“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Jodi Picoult

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 Jodi Picoult:

How She Writes: “I get up at 5:00 AM, walk three miles with girlfriends, come back and get the kids ready for school. When they leave, I pull up whatever file I was working on yesterday, edit my way through, and then keep going wherever I left off. I continue till about 3:15 PM, when I magically turn into a mom again.”

Fights Writer’s Block: “I don’t. Writer’s block is for people who have the luxury of time; I started writing when I had three kids under the age of 4. I used to write every ten minutes I got to sit in front of a computer. Now, when I have more time, I function the same way: if it’s writing time, I write. I may write garbage, but you can always edit garbage. You can’t edit a blank page.

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