Day 145: Leonard Pitts, Jr.

February 22, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Featured, Inspiration

“I think that you … have to develop a standard for yourself that is higher than perhaps where other people see you.  And then you always have to be shooting for that, even with the knowledge that … eight times out of 10 maybe you won’t make it.  But as long as you’re shooting for that, then you’re constantly pushing yourself to be better than you were the day before.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Leonard, for agreeing to be part of this Project, and before we go into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Leonard Pitts, Jr.: My name is Leonard Pitts, Jr.  I am a nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald.

Toni: Thank you, Leonard.  And when you think of that word inspiration, who do you think that you might inspire and how would that happen?

Leonard: Well, to tell you the truth, I have no idea who it is that I might inspire.  I don’t know that it’s for me to say.  At the very least, I suppose that I could say that I would hope that I inspire other writers because, when I was 17, 18, 16 years old trying to figure out a way to do this professionally, professional writers were who I looked to for inspiration.  So it would be nice to think that somebody, you know, trying to figure out how this craft works and how the business of this works is looking to me in much the same way.  But beyond that it’s hard; it’s really difficult to say.

Toni: Now you said that you write for a column.  The topics that you write about – can you give us an example of what they are?

Leonard: A little bit of everything.  I’ve got a column that I just finished on Sarah Palin.  My last column was on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  The column before that was on a documentary on African Americans in the U.S. military, history of African Americans in the U.S. military.  So you know, some of everything; it depends on what’s in the news and what’s on my heart any given week.

Toni: But that’s where I would think the inspiration would come from, that people that are reading your columns or looking at the information that you’re providing in the midst of your writing, I would think, would be inspirational to other writers but also to your readers.

When you think of your career, Leonard, and what you do and what you write about — and I know you’ve also written a book as well — how do you think that you might help other writers but others as well explore their own potential?

Leonard: Well, the best answer I can give you is that I’ve tried … you know, the highest praise that I ever get from a reader is that when they say that I made them think.  Not so much that they agree with me or disagree with me, but that I have caused them to think or to consider something in a way that they wouldn’t have before.  So you know, to the degree that I’m able to do that then, you know, I’m always pleased and always gratified.

Toni: Absolutely.  And now you had mentioned to me earlier before we started the interview that you also won a Pulitzer Prize?

Leonard: I won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for commentary.

Toni: For commentary.  I would imagine that when you set out writing early in your career, did you ever think that moment would happen?

Leonard: I don’t know that it was on my mind, you know, the Pulitzer specifically, but I always had the idea that I wanted to go as far as I could and be as good as I could, you know, as a writer.  I mean, that was definitely part of my life plan, so whatever comes with that — whether it’s the Pulitzer or any other award — I wanted that and envisioned that, yes.

Toni: So that’s where this becomes so incredibly important to people around the world that are listening to you or reading your interview, because they’re sitting there going “I’m a struggling writer.”  You know, “Did Leonard know that he was going to … what he was writing about would be so impactful that he would get to where he would be winning a Pulitzer Prize, and so what do I need to learn from you in order to stay with my craft?”

Leonard: Well, the best thing that I can say in terms of what you can learn in terms of staying with the craft is to never be content with just “okay.”  I think that’s where a lot of people in this craft — and I would assume in other crafts — really kind of fall short is that they begin to settle for stuff that is “okay” as opposed to really pushing themselves for the very best that they are capable of every time out.  And I think that’s something that you really have to learn.

As I said, I’ve been doing this for 34 years, and I’ve got the awards and all this, that, and the other.  But my mindset every time I sit down is still that I feel like I need to earn it, to prove that, you know, that it’s not a fluke.  You know, this is a great job – not a lot of people get paid to do, you know, what they dreamt of doing.

So my feeling is that every time I sit down I’ve got to, you know, prove myself again.  And I think that’s where, again, a lot of writers and perhaps other craftspersons really don’t, you know, really kind of fall down is that they lose that hunger, they lose that attitude of having to prove that they deserve what they’ve got.  Or, for that matter, they lose that hunger of trying to get where it is they’re trying to go, you know, even if they’re already there.

The audience that you have to please – the ultimate audience you have to please – is yourself.   I think that you, you know, you have to develop a standard for yourself that is higher than perhaps where other people see you.  And then you always have to be shooting for that, even with the knowledge that, you know, eight times out of 10 maybe you won’t make it.  But as long as you’re shooting for that, then you’re constantly pushing yourself to be better than you were the day before.

Toni: That’s fantastic advice, and those people that become … those of us that become complacent, that’s the day we don’t do our best, isn’t it?

Leonard: Yeah, I think that, you know, the first day you become content with where you are as a writer is the first day that you begin to die as a writer or, I guess, again for any other craft.  The day that you’re content is the day you begin to die.

Toni: Wow.  So Leonard, how about inspiration for you?  What do you need to be inspired?

Leonard: You know, when you are a young writer or just starting out, I think there’s a lot of concentration on being inspired.  There had to be a certain space and there had to be a certain mood and all the rest of the stuff.  But to tell you quite frankly having done this for 34 years, this is my job, so you know, there’s less that reliance on inspiration than there is just the knowledge that, you know, this is what I do and I’ve got certain deadlines to meet and certain obligations to fulfill.  And if I don’t do those things, then it’s no longer my job, it’s somebody else’s.

So in terms of getting up and gearing up to do the work, inspiration, you know, doesn’t really apply in the same way that it does when you’re sort of striving and aspiring to do this.  That’s not to say that there aren’t days that are better than others.  There are days when you can’t wait to write because you’ve got something to say.

