Write Now with Helene Opocensky

Perfectionism can be a difficult beast to overcome. For many writers, writer’s block results from worrying about the details. In her interview below, Helene Opocensky shares her solution to this problem: knowing you can always fix the words. Enjoy her interview.

Who Are You?

Helene Opocensky, retired attorney living in Springfield, Massachusetts.

What Do You Write About?

When I was in college, I took a course in writing poetry which taught me about the sound and descriptive value of language as an illumination of emotions. That’s what I try to do in my writing — use language to illustrate the feeling.

In fifth grade, my best friend and I were both avid readers. We loved reading stories about horses and started a secret club for just the two of us wherein we wrote horse stories.

I don’t know if love has anything to with my desire to write. My head is always full of stories. It’s how I put myself to sleep at night. The process of writing them down, at times, is painful, but once I get a draft written, fixing it to say what I want, is enjoyable.

Where Do You Write?

I write on a Surface balanced on my stomach sitting in an easy chair.

When Do You Write?

I get up in the morning and go for a walk. When I get back, I take out my Surface and start writing. I can only write in the morning. Anything I write in the afternoon is garbage that I can only fix when I go back to it the next morning. When I write, I write until I stop. After I stop. I can’t write anymore until the next day. This is the only way it works. I’ve tried to change it, but so it goes.

Why Do You Write?

I have stories inside me, and they are always materializing inside my brain. I write to let them out.

How Do You Overcome Writer’s Block?

The story that I’m working on now is in my head. I know where it’s going. Sometimes getting it into words gets difficult. When it does, I just plow through it knowing that I can fix it eventually.