{"id":200,"date":"2017-06-08T03:32:23","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T02:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?p=200"},"modified":"2017-06-13T12:19:15","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T11:19:15","slug":"john-avlon-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/john-avlon-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How John Avlon, A Speechwriter-Turned-Author-Turned-Editor-in-Chief, Gets It All Done"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Who:<\/em> John Avlon, Editor-in-chief, The Daily Beast; Author of, most recently, Washington’s Farewell<\/a><\/h3>\n

Claim to fame:<\/em> Many, but among them, wrote several of Mayor Giuliani’s speeches and eulogies after 9\/11<\/h3>\n

Why’d we pick him, in ten words:<\/em> John’s done it all in the writing world\u2014and how!<\/h3>\n

Where to find him:<\/em>\u00a0On Twitter<\/a> and on The\u00a0Daily Beast<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Age when he started:<\/em>\u00a0“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer.”<\/h3>\n

Our favorite of his work:<\/em>\u00a0The Resilient City<\/a><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s start with the basics: What time of day do you start writing? Is it easier for you to write early in the morning? Late at night?<\/h3>\n

I definitely believe in writing rhythms.\u00a0 Especially in New York City, I write best in the early morning or late night and I find the energy is too distracting to write during the daytime unless there is major breaking news on deadline. But when the city is asleep, you can focus for sustained periods of time.\u00a0 Otherwise, the adrenaline of New York is just too intense.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your preferred tool for writing\u2014a word processor like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.? A pen and paper?<\/h3>\n

Microsoft Word on a Mac laptop.\u00a0 I’ll occasionally scratch notes or outlines on a piece of paper or cardboard next to my keyboard.\u00a0 My only real peculiarity in terms of the mechanics of writing is that I write and think better at a standing desk as opposed to sitting down.\u00a0 I’ve got one at home, which I bought with the advance of my first book, and a smaller version in the office.<\/p>\n

Do you listen to music when you write, or do you prefer silence, or something else in the background?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve got a theory that most writers are either frustrated musicians or painters – and which of them you are depends on whether you write for the ear or the eye.\u00a0 As a former musician and former speechwriter, I definitely write for the ear. I listen to music all the time for inspiration and energy. I tend to make playlists as the sound track for writing different books.\u00a0 They serve as snapshots in time.\u00a0 So, I’ve got one for Wingnuts<\/em><\/a> \u2013 lots of The National<\/a>, Drive-By-Truckers<\/a>, Radiohead<\/a> and Randy Newman<\/a> – and one for Washington’s Farewell <\/em><\/a>that\u2019s more classical, jazz, the Americana series by Chris Thile<\/a>, Yo-Yo Ma<\/a> and Edgar Meyer<\/a> and the soundtrack to Hamilton<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ve belatedly realized that when music has lyrics it\u2019s subconsciously distracting while writing.\u00a0 Some of core writing tunes: Miles Davis\u2019 In a Silent Way<\/em><\/a>; Sigur Ros and Philip Glass\u2019 \u201cHeroes<\/a>\u201d Symphony. Guilty pleasures are soundtracks to Inception<\/a>, Pollack, Glory, Milk, Cinderella Man and The Social Network. Hans Zimmer’s Time <\/em><\/a>from the Inception<\/em><\/a> soundtrack is probably the song I’ve written most to over the past few years. But I\u2019m always looking for new music to write to \u2013 it\u2019s a great and weird sub-genre. And as you can probably tell, I love talking about music.<\/p>\n

Do you have any pre-writing rituals or habits?<\/h3>\n

Not really. Coffee and seltzer water \u2013 music playing and the relevant research piled up beside me.\u00a0 If it’s late, maybe a bit of bourbon.<\/p>\n

How many words a day do you produce, or try to produce? How much of that ever sees the light of day?<\/h3>\n

Even when I’m writing a book, work that I\u2019m sandwiching into otherwise crowded days, I don’t have a set number of words I aim for.\u00a0 I basically write as much as I can until the need for sleep starts clobbering my synapses.\u00a0 If the words are coming slowly, I’ll try dictating first drafts, but I’m still not entirely convinced that this nets out in terms of time saved.<\/p>\n

When you first sit down to write, how do you start? What goes through your mind when fingers are first meeting keys (or pen hits paper)?<\/h3>\n

I’ll pick up where I left off or perhaps read the last few paragraphs, mentally situate myself and try to pick up on the thread of the idea, or perhaps music behind the idea.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your process for editing your work?<\/h3>\n

