In September of 2001, I was living in the West Village of Manhattan, working from my home for a tech start-up. Douglas Brunt More Quotes by Douglas Brunt More Quotes From Douglas Brunt I've seen terrorism close up, but I don't live in a state of terror at all. I'm comfortable going to the Manhattan Thanksgiving Day Parade, the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, Times Square on New Years Eve. For perspective, the world today is a safer place than it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Airlift, World War II. Douglas Brunt day thanksgiving tree war The last book I read before I wrote my first book - 'Ghosts of Manhattan' - was 'The Gold Coast' by DeMille. I loved it, and it gave me a lot of energy to start into my own. Douglas Brunt loved me gold book Adverbs lead to overwriting. Try taking them out and reading your prose again to see how it sounds. Simple and less words are more powerful. Douglas Brunt words powerful reading simple Don't write more than 3 hours at a time. I write three hours in the morning, 9 A.M. - 12 P.M. Other people are best late at night. Douglas Brunt best time morning people Don't copy another writer's style, because that is not authentic, and that's how it will sound. You develop your style over your whole life and through countless influences. Don't impose something artificial. Douglas Brunt copy you style life Spend more time working before you write page one. Then, the story - at least parts of it - will feel as though it is writing itself. Douglas Brunt story feel you time New York can get on top of you if you don't have much money, but if you have money, it's kind of a playground. Douglas Brunt new you money new-york It's much easier to get disgusted when you've already banked 20 million bucks. Douglas Brunt million much get you If there is going to be any meaningful sales, it's going to be through word of mouth and people recommending it to their book club and then a thousand more book clubs do it, and then you get into real sales numbers. Douglas Brunt mouth you book people A theme I'm obsessed with is the tension between human nature and the frameworks designed to curb the worst and promote the best of it. Douglas Brunt best worst human-nature nature In my first book, 'Ghosts Of Manhattan,' the setting was Wall Street, and I explored the predictable nature of a bond trader inside the compensation scheme at Bear Stearns and the government regulations of Wall Street. That was about money. Douglas Brunt bond government money nature 'The Means' is about power. I have access to political insiders who helped me write a portrait of the real day-to-day in politics, which turned out to be crazier than Wall Street. Douglas Brunt street me politics power Washington isn't utterly dysfunctional. Douglas Brunt utterly dysfunctional washington On Wall Street, every story becomes known so quickly. They are all so connected that everything disseminates there faster than anywhere. Douglas Brunt street story everything connected Wall Street has played a role in everyone's life, and it has been vilified by everyone, but I think that the average trader didn't have a sense of what was coming. The culture is so vacuous, it's possible to come to it straight out of college and never have a real adult life, even if you have the wife and kids. Douglas Brunt you wife life culture From a distance, the American political system is a remarkable success. We have accomplished the peaceful transfer of power for more than two hundred years, and that's unmatched by any civilization in human history. Up close, our political system still has all the ugliness and bad actors that you might suspect. Douglas Brunt you power success history With tennis, if you're very good at a young age, you don't even go to your prom. You're down at some tennis academy in Florida where you're on the court 8 hours a day. It's brutal. Douglas Brunt day good you age I did interviews with tennis greats, like James Blake and John Isner. I also interviewed tennis pros who aren't well - known but who made all the same sacrifices but had just a little spark of a professional career and are now still orbiting the sport, either as a teaching pro or a coach. Douglas Brunt spark professional career like If you look at top players - Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi - so many had a parent who was domineering to the point where you really had to question his sanity. It was nuts. Douglas Brunt question look you parent I'm really troubled by the prevalence of single-sport specializations. I want my kids to do as many things for as long as they can. Specialization is a natural thing that should come later - it shouldn't come for 8-year-olds. Douglas Brunt things natural want long
