Member Spotlight: James F. Richardson

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I still believe that writing is the best medium to cause individuals to ponder big questions. This is why I write – to provoke deep thought that challenges entrenched assumptions about our social world.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Know why I am writing something. Who is the audience? What is the essential provocation I desire in my audience? This creates a positive suction between your tired brain and the reader. It’s all about thinking of your audience. Not your ego as a writer.

What is your favorite time to write? Whenever my family obligations are minimal. Before the kids wake up and before they get home!

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? You have to giddily enjoy tearing your work apart and editing until you’re exhausted. Writing is the most delicate of communication mediums, and precision comes only with vigorous editing. It’s just hard work.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Today’s hard-working, ambitious writer can find a small audience online. With persistence, this can even generate steady side income through self-publishing, which is my focus.

James F. Richardson’s Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and its Hidden Discontents is out now with The Social Awareness Institute.