Alexandra Horowitz

How did you become a writer?

I wrote a book and people started calling me a "writer."

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

I'll name two: Oliver Sacks and Nicholson Baker. Sacks' way of combining philosophy and science, ruminations and empiricism, appealed to me greatly. I didn't think "I want to write like he does", though; I thought, "I want to be him." Baker was always a pleasure to read, but as I started writing books I realized that if I were ever knotted up in my own prose I could put down my pen, pick up any Baker book (though The Mezzanine and The Size of Thoughts (essays) were most often at hand), and find myself moved by his writing into unknotting my own.

When and where do you write?

I intend to write in the morning but it's usually late in the day that the words start flowing, all of a sudden, when I have an hour left before quitting time. I write in libraries -- college libraries, subscription libraries, public libraries -- and I write at various desks at home that face walls with small windows peeking into the world.

What are you working on now? 

I'm writing a book on early dog development, combining the experience of living with a young dog with the science of their developing behavior and brain. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No. To write I need only begin to put down word after word and -- poof! -- sentences happen. To be sure, they are not all beautifully wrought sentences, lined up masterfully, but if my fingers are on a keyboard or wrapped around a well-sharpened pencil or beautiful pen, they will find words.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Get an agent.

What’s your advice to new writers?

My advice, such as it is, comes from what has worked for me. Your results may differ. Top three advice-bits: 1) If you get stuck, read something you love and let their writing infect you into movement. 2) Read your own writing out loud. Writing is musical: hearing it play can reveal an ill-formed turn-of-phrase or overly-used favorite word. 3) Go for a walk, and bring pen and paper. Movement lubricates the mind for thinking.

Alexandra Horowitz is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know; Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell; and Our Dogs, Ourselves. She teaches at Barnard College, where she runs the Dog Cognition Lab. She lives with her family, including two highly sniffy dogs, one cat, and one puppy in New York.