All Member Spotlights
Member Spotlights

Member Spotlight: Laurence Bergreen

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing is a means of expression, enjoyment, survival, comprehension of the world at large, and the preservation of the ephemeral, among other things.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I read other works (not my own) for inspiration and provocation, listen to loud music, drink strong coffee (which is good for pretty much anything), and if need be, just give it time to emerge.

What is your favorite time to write? In the morning, when my mind seems clearer; in the afternoon, when I’m too tired to resist; and on rare occasions in the middle of the night when my mind won’t quit.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Simply to write every day, or nearly every day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The second best piece of advice is to mute one’s internal censor, at least for a while.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Writing has become global. You reach readers you can scarcely imagine in places you never knew existed. That’s mind-boggling.

Laurence Bergreen’s In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire is out now with Custom House.