I look at the absurd side of life, and this is why I enjoy writing humor. Simply put, I like to entertain my reading audience and make them laugh as well. I just love to hear it when one of my readers tells me how my book really made a difference in their day. That is the best compliment or review I can receive.

I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate the people who are willing to take a chance on an unknown author like myself. I really want to make sure I give them a valuable product, whether it's 99 cents or free. I love hearing from my readers and appreciate any feedback they offer. I don't write for the money. I write for the impact my words have on people.

A couple of things actually. Another book of humorous essays and short stories, a book about my experiences as a student pilot, and I'd like to do an informative yet funny book about writing. Being a self publisher can be very confusing and frustrating to say the least. I'd like to purchase a sort of "first aid kit" for writers for when they hit a wall and need a little pick me up. I know many times I could use one.

That's easy--my job! But if it wasn't going to the salt mine, it would be to get those words that were going through my head all night down on paper.

I'm not the most exciting person to be around. I'm too old for snowboarding and too smart to jump out of an airplane. My idea of thrill seeking is getting on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland. I love to lay around my house in my favorite sweatpants, read, drink coffee, and contemplate if I should sign up for long term care insurance. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that unless I'm at Starbucks, I'm kind of a coach potato.

I get updates about free or new eBooks from Twitter and Facebook. I shop for anything that can give more insight on this wonderful world of self publishing. I also like to read what I write, so I purchase books from successful authors whose style match mine. It's very inspirational and sometimes is the cure for writer's block.

I wrote a very short story one night about a young boy who becomes an orphan when his parents are abducted by aliens. I believe I was about seven or eight at the time. I was pissed because my parents wouldn't let me have a puppy, so it may have been a case of wishful thinking.

It involves a lot of Starbucks for sure. I get ideas for short stories or essays and write them down. I'm not the type of person who can write a set amount of words everyday (although I wish I was); I can only write when the creative juices start to boil over. When this occurs, I usually bang out about 5,000 words and can barely stop even to go to the little boys' room. I love to listen to music while I write because it really seems to help me express my thoughts better. It takes me about three months to complete a book and another six to rewrite it several times. I believe they call it "polishing"; I call it anal. When I'm finally satisfied, I hand the mess of non-punctuated and misspelled words to my dear wife. She then has to decode the mess of grammar,punctuation and spelling errors. I think what she does is much harder than writing the book.

I read a lot of Stephen King as a teenager. I admired the skill he has at keeping a reader from wanting to ever put a book down. I'd love to write like him, but I don't see any market for vampires and zombies stories these days.

I look at a lot of stock images, pick one that suits the mood of my book and send it off to my designer. I did the cover myself for the first book I published. It kind of looked like something Charles Manson would design on the wall of his prison cell. Long story short, the book didn't sell one single copy. I was about to give up on the book ever selling when I decided to hire someone for the cover, and bingo--the book started selling. Lesson learned for sure.

I think I have one of the first generation Kindles. I have a tough time reading on any device that is backlit, so the Kindle is perfect for me.

Ask me in six months.

It looks a lot like a Waste Management recycling plant.