Nicholas Tampio
/How did you become a writer?
I wrote a short college thesis, a short MA thesis, and a short doctoral thesis. It was not until I started the tenure clock that I began to think day and night about writing. I read Stephen King's On Writing and Eviatar Zerubavel's The Clockwork Muse, and they both emphasized the importance of getting in a writing routine. Now, if I go more than a few days without writing, I become irritable. I need to write to be happy.
Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).
The writer who I aspire to emulate is Saul Bellow. I love the precision of The Adventures of Augie March. Visualize something, and then use the right words to help other people see your vision. Bellow was a master of describing a cold winter night in Chicago, chasing lizards in Mexico, or washing dogs for rich people. How did Saul Bellow get a job on the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago? I don't know, but whoever chose him made a wise decision, because there is a philosophy in the care with which he uses words to capture the wondrous in the ordinary.
When and where do you write?
I wake up, drink coffee, putz about for a bit, and then sit at my desk for a few hours. I go for a walk if it is sunny, or workout at home if it is not, and then I put in an afternoon shift. Writing includes reading, taking notes, outlining, editing, reviewing other people's work, and correspondence.
What are you working on now?
I have just sent a book about teaching political theory to Edward Elgar. I am waiting to hear back from another press about a proposal for my next book. For maybe the first time in my adult life, I don't have any pressing writing assignments. I am teaching, hiking, cooking, and spending time with my family until the next path reveals itself.
Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?
Not really. I often write in a conversation with authors whom I'm reading. Sometimes, I apply their ideas to new contexts, or build upon what they are doing, and sometimes I challenge their thesis. As long as I'm reading and moving in the world, my mind is filled with ideas for pieces.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
I was panicking while writing my first book, and my stepfather told me about the time he had to clean out my grandfather's garage and he just had to clean one shelf at a time. As long as you have an outline and write a few paragraphs a day, you can finish the article or the book.
What’s your advice to new writers?
Write out the steps on a sheet of paper. Read these books and articles. Write an outline. Draft a paper by this date. Share it with these people. Revise it by this date. Submit it. Making lists is a way to manage the anxiety of completing a large project.
Nicholas Tampio is a professor of political science at Fordham University. He has written books on Kant's legacy in contemporary political theory, the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, two books on the Common Core, and his forthcoming book is on teaching political theory. He has written widely-shared articles on the videogame Fortnite, the problem with teaching grit, how vaccine mandates violate civil liberties and harm democratic life, and the advantages to having embodied experiences rather than watching them on screens.
