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Write What You Know…Write to Grow (Revised)
Lessons from Life and Writing
Often, we are told that writing what we know is important. In my opinion, writing is more about growing as a person, as everyone has something they can offer to the world. I tend to gravitate toward fiction, although nonfiction can resonate with me as well.
Most of my early writings, with the exception of a few poems, have been lost to time since I began my writing career over thirty years ago. It’s probably best that my earliest stories never see the light of day.
Whether you write nonfiction or fiction, life experiences help you grow as a writer. Good storytelling is a result of life experience, since we learn what works and what doesn’t, and we learn sometimes you just have to throw it all out the window and tell the story you are meant to tell.
Years ago, I began researching the Holocaust. After reading Sarah’s Key in 2009, I became inspired to write a Holocaust novel. A time-split novel, Broken Beginnings moves between contemporary times and the Holocaust. I started writing this story twelve years ago, but it looked quite different then than it does now. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know…
