The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

How Award-Winning Journalist Adam Skolnick Writes


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Sometimes word nerds just need a place to talk shop, and that s what we intend to do here. In this episode of the The Writer Files I ve asked award-winning journalist Adam Skolnick to join me on a guest segment we’re calling Writer Porn.

Adam is an award-winning, globetrotting travel journalist, which is kind of a rare thing these days. He is the author and co author of 25 Lonely Planet guidebooks, and has written for publications as varied as the New York Times (for whom he won a big award from the Associated Press Sports Editors last year), ESPN.com, Wired, Men’s Health, Outside, BBC, and Playboy Magazine.

He recently finished his first narrative non-fiction book based on his award-winning NY Times coverage of the death of the greatest American free diver of all time, titled One Breath (slated for publication in January).

Adam and I talk about how a page one New York Times story became a book, the secret literary legacy of Playboy Magazine, debunking Jack Kerouac’s prolificness, and tips and tricks to staying focused when you re working on multiple projects across multiple timezones.

In this 29-minute file Adam Skolnick and I discuss:

  • How a Tragic New York Times Story Became a Book
  • What a Globetrotting Journalist Does to Get a Story
  • The Secret Literary Legacy of Playboy Magazine
  • What Mr. Skolnick Has in Common with Hunter S. Thompson
  • One Great Trick to Stay Focused on Multiple Deadlines
  • Busting The Urban Legend of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”
  • Why You Shouldn’t Compare Yourself to Other Writers
  • How to Stay Organized When You Have a Ton of Research
  • The Show Notes

    • AdamSkolnick.com
    • A Deep-Water Diver From Brooklyn Dies After Trying for a Record
    • Top 10 Writers Published in Playboy
    • ‘I Only Read It For The Interviews’
    • The Fact and Fiction of ‘On the Road’
    • Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors by Sarah Stodola
    • Voice Recorder HD for Audio Recording, Playback, Trimming and Sharing
    • Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Kaherine Boo
    • Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
    • Kelton Reid on Twitter
    • Adam Skolnick on Twitter
    • Writer Porn on Twitter
    • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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      The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and NeuroscienceBy Kelton Reid

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