Ask the Author: Pete Nunweiler
Answered Questions (4)
Pete Nunweiler
One Hundred Seventy Days is a memoir of the six months I spent as my mother's primary caregiver when she was diagnosed with Necrotizing Fasciitis and Colon Cancer. I kept a journal to turn the emotions into facts and would share those facts with my family that could not be with her as much as I could. It kept everyone in the know. A few months after the ordeal was over, I read through each item in the journal and replayed the events in my mind, allowing the flood of emotions to sweep over me again. As I recalled the emotions and the details around the events, I wrote each in story form so that I could share the story of my mother's strength and the strength of our family with others who may experience similar trials.
Pete Nunweiler
Don't judge yourself before you ever try. Many questions will enter your mind, not the least of which is, "Will anyone else like my story?" This can be crippling to the imagination. For those who have considered writing, my advice is simple, "Write."
Pete Nunweiler
To read a book is to step out of my life as it is now. When I wrote How Much Water Do We Have, it was a reflection on the five principles that have gotten me through several challenges; from hiking 8 miles at an incline of 2,100 feet in the first 4 to identifying my mother's motivator to eat when she was hospitalized for four weeks.
Being a writer is telling a story, sharing a memory, bringing others along on a difficult journey, and an invitation into my imagination.
Being a writer is telling a story, sharing a memory, bringing others along on a difficult journey, and an invitation into my imagination.
Pete Nunweiler
When I've gotten writer's block, I do one of three things. Sometimes, I just leave it alone and don't even try for a while until something comes to me. When it does, it's like a light being turned on and I can sit and write for hours. Other times, I copy the last paragraph that I like to a new document and start writing whatever comes to mind. When I run out of words to write again, I create a page break and start writing from scratch. I do a new page so that I'm not influenced by what I just wrote. This helps my creative thinking and most of the time, one of the series of writing excites me. When that happens, I copy the version that I like to my original document and keep on going. The third thing I've tried is starting an entirely new document and start writing a different chapter. All of these methods can be used to keep the process going.
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