I try not to think in terms of writer's block but instead of what isn't working about what I'm trying to write. If the wording just isn't there, I take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes. If it's an emotional avoidance issue, I try to push forward and get it out allowing the emotions to rise as they do. I've been known to sit at my desk and cry it out before proceeding. This kind of writing tends to become melodramatic, but that's what editing is for. If it's a lack of knowledge, I tackle the research and work on other writing projects that don't require that particular knowledge to write.
People often ask me why I tend to have more than one project in the works, and it's because it helps me to avoid writer's block. When one project stalls for any of the above mentioned reasons, I can turn my attention to the other one. I've also found that when I'm working on two projects that are quite different from one another, it improves my focus on both leading to less writer's block. The downside to this approach is that it sometimes leads to delays with one or both projects that might not otherwise happen.
So I try not to think in terms of writer's block but instead of what isn't working about what I'm trying to write. If the wording just isn't there, I take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes. If it's an emotional avoidance issue, I try to push forward and get it out allowing the emotions to rise as they do. I've been known to sit at my desk and cry it out before proceeding. This kind of writing tends to become melodramatic, but that's what editing is for. If it's a lack of knowledge, I tackle the research and work on other writing projects that don't require that particular knowledge to write.
People often ask me why I tend to have more than one project in the works, and it's because it helps me to avoid writer's block. When one project stalls for any of the above mentioned reasons, I can turn my attention to the other one. I've also found that when I'm working on two projects that are quite different from one another, it improves my focus on both leading to less writer's block. The downside to this approach is that it sometimes leads to delays with one or both projects that might not otherwise happen.
T.L. Cooper
The best thing about being a writer... "Best" feels like pressure... There are so many things I love about being a writer, I find it hard to pick a "best" thing. I love the freedom to express myself with words. I love it when those words touch someone else. I'm always so touched when someone tells me my words helped them during a difficult situation. I love creating worlds and conveying emotions through words. I love the way words have the power to come together to bring us together.
T.L. Cooper
Write. As simple as it sounds, write. It's sounds like the easiest thing in the world to do when you're driven to write, but there are days when writing becomes downright painful just like anything else. Those days, you still write. When you write, you improve. Write what you want. Write how you want. Write well. Write terribly. Break all the "rules" other writers tell you to follow. Then fix whatever needs fixed. The moment you get bogged down in trying to write what's expected of you, you'll lose your voice. I always write for me and edit for the reader. It frees me to tell the story I want to tell or to convey the message I want to convey without feeling trapped.
T.L. Cooper
I'm currently working on two projects, a novel, Red, and a nonfiction book, The Gratitude Gift: Lessons in Love, Life, and Loss.
Red takes the reader into the mind and life of Marissa Sterling, a woman suspected of killing of her family. Marissa suffers a mental breakdown at the crime scene that leaves her unable to communicate other than to mutter the word “red” repeatedly. Detective Azalea Kavanaugh, reporter Bryce Thorne, and psychiatrist Dr. Noah Graham work to unlock the secrets of Marissa’s past and what really happened to her husband and children.
The Gratitude Gift explores the year spent focused on gratitude and how gratitude changed my life by changing my perspective of both the good and the bad moments that I faced as well as forcing me to face some hard truths about myself, my relationships, and my life.
Red takes the reader into the mind and life of Marissa Sterling, a woman suspected of killing of her family. Marissa suffers a mental breakdown at the crime scene that leaves her unable to communicate other than to mutter the word “red” repeatedly. Detective Azalea Kavanaugh, reporter Bryce Thorne, and psychiatrist Dr. Noah Graham work to unlock the secrets of Marissa’s past and what really happened to her husband and children.
The Gratitude Gift explores the year spent focused on gratitude and how gratitude changed my life by changing my perspective of both the good and the bad moments that I faced as well as forcing me to face some hard truths about myself, my relationships, and my life.
T.L. Cooper
I get inspired to write by life. I look at what's happening in the world around me and how people are responding to what's happening. Then I write about it. I like to explore human behavior, emotion, reaction, and interaction through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. So when I feel like there's nothing left to write, I focus on life and find my way back to the words.
T.L. Cooper
My most recent book, Vulnerability in Silhouette: Poems, grew out of my previous book of poetry, Strength in Silhouette: Poems. As I went through my poems on strength, I discovered many of them also referenced vulnerability. The more I explored the idea, the more convinced I became that you can't have strength without vulnerability nor vulnerability without strength. These two books while stand-alone books are natural friends.
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