“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Blue Balliett

I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February.

Today’s writer is Blue Balliett:

How She Writes: “I write as soon as I’m awake, and I work in the laundry room in our house. During the five years it took me to finish Chasing Vermeer, I worked with a laptop on an extra bed that was always covered with a mountain of clean socks and blue jeans. Now I have a table, and am surrounded by mountains of paper and the occasional runaway dish towel or t-shirt. Such is life; I like the thought that this isn’t a likely place to write or think.”

Writer’s Block Regimen: “I’m lucky, because I always have more ideas than I have places to put them. But the business of sifting and then capturing on paper is sometimes elusive –- and it’s difficult not to wonder how your work will be judged. The thought that I’m writing for children helps me tremendously. When I get stuck I just ask myself, ‘What do kids see? What are they capable of? What am I saying to them? And what do adults know, anyway?’ Usually, that gets me back on track.”

Come back tomorrow at 9AM PST for more writing wisdom.