Ask the Author: Michael Zelig
Answered Questions (3)
Michael Zelig
Oh, Lord! I do get the worst cases of it. I actually went through a period of maybe ten years or so where I wasn't writing prose! I did write an occasional poem, but that was about it. However, ideas for the first book started percolating in my brain again, especially with the growth of the Evangelistic movement in American politics. I started working on the book again, with months of writer's block. Also being a bit of a perfectionist in my writing, I would re-edit and re-write the same chapter over and over again before letting myself work on the next.
I finally gave myself a deadline to finish writing the book, which I happily beat by a month. I found the trick was to have the deadline and to proceed with each chapter almost as a brain dump--not to worry about the editing and re-writes until the book itself was done in the first draft.
This helped my ability and my block tremendously. One other thing (which may be obvious to others): if you get stuck on the current part, just start writing a different scene or chapter and let your brain work out the issue subconsciously. Also, sometimes, just allowing myself to break off, and work on something else (a poem, my website, and blog) clears the block out.
I finally gave myself a deadline to finish writing the book, which I happily beat by a month. I found the trick was to have the deadline and to proceed with each chapter almost as a brain dump--not to worry about the editing and re-writes until the book itself was done in the first draft.
This helped my ability and my block tremendously. One other thing (which may be obvious to others): if you get stuck on the current part, just start writing a different scene or chapter and let your brain work out the issue subconsciously. Also, sometimes, just allowing myself to break off, and work on something else (a poem, my website, and blog) clears the block out.
Michael Zelig
I'm working on a second novel which, like "I'm God and You're Not', was started many years ago and set aside due to life's obligations and changes. It's also a work of social satire, but instead of being focused on religion, this is more focused on capitalism and greed. I don't want to say much about it here, but here's a tease: what would happen if alchemy, especially the ability to transform lead into gold, and the other possiblities of the "Philosopher's Stone" were true?
Michael Zelig
I was always a voracious reader and seemed to have a thing about comparative religion. Reading scriptures of various religions, and coming from a Judeo-Christian background, I got to wondering why Christians and Jews believe that the Bible is the "word of God." Why not the books and legends of other religions? More importantly to me, I couldn't find where it says that the Bible was written by God. And a good many of the miracle stories conflicted with my rational beliefs. So, I conceived of God actually telling the truth behind the Bible. Though the book was started many years ago, it grew and was re-written a number of times. The ending surprised me because it is far from what it probably would have been even a few years ago.
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