Look and Listen

Biography

I was born about 90 miles south of Key West and now live about 90 miles north of it. It is hard to believe that an entire lifetime can transpire in so short a span as 180 miles, particularly when more than half of them are made up of water! Then again, so is my body! Isn't that eerily coincidental? I am a person who has taken nothing in life seriously until now, with my new membership in Nothing Binding. As such, I am presently in desperate search of some mentoring on how to take things seriously. Those with an earnest desire to help, please find all relevant contact information at the end of this biography. As may be obvious by now - mostly from my failure to do so - my greatest enjoyment is to be humorous, even though a good portion of my writing focuses its energy elsewhere. My humorous pieces I generally publish directly to my website for all to enjoy (assuming anyone does). When writing a short story, I always demand one thing of myself, and that is to create an ending that slaps the reader a little in the face; some unexpected twist that ties in completely to the story just unfolded. I find that as a reader, no experience is more satisfying than that. (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Sirens of Titan, The Foundation Trilogy, etc.) In my novels, the approach is a bit different, offering a slightly unconventional perspective on everyday things. Change the way you look at the world, and the world changes.

Inspiration

The strongest influence in my writing is undoubtedly Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. When I finished that book, I realized that he had just written the book I had always wanted to write. I figured it was time to get cracking before he did that to me again! Alas, he then wrote Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates before I finished my first novel, once again making me jealous. Well... HA! My first novel is finished and in search of representation. Of course, it's nowhere near as good as Mr. Robbins' work, but then again, nothing else is either. Still... there are stories brewing in my head that I feel are worthy of their telling. I only hope that I, as a writer, am worthy of their authorship. I leave that for posterity (and a few people at this website) to judge.