How did you become a writer?

I didn’t stop writing. It both is and isn’t any more complicated than that. I was a kid who read voraciously, and wrote extra chapters to the books I loved—fan fiction, although I didn’t have that name for it at the time. I signed up for classes when they were offered, in high school and then in college. But I always did it with the feeling that I was indulging myself, that writing was a hobby I would be smart to set aside. But I didn’t set it aside. When I was still writing and seeking out writing groups two years after my last official deadline or grade, I finally acknowledged that I wanted to keep writing, and I wanted to get better at it. So I applied to MFA programs. Once I was in graduate school, I was lucky enough to find myself surrounded by talented, kind people who challenged me by their example both to keep tackling new things as a writer, and to learn the business end and take the leap of submitting my work. Once I did, I was fortunate to hear enough “yeses” among the “nos” to hearten me for the long haul. The early encouragement helped me to finally own my own ambition, and stopped me assuming that I’d eventually quit and apply to law school.

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

I usually answer this question with literary giants and/or past teachers (and deservedly so!) but I recently took possession of the last of my childhood books from my parents’ house, and want to take a moment here to pay tribute to The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, Steel Magic by Andre Norton, the Damar books by Robin McKinley, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, Voices After Midnight by Richard Peck, the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, Interstellar Pig by William Sleator, The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton, and Witch-Cat by Joan Carris. I grew up on a steady diet of dragons and spooky stuff. If there’s a generalization to be made about these, it’s perhaps that they’re books where the author commits themselves wholeheartedly to the creation of an absorbing, idiosyncratic world, whether that’s a fantasy kingdom or a version of our world where strange things are afoot. 

When and where do you write? 

I’m writing this during month 11 of the COVID-19 pandemic: My husband and I are working from home while caring for 4-month-old twins and, when he’s not in preschool, an extremely high-energy five-year-old. There is not a lot of writing happening around here right now. In the Before Times, I loved working in coffee shops, a love that I wish I’d come to embrace earlier. For years I lived in places where I was lucky enough to have some perfectly good room to write in, and I beat myself up over only intermittently finding those rooms to be productive spaces. I wish I’d stopped trying to scold myself into writing more at home, and just grabbed my laptop and headed out. 

What are you working on now? 

Keeping everyone fed and alive and my emails answered and then getting up to do it all again tomorrow. Whenever I get a little more breathing room, I’m kicking around ideas for more stories and a novel.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Not true writer’s block, no. I’ve certainly had spells of time when it felt like the work wasn’t going well, or like a particular project might be stalling out. But I think true writer’s block is extremely rare. Much more common is… writer’s dissatisfaction? Which I just push through until I either solve whatever puzzle is giving me trouble or switch projects

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received and what’s your advice to new writers?

My favorite advice to give is advice I’ve Frankensteined out of the advice other people have given me, so to answer these two questions together: This isn’t a race, and the goal isn’t just “to get published.” It’s to publish work you feel proud of, in places you feel proud to be in, with people you feel good about working with and who will do something more for your work than what you’re able to do by yourself. That’s the real goal, and it’s worth being patient for. Let it take however long it takes, and if you’re at a moment when your life feels full with other things, then set aside writing without guilt. It will still be there if and when you want to come back to it. 

Caitlin Horrocks is author of the story collections Life Among the Terranauts and This is Not Your City, both New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice titles. Her novel The Vexations was named one of the 10 best books of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Her stories appear in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Paris Review, Tin House, One Story and elsewhere. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and teaches at Grand Valley State University.