Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer, artist, and maker of GIFs. I’ve been writing since elementary school, but I’ve only published one book so far: NOTHING, self-published on Amazon in September 2020. When I’m not writing or working my day job, I’m probably on Instagram, where I run two official fan accounts for artists you should be listening to (@teamfeidtx & @nohemyupdates).
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Nothing” was inspired by a music video. When I saw the video for “Nada” by Cazzu, Rauw Alejandro, Lyanno, and Dalex, I knew I wanted to write the story behind it: in the video, each of the four singers has an elemental power. I’ve never tried writing sci-fi before, but I almost immediately “saw” the story in my head.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I used to do NaNoWriMo, and my favorite technique I learned from that was to… just write. “Draft zero” of the climax of “Nothing” was basically a stream-of-consciousness, thousand-word paragraph with minimal punctuation. It’s so much easier to edit that into something readable than it is to write from scratch! My favorite phrase is “better than zero” — if you just wrote one word today, that’s one more word than you had yesterday.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read everything. A few of my works-in-progress are romances, and I’m a big fan of Jasmine Guillory, Alyssa Cole, and Talia Hibbert. I’m currently working on reading everything Chuck Palahniuk has ever written, and I used to describe my religion as “Gaimanism.” Elizabeth Acevedo is a genius. I auto-buy anything by Patrick Ness. The Dark Tower series is currently blowing my mind. My last five-star read was “The Belles” by Dhonielle Clayton.
What are you working on now?
Book two! “Nowhere” has a rich and full life in my head, but I’m currently working on getting it into a format that y’all can consume. I’m also patching a plot hole in my 2018 NaNo project and considering starting a graphic novel with an artist friend. That’s my secret, Cap: I’m always working.
Author Websites and Profiles
R.J. Goldman Amazon Profile
R.J. Goldman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account