After going to dozens of job interviews without landing one, I realized that was no way to pay the bills and I was slipping further into debt. I've always known that intellectual property is as valuable as land or any form of capital, so what's an entrepreneur to do other than capitalize on his knowledge? Also, I look around me and see virtually everyone working from paycheck to paycheck with very little to show for it. I didn't want that to be my life. I value freedom above all else, and being an author grants me freedom even if I must work 100 times harder at making it happen. I wanted to build a legacy, and what better way than to write books for posterities sake?

Having loyal readers is the greatest appreciation one can feel. Without them an author isn't worth the paper he is published on. How well an author does is some reflection of how important and how helpful his books are to the world. It doesn't matter if you write fiction or non-fiction. People don't want to learn 100% of the time, they also need to be entertained. I do not follow traditional writing styles in the sense that traditionally, non-fiction books are seen as boring. They don't have to be boring. I make them as varied, interesting, and entertaining as I can, as a favor to my readers. I appreciate them reading my books and want it to be a pleasant experience.

Honestly, I am always working on something. What I will end up finishing is another story.. Yes, pun intended, though it was accidental! I do hope I can branch out into science fiction, I have many friends who are supportive with great ideas, as well as my own thoughts. If I finally do complete a sci-fi book, it should be quite the treat to my readers!

Almost feels like blasphemy to answer this question, but no, really, credit should be given where credit is due. Had it not been for great authors we might not even know what books are. Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne... I've also never had any problems picking up a Tom Clancy book and reading it through to the end either. I do have to list William Shatner as a favorite author because he has written what I would consider the best Star Trek books around, and Star Trek used to be about all I would read.

I honestly don't know because virtually every day is the same for me. I am resolved to getting out of this rut once and for all. This is going to be the year I spend as little time at home as possible. This is the year I am going to be out doing something every day.

I do however end up looking at pictures of me when I was younger, and it strikes me that if I were to stop working at making a success of myself, I would be betraying that little boy in the picture who once was me. I refuse to let that happen. I was full of potential, but it all evaporated. It took me long enough to rediscover myself, and reinvent myself. I've always gotten the short end of every deal in my life... My luck has always been so bad that it's a miracle I haven't thrown a 13 at the craps table. At least right now I know that I am in control, if I succeed or fail, it is all me.

Writing isn't my first passion though. Gold prospecting is. I live for every single day that I will get to spend out in the great outdoors searching for gold. Unless you've gone gold panning, you may never understand it. It isn't the gold I am after, it is finding the gold. Which isn't a new concept, Robert Service figured that out when he wrote "Spell of the Yukon". But it is true. If I had a million ounces of gold, I'd still grab my shovel and sluices and head out every day that I could. It is truly a wonderful blessing to have the gold fever and still have the freedoms to go and look for it.

I want my covers to be relevant to not only the content contained in the book, but relevant to the target audience as well. I want my books to stand out on the shelves and scream for attention. I do all my cover design myself, with my own images and skills. I am a firm believer that if you want something done right you do it yourself. Plus, it challenges my skills and creativity. If I can keep my creativity flowing my writing is much better.

For me, Star Trek books have always been the most interesting and entertaining. There are a lot of good books out there by a lot of great authors, but it takes so much for me to get as involved with one as I do a star trek book that I end up not finishing them. I do like to read up on lost treasures and such since these are things which interest me. It is more fuel for the imagination.

KINDLE!!!! Anything else is really for amateurs. I know a lot of you probably are loyal to your nooks, or iPads. But the truth of the matter is, Kindle is the easiest platform for an author to design his books for. I can display anything I want any way I want with ease. I feel insulted that I have to dumb down my skills just so people with other readers can see my books. But I suppose B&N and Kobo and others don't have the same resources Amazon has in developing quality readers with a proprietary platform.

If you really want a high quality experience, Kindle is the only real choice.

Don't laugh, but my desk consists of an alder plank which rests on my lap, and my laptop rests on it. It allows me to move around the house and sit anywhere I want to, yet still have a hard surface I can write on or use a mouse on. I have an actual desk, but it ended up being used to stack stuff on and it will take years to clear it off again! My workspaces end up getting buried quickly, this seemed an efficient solution, not to mention a comfortable one.

When I am not writing, I like to be gold prospecting, but since I can't do that every day even though I wish I could, I do my best to spend my time with friends and family... I like to go to casinos once in a while, and I particularly enjoy video poker. I used to do very well at it, which is why I wrote a book on it (which I will be making available here shortly). I prefer being outside all that I can, if it's a nice day I can't handle being indoors, I feel like I am going crazy, which is why most of my writing gets done in the winter months and very little during the summer months.

I enjoy playing online games, Entropia Universe, Star Trek Online.. There are offline games that have always been enjoyable when a break is needed... Any of the Command & Conquer games, Capitalism II, Railroad Tycoon 3, I know there are others but I can't think of them right now.

I do wish I could get out more... Hopefully it will be a better year for that.

I write everything I want to write in one long document. Once I have a sufficient number of paragraphs not necessarily in any order, I go through and sort them into chapters and line them up in a logical order, and then that gives me a basic foundation from which I can create an outline and decide where I want to go with my book. My organization methods are such that this seems the only way I can actually get a project completed otherwise I fail to determine how I should write it all out. Once I have my original paragraphs sorted into my template, I can go through and add notes here and there telling myself what I need to add where, and what research must be done as well. Then, it's a matter of going through and replacing the notes I made in red, with as good of content as I can write. Well... I don't honestly know if I can say the best content I can write, I really try, but a book is like a house... It is never truly finished and can always be upgraded one way or another.