Write Now with Alex Sanchez

Who are you?

I’m Alex Sanchez, an author of books for young people, living in gorgeous upstate New York.

What do you write?

Like a lot of writers for young people, I write the stories I wish I could’ve read when I was growing up. Stories that would’ve shown me: “See? You’re not so weird. There are other people like you.” For me, a big part of feeling different and lonely was being a boy wanting to love and be loved by another boy. At the time there were no books about a kid like that. The greatest reward of my writing has been hearing from readers how my books have helped them know they’re alone.

Where do you write?

My favorite place to write is at a quiet well-lit table at my local library. I pull out some paper and a mechanical pencil, put on my headphones, listen to whale songs, and step into imaginary worlds. From inside my mind’s creative bubble I look out at fellow humans immersed in their own reading and writing worlds while my imagination spins and soars.

When do you write?

I don’t have a set schedule. On any given day I give myself short, limited bursts of time—15 minutes here, an hour there—limiting my time by setting a timer or by scheduling a commitment I need to get to when I finish. These deadlines trick me into getting the work done rather than fiddle-faddling around. A lot of my first drafts are jotted down on index cards or post-it notes in between my daily doings.

Why do you write?

Writing is how I sort myself out—what I think and feel and who I am. It brings me a degree of psychological, spiritual, and emotional peace. If I don’t write, I can be a swirling mess of confusion. I write fiction and memoir in particular because I love stories—hearing other people’s stories and telling my own. Stories motivate and inspire me.

How do you overcome writer's block?

My biggest writing block is the bully inside my head telling me nobody wants to hear what I have to say, that I’m setting myself up for rejection and hurt, and I’m an idiot for opening myself up. The way I stand up to the loudmouth bully is by getting him out of my head and onto the page. I write down all his disheartening, defeating jabs until he runs out of things to say. Once I’ve let him say his piece, I can get to work and let my other characters speak.