Ask the Author: David J. Bookbinder
Answered Questions (9)
David J. Bookbinder
Hi! Thanks for contacting me. I'm not often on Goodreads, and I just saw this message from 8 months ago. My life since that class has taken many strange turns -- I was nearly killed by medical errors at St. Peter's Hospital, among other things -- and ultimately set my degree, and writing, aside for a long time to pursue a career as a psychotherapist. I'm planning to retire at the end of this year and, coincidentally, have started to work on all my unfinished writing projects, beginning with the Street People book. I've finished a draft of a long piece about a guy who thought he was God and am now greatly expanding another about my local (then) newsstand vendor. I also have several shorter pieces I started in the 1970s that I'd like to finish. I've published a couple of self-help books, but this is my first foray back into creative writing in a very long time.
How about you?
- David
How about you?
- David
David J. Bookbinder
I just saw this answer on Goodreads. I'm sure you've already gotten many suggestions, but I'll take a look.
David J. Bookbinder
Thanks. I'm not sure how you got this message on Twitter, rather than on Goodreads or Facebook, but I appreciate your persistence. Without seeing this answer, my new cover design incorporates several of your suggestions.
David J. Bookbinder
The best thing about being a writer, at least for me, is finding out what I think and feel on a much deeper and also broader level than I might otherwise ever attempt.
David J. Bookbinder
Find some people who care that you are writing and want you to continue, listen only to the advice that makes sense to you at the time, find a structure that works for you, and keep on writing, even when you don't want to, even when it appears the outside world may never care. You do, and so do the people you have surrounded yourself with.
David J. Bookbinder
'Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas' came about because my numbers were in alignment. When I began it, I’d just turned 60, was almost 20 years out from a life-altering event, and had been a psychotherapist for nearly 10 years. My intention was to distill into one volume what I’d gleaned from these experiences. As often happens with art, creating it brought about something more.
The path to the Flower Mandalas themselves goes back to 1993, when a series of medical errors nearly took my life. At the time I was an English grad student at the University at Albany. What happened in a hospital there, which included a near-death experience, divided my life into two parts: who I had been and who I was becoming. To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, it’s been a long, strange trip since then.
The path to the Flower Mandalas themselves goes back to 1993, when a series of medical errors nearly took my life. At the time I was an English grad student at the University at Albany. What happened in a hospital there, which included a near-death experience, divided my life into two parts: who I had been and who I was becoming. To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, it’s been a long, strange trip since then.
David J. Bookbinder
Reading and conversation inspire me sometimes, but for the most part the inspiration comes from a background process that's always asking something like, "Do you have something you want to say?"
David J. Bookbinder
I'm currently trying to understand the whole phenomenon of writers being their own marketing and PR people. Things have changed phenomenally since I last published books in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. After I feel as if I have something of a handle on that process, I plan to begin another book of images and essays, possibly on aging.
David J. Bookbinder
In the past, I've dealt with it by succumbing to it! What I've learned since, with three unfinished books behind me, is that I respond to having someone I know is waiting for me to write. So, writing groups, sending out to my email list, and a Kickstarter campaign have all helped motivate me to push through writer's block. Other things that help: freewriting (so the blank screen is no longer blank, and all I have to do is "fix" what's there) and routine. Allocating several hours a week to writing and sitting in front of the computer, whether I want to write or I don't, has been more helpful than anything.
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