Adam Skolnick, author of 'American Tiger' - Podcaster and novelist discusses creative burnout, ghostwriting, and different drafts for different characters
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Adam Skolnick earned his writing chops as a travel and adventure sports journalist for the New York Times, ESPN, the BBC and Lonely Planet. It taught him the vital skills of getting the words out immediately, and writing fast.
He was the ghostwriter for David Goggins' memoirs 'Can't Hurt Me' and 'Never Finished'. Also published 'One Breath', about the world of free-diving, which was turned into a Netflix documentary, and 'Forever Swim', about open-water swimming legend Antonio Arguelles. Adam also appears in Rich Roll's fantastic podcast, discussing health and wellbeing.
His new novel is 'American Tiger', about Bell Tern who, when on the school bus, sports a tiger roaming around the streets of suburban Los Angeles. It's rooted in the stunning southern Californian landscape and stacked with vivid characters.
We discusses his attempts to 'de-sacredise' his space and day, also the different passes he does for each individual character, and what an idea needs to be to get him excited. You can hear about his new cue-card process, how the idea came during a free-diving competition, and how he deals with the fine line between creative burnout and being productive.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to https://ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code ROUTINE at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Also, this episode is supported by Faber Academy. Make the most of their fantastic writing courses in 2026 at https://faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week's episode of writer's routine is sponsored by Faber Academy, whose flagship course |
| 0:05.8 | is back. It's the writing a novel course that you can get onto in person if you're in the UK |
| 0:11.7 | and even online if you're further afield. It's not just a course, it's a commitment to your craft. |
| 0:17.9 | Faber Academy is a place where you can learn the essentials of novel writing like no other. |
| 0:23.1 | Now this podcast lets you hear from the best authors around. This course can help you become one |
| 0:28.1 | yourself. It covers everything that you need to bring your novel to life. Character, story, |
| 0:33.7 | structure, plotting, voice, dialogue, conflict and so much more. Through the course, you'll hear from |
| 0:39.6 | guest speakers, some of the biggest names in publishing, authors, editors, and it's designed to help |
| 0:45.8 | you hone your craft and find direction. We've had so many authors on the show who cannot speak |
| 0:51.6 | highly enough about the Faber Academy, and now is your chance to be one of |
| 0:56.0 | them. At the end of the course, part of your work is sent out to agents across the UK and you'll |
| 1:01.1 | have the opportunity to pitch your novel to some of the biggest literary names around. |
| 1:06.3 | There's daytime and evening courses in London and an online course too that you can take part in wherever you are. |
| 1:12.2 | Now you need to be quick to sign up. Deadlines start in early January. So to take part online, |
| 1:18.2 | your application deadline is the 4th of January. That starts on the 19th. And then for the London |
| 1:23.6 | courses, both evening and daytime, your deadline is Sunday the 11th of January. |
| 1:29.2 | So make the most of this chance. |
| 1:31.2 | It's not just a course, it's a commitment to your craft. |
| 1:34.1 | Faberacademy.com forward slash writing dash a dash novel. |
| 1:38.1 | The link is in the episode notes wherever you're listening. |
| 1:40.6 | Faberacademy.com forward slash writing dash a-novel. |
| 1:53.5 | Hello, welcome along to writers routine. Thank you so much for being there. This week, |
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