Ask the Author: David I. Spanagel
Answered Questions (2)
David I. Spanagel
In my opinion, the very best thing about being a writer is that your ideas have the opportunity to reach and affect more people than you can through personal contact. Ironically, however, the very best feeling I ever get as a writer is to connect (or reconnect) with someone personally, and to discover through conversation that they have read my work, and found it interesting or at least memorable for some reason. Ultimately, the benefits of any extended reach of writing (as a preservation or dissemination technology for ideas) must ordinarily be taken on faith, since the act of confirming its value through direct interaction requires the same opportunity as getting to share an idea through conversation would in the first place.
David I. Spanagel
If I need to get my juices flowing on any particular day (and the place I had most recently left off composing is not already pressing me to return there), I may start a writing session by reviewing material that was written and set aside some days before to rest and review later. If a distinct feeling of not knowing where to begin (especially on a newer project), my favorite solution is to being the day by writing a personal message (or even writing an old-fashioned letter) to a friend or relative who has not heard from me in some time, and somewhere during the course of that message I will attempt to broach the subject of my current writing project (at an appropriate level of generality for the designated recipient of the message). This move always helps to overcome any fluency obstacles for writing as an activity, per se, and often also reminds me of what is the principal value or main purpose/idea of the thing I am struggling to start writing.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more