A One-on-One Interview with the Fantastic Josh Lanyon
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A One-on-One Interview with the Fantastic Josh Lanyon |
| Interviewer: | Rhys Ford |
| Interviewee: | Josh Lanyon |
| Date(s): | August 27, 2013 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | |
| External Links: | A One-on-One Interview with the Fantastic Josh Lanyon, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A One-on-One Interview with the Fantastic Josh Lanyon was conducted by Rhys Ford in 2013.
Excerpts
You recently came off of a self-imposed hiatus, can you share the obstacles you’ve encountered getting back into the groove of writing and how hard was it to not feel like you should be writing?
So basically, I completely burned out and went crashing down in flames. I couldn’t think about writing without experiencing significant anxiety. By which I mean, I still loved coming up with stories and plotting them out, but every time I tried to begin the actual writing, I’d feel sick. Literally sick. On the bright side, I accepted that I was burned out and I knew the only way to get over it was to give up the idea of trying to write. That took care of much of the guilt. And I even eventually managed a couple of short stories. But then came January and it was time to get back to work for real. I realized two things.
First, I had not contracted with any publisher for this year, so I had no actual deadlines and no one depending on me to complete a project. Secondly, I was no longer just a writer, I was running a publishing empire. I had audio books, print books, translations, reverting rights, etc. to deal with in addition to writing new stories.
And, as much as I hate to admit it, there was a certain amount of insecurity. I’d been gone a year and things were changing in the genre. New writers were flooding in every week. I couldn’t help wonder if there was still room for me!
Where’s the strangest place the inspiration for a book has ever hit you?
It’s hard to answer that because basically I’m a story jukebox. I am either thinking of stories or working out stories. That’s 90% of my thinking, right there. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what I think about the other ten percent of the time.