Meet the Author: Erin Moon

Hello, hello! This month’s author interview is with the delightful Erin Moon. Erin shares her writing through various Bible studies, The Bible Binge podcast, and her newsletter The Swipe Up (where she also curates some of the best and funniest bits of the internet). Erin has a deep love for Jesus, and a heart for those who approach their faith with a lot of questions. I appreciate how Erin’s writing is very approachable and inviting—even when I don’t agree with her, I feel like we could sit down over slices of pie and have a good conversation about whatever the topic is, and still be friends at the end of it. Creatively, I’m always inspired by her vivid, evocative style of writing, and her laser-sharp way with words.

Now that’s enough from me! Meet: Erin Moon!

1. What is your favorite part of the writing process, and least favorite part of the writing process? As with almost every writer I know, I love having written. The blank page is enormously intimidating for me, which is why I almost never start a project with one. It helps me to collect pieces of ideas or quotes or vibes for a project: for a Bible study, maybe it's a theme verse or a Biblical concept. For an essay, maybe it's a section from a book that inspired me or bits of an observation. This almost always ends up getting edited out, but it creates a more welcoming document environment than a stark white page with a menacing blinking cursor. More than anything, I thrive in the editing process. I can almost become another person, a ruthless and cutthroat killer of darlings, completely unrelated to the wordy and meandering writer I was in the first draft. In fact, my editor hates that lady writer. She is perpetually annoyed by lady writer circumlocution and $5 words. She is strong. She is invincible. She will not mix metaphors.

2. Did you always want to be a writer? How has that changed or not over the years? When I was eight, I chose a pen name. So yes. I have wanted to be a writer my whole life. I don't know if my love for writing has changed, or it's simply the way I write that's changed. I once thought (and this was probably true) writers were authors with real, actual books. But the internet led to the democratization of writing in a huge way: we can self-publish books, we can write on blogs, we can speak our writing on podcasts, etc. So I've always wanted to be a writer, and that definition has just expanded for me.

3. Do you have any writing rituals, or a specific environment that you prefer? I am the worst in that I need pressure to pull something off. A Tuesday weekly Substack essay? Pressure. Setting long-lead, gorgeous deadlines for myself months in advance then ignoring them until it's threat level midnight? Pressure. I used to think I was just a lazy procrastinator, but I know now I need a little fire under my butt to get the juices flowing.

4. Who is someone who has inspired you creatively? I really love the creative work of BT Harman. I first learned about BT from a co-worker who was following his original internet project, Blue Babies Pink, when it was a serial blog. He told the story of his coming out, with one entry a day, coupled with incredible photography and highly stylized graphics, and it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen on the internet. He later turned Blue Babies Pink into a podcast, then moved on to many other creative endeavors I've had the pure joy of consuming. I love the way he plays with format (not everything has to be/should be a book), and refuses to get stuck in a box. I really appreciate a creative who doesn't use the typical avenues of expression and tries to serve a story with the right medium.

5. What kind of books do you gravitate toward in your own reading life? I love historical biographies (I fall asleep listening to 23-hour-long books on Catherine di Medici) and pop history books (think A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson or The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman or Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman).

6. What is your superpower? I can see the limits of my capacity. I am a fairly high-capacity person: I can get a lot done, I tend to work on more than one project at a time, and I would rather eat a hair and mayonnaise sandwich than miss a deadline. But as I've gotten older, I can notice when I need to back off High Capacity Erin and chill. I've noticed this has led to less crying in the club and maintaining the fetal position for an hour and fifteen minutes in the shower.

7. What is one of the best pieces of advice you’ve ever gotten? "Stop punishing yourself for being human." I used to tell myself all sorts of terrible things about my character and who I was, just because I would be tired or burnt out. A friend said this to me once, and it's so applicable in so many ways. I keep it in my pocket for emergencies.

Thanks to Erin for being part of the series! You can find links to all her work at her website HERE.

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