18Q Marc Acito

Marc Acito

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?

I couldn’t keep all those ideas inside my head. So I started writing them down

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)

I majored in theater, with a minor in art and music, then climbed all the way to the middle as an opera singer. After I quit that to write, I worked as a salesman to pay the bills, like with the Willy Loman sample case and everything. Hating my job was a good motivator.

3. When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?

I was working on a short story while rehearsing to make my European operatic debut. One day, I looked up at the clock from my writing and thought, “Damn, I’ve gotta go to work.” I came home and cancelled the rest of my gigs.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?

Re-arrange the letters in my name and you get “a comic art.” Or “a comic rat,” depending on how you feel about me.

5. What is your writing process?

I accumulate piles of notes until I reach the tipping point. Basically, when the pile tips over, it’s time to turn on the computer. At the same time, I’m always outlining, constantly strategizing on how to arrange all these random ideas to create something surprising and original.

6. What was your path to publication?

I went to a reading given by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of “Fight Club,” who also lives here in Portland. I introduced myself and, in a moment that changed my life, he said, “I know who you are. I’ve read your column.” Based on my columns alone, he recommended me to his agent.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?

Somehow I got on the Rotary Circuit, giving motivational speeches. Go figure. But they constantly need speakers.

8. What are the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?

I’ve had people come up to me and tell me that a particular passage I wrote made them laugh so hard they nearly peed their pants. And I’ll think, “Thanks. That was the serious part.”

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?

Long walks, long showers, long drives. And a constant feeding of information—news, arts and ideas.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?

Any time I write a sentence that doesn’t make me wince.

11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing?

Put a post-it on your monitor that reads, “I’ll fix it later.” Just get it down.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?

I was stepping into the shower at the gym when someone said to my bare ass, “Hey, I just bought your book.” How he recognized me I’ll never know.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?

The psychological hurdles are enormous. You live and die by those sales numbers. And it’s easy to get fat.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?

Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em think.