Media

 July 12, 2021

Where did you get your idea for your novel Soulbraider?

When I was walking my dog on April 14th, 2020. I thought it would be interesting if the soul went backwards in time and someone could remember the future because they were tied to it in some fashion.

As a first-time novelist, what is the best part about writing? Worst?

The pure joy of creativity. Being able to let my mind go and come up with ideas and thoughts then wrap a story around them.  Many times, I don’t know where I am headed until my imagination tells me.

The worst part is the constant editing and rewrites. When you write a story strictly from your imagination the number of rewrites to make it come together is staggering.

What did you learn about fiction and how is it different from your nonfiction work?

My non-fiction is purely from my perspective. Trying to make my perspective interesting to someone else is a fun challenge. With fiction the perspective is an out of body experience. You are empathizing and sometimes sympathizing with a character or situation that is pulled purely from your imagination. Making that perspective solid enough to turn them into a character worth writing about is where the art comes in.

What kind of a schedule have you carved out for yourself so you can juggle writing and your successful business career?

I have a strict policy of one thousand words a day, no matter what. Mostly that is in the morning before I leave for work. I try to be up by 5 or 6am so I can write without interruption. It doesn’t always work that way, but I try. In the evening, I go over what I wrote and try to edit it. Sometimes I scrap the mornings work, but usually I find a way to keep it. 

The balance isn’t that hard. Possibly because I love doing it, but mostly because I spend the hour or two actually doing something. For me, I don’t spend time preparing to do things, so my time is wasted. I just do them. My career, my writing, and my life is better because I don’t stare at something wondering how to start. I start then wonder how I got here.

Your blog is hilarious. It is different from your fiction work, but you have been able to develop an endearing character in 400 words per week. Tell me about that process.

Oddly enough many of the things I write about start with my own experiences. Or sometimes it is just the “What if” question. Mostly I get a funny idea in my head, and I write it down from the perspective of my very dry Nevada humor. I must admit I love the guy, and I cheer for him constantly, as I hope my readers do as well.

Starting a writing career at this time in your life must be rife with lessons and asides. Share a few stories.

At my age, I think I approach the process with a great deal more discipline. Not because I am more disciplined due to my age, but because the runway is shorter. When you are young you have several years to learn and hone your craft. I don’t get that illusion of time, so I stick to my schedule and try to ingest the knowledge quicker.

When I wrote the first Soulbraider book, I was very proud of it. I had accomplished something that I didn’t think I could do. It was like having a child, then I was told that my child was somewhat dysfunctional and needed to go into remedial school. Like any parent of a child, it bothered me a lot, but I still love them, they are just a little slow. 

Age gives me a definite advantage here. My experience allows me to take the criticism better than if I were younger. It still hurts, but my younger self would have been a lot more discouraged. My older self, well I wrote another book.

I needed to have another child, to support the first child, so I wrote a second Soulbraider book which is the prequel to the first book. This book is less dysfunctional and does a good job of supporting the story in the first book. So now the first book, is the second book, and it has become much less dysfunctional because of the second book.

One drawback to my age is my career, I am constantly trying to balance professional career where hundreds of people rely on my decisions, while I am chasing my dreams. I will be in a meeting and stop to take a quick note on something that I can add into my current book or would be a great idea for another book. It doesn’t hurt me too much in doing my job, but it does look strange when I stop talking for a second to take a note when an idea occurs. Fortunately, most of the people I work with know this about me and have grown accustomed to it. 

This happened when I was sitting in a meeting that I was presenting a Cybersecurity product and I got the idea for the book Disenrolled. I stopped for about fifteen seconds in the middle of my talk to write down this cool idea for taking over casino slot machines with ransomware.

In the end the experience and evolution of writing is a constant growth process no matter what your age. As for me I am learning as I go, and I just don’t think that ever stops.