Q: What’s your name and where are you from?

A: My name is Sarah Diedrick and I'm based in Vermont.

Q: Talk about your journey as a writer. Was there any inspiration you can recall that started it all? When did you know writing was a passion for you?

A: I started writing at a very young age and began with poetry. I was super shy as a kid and writing was this safe, private space for me to express myself in ways that I didn't feel like I could in public. I was also a very observant kid and loved to squirrel away my reflections about the world in my notebooks. I knew writing was a passion for me when I realized how cathartic and self-affirming it was. It has always felt like a solid, reliable place I can come back to to sort out my curiosities and ruminations about the world within me and around me.

Q: Talk about one of your favorite pieces you’ve written. Why is that one your favorite?

A: I think my favorite piece is one I'm currently working on about the layers of love I have for a particular friend. It's my favorite because it feels the most honest and is allowing me to air out complicated feelings and also admit to certain ingrained patterns I have when it comes to love and romance and intimacy. It's my favorite piece because it feels like I'm writing it for myself, first and foremost. It's also continuing to remind me how capacious and untameable love can be, which I think is important.

Q: What does your writing process look like?

A: I typically start with some sort of seed, whether that's a word I really like or a phrase/theme/idea that catches my attention. Then I do a big brain spill where I write everything I'm thinking about when it comes to that seed. Over the course of the writing process, I continue to refine it and try to invoke my poetry background to make things as concise yet dense as possible. I'm wildly disorganized as a writer and have things splattered and intermingled all over the place (please don't look at my Google Docs).

Q: What are you currently reading?

A: I'm reading a collection of essays called The Lonely Stories which has some beautiful writing and has also been a source of solace as I navigate a post-breakup world. It's been a nice companion to my practice of self-devotion and discovering a sense of security that feels fiercer and deeper than ever before.

Q: What is one piece of advice you can offer to new writers?

A: Keep writing, even through the sludge. For me, good and honest writing comes from consistency more than anything. When I'm writing on a consistent basis (even if that's for 30 minutes a day) I eventually pass through the drudgery of cringe, shallow, nauseating stuff and arrive at something more crystalline and closer to the truth. Trust your writing and remember that you have to express the fluff to find the more substantial, potent pieces.

Q: Is there anything else you want to talk about?

A: Check out my Substack, “Intimate Distance,” at https://intimatedistance.substack.com/.