Nita Sweeney (NS): When and how did your writing journey begin?
Cheryl Leutjen (CRL): That’s tough to say. I’ve always been a writer, though usually to suit someone else’s purposes. I’ve written extensively as a student, geologist, lawyer, and mom—some of my notes excusing the kids from school were quite inspired. I used to write in a diary as a kid until I got punished after my mom read it. That stopped me from putting any personal information on paper for years.
I only began writing for myself again when my kids were tiny and “mommy drinking” wasn’t yet a thing. Journaling—in a notebook with a sturdy lock on it—became my best therapy. When I discovered some humor and the occasional scrap of wisdom showing up on the page, I threw caution to the wind and started a “mommy blog.” I regularly, sporadically, infrequently, and sometimes shared my wisest insights with all seven of my followers.
Then a new acquaintance invited me to a one-day writing workshop. It was affordable, near home, and facilitated by someone I trusted not to shred me. So off I went, seeking to hone my blogging skills. What poured out onto the page that day instead became (spoiler alert) the foundations of the book I’d publish five years later.
Writing is now the essential therapy that keeps me from running down the street screaming every time I hear more bad news for Life on Earth. Which is far too often these days. Read more . . .
~Excerpt from interview on the Bum Glue blog, named one of the Top 100 Blogs for Writers. By Nita Sweeney, published October 2020.
My biggest writing struggle is believing that anyone else would want to read the hair-brained drivel I put on the page when I first begin to write.”
Interview on bum glue blog