I’m an obsessive editor and, to my great discredit, I still can’t resist editing while I write, which clearly cuts back upon my ability to achieve maximum output.\u00a0 It’s a terrible habit to constantly tweak, aiming for precision. After I’ve written a significant amount, I\u2019ll edit that section with paper and pen, rearrange, etc. On some level, I’m taking dictation for the unwritten script that’s in my head, and I know when something sounds right or sounds wrong.\u00a0 When it’s time for something resembling a final draft, I’ll read it aloud to Margaret and find all sorts of new mistakes and room for improvement.<\/p>\n

Do you have an author whose voice or style you\u2019re trying to emulate when you\u2019re writing?<\/h3>\n

I’d like to think I’ve outgrown that. Ultimately, you’ve got to be un-self-consciously yourself and grow into your voice to the point where you’re not looking over your shoulder and comparing yourself to other writers. But I’ve definitely used writers to kick start my inspiration, and I can hear their voice in different paragraphs, particularly some of my earlier books.\u00a0 I love reading Jimmy Breslin, Murray Kempton, Jim Harrison, David Remnick and historians like David McCullough.<\/p>\n

But the writer who I use the most for this purpose is almost certainly Martin Amis – but his journalism and non-fiction rather than his novels.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read the pieces from The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America<\/em><\/a> dozens of times, particularly when I was writing Wingnuts<\/em><\/a> in an insane three-month sprint right before I got married. One of the most surreal, terrifying and gratifying events of my life was sitting next to Amis flying out to cover a presidential debate in Wisconsin, and he was reading Wingnuts<\/em><\/a> next to me. It was like having the professor you most admire grade your work silently in front of you.<\/p>\n

Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer\u2019s block? Do you think such a thing exists?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m superstitious about writer’s block to the extent I don’t particularly feel like devoting a great deal of time to dwelling on it.\u00a0 It seems like getting stuck in a desert, a nightmare. But there are definitely times when the inspiration flows more freely than not. It seems to me that writing is a muscle: it gets stronger the more you use it.\u00a0 If you let yourself fall out of the habit, it can be hard to get back in form. Writing a regular column keeps you limber and sharp and guarantees that any fear of writer’s block is kept at bay.<\/p>\n

Do you have any favorite books about <\/em>writing and the creative process?<\/h3>\n

The Writer’s Chapbook<\/em><\/a> edited by George Plimpton has excellent little snippets of advice. I\u2019m not a horror fan, but Stephen King\u2019s On Writing<\/em><\/a> is full of durable wisdom. I love the shop talk of writing.\u00a0 I’ve got a coffee table book of photographs by Kurt Vonnegut’s wife, Jill Krementz, which shows the desks and writing rooms of great American authors, which I find strangely comforting, although most of them have been put through a museum standard of cleanliness, which seems utterly unrealistic and therefore, un-relatable.\u00a0 Ultimately, the best advice about writing is pretty simple and self-evident: write the book you want to read.<\/p>\n

When did your aspirations to become a writer begin?<\/h3>\n

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer. There were certainly times as a kid when I was more fixated on becoming a baseball player, an NYPD detective or even president, but books were how I immersed myself in those worlds. So when I got excited about other topics, it was always through the medium of books and writing.\u00a0 There is a terrible power in its ability to memorialize the moment that\u2019s best approached with kindness.<\/p>\n

You were a speechwriter for Mayor Giuliani on 9\/11. Tell us what writing during that fraught period was like.<\/h3>\n

It was a defining time of my life and I felt grateful that I had something constructive to do with my emotions that could perhaps help other people. I’m proud of the work we did, particularly writing hundreds of eulogies for the fallen firefighters and police officers with our small team of speech writers which included Owen Brennan and Matt Lockwood. Ultimately it was an extreme example of the opportunity writing provides, which is to help make the moment mean something transcendent. When you watch thousands of people be murdered, it\u2019s about trying to salvage some meaning and deeper purpose amid the shock and loss.<\/p>\n

I remember going down to City Hall the next day and walking down to St. Paul’s Chapel across the street from Ground Zero and walking on the perimeter pf the building to see if any windows were broken. They weren\u2019t. That became a central metaphor we used for the resilience of New York City at the prayer service at Yankee Stadium. An essay I wrote about my experience as the mayor’s chief speechwriter after 9\/11\u2014which I was going to call The Eulogist because unfortunately, I’ve probably written more eulogies than anyone else\u2014was selected to conclude the anthology of writing about New York called Empire City.\u00a0 It\u2019s called The Resilient City<\/a>, and it captures what that time was like directly. I think it holds up.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve written for print newspapers; you\u2019ve written online. Do you find yourself writing differently for medium as opposed to the other?<\/h3>\n

