Ask the Author: Peter Prichard
Answered Questions (6)
Peter Prichard
Understand why you want to write, identify the factors that will keep you from sitting down and writing (these could be personal tendencies or environmental factors like a significant other who resents the time it is taking away from your time with them), identify the time and space that is the most positive for you to write (I did most of my writing on my first novel between 5:00-7:00 a.m. in my home office) and identify what motivates you to write. Also, identify a person or person's whose opinion you respect who is willing to read what you have done and provide feedback and support.
Peter Prichard
There are a number of ways I get inspired. I meditate, journal, exercise, read, stay connected to family and good friends, and stay focused on my personal mission statements that provide focus. I have mentioned those personal mission statements previously in answer to other questions and they are to lessen the instances of sexual assault and bullying on and use of tobacco products by young people...and...provide resources and support to people that increase the likelihood they will act in a positive way that helps our country and world. I also stay away from people and situations that I know are time wasters and energy drainers and get involved with people and activities that energize me and challenge me intellectually.
Peter Prichard
I am currently writing articles prior to starting another novel. The articles relate to my strong desire to lessen the instances of sexual assault and bullying on and use of tobacco products by young people...and...my desire to help individuals, including writers, see that they can have a positive impact on our fractured country and world through their efforts if they choose to do so.
Peter Prichard
Four key ingredients come to mind - self-awareness, expansive knowledge, creativity, and impact. I love the fact that being a writer of fiction and non-fiction requires me to know myself very well, to be honest about what has happened to me in the past and how I really dealt with it and how I might deal with it in what I am writing. I love the fact that I have to be knowledgeable about many things in order to create a credible story. The creativity is a given and for me figuring out how to access the creativity within is a puzzle I love solving. Finally, there is the possibility of impacting individuals around something that is important to me and others. There are two personal mission statements I have created for myself based on Stephen Covey's second habit in his powerful book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. In that habit he shows you how to create a personal mission statement which is so important for writers; why are you doing what you are doing? First, I am writing in an attempt to lessen the instances of sexual assault and bullying on and use of tobacco products by young people. My other mission is to help individuals understand that they can make a difference in the world if they choose to do so. The heroine in my two novels understands both. Making that happen was so energizing and fulfilling as a writer.
Peter Prichard
The old saying "write what you know" spurred me to write Dawn of Hope. This novel is about a female teenager, Dawn Mortenson, who has as a mission the desire to lessen the instances of sexual assault and bullying on and use of tobacco products by her young friends and classmates. As a youth advocate, that has been a mission of mine for years. I have also been inspired by the young people I have met as a career counselor, teacher and advocate. So basing my novel on a mission that is important to me and having as the hero a teenager who is a composite of many of the amazing young people I have met and taught, was my writing about what I know. I also know about the elements of Dawn's mission through my work, so the resources at the end of that novel that readers can go to are organizations that I have referred some of the young people and adults who I coach to as possible resources for them. Bottom line - write about what energizes you and what you know and let the story come from that passion and knowledge and personal commitment.
Peter Prichard
There are a few ways I deal with writer's block. The first is by keeping a journal in which I write regularly. I have been doing that for forty years. Writing in the journal gets me into a writing rhythm that often leads into the fiction and non-fiction writing I do. Journal writing also generates ideas for my other writing. The second technique is to surround my writing space with inspirational quotes. One of the most powerful was sent to me by a writing friend and colleague - Sit Down. Shut Up. Write. Don't Stop. I am looking at it as I write this. A third technique is writing down the time wasters that are part of my make up. Since I now know these intimately I know when to stop them when I start them. Finally, I regularly do Mind Mapping, a visual brainstorming technique that gets one out of the logical thinking process which frees up the creative. I have broken out of writer's block multiple times by sitting down and going through my mind mapping regimen. There are many resources online for how to do that technique.
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