Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Originating from St. Louis County, Missouri, it wasn’t until my senior year in high school at that I discovered more than a casual interest in reading chiefly because of my college-prep English class and frequent trips to a local bookstore. It was that class with an inspiring teacher and all the wonderful books he had us read and critique in class discussions and what he called written “critical comments” that lit the flame for me. I headed south with the Missouri Pacific Railroad the day after graduating to put together some money for college and packed some paperbacks and my cheap guitar to keep me company since I was now venturing out into the world on my own. The three months in Texas and Louisiana during that long, hot southern summer would yield valuable life lessons along with the hard-earned money. And, many years later, that summer would be the inspiration for my debut novel, Southern Passage.
At summer’s conclusion, I attended Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, and after remaining there a while, enrolled at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. With a major in Sociology and several hours in Anthropology and Psychology, I graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. My interest in creative writing was nurtured during my college years; some of my poetry, along with a one act play, appeared in the school literary publication at Warrensburg. After retiring from a 33 1/2 year career I took up writing and completed my first novel, Southern Passage, a coming of age story inspired by my summer with the railroad in 1966.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Southern Passage, my debut novel, is my only published work thus far.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I seem to write in fits and spurts, usually sitting down to knock out paragraphs when the ideas strike. I’ll stay at it as long as the creative juices last for that keyboard session. I find it impossible to follow a set routine; that creative urge simply has to be there. It’s far too frustrating and a huge waste of time for me to box myself into such a way.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Although I’m a fiction writer, the authors I most frequently read are biographers and historians. I love history, particularly American, and gravitate to historical novels when I read works of fiction.
What are you working on now?
Since finishing Southern Passage, I’ve written several short stories and I’m now in the process of molding some of them into a hard science fiction novel. I’m fascinated by astronomy and cosmology and my second novel is slowly taking shape. I find myself trying to imagine the unimaginable and trying to artfully and realistically fuse facts with fiction in the novel’s multiverse storyline.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m a member of the Rave Reviews Book Club and its members do a fabulous job of promoting each other with daily blasts on Twitter. Twitter and Facebook are great sources for getting word out.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Find the courage to step out of yourself and share your story with the world. Maybe it’s easier said than done, but the satisfaction you feel from hearing from people who’ve read your work is immense and so very much worth the anxiety or hesitancy you might have about revealing your inner self to others.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Forget about what other people think, write what’s in your mind and heart!
What are you reading now?
Tom Clancy, Stephen Hawking, along with a number of historical novels.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Certainly my current objective is to complete my second novel and get it published. After that, I’ll narrow down some of the fictional themes I’ve been kicking around and then get busy with starting the third novel.
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?
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance, #1
Douglas Adams’ A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Michael Herr’s Dispatches
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Author Websites and Profiles
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