Ask the Author: Alexander Wolff
Answered Questions (6)
Alexander Wolff
For years I'd nursed the idea of telling the family saga at the heart of ENDPAPERS. But real life interceded--a day job, raising kids. And then, after taking a buyout from Sports Illustrated after the 2016 Olympics, my wife and I looked at each other, and we looked at our teenage kids (who after a childhood in small-town Vermont were definitely up for an adventure), and realized we couldn't NOT take the plunge. So we moved to Berlin for a year--and it was like going over the falls. Fortunately I'd been taken notes and gathering string for more than 20 years.
Alexander Wolff
Sometimes it's a thought in the shower in the morning. Sometimes it's the prospect of heavy weather--snow or rain--and a sense that the world around me will be slowing down, so I won't be missing much if I get to my station. Often it's a terrific interview with a source who has shared exciting material or pithy quotes. And sometimes it's a Thermos of tea. I particularly love a loose leaf blend I order from Verdigris Tea in Hudson, NY, called Russian Earl Grey.
Alexander Wolff
I'm working on a new preface to Big Game, Small World, my travelogue about basketball around the world, which will be reissued in 2022. A lot has happened with the global growth of the game in two decades!
Alexander Wolff
Read. Read to study good writing, read to mimic good writing (to a point, obviously!), read to affirm the worth of good writing. You have a voice, all your own, deep inside you; sometimes the best way to uncap that essential "you" is to imbibe the essence of others.
Alexander Wolff
I'm not exactly a shy person, but I'm definitely not an extrovert--and I'm definitely curious. Being a writer gives me license to ask just about anyone anything. I tell that to aspiring writers and journalists all the time: This business gives you every excuse to find out things you never knew.
Alexander Wolff
Get something down, no matter how ragged, even if it will wind up in the middle of a random paragraph. It can provide the little bit of confidence with which you get "unblocked." Or: Do more reporting or research. To be blocked is often simply not having something to say. Learn something knew, and it can fire you with inspiration and--voila!--you have something to say.
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