Tom Rosenstiel

How did you become a writer?

I think I always knew somehow. My sixth grade teacher--who was great--told me I would be a writer; that made an impression. Then there were other tectonic forces. A lot of support from other teachers. Then, at the awkward age of 15, a senior recruited me to work on the school paper and I was hooked on journalism...edited the high school and college papers. I always wanted to write fiction, but I was a journalist for many years and had a lot of success writing nonfiction. But the compulsion to write novels never left me. I returned to it in my 50s.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). 

So many it’s hard to name them. Among thriller writers, Henning Menkel and Ian Rankin are favorites. So are Sara Paretsky and Michael Connelly. Before that, many of the classical crime writers: James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Outside the genre, Wallace Stegner, Hemingway, E.M. Forester and the king of kings: Tolstoy. Not very original. I guess there is a reason they are influential.

When and where do you write? 

First thing in the morning, as early as I can wake. I used to write everywhere around my house. That led to spine surgery. Now I have a writing room, a small converted bedroom, ergonomically organized, huge screen, trying to save my body. But I now try to do the first bad drafts fast--in longhand--so I don't fiddle so much.

What are you working on now?

My third novel, called Oppo, about the next presidential campaign, is done. I’m now starting a fourth about the launch of a new presidency and the efforts of a maverick if reckless politician--not Trump--to tackle climate change. Yeah, its a little weird to write political fiction when the news reads like dystopian fiction.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

What’s that?

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

From Walter Mosley's wonderful small book on writing (and most other professional writers I have met): Write everyday. No matter what. Humphrey Bogart supposedly once said, "A professional is someone who does his (let's use the plural pronoun they) best work when they least want to." Sounds about right.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don’t give up. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Don’t give up.

Bio: A journalist in Washington, I was press critic at the LA Times for a decade, chief congressional correspondent at Newsweek and a press critic at MSNBC. I was a cofounder of the Pew Research Center, where I ran the media research for 16 years. I am now executive director of the American Press Institute and a senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. I’ve written seven nonfiction books, including the Elements of Journalism, which is been translated into more than 25 languages. My first novel, Shining City, was published when I was 60, in 2017. Don’t give up.

Lori Gottlieb

How did you become a writer?

I think I became a writer by being a reader. Books were my salvation growing up. I never thought I'd grow up to be a writer, though, because I didn't know anyone who did that kind of job. I loved story in all forms--books, TV, film, plays, radio, conversations with friends. After college I worked as a development executive in film and later moved over to network TV. I hung out in the emergency room with the medical consultant for the show ER, and eventually decided to apply to  medical school. While I was looking through my closets in my parents' house for my old high school science notes so I could prepare for the MCAT, I came across my childhood diaries and a friend suggested that they'd make a great book. When that book was published, I started writing for magazines and newspapers and then wrote another book, and another, and after doing that for years, one day I woke up and finally said to myself, "I guess I became a writer." 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

I've always admired a masterful memoir, one that made me see myself or the world differently through somebody else's experience. Or one that gave voice to something I'd always felt or thought but hadn't quite articulated to myself in that way. Same thing with novels and their psychological insights and ability to make me feel less alone in my own struggles. It's probably no surprise that eventually I became a therapist, too!

When and where do you write?

I write the weekly "Dear Therapist" column for The Atlantic, and I like the structure of that weekly schedule. I file on a certain day and edit on a certain day and that predictable rhythm suits me. Being a journalist has given me the gift of knowing how to write well on deadline, but also the curse of not being able to write without one! So for my magazine and newspaper pieces, I start early and am very focused on what I need to get done each day to meet my deadline. Writing books is another matter entirely. I generally have a year or more and my mind doesn't really know how to structure my days with such a long time horizon, so in month one, that seems like I have all the time in the world. Then before I know it, it's month six and I start to panic--oh, no! I have a BOOK due in six months! And then I put on my journalist hat and write on deadline, because six months is a more manageable deadline for me than a year or more.  I used to write best at midday. I'd take care of administrative things or errands in the mornings, and then I could write without worrying about what else I needed to get done or whom I needed to call back. But now, since I'm also a therapist with a practice, I don't always have the luxury of writing whenever I want to, or choosing the time of day that works best, so often I'm writing at night after my son goes to bed. 

What are you working on now?

