Throughout my education, I have always enjoyed writing. In school, I wrote mostly essays, news stories, and scientific research papers. But when I graduated from college, I thought I would try my hand at writing fiction. It was a new and different skill to acquire, but after writing dozens of stories, I saw improvement. I really enjoy the craft of writing, and making up fictional stories is great fun and has motivated me to become an indie author.

My favorite author is John Steinbeck. Since I was a child, I have loved his style and the raw emotion of his prose. I have read almost every one of his novels. One of my favorites is Travels with Charlie. Another favorite author is Thornton Wilder, particularly his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, a gorgeous meditation on love providing a bridge between the living and the dead.

I generally start with the seed of an idea, whether it be a line of dialogue, a concept, or a character. Then I develop this using an outline, into what I want to cover in the story and what would make logical sense in terms of structure. After that, I build and flesh out the outline into full prose. Finally, I reread and revise as much as possible.

I use Amazon's Kindle Voyage. Before I had my Kindle, I preferred paper books. But as soon as I got it and realized how easy and efficient it is to use, I was hooked! Now I cannot imagine why I would want to have paper books taking up space, when the Kindle can hold thousands of books.

For pleasure, I enjoy reading a wide range of novels, from new bestsellers to classics. I also read some non-fiction; recently I read Judd Apatow's interview book with famous comedians called Sick in the Head, as well as several books on astrophysics.

Another of my major interests is playing and composing jazz piano. I have released three albums in the last four years, including my most recent contemporary jazz album, Wheel of Life.

My next book will be a novel, titled Detective Gladstone, about a fictional character who gains consciousness and steps out of a novel into reality. Along the way, he learns to survive in the real world and gains insights on what it means to be human. I really enjoyed writing this novel, new scenes and interactions with different characters flowed naturally and made Gladstone come to life (literally and figuratively!).