John Leland is the author of Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old, Hip: The History and Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of “On the Road” (They’re Not What You Think). John is also a public speaker and an award-winning journalist for the New York Times, where he writes features for the Sunday Metropolitan section. Before his work at the New York Times, John served as a senior editor for Newsweek and worked at other publications, including Details, Newsday, and Spin.
John joins me today to discuss why older people may be happier than younger people and the benefit of being selective with who you surround yourself with. He shares what it truly means to be storyteller, how to know if your story is worth telling, and how to bring your work to completion. John also highlights where the strength of a sentence lies and the power of truth-telling as a writer.
“Getting older is another way of living. Aging and living are the same thing.” – John Leland
This week on The School for Good Living Podcast:
- Why there may be a relationship between happiness and age
- How John has shifted his perspective on aging to live a better life
- The two people who have had the most notable influence on John as a writer
- Why John sees a significant distinction between his work as a journalist and as an author
- How John defines storytelling and how he knows when a book is worth writing
- John’s experiences with writer’s block and how to effectively address it
- A peek into John’s writing process and aspects of his routine
- How distancing yourself from your stories can provide a useful perspective
- John’s insight into effectively pitching and selling a book and the importance of connecting with your audience
Resources Mentioned:
- Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland
- Hip: The History by John Leland
- Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of “On the Road” (They’re Not What You Think) by John Leland
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
- The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart
- The Undying by Anne Boyer
- “Real Estate Thought It Was Invincible in New York. It Wasn’t.” by John Leland
- Bang the Keys by Jill Dearman
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Stanford Center on Longevity
- Kiva
Connect with John Leland:
- John Leland
- John Leland on Facebook
- John Leland on LinkedIn
- John Leland on Twitter
- Email: [email protected]
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