Ask the Author: Katherine P. Stillerman
Answered Questions (7)
Katherine P. Stillerman
Simone,
Yes, I did, without thinking. However, I saw the comments questioning the validity of requests like that and have wondered if I did the right thing. I think I'll e-mail doungd56@gmail.com and see if I get a response. I'll let you know if I do.
Yes, I did, without thinking. However, I saw the comments questioning the validity of requests like that and have wondered if I did the right thing. I think I'll e-mail doungd56@gmail.com and see if I get a response. I'll let you know if I do.
Katherine P. Stillerman
I've found some wonderful advice about that in the Writer's Digest blogs and articles, which I use anytime I get stumped.
What has worked best for me is to keep a journal and write through the block. Sometimes I'll jot down all of the problems I'm having with a character or a particular part of the plot line. Sometimes I'll start writing a chapter or scene, putting down anything in the world that comes to mind. Later, I'll go back and find that there are a few sentences that I can pull out and build on. Or, the fog will clear by getting everything off my chest, and I'll be able to move forward.
One advantage I have is that I've never been under a deadline to publish and can always remind myself that in time this too shall pass. I'm sure that writer's block would be troubling when time is of the essence.
What has worked best for me is to keep a journal and write through the block. Sometimes I'll jot down all of the problems I'm having with a character or a particular part of the plot line. Sometimes I'll start writing a chapter or scene, putting down anything in the world that comes to mind. Later, I'll go back and find that there are a few sentences that I can pull out and build on. Or, the fog will clear by getting everything off my chest, and I'll be able to move forward.
One advantage I have is that I've never been under a deadline to publish and can always remind myself that in time this too shall pass. I'm sure that writer's block would be troubling when time is of the essence.
Katherine P. Stillerman
To use a sports metaphor, writing allows me to become a player rather than a spectator in the game.
Katherine P. Stillerman
I am barely out of the "aspiring" stage myself. But when I began to refer to myself as a writer--to write it and say it out loud--I started to feel more like one. I've read the answer to this question from numerous successful authors, and, to a one, they say essentially the same thing: "Believe in yourself and keep on writing."
Epictetus, who lived in the first century, probably had the best and most quoted advice: "If you wish to be a writer, write.
Epictetus, who lived in the first century, probably had the best and most quoted advice: "If you wish to be a writer, write.
Katherine P. Stillerman
I am working on a sequel to Hattie's Place that will, among other things, get Hattie involved in the Woman's Suffrage Movement. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about the movement in South Carolina and have found a few interesting personalities, such as Eulalie Sally, from Aiken, around which to build my female characters.
Woodrow Wilson may come into the picture, as his family once lived in Columbia, and he was the first Democrat in the White House since Grover Cleveland. As a southerner, Wilson held the view that suffrage was a state matter, but came around to embrace the federal amendment when he was convinced that the woman's vote could help elect a Democrat in 1920. As members of Hattie's family assumed leadership roles in the local Democratic Party, she may well have been among a party of South Carolinians to travel by train to Washington, D.C., for Wilson's inauguration in 1913.
Woodrow Wilson may come into the picture, as his family once lived in Columbia, and he was the first Democrat in the White House since Grover Cleveland. As a southerner, Wilson held the view that suffrage was a state matter, but came around to embrace the federal amendment when he was convinced that the woman's vote could help elect a Democrat in 1920. As members of Hattie's family assumed leadership roles in the local Democratic Party, she may well have been among a party of South Carolinians to travel by train to Washington, D.C., for Wilson's inauguration in 1913.
Katherine P. Stillerman
Mostly I make it a habit to devote a chunk of my day to writing. It's easier to do that now that I am retired. I don't always feel inspired every time I sit down, but I have learned that if I make a consistent effort, inspiration will come at least some of the time.
On the days that it doesn't, I will do research or read other authors' advice on how they summon their muses. If I am having a particularly dry spell, I know it's time to do a read-a-thon, and I'll set a goal to read at least two books a week until I feel inspired to write again.
On the days that it doesn't, I will do research or read other authors' advice on how they summon their muses. If I am having a particularly dry spell, I know it's time to do a read-a-thon, and I'll set a goal to read at least two books a week until I feel inspired to write again.
Katherine P. Stillerman
Hattie's Place is roughly based on events in my grandmother's life as a young woman--events that had always intrigued me but about which I knew only the bare bone facts.
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