I'm about to go on book tour for MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE, and it seems like every interviewer has been asking that question. I wish I were the kind of writer who finishes one book, takes a couple of weeks off, and then starts working on the next project, but because I have the therapy practice and the weekly column, I can only focus on so much at once and I don't think people who aren't writers understand--or people who are writers talk about openly--that launching a book is a full time job. There's a period leading up to launch and then once the book is published in which you're going 24/7 with interviews and readings and media, and I know some people are able to be working on something else while talking about the book that just launched, but I'm not that skilled. Also, this book was so personal and in some ways the hardest thing I've ever written, and I want to sit with it and savor it for a while longer before I begin to think about where I go next. So what am I working on now? My weekly Atlantic column and my practice and trying to remind my son that yes, I do exist, even though it seems like I've disappeared these past few weeks.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Absolutely! In fact, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE was born of writers block, in that I was under contract to write a book that I just couldn't get myself to write. I spent several years staring at a blank page, writing words I didn't care about (when I did write), and pretending I was hard at work on the-book-I-wasn't-writing whenever people asked how it was going. I was like the gambler who kisses her spouse goodbye in the morning and then goes to the casino instead of the office. My casino was Facebook. Eventually, I mustered the courage to tell my editor I couldn't write this book, cancelled my contract, and began writing the book I should have been writing all along--this new one. A lot of people say that if something isn't working, you have to write through it, and while I know that can be true, sometimes it can also mean that you aren't working on the right story. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

An editor once told me that when I feel like I don't know how to start something or fix something and I'm banging my head against the wall, I should go outside and walk around the block and look at something green--trees, grass--and not think about whatever has me stuck. She said that resetting this way would help me get unstuck. And she was right. A lap or two around the block has worked 100% of the time. I always come back from those 10 or 15 minutes with something I didn't have in mind before I walked outside. It works well when writing books, too. Don't go on Twitter--just put on your shoes and walk outside.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don't compare yourself to other people. Full stop.

Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author who writes the weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column for The Atlantic. She also writes frequently for The New York Times and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN, and NPR.  Her most recent book is Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed.  Learn more at LoriGottlieb.com or by following her @LoriGottlieb1 on Twitter.

Rachel Aukes

How did you become a writer?

I wrote stories as a kid and even won a contest, but then life got in the way. I went to college and earned a degree in computers so I could make a living. It wasn't until I was in my late thirties and miserable at my job that I considered doing some I wanted to do for a living rather than do for the money. It was during that time of introspection that I read one of Sherrilyn Kenyon's books (titled Dream Chaser, ironically) that struck a chord. It had a storyline similar to a story I had, and I thought, "Why the hell not?" I started writing my first novel that day. That was eight years ago. Last year, I quit the day job to write full time. For the first time in my love, I absolutely love my job. 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

I grew up on comic books and science fiction novels, so those as a whole shaped my mindset and passions the most. I've always found the "what if" of speculative fiction fascinating, and so the stories I write are always in the genre I want to read. After I began writing professionally, I found an understanding of the writer's life in Stephen King's On Writing. 

When and where do you write?

I'm a full-time writer, so I write Monday through Friday and sometimes on the weekends. I usually take the evenings off to spend time with my family, though writing deadlines sometimes get in the way of that. 

What are you working on now?

I'm writing the first book in a new series coming out from Aethon Books in late 2019. The Flight of the Javelin series is a spin-off of the Fringe series, with Throttle, the kick-butt, paraplegic captain playing the lead role. I'm having so much fun with this series!

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

To me, writer's block is the same thing as procrastination. I'm very, very good at procrastination and often find myself working long hours the week before a deadline. I need to get much better at protecting my writing time. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Jonathan Maberry once said that writers should help other writers. We're all in this game together, and helping another writer doesn't mean we'll lose our spot in the game. Being a writer can feel like a solitary career choice, but it doesn't have to be. Connecting with kindred spirits and helping others are the best ways to stay sane and to network in the industry. You never know when a writer you helped two years ago invites you to be a part of his latest anthology. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. It's an old phrase, but it didn't really stick with me until I read it in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. TANSTAAFL essentially means that if you want to write a book, you have to work at it. It takes a lot of words to fill a novel, and that equates to many hours at a keyboard. Talking about writing a novel is never going to get it written. Writing the novel is the only way to get it written. 

Rachel Aukes is a science fiction writer with over a dozen books in print, including 100 Days in Deadland, which made Suspense Magazine’s Best of the Year list. She is also a Wattpad Star, her stories having over six million reads. When not writing, Rachel can be found flying old airplanes with her husband and an incredibly spoiled 50-pound lap dog over the Midwest countryside. Rachel lives in Iowa.