ILLUMINATION Writers
Interview with Sherry McGuinn
Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION
In this story, I want to share with you an interview that I conducted with Sherry McGuinn who is a prolific and popular writer on ILLUMINATION. Sherry has a special pen! Her liberal pieces on human conditions attract the attention of our readers. I am inspired by the effective style, clarity, and powerful worlds in Sherry’s stories. As an excellent collaborator, one of the most appealing aspects of Sherry as a writer is creating synergy with our other writers by producing attractive writing prompts. Sherry’s writing prompts encourage our writers to create multiple stories on fascinating topics. Let’s explore interesting world of Sherry McGuinn!
Tell us a bit about your background, Sherry.
Well, I was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, to an Italian mother and Jewish father, and grew up in Skokie, a predominantly Jewish suburb of the city.
I am the oldest of three kids. I have a brother four years younger than me and a sister, ten years younger. She and I no longer talk to our brother. It’s been over five years now. A long story.
I’ve been a writer my whole life. My earliest recollections are of my English teachers reading my stories aloud in class. I remember one teacher writing “pithy” on one of my papers. I didn’t even know what that meant at the time!
I was fairly popular in high school because I was friends with a variety of crowds: The greasers, the hippies, the nerds. I was more of a hippie chick but you might say that I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket!
There was one guy that I had a real thing for. A smart, bookish, hippie who had his own band. That was like catnip to me and to a lot of other girls. He was the drummer, and years later, I still had a thing for drummers.
I don’t know. Something about those muscular forearms, I guess. The same forearms that, years later, captured my attention when the guy who was to become my husband, tended bar at the neighborhood watering hole where I hung out.
Watching him wipe down the bar, sleeves rolled up, forearms flexed, really did it for me. What can I say?
Prior to my “Sex and the City” years, my college stint was interrupted because of a relationship I was involved in with a guy who was more than ten years older than me. Best we don’t get into that!
After a short stint back home with the folks, I moved back to the city proper and embarked on my journey to become: Ta-Da! A writer.
My first gig was at a public relations firm where I was the assistant to one of the managing partners, a crusty gay woman (but as I recall, not “out”), who was tough but fair.
She must have seen something in me because she eventually gave in to my pleas to “write anything” and assigned me to one of the firm’s clients, The American Library Association.
I wrote press releases and public service announcements for celebrities. I loved it! I’ll never forget walking into syndicated columnist Mike Royko’s office and taping the PSA that I wrote for him. Or, the time I was ushered into the Chicago White Sox’s locker room to tape two of the players! They were killing it at the time and this was an enormous kick.
I had a huge crush on power hitter, Ron Kittle!
From there, I moved on to The Chicago Sun-Times. It happened in a roundabout way.
At the time, my mother was the office manager for the famous Como Inn restaurant, where many of the Sun-Times staffers lunched.
Somehow, she wrangled me an interview and I was hired as a writer in their promotion department, which was basically like their in-house advertising agency.
For a while, this was a dream job and I had a blast. Part of the gig was to attend all the Sun-Times functions and events and write about them. I also wrote twice-daily “drive-time” radio promos that had to be approved by the Sun-Times’ editorial department.
I’ll never forget the day when one of the editors told me that they loved my work, and asked if I’d be interested in writing features.
Byline feature stories? Hell, yeah!
I wrote several and they gave me free rein to write what I wanted. Within reason, of course. The first time I saw my story featured on the cover of a Sun-Times special section — well, that was a rush and a half.
My boyfriend, the same guy I was to eventually marry, got a job in the Sun-Times public relations department and we have many fond memories of that time. Not the least of them was when the legendary Irv Kupcinet published our wedding announcement in one of his columns! He was a true mensch.
After leaving the Sun-Times, I also had feature stories published in The Chicago Tribune and many other publications.
Somehow, after all that journalistic experience, inexplicably, I ended up in advertising and marketing. The pay was much better, for one thing. And “advertising copywriter” sounded sexy to me.
And there I remained.
I am now a produced screenwriter and am toiling away, trying to make my mark in Hollyweird. Writing for the big and small screens lights me up inside. It’s hard to explain, but I need to make my mark in this arena.
Why do you write on Medium?
I stumbled upon Medium by accident, when a former co-worker told me about it. It’s been over two years and I’ve never looked back.
Like many, I’ve experienced frustrations on this platform, but at the end of the day, I love it. It keeps my creative fires stoked and I’ve met so many wonderful, talented people! We support one another and for that alone, I’m grateful.
What are your values as a writer?
I must be true to myself or my readers will turn away. They can sense when a writer isn’t authentic. As a reader myself, I can, anyway.
Also, I spent too many years writing for clients and supervisors who I didn’t respect and now I write for me. And of course, for the wonderful people who take the time to read my ramblings.
