#WriterWednesday Interview with Douglas Smith
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I’d like to welcome Douglas Smith to the blog for #WriterWednesday!
Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing about periods of my life that were extreme and traumatic.
Easiest thing about being a writer: Turning what I wrote into scenes, with action, dialogue, and sensory elements.
Favorite foods: Anything with avocado, from breakfast tacos to veggie bowls. It’s my desert island food, if I could only have one food.
Things that make you want to gag: Beyond meat burgers. I’ll eat a veggie burger, but beyond meat or any attempt to make a non-meat taste like mean should be criminalized.
Something you’re really good at: Listening and asking deep questions. I worked as a suicide hotline counselor, and learned how listening is the best medicine for overwhelming emotions.
Something you’re really bad at: Listening to my wife when my mind wanders. It happens when we are walking. She’ll ask, “Are you with me?”
Favorite music or song: I believe that Pictures of You by The Cure is the most beautiful rocks song ever produced.
Music that drives you crazy: Pop country. I grew up in Austin, since 1976. I prefer country music that is cosmic and cool.
The last thing you ordered online: Bose Pro Beats ear buds.
The last thing you regret buying: Bose Pro Beats ear buds. So uncomfortable!
Favorite places you’ve been: Moab, Utah. It is heaven for hikers and mountain bikers.
Places you never want to go to again: Lake Jacksboro in Jack County, Texas
Favorite things to do: Hiking. If I don’t have an epic hike on my calendar, life loses some of its vibrancy.
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Shopping in a mall
Best thing you’ve ever done: Marry my wife.
Biggest mistake: Trying crack cocaine during a period of extreme depression.
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Challenge myself to do public speaking. It transformed my career. I would not be doing what I do today had I not worked through my fear of public speaking.
Something you chickened out from doing: Getting a tattoo. But, I still have time.
The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I heard my own story in your story.”
The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Your book is compelling, but I don’t have words to describe how I feel after reading it.”
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Acting on the drama team while serving time in prison.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Writing my book. I thought I’d write a leadership book. It turned into a raw memoir disguised as a leadership book.
About Douglas:
Doug Smith, MSSW is the author of The Path of Rocks and Thorns: Leadership Lessons from a Prison Cell. He has more than 12 years’ experience in mental health and justice policy, as a policy expert at the Texas House of Representative and later as Senior Policy Analyst for Texas Center on Justice and Equity. He has more than eight years’ experience serving as an Adjunct Professor of Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. Doug specializes in developing the leadership capacity of people with life histories of mental illness, past trauma, and incarceration. A foundation of his work is partnering with organizations to create trauma-informed leadership practices. Doug also works with communities across Texas to prevent the arrest and incarceration of people with mental illness. Doug earned his master’s in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from Erickson Coaching International and is certified in trauma-informed coaching. Doug lived through mental illness, substance use disorder, and incarceration, and these experiences drive his passion to help people achieve their fullest potential. He is a husband and proud father and stepfather of three adult children and three rescue pups.
