By LIBERTY GOODNOW, Student Reporter
Northwestern welcomed an alumnus to campus for the spring Visiting Writer Series March 30.
Award-winning author Sheldon Russell spoke to fans about his books, including his latest work, “A Particular Madness.”
Russell said this is the first book he has ever written in first-person.
“A lot that happened in this book, happened to me,” he said.
Russell said a trip to Fort Supply played a role in writing his book, “The Insane Train.” His mother is who inspired him to begin writing in the first place.
“She would read stories at night,” Russell said. “It was a warm, fuzzy time reading war stories and eating ice cream.”
Russell has a lengthy background in storytelling, he said, because that was his main source of entertainment as a child.
One of the things that drew Russell to Northwestern was the endless amounts of land surrounding the area.
“The way I grew up, land was everything,” he said. “I enjoyed my time here. The English Department had a lot to do with that.”
He has been working on more books lately, but they have not been published yet.
Some of the people in attendance asked for pointers on writing and what Russell struggles with as a novelist. He said he faces obstacles with developing plots for stories. He tries to get four hours of serious, creative writing in in the morning.
“You can get a lot of writing done if you do it every day,” he said.