What are the top three books that affected your life?
Oh, wow. That’s tough. There are so many. Definitely Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, the heartbreaking coming-of-age story that is The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the incredible Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry.
What are your hobbies?
Hoarding health and beauty products. (Just kidding, guys.)
Oddly, that’s another tough, yet great question as I always seem to be doing something, you know? If I’m not writing, I’m puttering around the house or paying bills. Life stuff.
Definitely I love to read, watch movies — as well a write them, which I don’t consider a hobby, but a “calling,” listening to music, cuddling with our cats, and trolling on Amazon Prime! Also, daydreaming.
I also work out daily but I consider that an essential activity. Pun intended.
How do you connect with your readers?
I do my best to answer all comments as well as interact with the many Facebook groups. I also have a newsletter on Substack that I link to in my stories.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION and how do you find it so far?
I was intrigued by your first post about this wonderful publication. As so many of your other writers have stated, you’ve provided the validation we deserve and need. And hadn’t received in a long time.
How I find it so far: It’s the bomb. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t put in the work to pump out at least a story a day. You rock, Mehmet!
Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?
Oh, boy. This could get me in trouble because I know I’ll leave out some of my faves and it’s completely unintentional, so forgive me in advance, guys, but here goes in no particular order: Timothy Key, Joe Luca, Gurpreet Dhariwal, P.G. Barnett, Rasheed Hooda, Chris Hedges, Kira Dawn, conny manero, Kevin Buddaeus, and René Junge.
As I said, I could go on as I love and follow so many of you. I know I’ll be slapping my head later and saying, “Oh, shit! How did I forget so-and-so?”
What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
Naturally, I love them all, as (I believe it was) Kevin Buddaeus who said the same about his own stories, but I want to be in full compliance here, so here we go:
This first one is among my favorites as it was so freeing to write and express my feelings about aging and ageism.
This next one was difficult to write, yet cathartic.
Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs
This one, published right here in ILLUMINATION, helped to garner me a “top writer” status in humor. I don’t know how long that tag will hang around, but I do love to make people laugh. We so badly need it.
This next one received an incredible amount of engagement and was a blast to write.
I’m proud of the following because I incorporated my skills as both a writer and screenwriter. It’s sort of a hybrid story/screenplay.
What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?
Funny you should ask as I’ve been grappling with this. First off, I want to continue to entertain and enlighten my readers. I never want to be complacent or the type of person who rests on their laurels.
But, if I’m to be completely truthful, I’d also like to make some damn money! I’ve been doing a little better but my goal is to make at least a part-time income as this is a job! Of course, I love it, but any writer who says that writing on Medium every day and reading other writers and engaging with them in the Facebook groups isn’t work — is frankly, full of it.
What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?
Hone your craft. Don’t think you know it all, because you don’t. It might take a while for you to get your sea legs, and that’s okay.
Write cleanly. By that, I mean don’t stuff your stories with empty rhetoric. We get enough of that from our politicians. And watch your punctuation and grammar. There are plenty of free apps to help you with this.
Read. Read. Read. Got that? Because it can’t be emphasized enough. Do you aim for greatness? Then read great writers.
Finally. Be yourself. Authenticity is what will help you grow your readership. And it’s not just a buzzword. I know from experience that the more “real” I’ve become, the more popular I am. No one’s perfect and we don’t expect you to be. So let it rip.
What are your future plans as a writer?
To continue writing on Medium and hopefully, compile my essays into a book. I am also going to continue to write screenplays and one day, I will be on that Indie Spirits Awards stage and who knows where from there? I’ve come too close to realizing my dream to stop now.
Basically, I’m going to keep at it.
Thank you for your valuable time Sherry. I love your inspiring and engaging stories on ILLUMINATION. I look forward to reading more stories from your creative pen. Your participation in our Slack channel means a lot to me and is greatly appreciated by our writers. You are an inspiration to our writers and readers on ILLUMINATION.
You can also check interesting bio of Sherry McGuinn from her creative pen.
If you are a writer on ILLUMINATION and would like to be interviewed, please send a request via this link with title of “Interview Request”.
Other Interviews
You may also check other interviews I conducted with inspiring writers of ILLUMINATION recently. These stories can provide a great opportunity to know more about our creative writers and connect with them.
Timothy Key
Desiree Driesenaar
Holly Jahangiri
Dr John Rose
Ming Qian
P.G. Barnett
Jill Ebstein
Bill Abbate
Terry Mansfield
Ann K Frailey
Woei T
Charles Roast
Julia E Hubbel
Aric D Mayer
Chris Hedges
Paroma Sen
Jeff Hanlon
Besom & Bletherskite
Kevin Buddaeus
You can find inspiring profiles of ILLUMINATION writers from this story.
You can find inspiring interviews with ILLUMINATION writers from this story.