Meet S.Q. McGrath

We were lucky to catch up with S.Q. McGrath recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi S.Q., so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

My story is really about twenty-five years old. I began writing in high school and completed my first novella at eighteen. After that, I wrote like crazy, completing about fifteen novels in as many years (all of them were aimed at middle grade and young adult readers). When I began seeking publication, believing my aspirations of becoming a published author could come true, I put in long hours and dealt with a lot of rejection before finally connecting with traditional publisher Boyds Mills Press (an imprint of Highlights for Children at the time). As a young author, signing a contract and receiving an advance felt like certain steps toward achieving my dreams. Unfortunately, after over a year of working with an editor, the deal fell through for reasons unrelated to my work, and after claiming to all I knew that I was on my way to being a published author, I felt like a fraud.

That was a pretty low point in my life.

After that, I wrote a little more but essentially eschewed writing novels to focus instead on my career and my family. For nearly ten years I wrote only poetry, believing my novel-writing days were done. This may not sound like traditional “writer’s block,” as I wasn’t necessarily stuck in the middle of a manuscript; however, it was a certain mental block, the belief that my dream of being a professional author was something I’d tried and failed at. I told myself I’d have to settle.

Well, somewhere around six years ago, a series of challenges disrupted my life. Some were personal, including turbulation in my teaching career when I suffered a devastating event that brought to light how little I was valued after the nearly two decades of commitment I’d put into my community (I almost left my job at that point). Some were universal, like COVID, and all the challenges that came with teaching and taking care of my family during that time. In the midst of that chaos, something happened to me to spark my interest in writing novels once more. I attribute that spark partially to age, to growing older and realizing I’d become someone whose happiness no longer depended on an arbitrary goal I’d set in my youth. I also attribute that spark to needing something for myself, to discovering that while I’d devoted my heart and soul to my students and my family for so long, I needed to devote some heart and soul to ME. I needed more for me.

Fast forward to the present, and I’ve since that time written twelve more novels. I grew tired of and ended my time-consuming and disheartening search for an agent or traditional publishing and pushed myself into a genre and age group I’d never considered but absolutely adore–adult horror and thriller. I’ve built a website and begun self-publishing and selling my work through Amazon. I’ve also within the last year and a half worked hard to self-promote my work through social media, and I’ve so very much enjoyed all that’s come from my efforts. I’ve met so many truly amazing independent artists and found camaraderie and support in them; I’ve conducted a few podcast and YouTube interviews and had so much fun with those; I’ve connected with readers who’ve seemed to truly enjoy my storytelling, and I cannot tell you how gratifying that has been. I guess I figured, why wait until some person with subjective tastes and commercial interests sees the value in my work? It was time for me to set out on my own, whether or not anything more than my own happiness comes from it.

I attribute my creativity, my ability to push through and keep writing, to the challenges I faced. Had I not believed my dream failed, suffered devaluation, and faced the struggles many of us faced during the pandemic, I’d never have realized my worth relies not on something exterior to myself but on my own perception of who I am as a creative and as a human being. I create because it brings ME joy, and that is and will always be my first goal in writing. Everything else is sprinkles on the doughnut.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Career-wise, I teach high school English. My Masters degree is actually in Gifted Education, so I’ve taught a combination of ELA and Gifted coursework over the years. This is my twenty-first year in public education.

My passion, however, is and has always been creative writing. I feel as though I was a normal child until middle school, when mean-girl bullying forced me inward so that by the time I reached high school, I was not only introverted but terribly shy and socially anxious. Writing–journaling and poetry at first and, later, novels–became my means of expressing myself when I knew no other way to do so.

While I wrote middle grade and young adult fiction for many years (and am proud of my works in those genres), my current passion is horror. Female writers in the horror genre are rather underrepresented, but I’ve been building toward this genre for some time and have absolutely found my niche. My works are inspired by folklore, mythology, the macabre, obscure monsters, cosmic forces and forces of nature, and the secrets and sensations that bring us shame and discomfort (particularly those related to sexuality, women’s issues, and girlhood). I have found readers in both male and female audiences, and as teenagers are such a huge part of my life, I always include adolescent characters along with adult characters to bridge the divide between young adult and adult fiction. I love to play with timelines, flipping between past and present to show how what happens to us in our youth affects who we become, and I additionally enjoy working with multiple viewpoints.

