I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You would think I would write something set in Louisiana, wouldn't you?

As a child. My first writing was probably something for school.

I do recall in elementary school I wrote something for my own personal use. It was a monologue which I intended to record on cassette (yes, that was state of the art back then) and play back from a hidden tape recorder. It was just silly stuff. Somehow one of the teachers found out about it and it went viral (before that term was used that way). Suddenly I was in demand. Teachers would pull me out of class to have me read my piece for their classes. It was fun, although I never understood why it was so popular.

Big. Cluttered. A great place to write or daydream.

My desk is in my "office," a small corner room of my second-floor apartment. The desk fits neatly into the corner, and I have a nice view from the corner window. Being on the second floor, the ceiling is all angles. I have some artwork on the sloped ceiling which inspires me: A poster from a local band, a poster for a puppet team I particularly like, an autographed photo of a skywalker, photos from a play I directed. Opposite the sloped ceiling is a small walk-in closet with built-in shelving in which I keep my magician's costumes as well as numerous magic books.

I had been doing some freelance writing and realized people were publishing my work through services such as Smashwords and reaping the profits over time. I decided I could write my own books on the topics I chose and publish them myself.

Smashwords has made it possible for me to become an independent author. Without Smashwords, I probably wouldn't be writing at all.

Seeing the piece take shape. I am finding when I write, I will usually think, "I need a chapter here." So, I'll add a chapter heading and one or two sentences. Then nothing. My "chapter" is two sentences long. A day or two later I will come back to the piece, read what I've written and see a couple of more sentences that need to be added. Before I know it I have several paragraphs. It's a little like watching a child grow: I can remember when it was smaller, but it seems to have grown suddenly, almost as if I missed some of the intervening steps.

Fans are everything! Both my magic career and my writing career depend entirely on my fans! I can only strive to be the kind of author/magician they deserve. If you are reading this, THANK YOU!

I'll sleep when I'm dead!

I usually just browse the suggestions my tablet makes. Occasionally my wife will recommend one.

No.

I don't remember the first story I read, but one that had an impact on me from an early age was a short story titled "In His Image." It impressed me because it had a surprise ending and it could never be done as a movie because seeing the characters would spoil the surprise.

The first story that was read TO me was L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

I've been studying Japanese for about a year and a half. I've enjoyed learning through watching Japanese videos. I particularly like the music group Babymetal and the hero of Japanese film and television, Zatoichi, the blind swordsman.

I wanted to write a novel, and one day while laying down for a nap (one of the benefits of being a writer) I told myself I would dream of my new protagonist. Apparently, that worked. I dreamed of Yui Mizuno (one of the members of Babymetal) fighting off about half a dozen bad guys. It was almost like watching a movie in my dream. Mizuno's back was to me as she used mad martial arts skills to bring these burly men down. When the last one fell, she turned toward me and I could see she was blind.

I woke, and realized I had the character I was seeking. I decided she should be 15 years old, since one of Babymetal's songs is about a girl turning 15. Later, as I was thinking of possible names, a language exchange partner of mine named Akiko encouraged me to learn to write her name in Japanese. Because Japanese Kanji is meaning based, I immediately saw her name translates as "Bright shining child." This seemed a suitably ironic name for my protagonist, and Akiko the blind teenage martial artist was born.