Nora Raleigh Baskin

How did you become a writer?

I suppose that is a two-part question. I wanted to be a writer since I was twelve years old. At that point in my life I had moved eleven times and gone to five different schools, had been abandoned by my mother, my father, and then most recently my step-mother. On July 25, 1974, I wrote in my diary, “It was just today I realized what a nobody I am. I can write but after all I am just one of, perhaps a thousand who dream of a career.” What I didn’t know then was that as soon as you decide to write, and then you write, you are a writer. Becoming an author, however, and getting published didn’t happen for another 27 years. It took just under a decade of rejections, until I found my voice and my true heart and I had accumulated enough skill to put it all together. 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

If it were not for my language Arts teacher, Mr. Thompson encouraging me to express myself creatively, instead of acting out and getting in trouble (I was suspended from school in 6th grade)I would not be where I am today. Writing, and Mr. Thompson saved my life. As far as writers and books, every single book I read influences me. I’ve just discovered the beauty of rereading a novel. I used to think it was a waste of time when there are so many great books to be read, but I see now that the first time can be for STORY, and the second time I can slow down and pay more attention to the LANGUAGE. Presently, I am rereading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. Her sentences and word choice are blowing me away. Even more. 

When and where do you write?

I write at home, always. To be near my kitchen, and my dog and my cat. I need to be where I feel safe, and comfortable enough to let myself be carried away. When? I write whenever. If I am deeply engaged in something, as I am now, I will write from 6 am to bedtime, taking time to eat, yoga, walk in the woods, but getting right back to it. Other times, I can go months without actually writing. Living and thinking, reading and learning are all parts of the process. I hope I never stop doing that. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block

I am going to say no, because as I wrote above, a part of writing is sometimes just being. Experiencing. Certainly, reading. That is NOT to say that every time I sit down to write, I write anything good or worthwhile. But that is another question and answer altogether. 

What are you working on now? 

I am about 100 pages into what will be an adult psychological thriller-type literary novel. At least that’s my goal. Wish me luck. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Every time you write a sentence, ask yourself: Is it true? Is it true? Is it true?

What’s your advice to new writers?

Everyone is so different with different approaches and different styles. Some people revise every chapter before moving on (not me!) others want to get the whole thing out before they even know what they are writing about. I’d be very hesitant to give any advice. If I had to say one thing though, I’d say write what you are passionate about, write what truly and deeply interests you, because you are going to be living with it for a long, long time. Write on!

Nora Raleigh Baskin (norabaskin.com) is the author of fourteen novels for young adults and a contributor to several short story collections. Her personal narrative essays have appeared in Writer Magazine, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and NCTE Voices From the Middle. Her books have won several awards, including the 2010 American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award for Anything But Typical (S&S), and in 2016, an International Literacy Association Notable Books for a Global Society for Ruby on the Outside (S&S). Ms. Baskin has taught creative writing classes for both adults and young adults for over twenty years in such places as Gotham Writers Workshop, Fairfield Co. Writers Studio, Manhattanville College MFA, and S.U.N.Y Purchase. Her newest middle-grade novel Seven Clues to Home, a collaborative two-voice project will be published Spring, 2020 (Knopf).