BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood bookworms enjoyed a “Meet the Author” event at the Blythewood library on Thursday, Dec. 19, featuring Mike Cox, an award-winning columnist at the Columbia Star newspaper whose most recent book, Almost Like a Real Writer, was published in May. Billed as a ‘collection of twenty years of opinions by a Southern Storyteller’, the book is a collection of Cox’s favorite columns, which cover a wide range of topics.
“My publisher at the newspaper once said that my columns are like the tv show Seinfeld,” Cox said at the event, with a laugh. “She said, well, most of them seem to be about nothing… until you get right to the end, and then you realize that the three or four things that didn’t have anything to do with each other, all tie together.”
Cox who lives in Irmo, said he’s settled into a daily routine that often sparks endless new writing ideas.
“One of the best ways I come up with stuff,” he said, “is every morning, after the dogs get me up at about 5 o’clock, I make a triple latte and grab a homemade snack bar, then I go to my computer to browse a few news sites, like the Associated Press and my favorite, Fark.com.”
He takes note whenever interesting little observations or news snippets catch his attention, and then he starts writing, riffing on the topic with his own opinions and experiences, usually developing three or four columns at a time.
“My father was the greatest storyteller I ever remember,” he said. “I could recognize that even when I was a little kid. I was about 16 or 17 when I realized I wanted to be a writer. It was my dad – and my fifth-grade teacher – who really drove me to question things, to think about things.”
Attendees at the event enjoyed a lively discussion, and said they came away with ideas and inspiration for encouraging their own creativity.
Almost Like a Real Writer can be purchased at Amazon.com and other booksellers.
