Ask the Author: John Riherd
Answered Questions (7)
John Riherd
The hardest thing for me, and something that delayed finishing my book for years, was self-doubt and fear of failure. That is, of course, as silly as it gets. The biggest failure would be never doing it at all. Finally I announced a day the book would be finished and I just did it. Now, I'm excited and working on the second diligently and taking breaks to work on a couple of others that have been patiently waiting. Now, the hardest thing is balancing the desire to write with perfection against the fact that perfect writing is impossible. Once again, I just have to finish the damn thing. Then I can start the re-write.
John Riherd
There is no such thing as writer's block. Writing is just hard work and sometimes you simply don't want to do it. Do it anyway. Exercise the synapses and the finger muscles. Stimulate the brain by writing something. Hemingway said something about writing one page of masterpiece to every ninety pages of shit. But, he gets that one page. William Stafford said, "There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough." Not writing while thinking about what to write is not writer's block. It is necessary. I try not to let thinking be an excuse for not sitting down and putting down one word and then another. Writing is a job. Show up. Do the job.
John Riherd
I don't have to get out of my pajamas to be productive. (As I enter this I am wearing my Sesame Street pajamas and my nineteen month old grand daughter is liking them.) I can explore places that don't even exist. I can share those places with friends. I can make some money doing all that.
John Riherd
1. The worst cliched advise you'll hear is "Write what you know." Balderdash. Write what you want. You may have to learn a few things to connect with readers, but that's okay.
2. End a sentence with a preposition if that's what your sentence needs to work.
3. Here's the big secret to writing: Write a word and then another. Do that until your thought is clear. Keep doing that over and over and over.
2. End a sentence with a preposition if that's what your sentence needs to work.
3. Here's the big secret to writing: Write a word and then another. Do that until your thought is clear. Keep doing that over and over and over.
John Riherd
Most of the time I'm working on the next in my Samuel Locke series, working title: "The Blues and Ballet." Occasionally, for a break, I'll open up my on going chic lit project and see what the ladies in that effort are doing.
John Riherd
Sometimes I have been percolating a scene in my mind until it has to get written down to make room for new ideas. However, most of the time inspiration means sitting down and start putting words in place regarding my characters. Eventually a lovely sentence will be birthed and the writing will flow easily until my coffee cup has been empty for too long. Then, I get some coffee, sit down,and start putting words in place on the screen.
John Riherd
In a previous life my secretary and I were talking about writing. She is an artist. She said I should write something that included a drawing. So, I rolled that around in the brain and came up with a scenario where a drawing would be instrumental in solving a crime. I wrote a short story that "Ellery Queen Magazine" took no time at all rejecting. But, that story evolved into what became my book, "A Crimson Grace."
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