Genres: Fiction and Non-Fiction
What has been your most rewarding moment as an author?
Having the first (non-fiction) book I co-authored picked up by Irwin/McGraw-Hill based on my luncheon pitch to one of their established authors. His phone call to his NYC publisher led to a book contract. “Executive Talent: How to Identify & Develop the Best” was named one of the 30 Best Business Books of the Year—1993. Most of all it provided the validation needed that “I can do this.”
If you could offer one piece of writing advice to a novice author…
My advice would be, “Be Bold—Be Curious—Begin Writing.” (Daily; “Do not get out of your chair, except for necessary breaks, until you’ve written five pages of usable first draft.” Stephen King) Then re-write, re-write, re-write. And, put these words on a placard near your writing area where you can see them constantly: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe.
What have been some of the biggest helps for developing your writing skills?
Written resources, classes, conferences; fellow writers I have learned from:
(a) Reading books on writing craft by Stephen King, Sol Stein, Donald Maass, Linda Segar, Ann Lamont, Elmore Leonard, and Jane Friedman;
(b) Attending writer’s conferences;
(c) Listening intently to other authors and their experiences;
(d) Attending monthly meetings and special events offered by San Gabriel Writer’s League and Writer’s League of Texas.
Have you ever based characters on real people?
Most of my characters (in the historical fiction novel I’m working to finish) are based on people I’ve known, including relatives—e.g., my favorite grandmother, a great-grandfather, a great-aunt, a favorite uncle, etc. They are all deceased, so I take great liberties with their stories; Names are changed, of course.
What kind of books do you enjoy reading and how often do you read?
I greatly enjoy non-fiction. History, e.g., Grant by Ron Chernow; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Grant by Prof. William Brandt, UT-Austin. I also love historical fiction, such as People of the Book and Horse by Geraldine Brooks; Citizens of London by Lynne Olson; Empire of the Summer Moon by Samuel Gwynne; Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose; Four Winds by Kristin Hannah; The Alice Network by Kate Quinn; and The Assassin by David Lindsey. I read daily and watch two to three movies each week, typically WWII-era historical fiction.
What is your goal/dream as an author?
My greatest creative hope is to have one of the three historical fiction novels I am currently working to finish, (all yet to be published), adapted to screenplay, then onto the big screen. The screenplays to be written by me; the film or television series, produced/directed by Taylor Sheridan.
Awards
First non-fiction book published, Executive Talent: How to Identify & Develop the Best, was named One of the 30 Best Business Books of the Year by Irwin Publishing/McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Biography
Life began March 17, 1945 on a one-lane gravel road that dead-ended at the banks of the Arkansas River. Growing up in a deeply rural environment where grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins lived within a mile of our home provided ample and rich story material. There were few books in our household other than the Holy Bible. I came to love reading, whatever I could get my hands on, in a way similar to Abe Lincoln’s love for the printed word. Biblical stories were the first movies I saw, in my mind. The myriad examples of good and evil amazed me. I enjoyed enormously my classes in history and literature. Motivation to write grew once I’d gotten my first magazine article published (1978). My first non-fiction book, published by McGraw-Hill, followed (1993). A co-author and I self-published 7 Difference-Making Leadership Behaviors in 2010. My greatest creative hope is to work with Taylor Sheridan in converting my first work of fiction, yet to be published, into a television series, as he did with Yellowstone.