Ask the Author: Bud Shaw
Answered Questions (6)
Bud Shaw
For me, writer's block is simply avoidance. It's the same problem that keeps me from going o the gym today or riding my bike tomorrow. I always feel so much better doing it, but if even a day goes by the inertia to do it again is replaced by that of avoidance. Don't we all have to deal with that? The way inertia keeps us from doing the hard things that make us the most happy?
Bud Shaw
Dissecting experiences in order to find the truth within them. OK, so the cache is that being a good surgeon requires being good at dissection of flesh, but surgeons are never taught how to dissect the far less tangible aspects of life. Maybe that explains their bad bedside manner. I admit that I had to learn a new skill called self-reflection, and in doing so, I learned so much about myself. Much of it was not good news, but accepting the bad with the good has made me more self-aware, more alive, and ultimately more happy. I don't want to lose that gift from writing.
Bud Shaw
Start young, read constantly, seek honest critique, reject the advice that feels utterly erroneous, but accept that which cuts you deep with its accuracy. Remove adjectives and adverbs from your life in order to see the truth of it, and your sentences might become more interesting. Be merciless toward your writing but maintain empathy for the writer.
Bud Shaw
Two novels and some new and updated nonfiction essays. I find myself especially distracted by other aspects of life right now, however. It's all good, but I am starting to feel guilty about not writing more than I am.
Bud Shaw
I can't not writer. I find it particularly important to write when I am NOT inspired to do so. It's a job, after all, and doing it whether inspired or not can be especially rewarding.
Bud Shaw
I began writing essays about my experiences and before long I had a collection that attracted the attention of agents and publishers. Then I had to figure out how to rewrite everything and write a lot more in order to create a book with a reasonable story arc. Some readers are put off by the lack of a linear time structure. Others have found a more satisfying arc, "dramatically punctuated by the final chapter" as one fan claimed.
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