Ask the Author: Darrell Laurant
Answered Questions (5)
Darrell Laurant
I don't get that very often (again, thanks to my newspaper career), but when I do, I find it helpful just to walk away for awhile. I've also learned that sometimes you start out a piece of writing with an opening you just love, only to find out that it doesn't really lead anywhere. So maybe you should cut and paste that opening to use elsewhere, and start over.
Darrell Laurant
Don't swallow the myth that writing ability is some sort of magical gift that very few people possess. If you feel drawn to write, you probably should. And the only way to get better is to do it -- a lot.
Darrell Laurant
My fourth book, "Inspiration Street: Two City Blocks That Helped Change America" is coming out in March. It's about the amazing concentration of people on two blocks on Pierce Street in Lynchburg, VA, all of whom contributed in a significant way to African-American advancement during segregation. As you can see, I'm a white guy, but this was a story I just had to write.
Darrell Laurant
As a daily newspaper columnist, I produced more than 5,000 columns, all of them on demand. In such a job, it's simply not possible to tell your bosses "Sorry, but I'm just not inspired to write today." Therefore, after 30 years, my self-discipline was locked in -- at least in writing, if not anywhere else.
Darrell Laurant
I was a history major in college, which was critical in landing me my first post-college job -- washing dishes in a Howard Johnson's restaurant. What I really wanted to do was write, however, so I talked my way onto the staff of a small weekly outside Columbia, SC. That was my journalism school, and the inspiration -- years later -- for this book.
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