Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I think growing up in the south is a huge influence for me. Houston may be metropolitan in some ways, but it's not that far from Louisiana or Mississippi. So it's definitely the south in my opinion. I think southerners have a lot of stories to tell. Black and white southerners have their stories about race and about people in general. My Mother and Grandmother had lots of stories to tell about Mississippi where they grew up.
Houston being metropolitan also had a very predominant inner city especially in the 60's and 70's. Carl Hampton was a Black Panther party leader killed in Houston. That energy framed my teen writing in those days when I wrote poetry. I think I was trying to write about the conditions of "my people."
When did you first start writing?
I first started writing in seventh grade. I wrote a poem about the moon landing. Being an only child forced me to have an active imagination. My mother and I made up stories about people in our neighborhood. We even gave them names such as "Hot Shot" "Dipsy Doo" "Drunko" "Muleface" "Dotted Cap" The names reflected something about their personality, "Drunko" or an article of clothing they wore all the time, "Dotted Cap." Sometimes we drew crude cartoons. They were crude because neither of us could draw a straight line.
When I was in 12th grade I wrote a little skit for an English assignment. The teacher fell in love with it. She thought I had some kind of talent.
I did well in my English and literature classes in college, but really didn't know much about how to "become" a writer. So I studied business. My goal then was to earn a lot of money, retire early, and become a writer. While in college, I didn't write a thing except term papers for class. Too much outside work keeps one from being a writer. That's why many of us hate having to have a day job.
After I finished college I found a job working three days a week as a Computer Operator. I enjoyed having the days off. I realized I was kind of bored. So I thought about going back to school for some classes. I thought about taking some classes in computer programming to increase my knowledge in that area. However at the same time I wanted to write. I had a novel in me. But I had no idea about the mechanics of writing. I read a lot. But I wasn't sure about the mechanics of things quotation marks and some other things. So I had a choice: Take some course in COBOL programming or take this Creative writing course. There was a scheduling conflict, so I had to choose one or the other. I chose the creative writing course.
The teacher Rosellen Brown fell in love with my work and was very encouraging. The course and being around a creative environment released a well of creativity in me from the mid to late 80's. I wrote poems at the drop of a hat. Penned several plays that actually got produced: "The Lifeline" and "The Ladies and the Iron Ball"
I also won a very important prize which I will talk about later.
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