Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was an ear surgeon, burned out, tried to retire, but I was underfoot too much at home, so I looked for something different to do. The Colorado Department of Corrections was advertising for a doctor to take care of the inmates at Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP), the state’s maximum-security prison. Well, that was different…
Maximum Insecurity is my first book, a memoir of my years at CSP.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I published Maximum Insecurity in December 2013. It’s a memoir of my years as the physician at Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP), the state’s maximum-security prison.
When I started to work at CSP I entered an alien world, unprepared and wide-eyed. I found so many weird situations and off-the-wall people, I started a journal to record some of it. The weirdness never stopped, and the journal became a book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often write in snatches between patients. Finding a whole hour to myself to just write is a luxury I seldom have. I need to do my writing on a word processor because my handwriting is so bad not even I can read it.
I try to outline what I’m going to write, but often something bizarre comes up at the prison and I have to write about it before it fades.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Robert B. Parker is the absolute best with tight dialog and vivid characterization. I’d give my…you know… to write half as well.
Terry Brooks can describe scenes that you can taste. I’d give my other…you know… to have his vision.
Rick Atkinson can make the history of WW2 read like an IMAX movie.
Preston and Child are incomparable with plot and suspense.
Jeffrey Deaver will make you lock your doors and keep the lights on at night. And maybe get a gun.
Richard Bach drags your dreamer out of the closet and infuses you with hope for the world.
What are you working on now?
The past year I’ve been medical director at the El Paso County jail. I’ve found a different kind of weirdness there, and it’s taking shape in my next book.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m a terrible social networker, but I know people who are great at it. I get my best results by influencing the influencers and letting them do the heavy lifting. If I give value to the people who run the blogs and newsletters, they’ll give the value back to me through their networks.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Nothing that they haven’t heard before. Write the best book you can, let a good editor chop it to pieces and write it again. Make sure there’s a market for your book. Put your book into the hands of people who influence that segment of the market. Your book is not for everybody. Some people will hate it no matter how good it is. Get over it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The secret to a successful marriage is the ten things you don’t say every day.
What are you reading now?
Rick Atkinson’s “The Guns at Last Light”
David Nasaw’s “The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst”
Lee Child’s “Never Go Back”
What’s next for you as a writer?
After I finish the book about being medical director at the county jail, I have two novels in desperate need of rewriting.
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?
I’d bring my Nook with 50,000 books, a download of Angry Birds, and a solar charger. I’d probably bring a survival book of some kind too, and maybe a book on how to fix a solar charger.
Author Websites and Profiles
William Wright Website
William Wright Amazon Profile