What is a childhood memory that makes you smile?
As a child between age five and nine, my parents would take us once every two weeks to a Krisspy Kreme store in Alexandria, VA. I just loved going there not only to eat my favorite donuts, but to watch them make them while looking through a large window from outside. I could stand there for hours just watching the automated process of donuts bobbing along on top of the cooking oil, being turned over by long spatulas, and going up the conveyor belt to be coated with icing. I still try at least once a year to go by the same store for the same reason, eat and wonder at the process and the genius who created this. I still smile just thinking about it.
Which of your childhood dreams was first to die?
Fate raised its ugly head at the age of five. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, everything on tv was cop shows, westerns, and historical stuff. One of my favorite shows at the time was “Davey Crockett.” I loved it so much, my parents bought me a plastic bowie knife and a coon-skin cap. For the next week, I was always wearing my new cap. I pretended that I was Davey and I wanted to become an outdoorsman/mountain-man/adventurer when I got older.
One day the next week while walking back from a friend’s house, I went by a house that had a dog which stayed in the backyard a lot. I would always stop bye and say hello. This particular day, I had my Davey Crockett coon-skin cap on as I went up to the fence. The dog wagged its tail as I reached over the fence to pet it. Well, the dog jumped up and grabbed my new cap off of my head. I was screaming bloody murder as well as crying as the dog proceeded to tear it up right in front of me. I was so heartbroken that I cried all the way home and told my mom what had happened. Right then and there went my dream of living like Davey Crockett went up in smoke.
What have been your most valuable out-of-school learning experiences?
Actually, taking a lot of classes for the book publishing world, including indie publishing, marketing, social media, etc. has been the most valuable experiences so far. It’s been a steep learning curve that hasn’t stopped yet. There is always something new to learn.
Also, every on-the-job training you ever had for every job you worked at to put a roof over your head and food on the table is valuable too.
What are some interesting experiences you’ve had as a teen?
When I was in high school, I worked at a TV repair shop for the husband of my mother’s hairdresser whom we treat as family and are helping now that she is in her 80’s and lives a mile and a quarter from us. One day when I went along on some service calls (now extinct) to fix people’s tv’s with a technician. I was helping him to de-electrify the cathode ray tube tv screen. What you do is ground the end of the TV tube screen to one of the metal plates inside the back of the tv.
Well, something went wrong with what I did and I took the full shock of the de-electrifying and it threw me six feet from where I was crouching. I sprang up like a coiled spring and I landed on the floor on my back. It took me several minutes before I got back onto my feet. The technician asked me if I was alright while laughing at me at the same time. He explained that it had happened to him before too. My hair on my head and arms were standing on end like from seeing a ghost or some other scary thing. I didn’t ask to do that chore again.
How did you come up with the plot of your book, “Hands Faster Than Lightning: The Beginning?”
I’ve always enjoyed westerns and series books from an early age. I thought to myself why don’t I write a western series. So far, I have written four books in the “Hands Faster Than Lightning” series. I may add more to the series in the future. I want to do other types of books like: supernatural; mysteries; crime; romance; fantasy; sword and sorcery; etc. I don’t want to be Pidgeon-holed into one genre. Don’t get me wrong, I loved writing these books, but I would like to dabble in other areas. I wanted to do a Young Adult series, because that’s when I really got into reading myself. Doing a coming-of-age series spoke to me. I’m very happy with the way it turned out. Whether it sells well or not, I’ve enjoyed writing the series. I believe all people over the age of twelve would like it.
Who inspired the character of Cody Anderson in “Hands Faster Than Lightning?”
I’ve always liked the story of Billy the Kid’s life, so I wanted to write something that was somewhat similar. Wanting to change it further, I made Cody a half-American Indian (Navaho). I’m not aware of any stories of gunslingers that are half Indian. Not to say there isn’t, but I just thought it would be a neat twist. Also, I wanted Cody to be a two-handed gunny. Not too many of those either. You know, loaded firepower to the hilts.
What is the important essence or ingredient to writing an adventurous story?
