Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a father of three living in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Besides writing, I work as a computer programmer and also help to run our family-owned Polish Water Ice shop on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. If you’re ever in AC, please drop by!
I’ve so far authored fourteen or fifteen books, depending on how one counts them.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest series, Super Pulse, is about how ordinary people in a suburban neighborhood react and respond when an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) destroys the power grid in most of the world. I’d read a few books in the genre and noticed that most seemed to be about people who had anticipated the event and were more ready for it than I would be. It made me wonder what it would be like for the rest of us, and that’s who my series is about.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a pretty busy guy, and I’m unable to treat writing as a full-time gig. So I find that I have to do a lot of my “writing” in my head while I’m doing other things. Many times, when I finally sit down to “write words,” as it’s known around my house, I’m merely transcribing the thoughts I’ve already thought.
Also, I find that a finger or two of Jack Daniels enhances the process for me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
That’s so broad that I wouldn’t even begin to know the answer. Certainly I’d think that I’ve been influenced by John Grisham the most. Also Stephen King and Michael Wallace.
What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on Book 3 of the Super Pulse series, which is entitled Tabernacle. I recently bought the cover for it and I’m really looking forward to throwing it out there. After that I make take a brief hiatus from this series and write something else before coming back for Book 4.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Come on, that’s easy. Awesomegang!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Not a lot, because I wouldn’t presume that my experiences would be similar enough to most newbies. I didn’t get serious about writing until long after I had jobs, family, a mortgage, etc. So I was never able to set up shop as a full-timer and fully commit to it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Not especially relevant to writing, but the advice I live by came from Woody Allen (as far as I know, I should check Snopes). “Eighty percent of success is just showing up.” To me it means that if one does all the little things that seem completely obvious (showing up, not being a jerk, doing what you say you’ll do, meeting deadlines, and many more) will set you apart from the masses. I never would have believed it when I was in college. I thought you had to be a rocket scientist to succeed. But it’s the little, obvious things that you thought *everybody* would do that matter the most, at least in my own experience.
What are you reading now?
I am “reading” King’s “The Bachman Books.” I know them so well that I don’t actually read the pages sequentially. I just pop it open randomly and enjoy, then move on.
Before that I read “Kane and Abel” by Jeffrey Archer. Before that was the autobiography of Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of my favorite human beings on the planet.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I had some success with mystery thrillers in the past, and might want to dip my toe in that ocean again soon. I live in Atlantic City now. It seems like a great setting for intrigue that I can place a good story or two in.
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?
One of the Harry Potter books, a John Grisham Book, Pet Semetary, and either Deliverance (a beautifully-written novel by a poet) or The Far Arena, whichever I found in the bookshelf first.
Author Websites and Profiles
Dave Conifer Website
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