Ask the Author: Aaron Cully Drake
Answered Questions (6)
Aaron Cully Drake
Ambien
When Martin Shkreli raised the price of his company's drug 5000% overnight, he was asked on Twitter, by a journalist, 'How do you sleep at night.'
'Ambien,' he replied. And I've since then wondered if I would ever have the balls to say such a thing.
So I had to try it. Regretting it, currently. Although, not enough to delete it.
When Martin Shkreli raised the price of his company's drug 5000% overnight, he was asked on Twitter, by a journalist, 'How do you sleep at night.'
'Ambien,' he replied. And I've since then wondered if I would ever have the balls to say such a thing.
So I had to try it. Regretting it, currently. Although, not enough to delete it.
Aaron Cully Drake
I took my dog for a walk, and started to wonder if she resented me for never giving her any privacy. Her entire life consists of daily routines, and one of those is that I follow her around with a plastic bag to pick up her poop. She must wonder why I do such things. She must wonder why I make her wear a leash. She must wonder why she has to sleep in a crate, while we sleep on the bed.
That's when I realized that a pet isn't too far removed from a slave. And a premise began.
That's when I realized that a pet isn't too far removed from a slave. And a premise began.
Aaron Cully Drake
A prequel to my current novel Do You Think This Is Strange, which follows a seven year old girl, recently diagnosed with autism,told through the eyes of a dog they got for her to keep her company.
Aaron Cully Drake
It's justification for buying a comfy chair
Aaron Cully Drake
Let your anxieties out of the barn.
Before I wrote my first novel, the only time I had available to write was on the train to and from work. But I was plagued with self consciousness, and couldn't write while a stranger sat beside me, lest they read over my shoulder and judge my writing.
At some point, I finally threw my fear out the window. I set it free. I let myself be self conscious. I let myself be anxious. But I told myself it wasn't a good enough reason to not write. Jittery fingers and all, I still kept writing.
Ignoring my self doubt was the only way I could finish my novel.
Before I wrote my first novel, the only time I had available to write was on the train to and from work. But I was plagued with self consciousness, and couldn't write while a stranger sat beside me, lest they read over my shoulder and judge my writing.
At some point, I finally threw my fear out the window. I set it free. I let myself be self conscious. I let myself be anxious. But I told myself it wasn't a good enough reason to not write. Jittery fingers and all, I still kept writing.
Ignoring my self doubt was the only way I could finish my novel.
Aaron Cully Drake
Writer's block is less about the trouble of writing 500 words than it is about writing the first word.
Few writers are out of ideas. Few writers don't have a handbag full of thoughts, possible storylines, observations. When I'm blocked, what I'm really saying is that I don't know how to start.
So I sit down and set myself free: "You can write about anything you want. It can be the same sentence over and over again, if you dare. But you have to write 500 words, in whatever form they come out."
Sure enough, after the first terribly slow, tooth-pullingly painful 100 words, things start to roll. By the time you hit 500 words, you find that you want to keep going.
Few writers are out of ideas. Few writers don't have a handbag full of thoughts, possible storylines, observations. When I'm blocked, what I'm really saying is that I don't know how to start.
So I sit down and set myself free: "You can write about anything you want. It can be the same sentence over and over again, if you dare. But you have to write 500 words, in whatever form they come out."
Sure enough, after the first terribly slow, tooth-pullingly painful 100 words, things start to roll. By the time you hit 500 words, you find that you want to keep going.
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