On the heels of my interview with Troy Fohrman two weeks ago, I had the novel idea to interview myself this week! Here it goes.
Q: You write these blogposts every week and have had a number of books published by Roundtable, but who are you?
A: I’m a multi-published full-time freelance writer/editor, with over 100 published books to my credit.
Q: Roundtable doesn’t have anywhere near that many of your books. You have other publishers, then?
A: Quite a few. My very first book, a children’s activities book written for parents, was published by one of the New York biggies, Berkley. I’ve also been published by “boutique” publishers such as AcuteByDesign and Crimson Cloak, by midsize publishers such as Citadel (now an imprint of Kensington, but they were a standalone when they published some five or six of my books), by a number of other small and midsize publishing houses, and by several companies that have since gone out of business.
Q: How did you find Roundtable?
A: Troy Fohrman, the founder and original publisher of Roundtable, had written a screenplay he wanted novelized, and he chose me to do the work of transforming the script into a book, which Roundtable then published. Troy subsequently accepted other books of mine for publication through the traditional submissions process, while he was still head of the company.
Q: You said you’re a full-time writer/editor. Do you literally do nothing but write books all day every day?
A: Good grief, no! That’s no way to earn a living unless you’re Rowling or King or Steele. I write and edit for clients, who pay me for what I do for them. What do I do for them? On the writing end of things, I write business materials—ads, sales letters, almost anything except grant proposals. And I ghostwrite books for others (which are not included in my tally of over 100 books published). On the editing side, it’s mostly books but also magazines, websites, business materials—you name it. The work is highly varied—as is my income—and it keeps me on my toes. I’m currently juggling three book-length editing projects and expecting a ghostwriting project (book) in-house in about a month. I also have two ongoing clients who frequently send me smaller assignments, whom I expect more work from shortly. And I never know who’s going to contact me out of left field from my ads on CraigsList or my listing on ThumbTack, or by recommendation from past clients.
Q: If you could trade lives with anyone in the world, whose life would you rather live?
A: I love my life! There is no one in the world I’d want to trade lives with!
Q: Have you been a writer and editor all your life?
A: Yes and no. I’ve been writing ever since I learned to spell C-A-T, but I made only sporadic, infrequent sales of articles in my early twenties, when I did sales work and office work to keep afloat financially. By my thirties I was co-publishing an all-advertising-format newspaper, an adventure I kinda lucked into. That lasted 11 years. During two of those 11 years I also was the theatre editor of a bi-weekly entertainment-oriented paper. By then I was selling articles and stories regularly, too. In 1980 I was tapped to edit a magazine, which led to my editing several magazines for a different publisher. It wasn’t until 1993 that my first book was accepted. People who know me call me the “battery bunny,” because, like the Energizer mascot, I just keep going and going.
Q: Of all the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: Make that “which are your three favorites?” and I’ll answer. I can’t single out just one. One is HEARTFELT, THE SPECIAL REINDEER, a Christmas-themed picturebook for little kids, which was published by AcuteByDesign, a company unfortunately in limbo as I write this, due to ill health on the part of the publisher. The other two are both published by Roundtable. One is a cookbook, STEALTH LEFTOVERS. It’s filled with recipes for delicious dishes made from leftover meats—everything from chicken to pork to beef to ham to lamb to hamburgers to hot dogs. The other is LIFE BEHIND THE OFFICE, which is humorous nonfiction. (Buy a copy. You’ll like it.)
Q: Did you conduct this self-interview by talking to yourself in a mirror?
A: I have no trouble talking to myself without visual aids. I do it all the time!