James Patterson 是美國有名的驚悚小說作家，在“James Patterson by James Patterson, The Stories of My Life” 這本小書中，他用一篇篇的短文故事，講述的則是他自己的故事。
James Patterson說，在演講中，他最喜歡跟大家分享的，是「五個球」的故事。
“Imagine life as a game in which you’re juggling five balls in the air.
Let’s name them work, family, health, friends, and spirit.
Somehow you are keeping all those balls in the air. That’s not an easy thing to do.
Sound familiar? Sound a little like your life? Well, it definitely sounds like mine.
Hopefully, you come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will usually bounce back.
But the other four balls——family, health, friends, and spirit——are made of glass.
If you drop one of these, it will irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. It will never be the same.
Once you understand that, maybe, just maybe, you’ll strive for more balance in your life.”*
大意是：
人生，有若是一場遊戲，像雜技表演，你必須把五個球一直耍弄在空中而不墜。
這五個球的名字，辜且稱之為工作、家庭、健康、朋友和尊嚴。
聽起來是否很熟悉？是不是有點像你面對的人生? 至少我的就像是如此。
但願你能理解，工作那個球是塑膠做的，即使掉到了地上，它一般都會彈回來。
但是其他四個球，家庭、健康、朋友和尊嚴，則是玻璃做的。
如果你掉了其中一個到地上，它將造成磨損、留下刻痕、產生缺口、嚴重毀壞，甚或整個碎掉，永遠無法復原。它們就再也不是原來完整的玻璃球了。
當你如果理解這個道理，那麼你將會盡你的全力，去保持一個平衡的人生。
“My writing style is colloquial, which is the way I talk to one another…colloquial storytelling is a valid form of expression. If you write down your favorite story to tell, there might not be any great sentences, but it will still be outstanding…”
James Patterson 說，他的寫作風格是對話式的口語，重點在於有沒有故事性。
“…I went from a little boy telling stories to entertain himself as he wandered through the woods to a shy kid making a transition from an upstate to a New Yorker to a bestselling writer with enough confidence…I just kept telling stories….
James Patterson 說，內向的他從小就喜歡講故事，從講故事中成長而變得有信心。
講故事，是他喜歡做的事，不斷把喜歡做的事做好，促使他在(驚悚)小說創作上大大的成功。
“…I write a fifty- to eighty-page outline. For every book. I write three to four drafts of every outline. I write with a pencil. I like being able to erase things and I’m pretty good at admitting when I make mistake…”
驚悚小說的情節總是高潮迭起峰廻路轉，我一直對於作者能夠行雲如水地游刃有餘，而感到好奇。
James Patterson分享他創作的密秘，就是先寫出五十到八十頁的大綱(outline)，這也是為什麼有些書他可以跟別人合著，那些大綱就可以用來控制小說的情節和行文的風格。
James Patterson 在“The stories of my life,” 這本書，也分享了他在慈善晚會上喜歡講的，關於人心「善美」的故事，抄錄出來跟大家分享：
“A classically trained pianist and violinist name Emily Zamourka had been homeless for two years or so in Los Angels after the street performer’s $10,000 violin was stolen. One evening, she took the wrong train. Emily got off at the almost empty Wiltshire/Normandie LA Metro station. She cursed herself a little, then plopped down on a bench.
As she waited for another train, she thought, oh, I’m gonna sing a little bit, maybe that’ll make me feel better.
Emily start to sing a Puccini aria. She was loving it, really belting it out. Then she noticed a police officer walking her way.
She got nerved. Was she creating a disturbance? Would she get a fine that she couldn’t afford to pay?
But the LAPD officer just asked whether he could film her on his phone while she sang.
That night he posted the video along with his note: ”Four million people call LA home. Four million stories. Four million voices…Sometimes you just have to stop and listen to one, to hear something beautiful.”*
大意是：一位流浪的音樂家晚上坐錯車，下到了一個空蕩蕩的車站，等車時閒來沒事唱起了Puccini 歌劇中的詠嘆調，被一位紐約警察用手機拍下放到網路上分享，並讚嘆他在大城市中短暫偶遇的優美歌聲(，引起大量網友的共鳴)。
James Patterson出身於一般的家庭，在成名之後配合慈善的活動，也是不遺餘力。
我就想，在一個匆匆忙忙的大城，每個人都有自己的故事、有自己的心聲。任何人願意停下來傾聽別人的心聲，縱使再順便隨性，也是一種溫暖的「善美」。
“…It was 1968, a brutal, heartbreaking, soul-searching year. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were murdered. Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey. Vietnam was on fire. I think it was something about that confusing, terrifying time that got me thinking seriously about trying to be a writer, trying to get some truth out of my head and down on paper.”
James Patterson開始寫小說，是在黑人領袖馬丁路德和美總統甘迺廸雙雙在1968年被射殺的那個重蕩的年代，他才二十歲左右的時候。然而James Patterson出版作品開始嶄露頭角，則是到了他在廣告公司工作之後的事了。
“At this time, around 1996, I’d written four bestselling novels featuring Alex Cross…I guess the kid from the country had finally come of age. I believe I was ready to be a full-time writer…”
1996年，James Patterson辭去在J. Walter Thompson 高階主管的工作，開始做一位專職的作家，時年才49歲。
His grandfather told him, “…When you grow up, I don’t care if you become a truck driver like me , or a famous surgeon, or the president…Just remember that when you go over the mountain to work in the morning, you’ve got to be singing.”
James Patterson說他受到祖父和祖母的影響最大。他的祖父告訴他，要做自己每天都感到欣喜的工作。
“There is a sign on the desk in my office. It says you retired from work, you don’t retired from play.”
所以他的座右銘是：永遠樂在工作。
*：James Patterson, “James Patterson by James Patterson, The Stories of My Life,” 2022, Little, Brown and Company
2023/8/20 James Patterson by James Patterson, The Stories of My Life Damakey
