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Q: What does your typical workday look like?
A: I work in an office in back of my house and am usually at my computer by 9 in the morning. I try to write more or less all day, usually dividing the day between two projects such as a novel and a screenplay. I go to the gym about 4 in the afternoon, come home and have dinner, and then often work for a couple more hours at night.
Q: What advice would you give middle & high school students who are interested in writing as a career?
A: There is no clear career path for writers. Writing-particularly writing fiction or poetry or plays--is an individual and solitary occupation, and nobody should have the expectation that they can just go out and find a job doing it. Writers make their living in various ways-working at newspapers, teaching, whatever-and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. One thing is certain, though: you'll never get very far as a writer if you aren't a passionate reader, and if you don't develop a fascination for the world around you.
Q: What are some of the challenges of being an author?
A: Finding the time to write is the first challenge. If, like most writers, you have to make your living doing something else, you need the self-discipline to get up at 5 in the morning or to stay up late at night working on your craft. The other great challenge is to find your own voice, your own fresh perceptions, and to write as authentically as you can about human experience.
Q: Who are some of your all-time favorite authors? What about favorite books?
A: Patrick O'Brian, Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Leo Tolstoy, and Herman Melville are probably my favorite writers. My favorite novel of all time is Moby Dick. It's the strangest and most hypnotic book ever written, and it consistently breaks all the rules.
Q: Which writing-related websites do you visit on a regular basis?
A: I try to step off the net as much as possible, since it's the greatest time-waster in the world for a writer. But I often use Refdesk.com for research purposes, and find that Amazon can't be beat for finding books about obscure subjects.
To learn more about Stephen Harrigan go to Chat Archive.