Ask the Author: paul andrew skidmore
Answered Questions (2)
paul andrew skidmore
first, rest.
if i don't take a day-long break from almost everything once a week, i won't have energy to do anything worth anything. that goes for more than just writing. this was a top ten command in the Old Testament, right up there with "don't murder". it's important.
second, read.
if i only breathed out, i'd die. i have to breathe in, too. so i take time during the day to read. i don't read a lot of fiction, but i do read worldview building things, such as Scripture or news. i try to think about both and find my place in them, because this is going to be the foundation upon which all of my writing is built.
then, write.
when i started working on my first short story, there was a contest i was trying to enter, so i had a deadline. every day when i sat down, even when i didn't feel like it or felt like i had no ideas, i knew i couldn't waste a day. i must write today. it didn't matter if there was a huge wall between me and what needed to be written. and so i'd just start writing, knowing that if it was awful i can revise it later. and without fail, i'd find that wall was really just a hedge — or maybe a sidewalk curb — and a few sentences in, i was writing.
next, assess.
sometimes i can't write because the story isn't ready yet. the one i'm working on now required two months of research. and i'm still having to research things, but i know enough to start writing. in the beginning, i didn't, and trying to write would have been a waste of time. i was still working, but it was research and note-taking. lately, i've been doing a lot of marketing/distribution stuff for the latest story. so i'm still working, but not writing. but i can feel the next story begging for me to come back, so it's time to leap into the blank page once again.
finally, celebrate.
if i'm not getting joy out of what i'm doing, then chances are my reader won't either. i often go days or weeks without writing anything, but when i do write, i write a lot quickly. it's nothing for me to write 1500-2500 words in a couple of hours (if you don't count the weeks of simmering beforehand). but at around 1500 words or so i'm really clicking along and then suddenly i have trouble forming sentences and then i can't think of what comes next until suddenly i realize — oh, i'm done. that's it for today. doesn't matter if i met the goal. i'm done. tank empty. nothing else i do today will be good, writing-wise, so. pull out a crossword puzzle or go home and let the dogs out. get a good night's sleep. do my reading the next morning. refill that tank. if i force myself to write, i'll end up hating it, seeing it as a chore. and then my reader will hate it, too. but if i find joy in it, my reader will love it, maybe even more than i do.
if i don't take a day-long break from almost everything once a week, i won't have energy to do anything worth anything. that goes for more than just writing. this was a top ten command in the Old Testament, right up there with "don't murder". it's important.
second, read.
if i only breathed out, i'd die. i have to breathe in, too. so i take time during the day to read. i don't read a lot of fiction, but i do read worldview building things, such as Scripture or news. i try to think about both and find my place in them, because this is going to be the foundation upon which all of my writing is built.
then, write.
when i started working on my first short story, there was a contest i was trying to enter, so i had a deadline. every day when i sat down, even when i didn't feel like it or felt like i had no ideas, i knew i couldn't waste a day. i must write today. it didn't matter if there was a huge wall between me and what needed to be written. and so i'd just start writing, knowing that if it was awful i can revise it later. and without fail, i'd find that wall was really just a hedge — or maybe a sidewalk curb — and a few sentences in, i was writing.
next, assess.
sometimes i can't write because the story isn't ready yet. the one i'm working on now required two months of research. and i'm still having to research things, but i know enough to start writing. in the beginning, i didn't, and trying to write would have been a waste of time. i was still working, but it was research and note-taking. lately, i've been doing a lot of marketing/distribution stuff for the latest story. so i'm still working, but not writing. but i can feel the next story begging for me to come back, so it's time to leap into the blank page once again.
finally, celebrate.
if i'm not getting joy out of what i'm doing, then chances are my reader won't either. i often go days or weeks without writing anything, but when i do write, i write a lot quickly. it's nothing for me to write 1500-2500 words in a couple of hours (if you don't count the weeks of simmering beforehand). but at around 1500 words or so i'm really clicking along and then suddenly i have trouble forming sentences and then i can't think of what comes next until suddenly i realize — oh, i'm done. that's it for today. doesn't matter if i met the goal. i'm done. tank empty. nothing else i do today will be good, writing-wise, so. pull out a crossword puzzle or go home and let the dogs out. get a good night's sleep. do my reading the next morning. refill that tank. if i force myself to write, i'll end up hating it, seeing it as a chore. and then my reader will hate it, too. but if i find joy in it, my reader will love it, maybe even more than i do.
paul andrew skidmore
my dad worked with a group called Project Healing Waters. he only told me a little about his experience, but it kept simmering in my head and eventually became "the darkness rolled over her". the characters are not at all based on my dad or people he met, but the setting provided me with a great context to share about how so many people have been helped through very hard times.
once the story became about suicide, i reached out to close friends who have struggled with it, helped someone through it, or lost someone to it. their input was incredibly valuable, and much of their ideas show up in the story and give it life.
once the story became about suicide, i reached out to close friends who have struggled with it, helped someone through it, or lost someone to it. their input was incredibly valuable, and much of their ideas show up in the story and give it life.
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