We recently connected with Lynn Slaughter and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lynn, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I believe that I owe my work ethic to my father. He was a tremendously hard working business executive who genuinely loved his work. I admired him tremendously, and although I didn’t pursue his line of work, I definitely modeled my work ethic after him.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
After age and injury led me to retire from dance, it took me a while to find my grounding career-wise. While I’d always loved to write, I’d always written nonfiction. I think I surprised myself when I discovered that I loved writing fiction. After publishing my first novel, WHILE I DANCED, I returned to school to earn my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and have just kept going ever since. I’ve now published six novels, with two more under contract. In addition, I regularly blog on my website and love featuring other authors. I’m also mentoring a 15-year-old gifted writer who is currently working on a novel. Working with her has been a special joy, as I’ve always enjoyed teaching and paying it forward.
Like dance, writing is an expressive art form. And you are never done growing and developing in your craft and artistry.
I’ve also enjoyed being part of a community of writers. Writers are amazingly supportive and encouraging of one another!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I would have to say that three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey have been a solid work ethic, perseverance, and humility. I think the only way to develop these qualities is to practice them. Both as a dancer and later as a writer, I realized there were people who were much more naturally gifted and talented. But what I had to offer was my consistent efforts to learn and improve– and to persevere despite inevitable rejections and disappointments. I think it’s also so important to be humble and recognize that there are always new ways to grow and develop in whatever you choose to do.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
Well, since I am old, I may very well only have a decade or so of life left. I choose to focus on nurturing my relationships and continuing to write and create, as well as encouraging and supporting other writers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lynnslaughter.com
Image Credits
Headshot by Shannon L. Wells
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
