Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I like reading and writing. I have written one book, Faces In The Dark, which is about a normal dude who just happens to be America’s most popular writer. I’m currently at work on a novel about a serial killer, and once I’m done with that I’m going to collaborate with a friend of mine on a fantasy.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love to eat while I work. My favorite food is cheese of all sorts! (Except, you know, American, because American sucks.) I like to listen to music while I write. I find Rush, Yes, Weather Report, Miles Davis, Genesis, Soundgarden, Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Zappa and Black Sabbath to be great writing music.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Animal Farm by George Orwell comes to mind. I read it when I was nine and it changed my life. I would not be an author if it weren’t for that book! Les Misérables by Victor Hugo has also influenced me profoundly; it is my favorite book of all time. I love all of Ayn Rand’s works, especially The Fountainhead. Other authors who have influenced my work include Erich Maria Remarque, Charles Dickens, Lemony Snicket, Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Douglas Adams, and Aldous Huxley. Basically, I’ll read anything and everything! Just no Amish romance novels! While they’re not authors, the lyrics of Neil Peart (Rush), Paul Simon, Peter Sinfield (King Crimson/ELP) and Peter Gabriel (Genesis) have helped me to become a better wordsmith.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Don’t ask me. I’ve sold exactly one copy, as of this writing. (So go buy my book!)
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stay off the Internet while writing. There are two reasons for this.
1: You’ll check your email and your Facebook and your Amazon sales rank and click on this link and that link until you’ve wasted an hour of your predetermined writing time.
2: There’s porn out there. And I hate porn.
My second tip is to write when you have writer’s block. Just write anything, no matter how stupid, and you’ll be on a roll before you know it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”
-Neil Gaiman
What are you reading now?
We The Living by Ayn Rand
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Julie And The Wolves by Jean Craighead George
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?
Well, four, obviously! Why would I take three if I could take four?
All jokes aside:
The Bible
Victor Hugo – Les Misérables
Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare
I chose these books because of how long they are and how good they smell.
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