Robert Rosen

 

Last week, at an Authors Guild reception, a woman approached me and asked what kind of books I write. I told her that my best-known book is Nowhere Man, a John Lennon biography. She said her name was Suzaan Boettger, she was an art historian, and she'd written a biography of the artist Robert Smithson—Inside the Spiral. Since we had something in common, our conversation continued and she said, "You look like a monk."

 

"That's not the first time I've heard something like that," I said. And I told her about an encounter that occurred 40 years ago. I was in the Poconos, in Pennsylvania, and I met a man and a woman who said they were psychic potters and past-lives therapists.

 

"You mean you could tell me what I was in a past life?" I asked.

 

"Yes," the man said.

 

"What was I?"

 

He looked into my eyes and said, "You were an honest priest in a small French village."

 

"Maybe he sensed your purity," Suzaan Boettger said.

 

I don't know if I look like a monk, spent a past life in France, or radiate purity to unsuspecting strangers. I'm merely reporting things of religious significance that people have told me.

 

Above is a photo taken in my workspace the day after the reception. I'll leave it to you to decide what kind of religious figure I look like and how much purity (or lack of purity) I radiate.

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All my books are available on Amazon, all other online bookstores, and at your local brick-and-mortar bookstore.

 

I invite you to join me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram and Threads.

 

The following interview was posted on the Authors Guild Website.

 

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it's an important medium for the world?

I became a writer because I wanted to satisfy a primal need to communicate. That's why it's important to me. It's important to the world because the written word is often the best way to tell stories that need to be told.

 

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer's block?

I don't believe in writer's block. If you're blocked, just start writing anything. Describe the wall in front of your desk. It doesn't matter if it's gibberish. Eventually the right words will come.

 

What is your favorite time to write?

If I have a deadline, first thing in the morning. If I don't have a deadline, I generally hit the computer by noon.

 

Keep a notebook and write in it every day. Make writing seem as natural as breathing.

 

What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received and would like to impart to other writers?

Keep a notebook and write in it every day. Make writing seem as natural as breathing. That's what my writing professor at City College, Francine du Plessix Gray, told me. And she was right.

 

What excites you most about being a writer in today's age?

Getting published, seeing my book on a bestseller list, and getting paid.

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A Brooklyn Memoir is available on Amazon and all other online booksellers.

 

I invite you to join me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter or my eternally embryonic Instagram.