Bio
Stephanie Gayle is the Pushcart Prize nominated author of Idyll Threats, Idyll Fears, Idyll Threats, and My Summer of Southern Discomfort. She is a former President of the National Board of Sisters in Crime. She is an accounting officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She graduated from the Novel Incubator program at Boston’s Grub Street.
Questions and Answers
Q: Why are you scowling in a…is that a judge’s chair in your picture?
A: I love this photo. As for the story behind it, consider it a writing prompt.
Q: Do you have a favorite book?
A: God, no. I have lots of books I loved reading and why does everyone make you choose one? What kind of question is that? You can check out some of my recent recommended reads at my Bookshop page.
Q: What did you study in school?
A: I double majored in American Studies and English Literature. I thought I might become a lawyer or a professor or a teacher. I became a financial officer. My father is a certified accountant and his mother was a bookkeeper for a prison. I guess numbers are in my blood.
Q: What’s the best writing advice you can share?
A: Oy. Tall order. I would say I find it very helpful to think of the last book you read that you didn’t like, for whatever reason. When people read your work, they have that same freedom to not enjoy your work and it is okay. Don’t let it hurt you deeply.
Q: What’s the worst writing advice you can share?
A: Any advice that doesn’t serve you is bad advice (for you).