Featured Writer of the Month

Age?

40 Something (!)

 

Location?

Vista, California

 

Ever since I flunked out of law school, which has been nearly 2 decades.  I knew something was wrong while attending the University of San Diego when I was writing poems instead of studying Torts, Civ Pro, and Contract Law.  

 

Being able to write in multiple genres, including poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and creative non-fiction.  I would have to say writing MOLOKA’I NUI AHINA in memory of my Hawaiian grandmother was my single greatest accomplishment because she was the only one in my family who believed in me as a writer.  

 

A futuristic novel, a sort of Prequel to THE HUNGER GAMES.   We’re hoping for a book launch in San Diego in late September.  Contact me if you’d like to review it!  

 

For psychotherapy plus the sheer joy of creation.  The roots of everything I write grow out of the ashes of a troubled childhood and a constant quest for identity.  I also write for my kid sister Jules.  She suffered great psychological damage in our family household and my greatest hope is that my non-fiction stories, based on our shared childhood, will help her heal.  I hope too that the stories help others deal with their abusive pasts.    

 

BONES – A micro with different takes on the meaning of bones, one that flashes back to prehistoric times and imagines a girl as the first cave artist while the men are out hunting a mammoth and the women are busy gossiping.  

 

Spitting out a bullet frag in my mouthful of lamb steak.  

 

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

 

James Joyce

 

Holden Caulfield

 

Moloka’i 

 

I think it’s important for writers and wannabe writers to keep experimenting in multiple genres.  Writing in a genre other than the chosen one will give you the same benefit athletes experience while cross training.  I would even suggest that a writer paint or draw or even doodle.  I discovered in the MFA Program at SFSU that grad students were too willing to be pigeonholed as single genre-writers and accordingly took classes focusing on either poetry or prose or plays or screenplays.  I say take all those classes.  Try everything.  I came into the department a poet but forced myself to take short story writing, which was excruciating but laid the groundwork for future stories and the novel I am close to wrapping up.  I bounce back and forth between genres when I get bored or frustrated with one and this technique keeps me productive.  After my novel is complete I will be working on a collage-type manuscript, one that fuses poetry with creative non-fiction and family photos. 

 

Believe in your talent.  Avoid listening to “advice” from family members or friends who think your plan to become a writer or an artist is a pipe dream.  What you have to say is valuable and never forget that.  When I walk through the crowds of inner cities I wonder how many of these people have truly incredible stories locked up in their inner worlds that need to be shared.  

 

Find a good mentor, someone’s who’s been around the block a bit and knows firsthand the agony and ecstasy of creation.  That good mentor could even be someone dead.  Look at me, I chose Sylvia Plath and James Joyce.  

 

I honor you and your creative efforts.