Ask the Author: Richard W. Wise
Answered Questions (7)
Richard W. Wise
Robert,
Just got home from the trip! Shipping this week.
Richard
Just got home from the trip! Shipping this week.
Richard
Richard W. Wise
A. R., I see no problem. Love to see your draft.
Richard W. Wise
Ernest Hemingway advice to aspiring writers was: "Write what you know." This may sound arrogant, but I have tried to live a life and pursue experiences that I would be interested in reading about.
The idea for my first book was conceived on my 40th birthday. I was sitting at the end of a dock overlooking the lagoon on Manihi Island (Tuamotu Archepeligo) writing my first gem article about the black pearl farm that I had visited the previous day. It occurred to me that if I travelled the world, visited, bought gems and wrote articles about some of the more exotic gem producing areas I could eventually turn those articles into a book. I did that.
My second book, The French Blue, was based on the life of the world's most famous gem dealer, Jean Baptiste Tavernier. Tavernier fascinated me and given my own activities of the previous 20 plus years, I figured I had a pretty fair understanding of his motives and experiences.
My latest book is based on my experiences as an Alinsky style community organizer in Boston in the mid 70s.
The idea for my first book was conceived on my 40th birthday. I was sitting at the end of a dock overlooking the lagoon on Manihi Island (Tuamotu Archepeligo) writing my first gem article about the black pearl farm that I had visited the previous day. It occurred to me that if I travelled the world, visited, bought gems and wrote articles about some of the more exotic gem producing areas I could eventually turn those articles into a book. I did that.
My second book, The French Blue, was based on the life of the world's most famous gem dealer, Jean Baptiste Tavernier. Tavernier fascinated me and given my own activities of the previous 20 plus years, I figured I had a pretty fair understanding of his motives and experiences.
My latest book is based on my experiences as an Alinsky style community organizer in Boston in the mid 70s.
Richard W. Wise
As above, shut up and write!
Richard W. Wise
A genuine feeling of satisfaction after a good day's work.
Richard W. Wise
I had a version of writer's block for about twenty years. Finally, I took a writing course with the late poet Michael Gizzi. At the commencement of the first class, Gizzi gave a short lecture about writing that distilled to its essence came down to; forget about deathless prose, if you are a writer, shut up and write....and I did.
Richard W. Wise
I am currently working on a novel set in Boston in the 1970s. The main protagonist is a community organizer trained by Saul Alinsky.
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