By now, I know my characters pretty well. I love trying to figure out how they would respond to situations that come up in the stories. I'm often surprised at the result, I even try to talk them out of what they want to do sometimes, but they always win the argument.

I draw. I practiced architecture for about forty years and drawing was a great hobby because no one could tell me they didn't like my work. Well, they could tell me, but since they weren't my client, I didn't have to listen. These days I belong to a figure drawing group. We draw together once a week, and I often draw in coffee shops, on the beach, or wherever. I have done all my drawings on the iPad (including the illustrations in my books) for several years.

A mixed bag. Ivan Doig, especially "English Creek", because he is such a careful observer of nuance. Dylan Thomas, especially "Holiday Memory" for his use of language. Who wouldn't love to be able to begin a story this way:

"August Bank Holiday. A tune on an ice-cream cornet. A slap of sea and a tickle of sand. A fanfare of sunshades opening. A wince and whinny of bathers dancing into deceptive water. A tuck of dresses. A rolling of trousers. A compromise of paddlers. A sunburn of girls and a lark of boys. A silent hullabaloo of balloons."

Henry David Thoreau for the content. And, naturally, James Thurber and Mark Twain.

It's great when readers enjoy the stories, and naturally I love it when they let me know through a review or in person. I know some of my readers personally and I also enjoy hearing their suggestions, even though, in some cases, I know Tilly and Elmer wouldn't, in a million years, do what my friends propose.

I have several ideas asking for my attention, but I don't think I'm finished writing about Tilly and Elmer. Mostly, I just want to see what they get into next. I may have to write about their college years with Elmer in Cedar Falls, Iowa and Tilly in San Francisco. I don't think Tilly wants to tell me everything about her exploits in San Francisco from 1963 to 1968, especially her activities during the "Summer of Love" in 1967, but I can probably get the info out of her if I ask nicely, and maybe ply her with a martini or two.

Coffee. And, on those days when I wake up early, I usually start writing in my head. When I have too much to remember, I have to get up and start putting it down.

Yes. Well, as an adult anyway. My father was an English teacher (my mother taught art), but I never wrote for fun until about 20 years ago. I'm sure my father would be shocked that I began writing for fun, and at my choice of subject matter.

I collect ideas for stories that I think might be fun to tackle. When I have an idea that I can't resist, I start writing. Once I get going, the story pretty much writes itself. Then I edit the heck out of it. I usually draw the illustrations once the writing is well under way. Sometimes, I'll tweak the story a bit just because I think a certain situation would make an interesting drawing.

Since I draw the covers myself, I'm thinking about them while I'm writing. I want the covers to be about something that really happens in the story, rather than just a generic photo of a cowboy and a pretty girl or whatever. I try to make the covers interesting enough to make the reader want to see how the illustration fits in, but not specific enough to give away the plot. It's a narrow target to produce a cover that's funny and sexy at the same time. The cover I originally drew for the first Tilly and Elmer story, "Tilly and Elmer Get Crazy", was rejected as too racy because it showed Tilly flashing her bare nipple at Elmer in the parking lot of Target. I had to put a gold star over her nipple to get it through the censors.

iPad.

In front of me is an older iMac with two screens, I usually write on that one. To my left is a Macbook Pro. I use that at the same time to verify things that I assert in the writing or to research things like the the original paint colors of a '52 Chevy pickup for the illustrations. My iPad is next to me so I can draw sketches for the illustrations when an idea presents itself. The walls are encrusted with figure drawings from the last 25 or 30 years.

I grew up in Central Illinois and graduated from High School in 1962, about the same time as Tilly and Elmer. Once I left Illinois, after getting an undergraduate degree in architecture, I lived in Boston and California. I remember attending a county fair in California just after I moved here and thinking "I wish I was a writer!" so I could compare and contrast the experience with county fairs in Illinois. I think it was the fried calamari stand at the fair in California that caused my jaw to drop.

I wrote my first bit of fiction about 1994.

Tilly and Elmer are a married couple in their late sixties who have been married nearly fifty years. I finished seven short stories about their frisky misadventures in the Tilly and Elmer series, and I wanted to give readers some background on them. In the Tilly and Elmer FlashbackX series, they reminisce about their high school romance. I think most of us remember falling in love and learning about sex with a combination of embarrassment and delight, and I wanted to try to think carefully about those days and write about them honestly. My personal experience was not like Tilly and Elmer's in any particular detail, but I think the flavor of the story will feel very familiar to anyone who came of age in that place and time.

I just wanted to write for fun and try to do it as well as I could. The idea of struggling to find a publisher seemed too much like work. I like the idea of having my writing available for people to read if they find it interesting, but I don't want it to become too much like a business.