Please introduce yourself and your book(s)!
My name is John T. Long and my Book is The Book of John (not the one in the Bible).
What is/are the real-life story(ies) behind your book(s)?
This book is my autobiography, growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, dealing with life, sex, drugs and rock & roll in the seventies and eighties.
What inspires/inspired your creativity?
All my teachers and professors growing up always told me I was a good writer. I also wanted to help people by writing the book.
How do you deal with creative block?
Put it down and forget about it. I did this with the current book for four years. However, I was taking notes the entire time and when I went back I incorporated the notes in the story weaving spiritual experiences with dialogue.
What are the biggest mistakes you can make in a book?
Not having it edited. Mine was edited twice and I spent thirty hours on each edit corrections.
Do you have tips on choosing titles and covers?
Those are two of the most important factors in a book. The title was literally given to me by a ghost writer that I added to it. The cover is important, also, because you want to grab the readers attention to pick it up.
How do bad reviews and negative feedback affect you and how do you deal with them?
There are gonna be people that don’t relate to your book, always. A bad review is better than no review and could turn out to pique someones interest, like one of my recent reviews.
How has your creation process improved over time?
I am a better writer overall on everything I do. I catch errors not only in my writing, but others as well!
What were the best, worst and most surprising things you encountered during the entire process of completing your book(s)?
I learned a lot about myself during this whole process. The worst is that is very tedious and time consuming. The most surprising was and is the excellent reviews I have been getting!
Do you tend towards personal satisfaction or aim to serve your readers? Do you balance the two and how?
My aim is to help my readers not only understand addiction and alcoholism, but also to improve their lives overall by using the techniques and modalities in my book.
What role do emotions play in creativity?
I think they play a large part as I tried to convey how I was feeling and thinking during highly emotional scenes. I poured my heart and soul out into this book and I think my readers can feel it.
Do you have any creativity tricks?
Be still, meditate and pray. Get out of your mind into your heart and the universe will respond, ask and you will receive.
What are your plans for future books?
This book was published on May 8, 2019 and my current plans are to sell this one. It took me eight years to write, so I’m in no hurry to start another one.
Tell us some quirky facts about yourself
I have no quirks, it’s all normal to me…
Normal is just a setting on the washing machine.
You’ll just have to read the book!