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Debut book title:
Brush Strokes
If you could only use 25 words to pitch Brush Strokes, what would you say?
Take a ride of a flowing river of words, sending you through rapids and serene passages. Immerse into the intertwining journey of complicated characters.
What are three words you would use to describe your novel? An addicting inner-conversation
What's your favorite thing about
Brush Strokes?
The book evokes so many emotions, from joy, anger, melancholy,
passion, sexy, fear, funny, and redemptive.
Talk to us about your writing process. How long did it take you to write
Brush Strokes? Were you an outliner or a come-what-may writer, letting the story write itself?
Brush was originally a short story of man who has a brief meeting with a woman and expects never to see her again. I had written the short story back in the
late nineties. A friend kept pushing me to write a book. So going back through my short stories, I chose this story. After choosing this story, I did an outline, but veered from it quite a lot.
When your novel was complete, did you submit it to agents and publishing houses? If so, talk to us about the responses you received.
No, no, my own insecurities of my first time work being good enough scared me away from wanting to see rejection notices. Blessings come in many
directions. The same friend who had pushed me to write, read the story and shared it with some local book clubs and had it professionally reviewed. The
response was great, and from there he financed the self-publishing of
Brush Strokes. He has made his money back in a year, and I’ve done well.
How did you come to start your own company: Romantic Blues Publishing? What are some of your future plans for the company?
Romantic Blues is a name I use when I do spoken word. I have somewhat of a following here in the Northwest for my style in erotic romantic spoken word.
So I use the name for the publishing company. I hope to use the company to produce and record spoken word CD’s.
What's a typical day like for you as an author and a publisher?
I teach junior high special ed, which leaves me needing to express myself through my writing. I have the perfect place to write. I live on
a rather large boat with southern exposure so from sun up to sunset I have the right atmosphere.
At the end of the day, what's one thing you'd like the reader to take away from having read
Brush Strokes?
For men to know it is okay to expose emotions, and for women to know a man can and will go the extra mile for good woman.
What is your writing inspiration?
Love and Heartbreaks, and all that exists in-between; mine and everybody else’s.
How do you spend your time when you're not writing?
I coach high school sports, basketball, track, and tennis. I play several instruments, and restores classic cars.
I also listen to music 24/7.
What are you currently reading?
Bill Russell: 11 Lessons on Leadership, from the Twentieth Century’s Greatest Winner, and rereading and rereading, my own work on the book I’m writing now.
What advice would you offer aspiring-to-be-published authors?
1. Pats on the back are fine, but examine each criticism as a guide to getting better; you can’t be thin skinned.
2. Find a place you can write, i.e. the basement, the office, a coffee shop, so that you don’t force flow.
What are you currently working on?
I’m writing a book to be called Perfect Circle. It is about a fictional college basketball team and the male coaches, along with a woman who is
professor, and others. The story is not a sports book; it is based on the
lives and love affairs, or lack of within the Northwest. As in Brush
Strokes, I am writing for people whose children are grown or almost out the house. Forty
plus is where divorce and being single has a much different effect on one's way of life. I recently believe I have found the perfect editor, Naiomi Pitre who can help make this good story become great.
Word association. What comes to mind when you read the following words:
Brush Strokes:
Artist
Poetry: Psyche
Fiction: Someone’s truth
Relationships: Orbiting
Romantic Blues: Alone
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