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Please welcome back Adi Alsaid, author NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES! I’m so excited to have him here today for a How I Write feature. Check out my Q & A with Adi below.
About Adi Alsaid
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Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it’s no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer. He’s now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he’s lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list.
Do you write daily or sporadically when you’re inspired?
Almost always it’s a daily thing. I try to write at least 1,000 words every day, although that number usually jumps up during deadlines. A little more difficult to pull off when I’m traveling, and sometimes not being on deadline lets me feel more lax about my self-set guidelines.
What time of day do you find you write best? Or you enjoy more?
I find I’m most productive late at night, or if I happen to wake up way too early and decide to get started on my day. But that’s not always the best strategy for being an otherwise functional human being in the hours society has deemed fit to function, and sometimes those late night bursts feel like garbage the next morning. There are, however, fewer distractions (Twitter is all crickets, no one to text) to get in the way of inspiration, and I often double my output during those sessions, in half the time as a normal daytime session.
Where is your favorite place to write?
I love coffee shops. As I write this, I’m in a cute little spot in Hanoi, Vietnam. Usually I like a lot of people around, since people-watching always provides inspiration, or at least some company that won’t bother you. I put on my headphones, escape into my little world, but not isolated from the larger one around me that I want to write about.
What tool(s) do you use to write? Microsoft Word, Pages, Scrivener, typewriter, pen and paper, and/or napkins/toilet paper?
Usually it’s just boring old Word, as I have my computer with me 90% of the time. There are a few scribbles made in a notebook occasionally, but those are usually random thoughts that don’t pertain to a story I’m working on. I also use the Note function on my phone every now and then, usually when I’m in bed with my computer put away or out at night with friends, when inspiration strikes and I have to get something down before it escapes.
What resources do you recommend for new writers?
Books. Books will be your best teacher. If you already knew that and want a little more, Twitter can be a surprisingly good source of information, wisdom, support, community. And in case your story needs more of it, Twitter can often provide a good amount of drama.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received for writing?
It came from my high school Creative Writing teacher, though I forget in what context. “Shit is the fertilizer from which your roses will bloom. Don’t be afraid to take a shit on the page.”
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
Publication Date: August 4, 2015
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Never date your best friend
Always be original
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken
Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school.
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.
Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they’ve actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.
Thank you for visiting, Adi! Readers, check out more How I Write features by clicking the image below.
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