Steve Portigal Loves Creative Writing

Here comes the literary trope of the “interview podcast”, when Steve Portigal joins us to talk about his journey into creative writing. Known for his non-fiction books on user research, he shares how he discovered a passion for writing fiction during the pandemic when he hit a personal wall, and enrolled in a creative writing course. Steve talks about balancing clarity with ambiguity, learning that not every reader needs to understand every reference, and his exploration of different writing styles and formats, from short stories about eccentric small-town characters to linked short stories about alien invasions.

Guest Bio

Steve Portigal (he/him) is an experienced user researcher who helps organizations to build mature user research practices. He is the author of Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights (now in a second edition, including an audiobook version) and Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He’s also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast.

Steve is also generously offering a discount on his book. Use discount code DOWNTIME for 10% off of Interviewing Users when purchased from Rosenfeld Media. The discount code is good for the next 30 days, and you can also find this information in the show notes.

Links

Steve’s book, Interviewing Users (2nd Edition): https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users-second-edition/.

Use promo code DOWNTIME for 10% off when purchased from Rosenfeld Media. The discount code is good for the next 30 days.

Steve’s website: https://portigal.com/

Steve’s books: https://portigal.com/books/

Steve’s podcast, Dollars to Donuts: https://portigal.com/podcast/

Steve on LinkededIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveportigal/

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Breternitz.