Author Interview – Rick Johnson

What inspires you to write and why? In the past I was usually inspired by the issues of the day and wrote editorials on a variety of things but I have been gravitating to human rights, disability, love, and spirituality kinds of things the older I get.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? Personal experience, persuasive pieces… I guess because of my many years writing editorials for newspapers.

What inspired you to write your first book? It was a kind of catharsis. I had dabbled with the story of my life with disability and trauma in the family but it was painful to relive in the writing. Finally, though, I got that first book together. I should have, could have done a few sequels but, again, it’s very painful because in writing it you have to relive it.

Who or what influenced your writing over the years? I have read a lot of Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and similar authors and have always been interested in the meaning of life, valuing life, and accomplishment. Motivational speakers, too, have influenced me a lot.

What made you want to be a writer? I remember early in life being fascinated with books because of all those thousands of words. What wonders would I experience reading all of them; what great things could I learn. Would I not be a better person? And to think that somebody put all those words together… and I thought every person who ever wrote a book had to be a genius.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Getting started and not being distracted by life. It’s very easy to do something else.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? I think it mostly taught me that writing a book, once you can deal with the actual subject matter, is not that hard… I mean the actual writing… in a coherent way.