Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
2
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Killing Time. Inspired by a life’s observation of miscommunication and the variety of religions that often spring from miscommunication.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No. I research, write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have always been a huge Philip K. Dick Fan–probably since I was about ten years old and borrowed my older brother’s Ace Doubles. His quote “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away” is probably what inspires me the most. I am a huge believer in viewing everything with a different slant.
What are you working on now?
I am currently assembling information for the sequel to Killing Time titled Making Time.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As a new author I am learning the ropes of promotion. I am so far most impressed with Awesomegang, especially with the follow up activity they pursue (such as this author interview). I have yet to see such active marrying of readers and authors on any other site that I have visited.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It seems that today just completing a book is almost enough for self publishing, but it won’t make your book a good read or enjoyable. I think most often I have heard “write what you enjoy and write it well.” You will gain readership if you construct a work that entertains you, as the writer. Make sure you edit and revise. Too many books are flung off the computer and self published that are fraught with misspellings, horrible grammar and sentence structure, and almost no sense of acceptable “word organization” structure. I told my daughter, who is also a writer and a copy editor, that Killing Time is not literature, but a work of organized words.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I think it is what all authors eventually learn: persistence. It’s easy to have an idea and develop characters and plots. It is much more difficult to be persistent enough to complete those ideas into a finished work. Persistence.
What are you reading now?
Currently I am re-reading the Hitchhiker Quintet by Douglas Adams.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Now that I personally have “more time on my hands” I plan to continue writing and launching some of the long fermenting ideas that I’ve jotted down over the years.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
The Lord of the Rings (yes, the whole trilogy in one long book) – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Bible (just because it is so much fun with all the battles, and slaughters, and otherworldly events) – Various Authors (usually attributed to ghost writers for God).
V.A.L.I.S. – Philip K. Dick (because I still don’t have it figured out).