One afternoon i was thinking back to when i lived in British Honduras ,now Belize ,as a kid and how much things had changed. I started to write a short essay and before i was through it became a full length book Child In paradise..

I suppose I should have one but I really don't, most of my books start out being based only on one paragraph. Writing fiction is like living real life you never know for sure what the day will bring, and most of the time there are twists and turns along with plot developments that just pop out of nowhere and surprises me just as much as it does my characters. Fiction is like being in a flight simulator, you can do things that would kill you in a real airplane and still live to tell about it.. It's about the same with fiction you can venture into areas where you would never tread in real life, sometimes when I really get stuck or bored there's Murphy's law.to fall back on and I think what is the worst thing that could happen right now.

My dad would read the classics like Treasure Island, Moby Dick or sometimes a story from the Saturday Evening Post to me at bedtime. I can't remember the first time I began reading for myself but i think it was the Kittiwake series about the adventures of young English midshipmen.

You can't judge a book by its cover yet most people do, Unfortunately at present i'm not in the position to hire professionals so i muddle along with Gimp, Microsoft's old Photo Draw and whatever i can glean off the net..I've found Imagining a great cover and being able to produce one are two completely different animals. I subscribe to the KISS (keep it simple stupid} principal and try to make my covers convey something about the title..

I wouldn't exactly call it joy, more like playing golf, as no matter how good or bad you are every once in a while you make a terrific shot that keeps you hooked. I find it to be the same with writing as after stumbling around wondering what comes next a plot line will open up like a broad highway and you can't get the words down fast enough to keep up...that's when writing is really fun.

Truth is, up until three years ago I was too busy to write anything longer than an insurance estimate.. Then suddenly I found myself with nothing to do so in order to keep my sanity I began an autobiography of my childhood growing up in Central America Child in Paradise . I discovered I enjoyed writing so.much that I have continued on to write the Wall series.

There are probably millions of unpublished manuscripts out there just because no publisher would accept them. If you spend months or years working on a novel you would at least like to see if it has a chance . Self publishing allows folks to exhibit their work to the public and have it judged solely on it merit.

I grew up in both Belize, Central America and Fort Thomas, Kentucky with one foot in the First World and other in the Third world. I have to say I loved them both. It was such a wonderful adventure that i wrote my first book about it Child in Paradise.The only events in life that influence my writing are my concerns for the future. We continue to change this planet and our way of living on it even though we know those changes will be detrimental. Knowing what i do about human nature has led me to write the Wall series of dystopian novels .

Lean Uris, Samuel Eliot Morison, Tom Clancy

I like to read and research subjects that fascinate me and can be incorporated into my books

To be honest I get most of my books from Gutenberg and Internet archive. I like to read period authors such as those who participated in Civil War battles as they tend to give accurate accounts of events without being revisionist.

Mostly history, as I found out if you read fiction and write fiction all you create is fantasy. Reading history allows me to give my characters a believable background on which to act.

Phone and laptop

I was diagnosed with terminal Kidney disease and decided to write a short account of my life growing up in British Honduras, now Belize. After it was finished I begin having withdrawal systems and began writing the Wall Series. i guess you could say I've become addicted to writing.

I like to research the Civil War so I set out to write about a boy aboard his uncles stern wheel steamboat and their journey up the Mississippi and Ohio at the outbreak of The Civil War. As so often happens in real life unforeseen events interfered and the steam boat blew up in the first paragraph. I guess it happened because I really wanted to write about a clipper ship and a voyage to California. To me writing is like life, we go through the day never really sure of whats around the next corner.

Smashwords provides a platform whereby authors can publish their work without risking their life savings. Just being able to publish a book and present it to a reading audience without cost is my definition of success.