Sheila Marikar

How did you become a writer?

First, I was a reader. I’m an only child; books were my best friends. I enjoyed writing but wanted to go to art school and be a painter until my parents said that this was a bad way to earn a living. In college, I studied history and applied for jobs at what felt like every media and media adjacent company in New York. ABC News hired me to work in production, then I started writing for the website. After eight years, I quit to attempt to write for the New York Times. I cold pitched an editor a dozen times before getting an assignment.

I thought I fell into writing, but in 2017, I opened a time capsule that I made as a part of a middle school project. It included a letter from my 13-year-old self that said, in part, “I’d hope to be in the profession of writing by the time I read this. I’d like to be a writer or reporter for the New York Times magazine or newspaper. It’s a creative enough job, and the New York Times is a world famous newspaper. I wonder how much it pays, though.”

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

My father, who was the most well read person I’ve ever known and my toughest critic. Mr. Leonard, my seventh grade (if memory serves) English teacher, who did not discourage my habit of writing long winded introductions that were unrelated to the assignment’s subject. Scores of writers, among them, J.D. Salinger, Haruki Murakami, Ruth Reichl, Tom Wolfe, Kevin Kwan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sally Rooney, Ariel Levy, Dana Goodyear, and all of their books, plus many more. 

When and where do you write? 

Fiction: between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (generally). Non fiction: all the other hours, depending on deadlines. Where: my office, on a desktop computer, a recent and welcome change from hunching over my laptop at the dining table.

What are you working on now? 

My first novel and a few journalism assignments. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No, but I’ve certainly suffered from procrastination and avoiding the daunting parts of the writing process. What helps: breaking down the daunting task into actionable bits, making a list, and crossing it off, one by one.

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

When I was struggling to write the first draft of my novel, Amy Chozick, author of the New York Times bestseller “Chasing Hillary,” told me to set a timer on my phone, put it another room, and write or work through whatever was preventing me from writing until the timer went off. I started with 30 minutes and worked up to two hours. I still do this when I can’t focus, although now I throw my phone across the room, which is cathartic.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Non-fiction/journalism: cold pitch, be persistent, and do not get deterred by rejections. Pitch another editor. Pitch another idea. Put time and energy into making your pitches sing. Do not write for free. Fiction: I’m new too, but do the timer trick, make it a routine, and keep chipping away.

Sheila Marikar is a Los Angeles based writer. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Economist, Fortune, and other publications. She is currently at work on her first novel. 

Caitlin Horrocks

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.

Maurice Chammah

How did you become a writer?

In college I took a lot of classes in Near Eastern Studies and anthropology, and my goal was to be a professor of some kind. But after I graduated, I realized that all of my favorite articles were in magazines like Texas Monthly and The New Yorker. I discovered that nonfiction writing was a way to learn about the world and participate in a larger public conversation about policy, culture, and other big subjects.

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

From my editors at The Marshall Project, I learned a great deal about how to write sensitively about real people, as a way of helping readers understand complex and sad public policy issues. Among my favorite writers are Isabel Wilkerson, Lawrence Wright, and Pamela Colloff. I’ve also learned a great deal about storytelling from my wife Emily Chammah, who writes fiction and has pointed me to many great novels. 

When and where do you write?

I’m fortunate to get to write for my day job at The Marshall Project. I mostly do this from my home in Austin, Texas, in an office painted an intense shade of green — it’s like I’m writing in an emerald cave. While working on my book, I was living in New York City, and I would spend my hour-long commute on the subway rereading my interview notes and court records and other research materials. Then on Saturday I would try to get as many words down as possible.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a series of articles about the criminal justice system. I’m especially interested at the moment in sheriffs and jails. In my free time, I am continuing to research my father’s life — which I have previously written about for Guernica — and I plan to write more about those discoveries.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Absolutely. Usually the problem is coming up with a compelling opening that both inspires me to keep going and will eventually inspire readers to stick with something long.

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

My Marshall Project editor Bill Keller once told me: start writing earlier rather than later. This was in the context of journalism, where it is easy to endlessly gather research and put off the writing. He explained that in trying to write, you actually discover what research you really need to do.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don’t be afraid to produce material you think is terrible. Most of what we call writing is actually editing — you get something down that isn’t very good, and then you try to figure out how to make it better. 

Maurice Chammah is the author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, and a staff writer at The Marshall Project, a non-profit newsroom that covers the U.S. criminal justice system.