Write Now with Máire Roche

Who are you?

My name is Máire Roche, and I’m an author local to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we have bookstores, lakes, and lots of long o’s in our words. I used to work as a teacher, but now I’m a full-time author (who teaches martial arts on the side).

What do you write?

I love to write character-driven stories about messy girls with lots of spunk. I especially love to write settings that feel like a character themselves. Sometimes, when I start writing a project, I write scenes from the perspective of the setting. What does the river think of everything that’s happening? Does the forest hold a grudge? It’s a really fun exercise to help me understand the place that shapes the people I’m writing about.

I’ve been writing ever since I was a kid. My first “novel” was on construction paper that I’d folded and stapled to look vaguely book-shaped. I just never stopped, and after I finished college, and had a little bit more time to explore my hobbies again, I decided I would try to get my work published. Now, several books in, I’ve written thrillers, romance, fantasy, and so much more, and I get to do this full-time, which I absolutely love.

Where do you write?

I write anywhere. Truly. Trains, airplanes, in class, the list could go on. But my all-time favorite places to write are a few local coffee shops, where I bribe myself to hit my word count goals by ordered whatever specialty drink they have on the menu. I’m pretty basic in that regard; being somewhere outside my house helps me to focus, I stick to a simple Word Document, and when that fails, I break out my notebook and pen and draft by hand until I get un-stuck.

When do you write?

Now that I’m traditionally published, I have deadlines that are set externally. The best thing I did for myself before I was published was to set arbitrary deadlines for myself, so that I got used to hitting word count goals and chunking my progress. Now, I usually set a word count goal for the day (either to draft or revise), and work until I hit that. When my target is especially high, I try to move from place to place—i.e. I’ll give myself a goal of writing 2000 words at one coffee shop, then moving to the library and hitting another 2000, then finding an outdoor picnic table to write another 2000. As far as time of day, I try to stick to mornings, but on the long days, I sometimes work late into the afternoon. I do my best to wrap up my work by the evenings, and I try to stick to taking weekends off. When you work for yourself (even doing something as magical as dreaming up worlds for a living), it can be hard to set boundaries and take time off. So I do my best to take weekends off!

Why do you write?

This one is honestly always the hardest for me to answer. I’ve said before that I write because I have to, but that doesn’t fully describe it, either, because I do absolutely love crafting a story. But I say I “have” to because I really can’t imagine not writing. I’ve been writing since I can remember, and I’ve always had more story ideas than I knew what to do with.

I feel overwhelmingly grateful to have the chance to do this professionally, because writing is such an integral part of my life.

How do you overcome writer's block?

I said this above, but nothing beats grabbing my notebook and writing by hand. It forces me to slow down, in part because I just can’t hand-write as fast as I can type, and it usually helps me to figure out where I want wrong.

If that fails, I go for a run, or do some other type of physical activity. I also find that just stepping away for a few days, reading some books, and spending a lot of time outside helps. Most of the writer’s block I encounter is nothing but burnout, and a little bit of space from a story can be all that I need.

Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?

It probably sounds cliché, but I love anything that takes me outdoors! It’s the best reset for my brain and body, and since writing requires I spent quite a bit of time on a screen, it’s also a perfect opportunity to disengage from screens. I’ve visited most of the state parks in my home state, including hiking the Superior Hiking Trail one summer (a 255 mile thru-hike in northern Minnesota). My wife and I recently got kayaks, and I now enjoy spending time out on the water whenever we can.

My thanks to Máire Roche for today's interview.