Ask the Author: Alan N. McClain
Answered Questions (6)
Alan N. McClain
I find inspiration to write in discovering a way to solve a problem that stands in the way of our faster progress. When I find a way around that problem, for me, it is time to share that good news with the world!
This is the basic process of what is now called original, "critical thinking," when applied to obstacles that hold us back or stand in our way. I will look for every imaginable way to get around that obstacle, and if I can't see it right away, then I will come back again and again, from a fresh point of view. "If there is a way, I will find it" -- my own motto.
I will "leave no stone unturned" in looking for a way to solve a tough problem, and the answer is often in a combination of methods that work well together. This is called "throwing everything you have at it."
In my work as a management systems analyst, the business managers would give me the tough problems, which were, for me, good projects!
Other writers are inspired by many feelings and perceptions from what they have seen and experienced. Some are historians: The greatest novel ever written was for many years considered to be Tolstoy's "War and Peace," about Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the Russian response. The motion picture is an all-time classic, and it has been deemed the greatest motion picture ever.
This is the basic process of what is now called original, "critical thinking," when applied to obstacles that hold us back or stand in our way. I will look for every imaginable way to get around that obstacle, and if I can't see it right away, then I will come back again and again, from a fresh point of view. "If there is a way, I will find it" -- my own motto.
I will "leave no stone unturned" in looking for a way to solve a tough problem, and the answer is often in a combination of methods that work well together. This is called "throwing everything you have at it."
In my work as a management systems analyst, the business managers would give me the tough problems, which were, for me, good projects!
Other writers are inspired by many feelings and perceptions from what they have seen and experienced. Some are historians: The greatest novel ever written was for many years considered to be Tolstoy's "War and Peace," about Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the Russian response. The motion picture is an all-time classic, and it has been deemed the greatest motion picture ever.
Alan N. McClain
I am planning on writing a special report to be given to those interested in receiving future health news updates, explaining major developments affecting millions of people.
Like my other work, it recognizes a major problem and explains simple and affordable alternative ways around it.
Someday I would like to write my own special book on how to advance in one's career -- this has been a lifetime study for me, and I really have a lot to share. I need to find a way to make it stand out from all the others in this field, and I may have a way in mind.
However, this could turn into another one-year project, and for now I must concentrate on marketing my one-of-a-kind book "How I Beat Macular Degeneration in the Early Stages, and How You Can, Too!" It is a total health book, proven in over 39 years of study and practice.
Like my other work, it recognizes a major problem and explains simple and affordable alternative ways around it.
Someday I would like to write my own special book on how to advance in one's career -- this has been a lifetime study for me, and I really have a lot to share. I need to find a way to make it stand out from all the others in this field, and I may have a way in mind.
However, this could turn into another one-year project, and for now I must concentrate on marketing my one-of-a-kind book "How I Beat Macular Degeneration in the Early Stages, and How You Can, Too!" It is a total health book, proven in over 39 years of study and practice.
Alan N. McClain
I would say to ask yourself, what is a message I have that I would like to share with a wide audience? It may take a few years of exploring many subjects to build a collection of ideas around this. You may find that your interests are making you a developing expert in a subject you like to study, or that you have observed many events and the ways that people respond to them. Our interests carry us far.
Looking at books on subjects of interest helps to give us direction. One of the best-selling self-published books was a highly original one about "Back Roads in California," by a dedicated traveler who went out and explored back roads, drew drawings of what he saw along each route he traveled, and hand-lettered the text. There was no typesetting -- it was all in his own lettering!
That book caught my interest because I myself had explored many back roads, far out on the desert and up into the mountains.
It will take time and thought to decide on a marketable subject. Then you should ask present book marketers for their opinions.
I had three subjects: (1) A book on career tips; (2) A book on health and nutrition; (3) A book on improving the performance of cars.
A marketing expert had great enthusiasm for only #2 because I had found a way to solve a worldwide epidemic vision problem. He thought little of #1 -- too much competition. I gave up on #3 long ago -- not practical any more -- too much has changed.
At long last, I was off and running on a subject in which I have become a genuine expert, after 39 years of dedicated health and nutritional studies, a necessity for holding up under my 12-hour days on challenging jobs. I hammered it all into 125 pages.
