Ask the Author: Michael D. Cohen
Answered Questions (4)
Michael D. Cohen
I've wanted to write this book for the past fifteen years but didn't have the time. The pandemic was terrible for a lot of reasons but it really opened up some time to get my head around it and build on my course by the same name. I wanted to give students and professionals a holistic look at how the business of campaigns work and how some of the top people in the industry got their big breaks. None of this is taught in standard political science courses so I thought there was an opportunity to help people who wanted to be involved in campaigns or were somewhat interested in politics but didn't know to get involved.
Michael D. Cohen
I try to set aside time everyday to write, shutting off all electronics and notifications to lock in and focus. With all that I have going on professionally and personally, it's hard to find the time unless you schedule it. From there, I give myself wiggle room to extend the time if it's going well and to take the win of just writing for a certain amount of time if it's meh or worse.
Michael D. Cohen
Write and keep writing. Writer's block is insidious, creeping up on you and then locking you up. I've found that I'm hyper-critical about my own writing so I've had to fight through that, to keep writing even when it's garbage. Eventually you get to the point where you're at least okay with what you've written, if not delighted by it. Writers are our own worst writing enemies.
Michael D. Cohen
It's long, so I'm going to take some time to get through "The Man Who Ran Washington" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. It's fantastic so far. I'm also plowing through "The World: A Brief Introduction" by Richard Haas and, for fun, reading "Loudmouth" by my friend Robert Duncan.
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