Ask the Author: Paul Vigna
Answered Questions (6)
Paul Vigna
We get to play games with the greatest invention in the history of mankind, the written word. What can top that?
Paul Vigna
Do not quit. Ever. I don't care if you have a million-dollar contract or you're writing six words a day in your spare time for something that nobody's seen or may ever see. Do not stop writing.
Paul Vigna
It may sound evasive, but I don't. I don't get inspired to write. It's not like a football player just before kickoff. I just always getting ideas for things to write. They're always popping into my head. I get way more ideas than I have time to write about. So some things get written, others (most) don't.
Paul Vigna
I was talking to another reporter in the newsroom one day, and we were talking about bitcoin, and he said "it sounds like something Michael Lewis would write about." That was like being hit with a sledgehammer. I thought, why in the hell am I going to wait for Michael Lewis to write about it?
Paul Vigna
Well, we're just about done editing The Age of Cryptocurrency. I'm trying to figure out what to work on next. Have a few nonfiction ideas, a few fiction ideas.
Paul Vigna
There are two things I do. One is to put whatever's got me blocked on a mental bookshelf, and just let it be. Usually the solution will come to me seemingly out of the blue, at some random moment. But, importantly, the answer always does come.
Another thing is to simply keep writing, skip whatever's got you blocked, write some other part of the story. Even if what you're writing at that moment isn't very good because you can't really think, the mechanical nature of physically writing I think helps break up the blockage (actual pen and paper helps).
Another thing is to simply keep writing, skip whatever's got you blocked, write some other part of the story. Even if what you're writing at that moment isn't very good because you can't really think, the mechanical nature of physically writing I think helps break up the blockage (actual pen and paper helps).
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more