When I’ve got something to say and it’s burning a hole in me then, you know, I can’t wait to get to the keyboard, and that’s very inspiring.  But on more normal days and more prosaic days, then what gets you through is just the fact that this is what you’re trained to do, this is what you’re supposed to do, and you know, this is what you’re depended upon to do.

Toni: Well you said … you’ve told me that you have completed a book that I guess was published last March, you mentioned?

Leonard: Yes.

Toni: And what is the name of your book?

Leonard: My book is called Before I Forget, and it’s a novel about three generations.  And the main character is the man in the middle generation who is relatively young and has just learned that he is dying of a terminal illness, and he is trying to make right with the father he hasn’t seen or spoken to in 30 years and with a son that he was never really a good father to.

Toni: I would imagine that there’s inspiration — and that has to come from somewhere — in order to write a book regarding anything, but particularly that topic – that inspiration had to come from somewhere.

Leonard: To write a novel, yeah.  When I was speaking before, I was speaking more specifically, you know, writing a twice-weekly newspaper column.  To write a novel, particularly if it’s a first novel – I may feel differently five or 10 novels down the line – but particularly if it’s a first novel, there’s a need to keep yourself up because it requires an incredible amount of discipline to do this.

Because you’re getting up basically, you know, an hour earlier or whatever, and you’re doing an hour or two hours of work on a project that, at this point, you don’t know if it’s ever going to see the light of day.  You don’t know if it’s any good, you don’t know if anybody’s ever going to want to read it, and you’ve got to do that daily for a year, two years, five years, however long it takes to do the book.

So I think in that point, you know, when you’re in that stage of development in writing a novel, what gets you through is your devotion to the story and your sense that you’ve got something to say.  You’ve absolutely … you have to have absolute faith in the story that you’re trying to tell and in the things that you’re trying to say because, otherwise, I guarantee you won’t get past the first week or two of getting up earlier or of trying to hammer this thing into place, because it’s a very difficult thing.

Again, Stephen King, you know, he knows his stuff is going to be published.  Tom Clancy, he knows his novels are going to be published.  I’m new as a novelist, so there’s that sense of … for me at least, there’s that sense that, you know, you’ve got to be absolutely devoted to the story.  And then, you know, the story itself gets you up, you know?

When I’m writing a novel, particularly the one that I’m just finishing, the follow up to Before I Forget, you know, there’s a sense of you know where the book is going and you’re in a hurry to read that, and you can’t read it until you write it.  So that is also, I guess, a source of inspiration is the desire to, one, be able to read it, but two, also to be able to present it to other people, to readers, and to get their response and see if they think it’s as cool as you do.  That is a tremendous inspiration.

Toni: You can hear the passion in your voice about the novel.  You can actually hear it; that’s amazing.  Are there other things that inspire you that are outside of the writing?

Leonard: I am pretty much … I’m a one-talent guy, so the writing is pretty much … you know, there’s writing and then there’s family life, but there’s not another craft or art or anything that touches me to the degree that words do.

Toni: Right, right.  I would probably differ with the one-talent guy statement, but I’ll leave that with you.  Now, the last question for the Project is about potential, and I know that you’ve said you’ve been doing this and writing for 34 years, you’re on your second novel.  How do you continue to explore your own potential, to push forward, to produce the work that you do?  What do you have to do and what do you need to explore your own potential to keep doing this?

Leonard: I think you need a devotion to the craft that you’ve chosen or that has chosen you.  As I said, with this I’m a lifer, so I don’t need too much more than an idea and a place to work and time to work.  Time, I guess, would be the most crucial element for me, because there never seems to be enough time to do all the things that I’m trying to do or to say all the things that I’m trying to say, so time is a very crucial element to me.  But other than that, I’m pretty easily pleased and pretty easily satisfied, you know, as long as I have those things.

Toni: How do you … what advice would you give to other people who are honing their own crafts, whether it’s writing or any other creative outlet that they are trying to explore?  With that comes rejection – it has to – and how do you get past that, because that can really take a hit on your potential.

Leonard: Actually, it doesn’t take a hit on your potential.  It can hit your ego, which is different, but it can actually help you reach your potential assuming that the rejection is for a valid reason and that it comes with some criticism that you can use and employ in making the next offering that you do better.

You know, criticism is not a bad thing.  Criticism is not a four-letter word.  Criticism is something that helps you grow, again assuming that it’s valid criticism and that it’s coming from, you know, somebody that knows what they’re talking about or can help you to grow then, you know, embrace it.

I embrace criticism to this day.  I love criticism to this day.  It’s hard to find good criticism.  You usually get people who disagree with you for whatever reason, but all they can do is curse or just be abusive or whatever; that’s not really valuable or valid to me.   But if I can get a critic who can say “Okay, this is not working because of X, Y, and Z reasons” or “I don’t believe this character because of X, Y, and Z,” that’s gold, so I embrace that.

You’ve got … I think as a writer or anybody trying to master a craft, you know, one of the first things that you’ve got to do is get your ego out of the way and, you know, put your feelings on a shelf somewhere and just learn to deal with the work on its own merits or its own lack of merits.

Because the object is not to make friends.  The object is to make the work as good as the work can possibly be, and your devotion always has to be not to your own ego but to making the work the best.  If the work is the best … if you put out a piece and you know that it represents the absolute best that you were capable of on that given day, then you’ve got nothing to apologize for to anybody.

Toni: I’ll tell you what, you have given a lot of really good gold in this interview, and I can’t thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule to be part of this Get Inspired! Project.  I really … we all thank you so very much, Leonard, and I can’t wait to take a look at your book, as well.  Thank you.  Thank you very much for coming here today.

Leonard: You’re welcome.  Thank you.

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For more information about Leonard Pitts, Jr.:  www.leonardpittsjr.com

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