Ask the Author: Andy Lockwood
Answered Questions (8)
Andy Lockwood
I have a giant TBR pile. Whenever I get ready for summer fun - a camping trip, or some much-needed R&R - I grab 2 books from that pile and just commit myself to one of them, whatever it is. Sometimes it is a new read, sometimes it's one I even forgot I own!
Andy Lockwood
Wow - mysteries? I think I'm getting a lot of credit if anyone thinks I have any great mysteries in my life. I think instead, it might be more read-worthy to take a moment from my history of great deliberation and go in another direction - taking a new path in my own multiverse, if you will.
For example, in my 20s, I had an opportunity to take a job and move out of Michigan. I would have been away from my home, my family, my friends - I essentially would have been starting a brand new life. Sometimes, I wonder how my future would have unfolded if I'd taken that opportunity, who I would be had I delved into that new world.
For example, in my 20s, I had an opportunity to take a job and move out of Michigan. I would have been away from my home, my family, my friends - I essentially would have been starting a brand new life. Sometimes, I wonder how my future would have unfolded if I'd taken that opportunity, who I would be had I delved into that new world.
Andy Lockwood
I'm not sure I have a good answer to this. Most of the fictional places I would like to go are fantasy realms: The Kingdom of Landover, London Below, Middle Earth... but I don't think I am savvy enough to be a denizen of any of those realms - I can't ride a horse, I don't know how to farm, and I've never used a sword. I've used a bow, but never in a combat (or any kind of stressful) situation. So, I mean, I guess I would probably live an unsuccessful and short life in any of them.
Andy Lockwood
I covered my ears in an attempt to block out the riotous cacophony in the dining room; the woman screamed, throwing plates and glassware all around me. In a blink, all was quiet and I was alone again in the barren house.
Andy Lockwood
Write what you want. Don't think about what is going to make you money or what will make you popular. Think about the stories that don't exist. Think about the gaps in the bookstores and the libraries where stories are missing - stories that you want to tell.
Don't worry about being rich and famous. Worry about being well read and well written. Worry about what your characters are doing and whose story you are going to tell when the current story finally ends.
Don't worry about changing the world, worry about creating one.
Write. Create. Do. Get so busy doing, you don't have time to worry aboutbeing a success because you are enjoying yourself too much already.
Don't worry about being rich and famous. Worry about being well read and well written. Worry about what your characters are doing and whose story you are going to tell when the current story finally ends.
Don't worry about changing the world, worry about creating one.
Write. Create. Do. Get so busy doing, you don't have time to worry aboutbeing a success because you are enjoying yourself too much already.
Andy Lockwood
Honestly, it's the author events. Nowhere else do I have an opportunity to talk with readers and writers about both sides of the craft. It's an opportunity for me to meet people who genuinely love reading and writing and, occasionally, love reading MY writing. And those moments are really what I live for: hearing the parts that get people - knowing that carefulky crafted scene got that exact response I wanted it to! Being able to actually hear from the reader how it felt for them.
Knowing that your words impacted a reader. THAT is the very best thing.
Knowing that your words impacted a reader. THAT is the very best thing.
Andy Lockwood
Do something. Don't sit idle, fretting about the writing you aren't doing. Write something else. Exercise. Paint. Do something that keeps you active and takes your mind off the process of writing and the block will loosen itself and slip away in time.
Andy Lockwood
It's kind of an all or nothing thing. Either inspiration strikes me with a story that I am compelled to write, or it doesn't. That doesn't mean I don't have to motivate myself to write. You still have to do the work ifyou want to reap the reward.
It's cliche, but ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes an idea is enough to populate a whole story, sometimes it is a single set-piece in a much larger fabrication. You just have to be open to those ideas when they come - and keep a notepad handy to write them down for when inspiration isn't brimming.
It's cliche, but ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes an idea is enough to populate a whole story, sometimes it is a single set-piece in a much larger fabrication. You just have to be open to those ideas when they come - and keep a notepad handy to write them down for when inspiration isn't brimming.
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