1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
Is it all right if I say “both”? I’ve been a voracious reader since the age of six, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to me to try and imitate what I read.
2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
I have an associate degree in General Education with a Computer Science major. I never got past algebra! Looking back now, I realize I should have majored in either music or literature. Those are my first loves. Since I left college, I’ve done whatever it took to pay the bills, including retail stocking, floor maintenance, house cleaning, and fast food. My most recent job was as a receptionist in the security office of a telemarketing firm. Currently, my wife and I own/operate a Home-based Child Daycare. It’s the best job in the world!
3. When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?
My writing skills really began to shape themselves once I got on the Internet in 1995. I began making long-distance friends and writing to them, and within a year or so I was being told, “You should be a writer!” In 1998 I began my first effort at a book, writing between phone calls at a Telemarketing firm. That book was a learning experience, not a publishable work. But it convinced me that I could do this!
4. How would you describe your style of writing?
I like to think it’s classical with a flair for modernism. I try really hard to follow the examples set by the great descriptive writers such as Jack London, but I also realize that a story has to keep up the pace in order to keep a reader’s attention.
5. What is your writing process?
It usually begins with a mental picture. I can sense a story coming out of that picture, and when I sit down to write, if it’s meant to be, it flows naturally. As the story develops, I sometimes feel a need to stop and write an outline, if for nothing else but to maintain continuity.
6. What was your path to publication?
I have self-published my own works, including two instructional e-books, one fictional e-book, several articles, and dozens of commentaries and devotionals. I have yet to even submit my work to a publisher!
7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
A website! If you can draw visitors to a website, it’s only a matter of time before the right people contact you.
8. What are the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?
Discovering how difficult it can be to get past a block.
9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I’m most often inspired by the books I read. I love a book that describes so vividly that you forget you’re reading, not experiencing, the story. My best creative sources are my dreams, my own fertile imagination, and my past experiences.
10. What is your proudest writer moment?
When a good friend of mine, a published writer, wrote to me and said, “This is wonderful! It should be published!”
11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing?
Pay attention to the speaking styles of your characters. How they speak is not necessarily how you write! There should be a difference.
12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
Realizing that I had written a commentary based on glaring inaccuracies.
13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
How to turn my passion into payments. I still haven’t managed it!
14. What is your writer life philosophy?
Write what you love, love what you write. Be honest, and give your very best effort. And NEVER GIVE UP!
15. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?
I surf the Internet, watch YouTube, tweak my MySpace. And I write - yes, for fun! One of my favorite things to do is filling out questionaires like this one.
16. Who do you like to read?
Right now I’m finishing up the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert. He’s not my favorite author, though. My favorites include Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Louise L’Amour, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Stephen King.
17. What’s your advice for new writers?
First, find a mentor. Make friends with an experienced writer who can coach you and help you through the growing years. Second, don’t do it for money, do it for love! If you love what you do, you’ll never regret the time you spend, even if you never get published. Third, don’t give up, no matter what. If you love writing, then keep writing, and keep submitting and keep pushing to get published. DON’T GIVE UP!
18. What are you currently working on?
I have started two different projects that have unfortunately come to a stand-still. One was a continuation of my fictional book, “Out of the Desert.” The other was an experimental work entitled, “Umpteenth Freddy, The Nightmare Continues,” and was a take-off of the popular “Nightmare on Elm Street” storyline, but from a Christian perspective.
