Ask the Author: Paul Backalenick
Answered Questions (8)
Paul Backalenick
I published a novel. Nobody read it.
Paul Backalenick
This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger
Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan
The Book of Two Ways, by Jodi Picoult
Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan
The Book of Two Ways, by Jodi Picoult
Paul Backalenick
It seems I just have to wait it out. It's usually a crisis of confidence, rather than a lack of ideas. When my mood improves, the dam breaks and the writing resumes.
Paul Backalenick
Seeing the finished work and hearing people enjoyed reading it.
Paul Backalenick
Don't give up. Finish, actually finish, one book, even if it takes you ten years!
Paul Backalenick
Right now, 2020, my time is divided. I'm starting my third book, set in Las Vegas. Just beginning it. But I'm equally focused on marketing my last book. If you're an author, you have to do it these days.
Paul Backalenick
I simply want to do something with my time, with my life, that might conceivably be of some consequence. I built a business, but doing something more directly creative, in the arts, felt more meaningful. And since I can barely carry a tune, have no artistic skill, I turned to writing. Specifically, my first book, "Development," was written because I had years of rage inside me about man's exploitation of nature. I had to say something.
Paul Backalenick
"Carrie's Secret" grew from my experiences working in two different psychiatric hospitals in the greater Boston area. One interaction in particular that I remembered well, a talk I heard between two schizophrenic young men, started me off. I won't spoil it here, but it is a riddle that appears in the book.
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