David Price
The author, thought leader, futurist and trainer tells Lynne Hackles how he gets his motivational words on the page
David Price says he fell into writing by accident. ‘When I was a kid,’ he says, ‘I wanted to be a journalist but in 1970s north-east England, to articulate that ambition would have caused riotous laughter. So, I followed my other creative passion instead: writing and performing my own songs. My cousin, Alan, was riding high with The Animals, so I knew it was possible. Later, I realised being a pop musician wasn’t a job for a grown-up so I became a mature student and reconnected with writing, becoming an educator/academic. My musical hero Stephen Sondheim wrote the line “Then you career from career to career…” That’s been the story of my life.
‘In higher education, there was an expectation to write research papers for academic journals, but I hated the stifling conventions surrounding style, language and format. I wanted to write for the broadest possible audience. If it hadn’t been for my mentor and long-time friend, Sir Ken Robinson, who recently sadly passed, I probably wouldn’t have written more than the occasional blog post. He took complex issues and explained them using conversational language. So, when he urged me to write my first book, OPEN: How We’ll Work Live And Learn In The Future, I shamelessly mimicked his style though my first drafts were dreadful.
‘My typical day, during the research and writing phases, involves 2-3 hours on social media, or Googling references. That time is evenly split between genuine research and procrastination. Once the book is out my time on social media soars. I spend 5-6 hours a day, seeking endorsements, arranging interviews, reminding people that there’s a new book out, sharing recorded interviews, deleted scenes, associated blog posts, and the like. My publishers, Thread, have helped with the promotion but I’m primarily responsible for making sure people know about it. The emails and messages I get from readers more than compensate. They also make me want to return to my high school and tell workingclass kids it’s perfectly normal to want to be a writer.
‘Open did surprisingly well but, other than news journalists, does anyone make a living purely from writing non-fiction? I give talks and do consultancy and training as well. I was doing a lot of travelling, speaking about the first book, when the germ of The Power Of Us began to form. I noticed people all over the world were self-organising to make new products, services, or instigate social movements. Three years ago, I was asked to speak at the South-By-South-West Festival of Ideas in Austin, Texas. That was when I first shared some ideas around “people-powered innovation” and 500 people showed up, with many of them telling me, after they’d heard me speak, that I should document what was going on.
‘That was the start of a three-year, fairly intensive, research period. Despite some significant health challenges, I spent about six months of 2019 drafting and redrafting, until I was happy enough to give the completed manuscript to my agent, in February, 2020. My publishers pencilled in a publication date of August 2020. And then Covid happened.
‘Within days of the first lockdown, I knew I was going to have to rewrite the whole book – in three weeks. Grassroots organisations were mobilising to invent new ventilators, breathing machines, face shields, and track clinical trials in search of a vaccine. Over 1,000 Facebook mutual aid groups appeared within days of lockdown, ensuring the most vulnerable were shielded and fed. And #blacklivesmatter achieved more gains in the battle for racial equality than we’d seen since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Understanding this explosion of mass, collaborative, action forms the heart of the book. All of this frenetic creativity affirmed, and graphically illustrated, the arguments I was making. By then the book had taken on a vibrant, if chaotic, narrative. The original plotting had become so disjointed I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. Each day’s news bulletins would make me think, “That needs to go in the book.”
‘This is when a good editor is worth their weight in gold. Mine, Claire Bord, gave me some great ideas about a new flow, then gave me a three-week deadline for a complete re-structural edit. During the period May-July, I was writing and editing seven days a week, often in twelve-hour stretches, and I loved every minute. I have a love/hate relationship with writing (who doesn’t?) but give me a deadline, and I’m a happy camper. Give me an urgent deadline, and I’m delirious.’