As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
As a writer i would have to say my mascot would be a pug. Very random, but there is just something about a pug, they are always viewed as funny looking or ugly by some, yet to the right person they are the cutest things in the world. Just as my writing may be viewed differently depending on the audience.
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Having my first book published I feel hasn’t really changed my process of writing at all. It has changed my outlook on the writing process. Once my book was published I began focusing more on the number of books I sold, not for the monetary gain of that sell, but from the thought of “Hey, that is somebody who is reading something I wrote.” That give you a feeling that is special in its own way. The joy of knowing I have begun to get my thoughts, feelings, and opinions out to the world while doing something I love to do.
Where’s your favorite place to write? Describe your process.
My favorite place to write is in the moment. I know that may sound cheesy, but I am not the type of writer who can say, “Alright, I am going to sit at the coffee shop for 2 hours and write.” That doesn’t work for me. I will most likely end up at the coffee shop for 2 hours having accomplished nothing but downing a pot of coffee and some pastries while staring at a blank piece of paper.
I instead write when an idea enters my head, whether that be at work or in the middle of a movie I am watching. My ideas come in random spurts and I never know where I will be or what I will be doing when that creative side is triggered. I rather enjoy that; it is a freedom to the writing. It is not being contained in specific situations or time slots. Let us just call it “Free Range Writing.”
If you could tell your younger writing self-anything, what would it be?
I would tell my younger self, do not write to impress others. Write for yourself, make art with your words that appeals to you. As a young writer, I would not let many people read a lot of what I wrote because I feared they would not understand it, or perhaps it would be misinterpreted. As I have grown older, I have come to realize that is just part of writing. Not everyone will be on the same page as I am, and not everyone will share my feelings and emotions. I can not let that put a hinder to my writing though, I must continue to write for myself and let others formulate their own feelings and interpretation. Now when I write something and people get a different meaning from it, I take pride in that. I now view that as a next level of writing, being able to create something with a dual meaning and purpose without the intent to do so.
What are you currently reading? Why?
I am currently reading “Everything We Had” by Al Santoli. It is an oral history of the Vietnam War told by thirty-three of the American soldiers that were there. I love reading books like this because it is not a story about the Vietnam War told through the point of view of something sitting on the outside looking in, these are true stories coming from men who lived them. It brings you into that world on a much more personal level, that at times you feel what that person was feeling, you have a much more clear understanding of what these soldiers went through without the added fluff from some guy sitting at home pretending to have been there.
