Another archived interview from our books Be a Writer & Be a Better Writer (updated edition out now!) gives us some insights into the writing life. Catch up on the series here.
Craig Nadel runs Groove Labs®, a full-service entertainment company in Austin that provides music and music-based programming -- including corporate team-building -- to a diverse array of clients. He does actually play music, too! Prior to this gig, he worked as a venture capitalist with Paradigm Capital Partners, a management consultant with MBA ventures and a financial analyst for Hollywood Theatres.
Be A Writer Like Craig Nadel
1. What kind of writer are you?
What kind of writer am I? More than anything I am a business writer. Sure I have my dreams of writing short stories or screenplays, but in the end I write for my audience. For most of my career I’ve been an entrepreneur running different ventures. Given that fact, most of the writing I do has a business objective.
2. Why do you write?
Writing helps me make a living and communicate with my clients and serves as a major source of communication.
3. What made you want to be a writer?
Although I did have an English teacher in high school who encouraged me to write, I never really thought about being a writer. I don’t really consider myself a writer in the sense of writing published works.
4. What advice would you give to a fellow writer who was just starting out?
Don’t judge yourself. Write from your heart and what you feel. Write to please yourself. If you’re looking for validation from other people then be prepared for a roller coaster of emotion. Some people may love your work, others may not; ultimately it matters that you like what you produce. Start with an audience of one. If your work gets past your own hands then it has received all the approval that it requires. Write with an end in mind. By end, I do not mean ending, but a finishing point. Never feeling that a work is complete is inevitable. Learn to find the end to a piece of work. Move on to something new. Write as often as you can. It’s a skill that will sharpen with practice, just like playing an instrument. Use it or lose it. One of my favorite contemporary writers is Joyce Carol Oates. She once stated that the writer should spend each day just writing aimlessly about anything that comes to mind. She regards the process as the exercise with out worrying too much about quality of content. It makes me feel good about trying and less concerned with being “great” (like I can define what that means).