Looking at books on subjects of interest helps to give us direction. One of the best-selling self-published books was a highly original one about "Back Roads in California," by a dedicated traveler who went out and explored back roads, drew drawings of what he saw along each route he traveled, and hand-lettered the text. There was no typesetting -- it was all in his own lettering!
That book caught my interest because I myself had explored many back roads, far out on the desert and up into the mountains.
It will take time and thought to decide on a marketable subject. Then you should ask present book marketers for their opinions.
I had three subjects: (1) A book on career tips; (2) A book on health and nutrition; (3) A book on improving the performance of cars.
A marketing expert had great enthusiasm for only #2 because I had found a way to solve a worldwide epidemic vision problem. He thought little of #1 -- too much competition. I gave up on #3 long ago -- not practical any more -- too much has changed.
At long last, I was off and running on a subject in which I have become a genuine expert, after 39 years of dedicated health and nutritional studies, a necessity for holding up under my 12-hour days on challenging jobs. I hammered it all into 125 pages.
Alan N. McClain
I would say that sharing our knowledge gained from real-world experience is the best part of being a writer. This may take many forms, in non-fiction and in fiction. For example, classic writers including Earnest Hemingway and John Steinbeck wrote about events they had witnessed in their travels.
I myself am a dedicated problem-solver who has for many years intuitively practiced original "critical thinking," driven by a curiosity to understand how things work and then to use that understanding to make them work better. People noticed that I saw problems and deficiencies in things around us, and I searched for ways around those problems. Classmates in my business school thought that I should be an analyst.
In 1970, two years after joining NCR's computer factory, my abilities were recognized, and I was promoted to Systems Analyst -- a job title known everywhere to be for one who really finds ways to understand and solve tough problems.
That began my career in systems, which included writing many original and complete management operating manuals for some of America's most famous industrial companies, a merging of systems studies and my natural communicative abilities, writing and speaking clearly to simplify, summarize, and explain a complex subject.
I myself am a dedicated problem-solver who has for many years intuitively practiced original "critical thinking," driven by a curiosity to understand how things work and then to use that understanding to make them work better. People noticed that I saw problems and deficiencies in things around us, and I searched for ways around those problems. Classmates in my business school thought that I should be an analyst.
In 1970, two years after joining NCR's computer factory, my abilities were recognized, and I was promoted to Systems Analyst -- a job title known everywhere to be for one who really finds ways to understand and solve tough problems.
That began my career in systems, which included writing many original and complete management operating manuals for some of America's most famous industrial companies, a merging of systems studies and my natural communicative abilities, writing and speaking clearly to simplify, summarize, and explain a complex subject.
Alan N. McClain
As I learned IN 1980 from the presenter of an excellent seminar on writing one's own "how to" books, the best way to begin writing is to write as you speak (in "conversational English"), as if you are explaining it to a friend. I have seen some very excellent writing that was done in this way.
Also, it is important to "tell a story," as I have done in many chapters of my book, to help explain and make memorable the point I was leading up to.
The story may be one of emergency (as I considered mine to be), describing how focused steps were taken to reverse a potential disaster, as an airplane pilot must do when faced with a crisis. However, each memorable story needs a happy ending, as my true stories have.
The leader of our seminar was a former English teacher who by 1980 had sold over $6 million dollars' worth of products by "mail order." That was long before the Internet!
Also, it is important to "tell a story," as I have done in many chapters of my book, to help explain and make memorable the point I was leading up to.
The story may be one of emergency (as I considered mine to be), describing how focused steps were taken to reverse a potential disaster, as an airplane pilot must do when faced with a crisis. However, each memorable story needs a happy ending, as my true stories have.
The leader of our seminar was a former English teacher who by 1980 had sold over $6 million dollars' worth of products by "mail order." That was long before the Internet!
Alan N. McClain
Through the years since 1976, I have made many discoveries in the health and nutrition field, a necessity for holding up under the pressure of my 12-hour workdays in demanding jobs. I shared what I was learning with co-workers, and they also found the same helpful results for keeping energy levels and alertness high. In 2012 I was told I was developing an all-too-common eye condition called macular degeneration, so I researched this and eliminated it completely! It was time to share this proven discovery with the thousands of seniors who are slipping into this type of frightening loss of sight, which can be avoided. Having wanted to write my own "how-to" book since attending a conference on this in 1980, I went to work in earnest, and the result is a total health program, in 125 intensely-written pages.
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