Author interview with Praveen Puri
Growing up in the Chicago area, Praveen Puri was interested in both the humanities/writing and math/science. This continued into college, where he majored in computer science, while getting a minor in history.
After college, he neglected the writer inside, and focused on his career as a programmer. As the years went by, Praveen started to get restless and started to explore a variety of subjects. He rediscovered his love of writing, while developing a passion for business, trading, simplicity, minimalism, and Eastern philosophy.
While on the surface this might appear to be a very eclectic mix of subjects, Praveen feels that the key principles that underline all his interests are simplicity and minimalism. Programming, trading, and writing are the disciplines he uses to express these qualities.
Today, Praveen writes and trades part time, while working full time as a vice president at a major bank. He has written Stock Trading Riches, as well as two Sudoku books. Praveen lives in the Chicago area with his wife (Rasika), son (Anshul), and 2 cockatiels (Mickey and Donnie).
1. Tell us about your latest book.
Stock Trading Riches teaches my trading system, which I am very passionate and proud of. It reflects principles from Taoism, jazz improvisation, simplicity, and minimalism. It allows anyone, no matter what their level of financial experience, to take charge of their investments. Not only does it make me money, but it feels like a form of meditation.
2. How did you get started as a writer?
I enjoyed writing in school, especially in junior high school and high school. I especially enjoyed writing essays in history class. I also loved computers, and I feel that programming is a marriage of writing and math/logic.
3. What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up and work 9-6 for a major bank. I rarely go to the office downtown – instead I work from my home/office. After work, I spend the evening with my wife and son. After they go to bed, I write for a few hours before turning in.
4. Describe your desk/workspace.
It’s a large desk with my Dell laptop and a speaker phone. Behind me, I have a hutch and shelves. My Macbook and printer are there.
5. Favorite books (especially for writers)
“How to Sell Your Book on Amazon” by Brent Sampson, Peter Shankman’s PR book, and any book by Joe Vitale.
6. Tell us 3 interesting/crazy things about you
I’ve been to both a summer and winter Olympics, and to an NBA Finals game. I once saw Tony Bennett perform at the re-opening of a major Chicago area mall. I later saw him at an art store, and he was signing autographs. He asked me how to spell my name, and I was nervous, blanked out, and gave him my driver’s license! He looked at me a little weirdly, and copied my name off my driver’s license. I lived my whole life (42 years) in the Chicago area – which seems strange when most people around me seem to have lived in many different places.
7. Favorite quote
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” by Leonardo da Vinci
8. Best and worst part of being a writer
Best: The feeling I get while reading a sentence that I have reworked and crafted to my satisfaction.
Worst: When I re-read something that I have previously written and then feel like rewriting a sentence or paragraph. This then leads to wanting to rewrite something else, and so on… With writing, programs, and trading systems, you have to learn to accept them at a certain point, resist the urge to tinker, and move on.
9. Advice for other writers
Just write! Fight writer’s block by writing the middle of your story first. Then, go back and craft/polish your work by adding the beginning and end. On my blog “Tao of Simplicity”, I also have articles on Hemingway’s tips for minimalist writing. This includes using action words and vigorous English.
10. Tell us a story about your writing experience.
After Stock Trading Riches was published, I re-read it, and kept seeing things I wanted to rewrite! As I said above, you have to discipline yourself to reach a feeling of satisfaction with your work, and just learn to accept it as is – without anymore tinkering. So I actually destroyed the original Word version of the book! I only kept the PDF version. So, if I really want to “rewrite” it, I would have to write a whole new book.
Where can people buy the book and learn more about you?
My book is available at Amazon.com and Target.com
My Book’s Website: http://www.stocktradingriches.com
My “Simple Trading System” Blog: http://simple-trading-system.blogspot.com/
My “Tao of Simplicity” Blog: http://tao-simple.blogspot.com/
Ask Wendy-The Query Queen 
Hi Wendy,
I really enjoyed the 10 question interview experience. It’s really a great feature – I’ve learned a lot from reading the other interviews.
Thanks,
Praveen
I liked this interview. Praveen is a friend of mine. I still need to read his book and write an Amazon review, which is difficult to do while I am writing my own book, and working as a fundraiser for lost causes (jury rights, Federal Reserve abolition, medical freedom, etc.)… 😀
PS if anyone has a good book template for Open Office, please send it my way. Thanks! –Jake
jake.alfg@yahoo.com
i really liked this interview. praveen is a great friend and a even human being. I like his writing style, it does reflect his thoughts of simplicity.
I have been a friend of Praveen since High School. And I must say that I am honored to have a friend such as Praveen. I wish him and his entire family a long and prosperous healthy life.
I am very proud to know Praveen as my frend and coworker for many years.
His optimism and interest in sience and life in general make feel everybody around him very good.
I wish Praveen continue to write so his son in a future can hear the sories written by his father.
Jeff Entin
I have known Praveen for 7 years. He is one of my dearest friends. Praveen and I worked together for 5 years and often looked for issues with the applications we support together. Inevitably, Praveen would locate the root cause of the disastrous outage and 99% of the time, the root cause was a very simple, elementary problem (like a typo in a server name, or the database password being expired, etc). Praveen and I would talk about how often the most complicated issues come down to a simple cause. I have learned so much Praveen, I could write a book on it. I would say that his technical and life knowledge have fueled my career in the last 7 years. His books and blogs are worth reading. He is full of great knowledge.