An Interview with Sarah Smiley

A: What is your most favorite word in the English language?

S:  I like any word that's unexpected.  As a writer, the handiest little words are: but, and, however, therefore, etc.  Ah! -- etc!  That's a handy one too, but way overused.

A:  Which word do you fear you use too much in your writing?  

S:  I "however" more often than I should.  I constantly have to remind myself to come up with something different, or rewrite the sentence to say it another way.

A: What's your biggest inspiration for writing?

S:  I think writing is a passion.  In the same way an artist feels compelled to put his feelings on canvas, I have to get pen to paper.....or fingers to keyboard, usually.  Knowing that people benefit from my writing is a bonus, but even if no one was reading my work (and for a long time there weren't), I'd still need to write....for myself.

A:  Where do you find most of your ideas?

S:  I get most of my inspiration from music, actually.  I'll be driving down the road, listening to a song and thinking about something in my life.  Then suddenly I say, "Ah, ha!  There's my column!"

A:  Ever had to pull off the side of the road to write down a story?

S:  Constantly.  My family has grown used to me running through the front door and yelling, "can't talk - got a column on my mind," as I race to the computer.  I carry a notebook in my purse for times when I simply have to write an idea down or I'll lose it.  The most unusual place I ever had to stop and write down an idea was in a public restroom.

A:  Do you consider yourself to be an artist, writer, author, or all of the above?

S:  I'd say I'm an artist first.  There's something very artistic about constructing a sentence perfectly, with the right flow and tempo.  Yes, I'm also a writer, but I usually think of a published book when I hear "author," so I guess I'm not there yet.

A:  What do you consider to be the best thing you ever wrote?

S:  I feel protective about everything I write.  Each column is like a baby.  When I find one of my columns has been passed around cyberspace in a big email chain, I think to myself, "Wow, that little baby went all around the world and back!"  It always surprises me, however, which columns my readers love and which ones they don't.  I always try to predict which will get a big response, but I'm usually wrong.  The ones I write and say to myself, "oh boy, I bet I'll get alot of email from this one" I don't hear a peep.  But the ones I write and don't really think too much about, those are the ones people pass around and still talk about.   

A:  How do you get through writer's block?

S:  It's like trying to fall asleep when you have insomnia.  You've just got to walk away and try again later.

A:  How is your writing different than anyone else's?  What defines you as a writer?

S:  I'm one of the few columnist out there writing specifically about military wives.  That has been my niche and has defined the start of my writing career.  But besides that, I think my writing is usually very conversational.  People usually tell me they could almost "hear" me saying the words as they read them.

A:  At what point would you say, "Yes!  I've made it!"?

S:  When I'm sitting at a table for my first book signing at Barnes and Noble's.

A:  At what time of day do you do your best writing?

S:  Unfortunately, I write the best late at night.  I'm a night owl, and my creative juices don't start flowing until after dinner.  In the morning?  Forget about it!