The old west timeframe has plenty of things happening all over that provides interesting issues like: the great migration of people going by wagon trains headed west; gold and silver strikes in Arizona, California and Colorado; well-known outlaws, bandits, and lawmen; rugged life on the plains; all travel was by horses or the newly created trains. It’s a history lesson along with sometimes brutal action woven throughout. It was a wild and dangerous time past the Mississippi river. It easily lends itself into any adventurous storyline you may want to create.
How do you make sure to draw readers into your stories?
As everyone in the publishing industry is saying these days, you need a hook early in your stories or book to capture your readers attention and keep it. You will need to provide other hooks throughout your entire book too, but not all the time or it becomes too exhausting for the reader. They also need some downtime. Some sort of action in the first few pages is very important to grab someone’s attention. It could be a murder, abduction, infidelity, robbery, seeing ghosts or aliens, fist fight, gunfight, etc.
If you could improve one thing about your writing, what would it be and why?
To sit down and write more often. Life tends to get in the way. I have been lucky to write four books in two years, all in my western series. I never wanted to be an author, but a good friend and former boss of mine who is also an author, told me that he was working on a novel and that piqued my interest. I wondered if I could write a novel too. We have always been a little competitive, since we play poker with others from our former work and playing cribbage on our lunch breaks.
It would be nice to know punctuation better too. I do the best I can, but I rely on my editor to handle that aspect for my books. Thank God for spellcheck!
As a writer, how do you come up with and commit to ideas? How do you get in touch with your characters?
I come up with ideas for my next book from reading other books, or from tv shows, the news, or my other interests like: aliens, monsters, ghosts, westerns, gold or silver fever, pirate treasure, etc. I get in touch with my characters from life experience (love, loss, scary encounters, interactions with others). I try and put myself into their shoes and provide actions or feelings about that specific issue they are experiencing at the time.
What has been the most memorable experience of being an author?
Holding my hard bound print copy of my first book in my hands. Finishing the first book would be a close second. Attending my first book signing. I knew at that point I was now an author. All of these made me feel pretty good.
What does your life as a writer looks like?
Well, it’s more involved than that. Finding time to write is always a problem. Not only do I have to find time to write and edit my own manuscript, but I have to be my own marketer, accountant, social media content generator, secretary, etc. It’s almost too much to be an author all by yourself. Most of us don’t have a lot of money to spend on any or all of these items, so I need to pick and choose which ones to concentrate on each month. Being an author costs money. Sometimes serious money. You might want to find a less expensive hobby or vocation. I love it, but it gets difficult at times.
Are novels dying? If a current college student dreams of being a writer one day, should they focus more on visual media like tv, movies, web videos, etc. because no one will read novels in the future?
No, absolutely not! Even though we have e-readers now, some people still like the printed word instead. No matter which medium you use or prefer, I don’t see novels ever dying. In the future, who knows which medium we will use to read or listen to novels. We are a creative species, using the printed word, sound or music to get our thoughts across will continue until it’s all over. Sure, you can branch out and do more than one media at a time to create a story. Once you become a writer, it’s not too hard to write for movies or TV. Case in point, my stepfather (Raphael Hayes), was a Hollywood screenwriter for many TV shows and movies. He also wrote several novels, short stories, and plays. I used to review and edit his writing which he seemed to appreciate at the time. You know the more eyes you have reading your material, the better the end product. I didn’t start writing to step into his void. I just wanted to try it and see if I liked it. I did.
How many plot ideas are just waiting to be written? Can you tell us about one?
I currently have five books going at the same time. All have some written words on the page, some way more than others. The one I am working on the most right now is a paranormal romance novel. A man buys a haunted house after moving across the U.S. to get away from an unfaithful wife. He takes a new job within a half hour’s drive of this house. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, but slowly comes to the realization that they are real during his renovation of his new 1832 antebellum type mansion.
How has your experience of being associated with AllAuthor been?
I’m glad to be associated with AllAuthor. You help me with my social media marketing. When I don’t have time to do it, your monthly marketing to Twitter helps a lot. AllAuthor has a good team in place where creative minds come up with new ideas of showing our books in different scenarios. I really like the federally recognized holiday ideas during the year.