I don’t write for different mediums differently, although obviously I love the reported column, which is why I put together the Deadline Artist anthologies with my friends, Jessie Angelo and Errol Louis. We consulted Jimmy Breslin and Jack Newfield, who was working in the New York Sun newsroom at the time. The books still provide enjoyment and inspiration. At one point when I was writing for the Daily Beast, CNN and the Sunday Telegraph of London, I was able to make the columns sufficiently different because I was writing for decidedly different audiences. I did reported columns for The Daily Beast, while CNN was a more 50,000-foot view of a trending topic that got me fired up in the realm of politics. For the Telegraph, it was really explaining that week in American politics to a British audience.\u00a0 And once you figure out the different altitudes of the audiences that go with different sides, it’s easy to adjust.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve done both short-form columnist work and written books. How do you approach one of your books? What\u2019s that process look like, given your day-to-day responsibilities? In other words, how do you get the book writing done, when the deadline isn\u2019t nearly as pressing?<\/h3>\n

Writing a book with a more than full-time job and two small children is a thoroughly insane process, but as with all books, I was glad I did it once it was done.\u00a0 You’ve got to find time to squirrel away early in the morning or late at night. Your vacations become based around writing, particularly if you have an understanding, tolerant and supportive bride, which I do. You cannot let it affect the responsibilities of your day job. It’s got to take a back seat, which is why you’ve got to work when other people are sleeping. But the work ends up being a break from the intense day-to-day pace of the news cycle. I looked forward to spending time with Washington and Hamilton and Madison. Everyone needs a hobby, and I suppose mine is writing books. There are certainly worse ones; at least you get a marker of your time on the shelf when you’re done, and hopefully create something that readers can love as much as you do.<\/p>\n

How did you come up with the idea to write a book about Washington\u2019s farewell address?<\/h3>\n

I kept bumping into Washington’s Farewell Address. My first book, Independent Nation<\/em><\/a>, quotes Washington’s Farewell Address in the opening chapter. I closed Wingnuts with an extended quote from Washington’s Farewell<\/a><\/em> and his warnings against hyper partisanship and polarization. Here was this famous but forgotten founding document, both timely and timeless. For all the times that people in American politics try to appropriate the Founding Fathers to excuse whatever ideological agenda that they have, here you have a clear warning from the first Founding Father about the forces he felt could derail our democratic republic; hyper partisanship, excessive debt and foreign wars. And as a former speech writer, I gravitated to the greatest team of ghost writers in history\u2014first James Madison and then Alexander Hamilton\u2014and the way you can see the interplay of their ideas throughout the various edits.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if you look at Independent Nation<\/em><\/a>, Wingnuts<\/em><\/a> and Washington’s Farewell<\/a><\/em>, they are all different angles on the same idea. The common theme\u2014the absolute vitality of the vital center\u2014is a mainstream of American thought despite the current polarization and hyper partisanship. There is a deeper and older tradition that’s the foundation of American political wisdom.\u00a0 It’s something that we’ve lost, but it needs to be found again.\u00a0 And that’s the case I’ve been trying to make, approaching the same problem from different perspectives. Again, the core rule applies: Write the book you’d like to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who: John Avlon, Editor-in-chief, The Daily Beast; Author of, most recently, Washington’s Farewell Claim to fame: Many, but among them, wrote several of Mayor Giuliani’s speeches and eulogies after 9\/11 Why’d we pick him, in ten words: John’s done it all in the writing world\u2014and how! Where to find him:\u00a0On Twitter and on The\u00a0Daily Beast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-fiction"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow John Avlon, A Speechwriter-Turned-Author-Turned-Editor-in-Chief, Gets It All Done - Writing Routines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/john-avlon-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How John Avlon, A Speechwriter-Turned-Author-Turned-Editor-in-Chief, Gets It All Done - Writing Routines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who: John Avlon, Editor-in-chief, The Daily Beast; Author of, most recently, Washington’s Farewell Claim to fame: Many, but among them, wrote several of Mayor Giuliani’s speeches and eulogies after 9\/11 Why’d we pick him, in ten words: John’s done it all in the writing world\u2014and how! 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