“It was COVID that I started writing it,” Patterson said in a phone interview with Fox News Digital in reaction to the question, “Why this eBook now?”
“And I think for a lot of us, first, we had a little more free time, being locked in our homes” in the middle of the pandemic, “and also, I think you’re starting to look at your life a little bit. a little bit, because it was such a time,” he said.
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Patterson spoke to Fox News Digital about his e-book journey; among other things, I was passing through Madison, Wisconsin, for a literary event a few days ago.
And he said he had to take ice from the University of Wisconsin union at Madison, he said. (His wife attended college. )
Patterson further revealed how his autobiography originated, telling Fox News Digital: “I started writing those stories and I liked it. And one of the most appealing things to me is that it allowed me to concentrate, more than I had been before. some time, about the writing, about the quality of my writings and prayers,” he said.
“I think he made me a better writer, which is fun. “
He also admitted, “I’ve never earned so much praise for a book, with other people telling me, ‘This is your most productive book. He’s bigger than Alex Cross. ” It’s a very smart thing,” he said.
“I started writing those stories and I liked it. “
Patterson is surprised, he said, by Bob Woodward’s quote about the new book.
Woodward wrote, “I felt like I was interviewing James Patterson under the highest allowable dose of pentotal sodium, the serum in fact, for hours, and he told the whole story of his really amazing life. “
Not to be outdone, best-selling writer Patricia Cornwell said of Patterson’s autobiography: “Patterson, one of the greatest storytellers of all time, led an incredible life. . . I like concise and luminous anecdotes, and their moving account will make you cry. “she wrote.
Patterson said, “My eBook is true and honest. Story after story. . . These are just great stories. I don’t back down and tell you everything you don’t need to know about Newburgh, New York. These are just stories from my father’s [his] formative years in a poor space, and how he won a call just before he left for World War II.
“These are stories. From my father. Of [how he grew up] in the deficient house. “
His father’s parents took him downstairs, Patterson said, took him down and said bluntly, “We have to tell you that we are not your herbal parents. You are adopted. “
And then a guy on the phone, a guy named George Hazelton, Patterson said, talked to his father and said, “I’m your brother. “
From there, Patterson said, he recounts his “time in advertising, and then in publications. I’ve had a few races along the way,” he added with a smile.
In addition to writing scores for his own novels, Patterson co-authored a series of books with other figures, such as Dolly Parton and former President Clinton.
So what’s your secret to getting along with others in what can be an intense co-writing experience?
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Patterson shared the story of how he co-wrote a novel with a Swedish writer, Liza Marklund. In Sweden, when the novel came out, the couple did several interviews for the book, Patterson said: 46 interviews, to be exact. .
“And the only question they almost asked us was, ‘How is it possible for a Swede and an American to agree’ on a task like this?
Patterson gave Fox News Digital the answer: “The most important thing is that we respect each other, and we listen. That’s the most important thing. Listen. “
Patterson added: “I find, for example, in Hollywood, that it’s very difficult to make other people listen. You may have an idea, but they need to tell you how to do it. “
And “that’s been the key element,” he said of his good fortune in co-writing books.
“That was a key detail for me in advertising: listening to consumers and listening to what they had to say. And [work and write] with President Clinton: the same thing. Listen to what I had to say. “
“Then, one year, as a birthday present, [Bill Clinton] gave me a basement with the presidential seal. “
With Dolly Parton, “the thing,” he said.
He also said that from those projects “very friendships” have been born.
He said, for example, that last Christmas, Bill Clinton gave him “a gift from Monopoly to socialists. And then, one year, as a birthday present, he gave me a winery with the presidential seal. And he knows I don’t have any. ” I don’t smoke,” Patterson said.
“So I called him and said, ‘Well, do I put gum or chocolate cigars in there?’Patterson remembers their exchange.
“And Clinton said, ‘At our age, chew gum, because, you know, you have to exercise your gums and your teeth.
“And with Dolly,” Patterson, “the same. “
He said Parton sang “Happy Birthday” to him over the phone for a year.
“And this year he sent me a poem and framed it. It’s about ‘New Old Friends. ‘”
“Now you are my new friend. ” — Dolly Parton to James Patterson
And he said he did a song with Kenny Rogers, “and they believed there were no ‘new old friends. ‘You know, you had to pay your dues” to have a true friendship, Patterson said.
And in the poem, she says she believed in it, Patterson added, “until you walked in my door. But now you’re my new old friend,” she told Dolly.
Patterson said, “It becomes non-public, you know. When we talked about the movie ‘Run, Rose, Run’, I read the poem several times and said, ‘This is the kind of quotes we need to have. We need to have a private appointment nearby, and we need to make a smart movie.
Fox News Digital asked Patterson who else he would like to paint with in the near future.
“I’m starting to do an e-book with Steph Curry,” Patterson revealed.
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“We were in Boston,” Patterson said on the night of one of the NBA playoff games (just before the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics to clinch the championship on Thursday night, June 16 in Game 6).
“And his father came to me. His father is a big fan, which he didn’t know. And I said, ‘Well, say a smart word to Steph, because when the show is over, we’re going to communicate about doing anything together. ‘”
“We’ll see,” Patterson added. “That would be fun. “
He said, “We’ll see what happens with Steph. “
Patterson said of all his co-authoring relationships, “We had some obstacles along the way. “
“You’d like to see other people come together instead of leaving. “
Patterson also said of his life: “After growing up like I did in Newburgh, I say this as a joke, but it’s a bit true, but it was lacking and part of the average elegance. And then it was poor and elegance mediated again, and now I’m rich. And in general, I prefer that.
He also said, “I’m pleased to have overcome it all, as a human being and as a writer. I think it’s been a great help. “
Regarding his reporting and the United States in general at this time, he said, “My father grew up in the poor space of Newburgh. So I saw that part. I became aware of the life of the middle class. I lived around. I lived in the south. . . And like everyone else, you’d like to see other people come together instead of walking away, you’d like to see a little more unity than all those islands of discontent. “
“Obviously, it was very scary before the book came out, because you hope that other people won’t reject your life. “
He added: “I don’t know when commitment has become a dirty word. I mean, that’s how you go through life. We make commitments in our family life. We engage in most of the things we do. “
“And it’s okay. And then all of a sudden, in some areas, other people don’t need to compromise, and they don’t need to listen. “
As for the new book, Patterson said it helps to keep hearing others say it’s “very entertaining. “
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“People appreciate that. And it’s very rewarding,” he said.
“Because obviously, it was very scary before the book came out, because you hope that other people don’t reject your life.
Maureen Mackey is a lifestyle editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent on Twitter to @maurmack.