Allison Moorer

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer because I had stories to tell. I was raised in a musical family, but my father also had a minor in English to go along with his major in Agriculture and Teaching Arts, so there were good books around — he had his opinion on what those were. I think my ear was tuned to great language very early on, and my love of words developed hand in hand with that. I’ve used that ear in both songwriting and prose. How it happened, in my case, was because I had to get my stories told. The degree to which I am effective varies and is ongoing as any writer would agree we start all over again every time there is a blank page.

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

All of the great books that I’ve had the opportunity to read have influenced me. And that’s all to say that I haven’t even scratched the surface. It brings me a bit of disappointment to know that I will die not having read everything I want to read. The MFA work I did at The New School influenced me a lot. There is a great faculty there. Otherwise, most things I read or hear influence me in some way. 

When and where do you write? 

A writer writes whenever and wherever they can’t not. I have reservations about saying any writing with some amount of considerable quality imbued through it is created under other any circumstance. Practice is important as is craft, but passion and inspiration provide the life that is needed to make those things matter.

What are you working on now? 

I'm not working on anything now, which is interesting after spending the past ten years writing two memoirs.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I’ve gone through periods of having nothing to say. I’m in one now. I’m trying to honor that and allow myself to have a fallow period. I need a season of import, not export.

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

Start with what you know and write into what you don’t.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don't try to write until you know how to feel.

Allison Moorer is a singer/songwriter, producer, and author who has released ten critically acclaimed albums. Her first memoir, Blood, was released in October 2019 to high praise and received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. Her second, I Dream He Talks to Me, was just released in October 2021. She has been nominated for Academy, Grammy, Americana Music Association, and Academy of Country Music Awards. Allison holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School; her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, American Songwriter, Guernica, No Depression, Literary Hub, and The Bitter Southerner. She received the Hall-Waters Prize for Excellence in Southern Writing in 2020. She lives in Nashville.