I have great confidence in my ability to craft a well-written, entertaining, fast-paced read and am always working on my next novel, producing (at present) about two a year. My works are set in our world, and I invite mystery, horror, and magic to intersect with it.

My poetry tends to be structured and cryptic, reflecting the darker and more confusing rooms of a faceted heart and the morbid wanderings of a perpetually curious mind. I at present have two anthologies of poetry out in the world and am working on a third.

I hope my writing is layered, thought-provoking, and relatable. I hope all people can find some reflection of themselves in what I create, as my true goal is to put to words the ineffability of the human experience.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

As a writer, there is no doubt that my choice to teach English Language Arts has had a huge impact on my ability to craft and edit my own work. For twenty-one years, I’ve taught a lot of classic literature and grammar and walked students through drafting and proofing; those skills have no doubt enabled me to produce well-crafted works and avoid the costs of hiring an editor. I also enjoy incorporating classical and Biblical allusions in my writing, and much of that comes from the reading I’ve done in relation to my job.

A second area of knowledge I enhanced over the years was knowledge of the publishing industry itself. When I first began seeking traditional publishing, I didn’t have a home computer with internet access. I would take myself to the public library and do a lot of research, make copies from The Writer’s Market in the reference section, and print and snail-mail everything. I actually found that more rewarding than the process now, which really has boiled down to querying agents, the new gatekeepers. Everything is done online, which might sound easier but is far more impersonal. My understanding of how much the industry has changed and how much more commercialized it has become is one of the things that led me toward self-publishing, which has made me far happier, I believe, than if I’d been paired with an agent or editor who wished for me to change my work.

That leads me to the third quality–stubbornness. In my early days as a fledgling writer, I would have likely caved to editors or publishers who wished me to alter my storytelling. Nowadays, my insistence on MY writing, MY way has given me such freedom and confidence. The journey I made has taught me that what matter most in my creative pursuits are the joy and pride I gain, and I refuse to alter my work for anyone other than myself.

My advice for those just beginning their writing journeys? First, take the time to teach yourself grammar. I know that sounds boring, but grammar matters. Read, too–read classic literature, not just the contemporary stuff. Many older works have been around a long time for a reason (not all–some need to go). Read works like The Count of Monte Cristo and the Greek tragedies and (my personal favorite) Dante’s Inferno–these are masterful. Discover why. My second piece of advice would be to look into the publishing industry with the eyes of a skeptic. Much of that world is based on commercialism. If your goal is to make money, then perhaps the traditional publishing industry is a good fit for you; however, if your goal is closer to mine, satisfaction in the craft itself, then prepare to struggle in this field. Nothing is impossible, but decide early on whether you wish to sacrifice your ideals and your storytelling in place of commercial success–you may have to, you may not, but considering this from the beginning will steer the course of your writing and help you determine your goals.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

I can’t offer advice on self-help or non-fiction books. As I mentioned, I read almost all fiction, and much of it is what’s considered “classic” fiction. My particular focuses in my career have been world literature and Western literature, and one of the most influential works I’ve ever read (perhaps THE most influential) has been the novel Candide, by the brilliant French writer Voltaire.

Now, if you’ve ever read this book, you’ll know it’s a ridiculous satire of all that is hypocritical and ironic about the human condition. There is SO much packed into this Monty-Python-esque tale, and it’s a ton of fun to teach. However, the true value of this book is in its end message, summed up in the French line, “Il faut cultiver son jardin,” or “We must cultivate our garden.” The message of this insane little novel is this: the world itself is chaotic and impartial, human beings are and always will be corrupt, but we cannot place the burden of either’s salvation upon ourselves as individuals. We must do what we can, and then we must let the rest go. We must improve our own corners of the world and find peace in the knowledge that THIS is enough.

During my years of creative desuetude, I began teaching this novel, and its message has always resonated with me–I must find meaning in what I can do in my own pocket of the world and with whatever influence I’m granted, and the rest? I have to let it go. Inner peace is, I believe, impossible if we are always anxious over problems we cannot solve, and I believe that as humans, we deserve inner peace, whether in regard to our creative pursuits or any other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sqmcgrath.com
• Instagram: @s.q.mcgrath
• Facebook: @s.q.mcgrath

Image Credits

These are all my own images.