The Interview…

Continuing with my honoring of Drusilla Campbell, here are a few of her responses to my interview of her not long after I launched this blog.

Describe a typical writing day
I don’t really have a typical day. Over the years I’ve learned to write when I can which means on a day like today when I have two meetings, I will postpone work on LITTLE GIRL GONE until afternoon. Usually, I like to start around nine with email and facebook, a glance at the headlines. By ten I’m ready to work and I keep at it until I’ve finished “a chunk” which in some cases means a whole chapter, other times a scene. If I have no energy and am not feeling like a writer at all, I do revisions which almost always flips the switch to on. I write every day. It’s a muscle that I have to exercise daily to keep fit and responsive.

What is your biggest challenge as a writer?
There is a committee in my head that tells me that my success is all a big accident, pure luck that has nothing to do with skill or talent. I find that the best way to deal with the committee is to acknowledge it (I will probably live with self doubt my whole life and think it’s a waste of energy to try to eradicate it) and then get on with the day.

What do you know now you wish you had known when you first started out?
Craft is more important than talent.

Final words of wisdom:
Read as much as you can across all genres. Learn the craft because that is what will carry you through the first draft when you don’t know what you’re doing, what story you’re telling. And it will carry you through countless revisions by helping you understand what’s good about your book and what needs to be fixed. There is a mistake many underpublished writers make. They believe that because they aim high, to be a literary writer, they don’t need to worry about craft and can just follow their inspiration. Beware of inspiration that is not guided by craft. It’s like setting sail on the Titanic.
Check back for More Info on Dru….

Elena Hartwell

Author and developmental editor.