Who are you?
Emily Redondo. A mother, writer and author of Wife Mother Drunk, an intergenerational memoir. I live in McKinney, TX.
What do you write?
I write the truth and perspectives of personal life experiences. I write about the big inside the small. I write what speaks in the silence of good mothers and daughters.
Where do you write?
I write in my car in an empty parking lot or at home tucked in a “nest” created for a sense of comfort and privacy. With a lively household of teenagers, earplugs are a necessity. I never sit at a desk and usually handwrite in a notebook before I type it out. My go-tos are Wordhippo thesaurus site, Google Scholar, unlined mini notebooks that I constantly misplace and go everywhere I do. My perfect pen is colored LePen.
When do you write?
The only time I won’t write is at night because I continue to write in my head and can’t sleep.
I set a timer for 45 minutes and do my best to write nonstop even if it’s terrible. My breaks are 5-10 minutes, and I thrive on deadlines from my editor to get the job done, and it minimizes my tendency to dillydally like my life depended on it.
Why do you write?
I write because I must. It’s a need in my bones since childhood, when writing was my way to speak and feel heard. I write to search out why, to find truths and connections within the human experience, to make it make sense somehow, to be rebelliously curious about beliefs and opinions.
How do you overcome writer's block?
Writer’s block is my body’s signal to back up and back off. I accept it when it comes and spend time in a different creative outlet, letting my thoughts breathe and my mind recalibrate. Naturally, my muddled mind opens up and in time, the yearning returns.
Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
Restoring antique quilts, woodworking, laughing at my own jokes, art museums, antique shops, upcycling crappy furniture, learning something unrequired, family silliness.
My thanks to Emily Redondo for today's interview.