Goodreads asked Sarah Rose:

How do you get inspired to write?

Sarah Rose Writing is occasionally wonderful and often unpleasant.

At the beginning of a project, writing is a slog, it's difficult to put words on the page and all the pages are ugly. In those dark moments I'm really just inspired by a paycheck -- I know if I don't write I can't pay my rent. I'm inspired by panic, I have a deadline. Those days are hard and my self-esteem is tragic.

But in the middle of the book, writing becomes self sustaining. It is like being in love, where you can't wait to get back to the manuscript in the morning to see some brand new beauty the world hasn't yet recognized or seen, and it's yours alone. It's the best feeling on earth.

There is nowhere I would rather be than in a middle of a book, watching the pieces coming together, knowing where the end is and how to get there, but still having so much room to write before it's done.

So I'm motivated by sheer terror and total abject love. I know that if I keep writing past the misery, if I keep inching toward the paycheck, there will be a moment when I can't get enough of a text and all I want to do is luxuriate in it.

Honestly, I wish I were there now.

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