Ask the Author: Barnabas Piper
Answered Questions (9)
Barnabas Piper
The short answer is to prioritize it. So read rather than watching YouTube, Netflix, or anything else. Also fit reading into the small places in life like anytime you are in a waiting room or have 10 minutes to spare before you have to leave the house. You don’t need an hour at a time to read, although that is very nice! I also find it useful to read multiple books at a time from different genres, so that way I can pick one up no matter what my mood or state of mind is. It feels less like a chore that way.
Barnabas Piper
Well, some people might consider this cheating, but I include audiobooks. A significant amount of the fiction that I read is via audio. Beyond that, I read when most people watch movies or TV, and I try to fit in 15 to 30 minutes of reading before bed most nights. It’s remarkable how many pages you can read in small bits consistently.
Barnabas Piper
Inspiration is like any emotion: fickle. It works best when people work to create an environment where it's more likely to show up and stick around for a bit but not run rampant.
For me this comes from writing consistently. Unless one is working one won't often find inspiration. It also comes from reading, listening, and watching. I simply try to soak up thought processes, phrases, images personalities, and experiences. In doing this I find ideas that might be an article or a book. In doing this consistently I also find ways that ideas connect I might otherwise have missed.
For me this comes from writing consistently. Unless one is working one won't often find inspiration. It also comes from reading, listening, and watching. I simply try to soak up thought processes, phrases, images personalities, and experiences. In doing this I find ideas that might be an article or a book. In doing this consistently I also find ways that ideas connect I might otherwise have missed.
Barnabas Piper
Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of it, but I just grabbed it on my kindle.
Barnabas Piper
Jackie Robinson - A complex person who accomplished the most remarkable feat in sports history, I think.
C.S. Lewis - Most of the current biographies are pretty boring even though he was such an interesting person.
Kevin Garnett - The first great preps-to-pros basketball player and a childhood hero of mine.
C.S. Lewis - Most of the current biographies are pretty boring even though he was such an interesting person.
Kevin Garnett - The first great preps-to-pros basketball player and a childhood hero of mine.
Barnabas Piper
I am working on my third book about curiosity and the Christian life - how curiosity leads people into a deeper relationship with God and makes life more fulfilling.
Barnabas Piper
Ideas. Ideas are the best part for me. The ideas I can express and the discovery of connections between ideas as I write. I find that writing ideas brings to mind thoughts, connections, memories, resources, and other authors' writing that I never would have thought of if I was consciously trying.
Another wonderful thing about writing is that you are creating a tangible artifact, a record for people who come later. It is satisfying to know that my little contribution may be of use to someone in 3 years or 33 years. It is a record for my children of what I believe and what I'm discovering. There's something immensely gratifying in that.
Another wonderful thing about writing is that you are creating a tangible artifact, a record for people who come later. It is satisfying to know that my little contribution may be of use to someone in 3 years or 33 years. It is a record for my children of what I believe and what I'm discovering. There's something immensely gratifying in that.
Barnabas Piper
Write consistently. Set a goal to write a certain amount of time per day or week and stick to it. The net results will be good habits formed, a pattern created, and a LOT of content created (even if much of it isn;t very good at first).
And publish what you write. Blog it. Find a website that takes submissions. You need the feedback and you need to overcome the fear of putting your creation in from of readers.
And publish what you write. Blog it. Find a website that takes submissions. You need the feedback and you need to overcome the fear of putting your creation in from of readers.
Barnabas Piper
Writer's block is almost always a temporary thing. I find it usually has to do with fatigue or a lack of motivation. If it is due to fatigue (and you have to know yourself well-enough to recognize this) I take a break - go read, talk a walk, watch a game. Just rest my brain. If it due to motivation then I write through it, and it is a grind. Often this writing is not worth publishing anywhere, but it's worth it because works through the "block". It's like going for a run even when you don't want to: it might be a crappy workout, but you're glad you did it in the end.
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