I grew up on the south side of Chicago, in an Irish Catholic community, which mostly influenced the character of Jimmy Quinn. My ill-at-ease, awkward feelings of attending mass every week also played a part in how Jimmy and Bruce felt when they were attending services at this church of theirs. When I read "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up" a long time ago, I thought something was a bit amiss. I thought it was a bit too light, that it didn't reflect any thoughts or reactions I had growing up in the same atmosphere, which, trust me, wasn't my idea. As a child, you really can't choose the religion or neighbors or teachers that had been foisted upon you.

In childhood. Back then my favorite thing about school was when we wrote compositions. Sometimes I would try to write something light It was sort of foisted upon Catholic schoolchildren to write cute, light material which was considerably different from some of the tv shows and albums I was gleefully exposed to - such as Monty Python, Mary Hartman, Maude, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Cheech & Chong, etc.

There were these two dogs in my neighborhood who always ran off together until their owners went looking for them and dragged them back. One of these was a white female dog whose name was Judy. Of course, just to give my English teacher a heart attack (I was 11), my opening sentence was "A white bitch named Judy", and our school was gradually becoming integrated back then (1974) and I did not make the connection. It was sort of like being in on something and you didn't know you were in on it.

It's an outlet for my ideas, of course. Instead of just privately entertaining myself thinking of the characters and dreaming up situations and storylines for them, they're brought to life on paper, so to speak, and with one thought begetting another, the characters become three-dimensional human beings. I also enjoy going through photos online while I design their look and type..
Last but not least, I can also put myself, my thoughts, beliefs, etc., into a fictional character. He can speak on my behalf.

The sequel to A Cracked Egg. I don't know what I'll call it. It took 6 years to come up with the title for the first book and the only way I did that was to just go about it organically, play it by ear, let it hit me when I'm not looking for it - that's the best way. I decided to do a sequel because I was so emotionally invested in the characters I didn't want to let them go. I was unemployed when I started the book in 2009 and while my life has improved over the last few years, it was spending time developing my characters that helped me get through some hard times. They feel like friends to me, and no one wants to just say good bye to people who mean that much to them.

Jeffrey Eugenides who wrote "The Virgin Suicides", George Orwell, Jacqueline Susann...I also loved Pat Conroy's "Prince of Tides", William Peter Blatty, Robert B. Parker, James Ellroy. They and their works had a great influence on my novel and my overall writing style.

Mostly books with a dark, twisted sense of humor, such as Jeffrey Eugenides "The Virgin Suicides", and Carrie Fisher's "POstcards from the Edge", unintentionally funny novels such as "Valley of the Dolls" and thought provoking novels such as "Prince of Tides" and "1984". When writing "A Cracked Egg", I found inspiration in "Virgin Suicides" as well as the two "Psycho" novels by Robert Bloch, more so for their style as opposed to the stories themselves, which I thought were brilliant.

Watching a lot of movies, listening to a lot of music. My music and film library will continue to grow as long as I'm alive. Of course I'm working full time these days, but on the trains back and forth day in and day out, I'm thinking of my next chapter, or my next work, or possibly the occasional poem, if I get an idea for one.

The fact that I'm alive and actually can get out of bed. I do most of my writing on weekends, holidays and weekday evenings. I know I don't have to get up as early on the weekends as I would through the week, but I like that time to myself to write a chapter, or an outline for a future chapter.

To be perfectly honest, I know my material isn't for everyone, but it appeals to me, it's the sort of book I would like to read. I think it was Toni Morrison who wrote because it was something she wanted to read. I can't remember if she was referring to Tar Baby or Beloved. George Harrison once backed a Monty Python film because he read the script and wanted to see the movie, so he made it possible. John Waters made Pink Flamingos because he wanted to parlay his love of films by Ingmar Bergman, Herschel Gordon Lewis and William Castle. I wanted to do the same with my love of raunchy humor and soap operas, as well as the desire to shock and offend readers of romance novels and people who watch original Lifetime Television movies. I'm even writing a short story called "A Truly Original Lifetime Movie" in which an adult film star attempts to go legit and accepts a part in a family movie to be filmed in a small town. She finds herself falling in love with an innocent big-lug of an "aw-shucks" crew member and when she first meets him, she imagines him dressed like Superman. Again - it's something I want to read, so, who better to crank it out?

A pack of cigarettes and a mug of coffee to the left when I write late in the evenings and on weekends. Saturday and Sunday mornings, I usually have about 3 cups when I'm starting, editing or finishing up a new chapter. It also has computer speakers to the right, and when I get an idea for a scene, or some dialogue, I write as if I can see it in a film and choose the sort of music that fits the mood.

Well, it's really my first book. It concerns a man you think "has everything" to look at him. He's handsome, lives in a beautiful home, drives a beautiful car and has a very lucrative job in television. However, he's unhappy as hell, he fantasizes about jumping in front of trains and obsesses over whether a death like that would really hurt and for how long. He feels his marriage is just as joke and has had affairs in his past. He feels drawn to a woman at the train station and purposely arranges to make himself meet her and make it look accidental. She is well aware he's been staring at her, but thinks it was due to her charisma as a convinced Christian and invites him to next Sunday's service, which he attends, solely as a way to get next to her. He starts off as an atheist and is only interested in easy sex with this woman. From there, his life is turned inside out and upside down. Through the many experiences he has in this story, he comes out of all of it an entirely changed man.

I get an idea when I'm at work, or on the train on the way in...basically when I'm living life. If I'm not at home, I use my PC at the office to jot down some notes, email them to myself, and open it up when I am home at night. When I'm writing it out properly, I start coming up with dialogue. If a phrase or a sentence sounds good in my mind, I act it out and if it either makes me laugh or cry, then I put it in. Sometimes I find myself rephrasing a particular sentence a few times, not only to express the feeling the right way, but to also get the rhythm right. It's very much like songwriting, you can have a good idea and you have the right words, but you also need a bit of rhythm to make it catchy...and realistic. I would think, "would a real life person actually speak in this manner?" and if the answer's yes, I keep it in. If anything, I would like my writing to be honest. I would like to have fun with the readers, but I also want to be honest with them.

I don't know that I've developed a technique, or have a set pattern, but for this first one, I wanted something that would set the mood and give some insight into the mindset of my protagonist. I also thought I'd have some fun with it. Since it's a black and white photo, I paid a little homage to the cover of one of my favorite albums, George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass", and put my name and title on the cover in that style. I don't know what the cover of my second, third, or even tenth book will be like because I can imagine it all I like, I'd like to finish the content first and then think about the art.