About Writing

Every writer has a special relationship with the process of getting words to paper. No two authors think or write alike.

In this section you will find featured Author! Author! members' thoughts on being a writer, publishing their work, and maintaining a creative drive.

This Month's Featured Member

Trudy Cutrone

To me, writing is like having an intimate conversation with a totally unpredictable friend. You think you know her, and than she surprises you. This can be great, or infuriating, but hardly ever boring.

I've been writing, off and on, for many years. Published some stories in an anthology in 1982. Then, 10 year later, Country Roads Press published my cookbook. My husband and I owned an Inn, and I ended up being the "chef" (the real chef had just run away, as chefs often do). After a rough start, I began to like the job, the guest liked the food, constantly asked for recipes - ergo, the cookbook.

Fast-forward to 2002 (another 10 years), and I published my first children's book, "Karl's Story." The idea came to me when I visited the famous Nuremberg Toy Museum where I saw an ancient Teddy bear displayed. He looked just like mine (yes, I still have him). He seemed to be telling a story, and I just took it from there.

My friend, the one mentioned above, approved.

I write mornings, when the coffee is fresh and the energy is up. The hardest thing for me is to let everything else wait - it's so much easier to go garden, go shop, or even clean the house. But if it doesn't happen first it doesn't happen at all, in my experience. Though once I get going and the writing catches fire, I forget everything else. As every writer knows, that's a great moment, that's why we do it. And of course there are also those other times when you feel so totally inadequate because nothing at all happens and you are just wasting good paper with so much drivel...

Nasty road blocks. Got to get around them.

Next? I will not wait another 10 years. I'll do a mystery, now. At least that's what I plan. Who knows what my friend has cooked up. We'll soon see.