Ask the Author: Donald Smyth

“Ask me a question.” Donald Smyth

Answered Questions (8)

Sort By:
Loading big
An error occurred while sorting questions for author Donald Smyth.
I am researching Stephen Schlossberg. In particular, I am looking at the memo he wrote Woodcock about Walter Reuther's death. It contains fabrications and what can only be described as disinformation that was debunked months later by the NTSB report. I wrote a book in 2022 ( El Golpe: US Labor the CIA and the Coup at Ford. in Mexico) It had a chapter on Reuther. I have ordered your book about Schlossberg?
Donald Smyth Different Donald Smyth. I did not write that book.
flag
What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?
Donald Smyth Not a personal mystery, but my new book A Night in the Mangroves is based on a real camping trip that I took with two friends when I was thirteen to an uninhabited island sitting off the coast of the Florida Keys. From that real life event, I asked myself the question, “this is what really happened, but what if this also happened.” And hence, a murder mystery is born.
flag
How do you deal with writer’s block?
Donald Smyth I go for a walk in the woods. I don’t try to force it. The creativity is either flowing or it isn’t. If it isn’t, the words aren’t going to make me happy.
flag
What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Donald Smyth The satisfaction that you get when you’ve executed your vision to a point of satisfaction. And the royalties!
flag
What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Donald Smyth Get it done and don’t worry about how good it is the first time around.
flag
What are you currently working on?
Donald Smyth Currently have four projects in production. A targeted memoir called The Path of Greatest Resistance, The Seventh and Final Miracle of Joe Christ: which is a fiction piece about a modern day street preacher/prophet. Anacondra Amin Business: which is a sequel to my yet to be released second novel, Sixth of Ten. Also working on A Night to Dismember, which is a murder mystery about three teenagers that spend a night on a deserted tropical island, only to find out that they’re not alone. Two of them come home alive.
flag
How do you get inspired to write?
Donald Smyth By waking up in the morning. I find that my mind is most creatively active in that time after I wake from sleeping, but before I have been distracted by life’s daily obligations.
flag
Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
Donald Smyth The inspiration for AoP came to me after watching the ABC TV program: World of Discovery: Wolves. It originally aired on the evening of December 23, 1993. The reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park was a hot-button topic in the world of environmental conservation at the time. I wanted to take this species, that had been historically cast as a villain in folk tales, literature and in real life, and cast them in a role of hero instead.
flag
Donald Smyth
3 followers
To ask Donald Smyth a question, please sign up.

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