1. Tell us a little
bit about yourself. What else do you do besides writing?
Well, I work in the telecommunications field and maintain my
own blog, ModeratelyProfane.com. I've got a background in humorous/seething with righteous indignation type
Op-Ed pieces, something I started doing when I was writing for gunaxin.com. When I'm not
writing or working, which isn't often, I can be found in front of a
dartboard, not living up to my boasts of skill and accuracy.
2. How did you first get into writing?
Well I started writing, like most bad habits, when I was
young… for me. I never had much interest in reading or writing as a kid, until
a fateful collision of a childhood love of Star
Wars and Timothy Zahn's Heir to The
Empire trilogy. I started writing shortly after I read those books. I
actually wrote a piece about the experience for my blog.
3. Tell us about your latest book.
Never Saw It Coming
is the story of seven days out of the life of Tim Finnegan. Tim is one of those
guys that never really got it together. He has all the brains and drive a guy
needs to make it, but can’t see past his own anger and resentment. Those
qualities and faults lead to drinking heavily and unwise words. His week starts
off with a bullet to the head, and gets worse when he wakes up in the hospital
two days later, completely healed and plagued by precognitive visions.
4. Is it part of a larger series?
Yes, I'm already working on the second
book, titled Undeserving, and
have a third planned. I'm also kicking around the idea of a 'prequel' type
series involving two of the characters introduced near the end of Never Saw It Coming, that wind up
playing a major role in the second book.
5. What was your inspiration for your book?
Honestly, I was in college at the time, working two jobs to
support myself and pay for school, which I was in danger of flunking out of,
because I didn't have enough time for full time classes, a full time job and a
part time job. I was in line at the bank staring at my both of my
paychecks and realized they weren't enough to get me through until next
payday. I got mad. Really mad. Seriously, it bordered on rage. I'm fairly
certain the teller thought I was going to rob the place, given the look on her
face.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
I didn't. What I did do was stop off at the liquor store and
used the money for the phone and cable bill to buy a case of beer, a
carton of cigarettes, a fifth of Jack Daniels and a very fine bottle of Glen Morangie.
I went home and proceeded to get absolutely and obnoxiously drunk. I wrote
the first two chapters of Never Saw
It Coming that night. I wound up quitting both jobs within the month
and school at the end of the semester. All three were bad decisions then, but
I woudn't change them for the world now.
6. What motivates you
to want to write? What do you enjoy about it?
What motivates an alcoholic to drink? They're addicted. As
am I. If I don't write anything for a couple days I start to get moody, twitchy
and well, rude. For me it's simply a need. For every page I use, there are two
I cut. I let myself go off on tangents, simply because I enjoy seeing how it
will pan out. In writing Never Saw It
Coming, I'm fairly certain I killed every character in it, at least twice.
As for what I enjoy about it? I love reader reactions, even if they hate it. At
least I made them feel something.
7. Do you have any advice for new writers about perfecting their craft?
Like any skill, practice makes perfect, Try to write something
daily. Even if you never use it, it may come in handy later.
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