What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Writing is about creating something original. It's about sharing a part of yourself through characters that reflect your own, or about sharing the experiences you went through and the insights you've gained along the way. I feel keenly the need to express my thoughts that I even have a journal. Writing a diary is like a mystical revelation: I achieve detachment, yet my senses are heightened so I live more fully in the Moment.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
As a kid, I grew up reading Enid Blyton's The Five Find-Outers and Franklin W. Dixon's The Hardy Boys during grade school. But the first adult book I read was Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird so it's special to me. Then, when I became a teenager, two other books also became part of my life. I was the same age and going through the same adolescent angst as Finny in John Knowle's A Separate Peace and Euripides in William Goldman's The Temple of Gold.
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