Writer’s Block: Robyn Braun

All Lit Up: Is there one stand out moment or experience that helped you realize you wanted to become a writer?

Robyn Braun: Even though my mother is a writer, and I’ve always been a voracious reader, the idea of writing never occurred to me. I enjoyed writing for university–I liked the feeling of getting some place new in my thinking through writing. When I was struggling to find meaning in work after grad school my ex-husband suggested I try writing fiction since I love reading it so much, and it was this kind of liberating permission to try. I struggled at first because I thought I should already know how the whole book should go. But learning that writing is about problem solving and process has helped me see that I really do want to spend my days like this. 

All Lit Up: Which writers have influenced you or had the most impact on your own writing? 

Robyn Braun: I like to read really weird, almost other-worldly stuff. I love Kazuo Ishiguro, Yoko Ogawa, Vladimir Sorokin, Ottessa Moshfegh, Italo Calvino, Kafka, Andre Alexis. I enjoy surreal or strange elements as well as spare prose. 

All Lit Up: Do you have a book you’ve gone back to and read several times?   

Robyn Braun: Do you know, the only book I’ve ever purposefully re-read is William Golding’s Pincher Martin. I love its minimalism, even as it creates an extremely deep world and then there’s such a lovely little twist at the end. 

All Lit Up: Why do you write? 

Robyn Braun: I have so often felt steadied, assured, caught in the net of humanity by books I’ve read. That’s all I hope I can do for even one person with my writing. If my work can be a moment of real pleasure, enjoyment, fun, or connection, relief, or understanding for someone, then that would be just amazing. I just want my writing to be little jewels, brief glimmers of imagination for people. 

All Lit Up: Have you experienced writer’s block? What did you do about it? 

Robyn Braun: I have never had a time of not being able to write at all. But I have had long periods of time knowing that I’m not writing anything worthwhile. Ha. I try to be gentle with myself and keep the stakes low for any writing session. So I don’t need to solve all my plot problems when I sit down to write. I just need to have a look at what I have and maybe fix something and maybe try a new scene. Keeping the stakes low, knowing that nothing is permanent and it’s all just a draft, these psychological tricks help me face whatever I’m working on. 

All Lit Up: What’s the toughest part about being a writer? 

Robyn Braun: For me it’s loneliness. But if I solve that problem too well, I don’t get any work done! It’s nice to have people to work with because it can be so daunting. I do try to be gentle with myself, and let myself be scared to open the document. I tell myself things like, “Just open it and see, you don’t have to do anything.” And that eases me into it. 

All Lit Up: What are you working on now?

Robyn Braun: Right now I’m finally finishing the book I’ve been working on since my son was in utero, 14 years ago! It’s about Dutch scientists in the 1890s but it’s a slightly skewed, or fuller, reality to capture their inner lives and struggles.

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Robyn Braun is an instructor at the University of Alberta. Her science writing has appeared in Today’s Parent, Scientific American, New Scientist, and Discover. Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in Thirds, samfzftyfour, Coin Operated Press Zines, Wrongdoing Magazine, and Flight of the Dragonfly among others. Her essay, “The Stutter of Emmett’s Stutter” won subTerrain’s 2021 Lush Triumphant prize for CNF. The Head is her first novella.