Ask the Author: Randy J. Paterson
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Randy J. Paterson
Waiting for inspiration is a trap for a writer. If you only sit down to the computer when the spirit moves you, you will never produce a book. The process of writing is much more about discipline and scheduling than it is about inspiration.
That said, you need to have ideas. For this I'd say there are a few factors:
1. Give up on the search for the one great idea. The great idea will only grow out of a compost heap of mediocre ones, so you have to let go of the search for a final product and instead generate lots of ideas, knowing that most of them will never see the light of day.
2. Broaden your experience. A vocabulary is partly a list of words, but it is also a set of life experiences that you can draw upon. The more varied the experiences you have, the more of an idea-based vocabulary you have to work with.
3. Follow blind alleys. So what if you spend 6 hours fleshing out an idea that never goes anywhere? Count up the number of hours you waste on other activities, and time "wasted" on exploring a concept, or book idea, or way of expressing something no longer seems quite as awful a prospect.
That said, you need to have ideas. For this I'd say there are a few factors:
1. Give up on the search for the one great idea. The great idea will only grow out of a compost heap of mediocre ones, so you have to let go of the search for a final product and instead generate lots of ideas, knowing that most of them will never see the light of day.
2. Broaden your experience. A vocabulary is partly a list of words, but it is also a set of life experiences that you can draw upon. The more varied the experiences you have, the more of an idea-based vocabulary you have to work with.
3. Follow blind alleys. So what if you spend 6 hours fleshing out an idea that never goes anywhere? Count up the number of hours you waste on other activities, and time "wasted" on exploring a concept, or book idea, or way of expressing something no longer seems quite as awful a prospect.
Randy J. Paterson
Currently I am finalizing the page proofs for How to be Miserable. As well, I have written, recorded, and launched two online courses: How to be Miserable, and UnDoing Depression. Both of these are now online at udemy.com (check randypaterson.com for discount coupons - and search on my name at Youtube to find my channel where you can view the previews for these courses and earlier ones.
Randy J. Paterson
Write.
Assume the truth: that the first several thousand pages you write will never reach publication. Consequently, you must not wait until you have a book contract or a job that involves writing. This is like waiting until you are selected for the NBA final before you are willing to pick up a basketball and try shooting baskets. You will never be in the final until you have practiced a great deal, and if by some miracle this happened anyway it would be too late for you to learn your craft.
Keep a journal, join a writing group, create a blog, take courses, and work on your use of language in your everyday life - in your Facebook posts, in other social media, and in the bits of writing you do in your existing job or schoolwork.
Assume the truth: that the first several thousand pages you write will never reach publication. Consequently, you must not wait until you have a book contract or a job that involves writing. This is like waiting until you are selected for the NBA final before you are willing to pick up a basketball and try shooting baskets. You will never be in the final until you have practiced a great deal, and if by some miracle this happened anyway it would be too late for you to learn your craft.
Keep a journal, join a writing group, create a blog, take courses, and work on your use of language in your everyday life - in your Facebook posts, in other social media, and in the bits of writing you do in your existing job or schoolwork.
Randy J. Paterson
"How to be Miserable" stems from several sources. First, the concept of asking what people might do if, for some reason, they wanted to feel worse rather than better, comes from a group therapy program I have been associated with for many years. Depressed clients frequently sense that they have absolutely no control over their emotions, but when asked if they could make themselves feel worse, they can identify many strategies. In doing so, they often realize that they are already doing many of things they come up with.
Second, in recent years I have offered a public talk series called Psychology Salon. I called one of these talks "How to be Miserable" based on these early experiences and fully expected no one would appear. Instead, the large lecture hall filled and additional seating had to be brought in. The ideas in that talk were fleshed out and became the book.
Second, in recent years I have offered a public talk series called Psychology Salon. I called one of these talks "How to be Miserable" based on these early experiences and fully expected no one would appear. Instead, the large lecture hall filled and additional seating had to be brought in. The ideas in that talk were fleshed out and became the book.
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