Interview with Ricardo Negron

Published 2018-09-15.
Where did you grow up? And how did this influence your writing?
I grew up mainly in two areas while my father served as a Marine. Woodbridge, Va and Oceanside, Ca. During these years in these two areas I experienced much mistreatment and bullying with constant threats of violence if I attempted to so much as say a word back to the young thugs that were mistreating me. That led me to study the martial arts in a attempt to put this to a stop but I quickly found out that conventional martial arts at that time was just not enough so this led me to conducting many years of research into finding out what worked and what did not work. Now Im a certified self defense instructor myself with a agenda of putting violence against the weak and the honest living to a stop. I also got into fitness and wellness over the years as well and most recently, business and personal development. These are the areas I focus on regularly.
When did you first start writing?
Maybe as early as my teenaged years lolol!! I was always writing research notes and I have been writing articles for two years now so I figured why not start writing books about my passionate topics?
What's the story behind your latest book?
To present an introduction to basic self defense concepts and current self defense industry standards.
What motivated you to become an indie author?
My love for writing plus my passion for self defense, fitness, wellness, and personal development. I figured that Im just the right guy to address these subjects.
How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
Smashwords has provided me a platform to give my new writing career a strong headstart.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
The knowledge that somebody will benefit from my work.
What do your fans mean to you?
That they are loyal to my collective works, know the value of what I have to offer and they have benefited from my work and appreciate that. That part makes me feel good about myself.
What are you working on next?
I havent decided as of yet.
Who are your favorite authors?
Besides the Bible? Bruce Lee, Richard Dimitri, Sammy Franco, Thomas Bloomfield, Mike Clark, Paul Vunak, Bill Foran, Bradley Thompson, Mike Boyle, Andrew Neitlich and Douglas Lamb.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
Living for God and living life by my terms.
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
Training, studying, surfing the net, and eventually, I want to travel abroad.
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
Web searches and Facebook groups.
What are your five favorite books, and why?
The Bible, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, In Total Defense of The Self, Think and Grow Rich, and Rich Dad Poor Dad.
The Reasons? 1-The Bible helps with holistic life development and spiritual/moral development. 2-The Tao of Jeet Kune Do provides total hand to hand combat, philosophy of the martial way, and a scientific fighting strategy. 3- In Total Defense Of The Self teaches self-defense psychology, strategies of handling a confrontation, the most complete description on fighting ranges and principles and ever heard, and basics of unarmed weapon defense ( especially against the knife) 4- Think and Grow Rich utilizes the Law of Attraction to draw money into your life through your collective works. 5- Rich Dad Poor Dad is one of the best books I've ever read on personal finance and investments
What do you read for pleasure?
Educational books. I love to grow and expand my mind to new horizons.
What is your e-reading device of choice?
A good old smartphone.
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Direct selling. Face to face promotions and selling as well as relationship building with my customers. I utilize other strategies as well but direct selling so far has been my very best marketing strategy.
Describe your desk
Which one?? My computer desk is well kept but I need a better and more comfortable chair. But my study/paperwork office is more messy and needs to be reorganized lol!!
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up between Woodbridge VA and Oceanside CA. The extreme bullying from public school caused my to look up, train in, and research various martial arts and self defense methods out there. This caused me to write many research notes on self defense concepts. Eventually I realized that I also liked writing as well.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Never been really interested in writing stories however I did create a few comic books on myself and on Spider-Man as a young teen. Last year my acting teacher did ask me to write a play based on the story of my life. I'm debating with myself as to whether or not I'm going to write the play. This will be my first time writing out a play or writing out the story of my life.
What is your writing process?
I don't really have a writing process to be honest. Whenever I come up with a great idea then I write it down. However I do plan the table of contents and the information I'm going to present beforehand.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
I don't recall the first story I ever read. As a small boy I did had many children's story books at that time. Too many to list. Plus in elementary school I used to borrow story books from the school library all the time.
How do you approach cover design?
I outsource that work to graphic designers and pick the best cover design they present me.
Smashwords Interviews are created by the profiled author or publisher.