Inspiration

I've been told by several young writers that I'm a big inspiration to them. To me, that's a big honor. I'm only 26, and in only three years since graduating from college, I've written well over a hundred headlining articles, interviewed a nice amount of celebrities, and written for a relatively large number of publications. I've been asked who are my inspirations, both as a writer and as a man. When I finally sat down to think about it, I realized that different people inspire me in different ways. I'll break it down and explain who inspires me and how.

      Favorite Writers

                     Christopher Andersen

Christopher Andersen is my favorite writer, and the one whose style is the closest to mine. He's written many unauthorized books on celebrities including Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and Madonna. Andersen paints a picture with his words. You can visualize the stories he tells you in his work. He uses many adjectives to describe nouns. He also has a unique way of phrasing his sentencing and places quotes in the perfect places. When I read something by Andersen, I can't put it down. His work is so visual and so graphic that you feel like you're witnessing what he writes about. That's what I set out to accomplish in my writing. Granted, I can only go so far when writing an article because of AP Style, but in my upcoming biography of The Dealers and the books that I'm ghostwriting, expect the same visual style from me that you'd get in a Christopher Andersen book.

                               Bert Sugar

The recently deceased Bert Sugar has always been someone I admired, but it wasn't until his death that I realized how much he did inspire me. Bert was just as entertaining a talker as he was a writer. This struck a chord with me because ever since I've been a journalist, it's been my written words that I put the most focus on. I'm a charismatic and charming fellow, but I've never really thought about using that natural charm during an interview or on camera. Bert inspired me to be more open to the public--to branch out more, to do more video-related journalism, and to be more loquacious. Bert loved to talk boxing just as much as I do, and I regret not reaching out to interview him before he died. I know we would have had great conversations about the sweet science. His upbeat growling voice will be missed, along with his cigar, fedora and yellow teeth. 

                                R. L. Stine

Like many people my age, I was hooked on the Goosebumps books when I was a kid. Looking back at the series, the books were simple reads, but Mr. Stine had several techniques that would keep young minds interested in his stories. For example, every chapter ended with a cliffhanger. He also kept the vocabulary simple. I've always been a horror fan, and reading Goosebumps was a big part of my childhood. 

If you're a fellow scribe, write down which authors or journalists inspire you in the comments below.