About a month or two after the release of my first book Last One To Die, I met up with a friend of mine named Bill Bremer. Bill is a writer. He handles press releases, tech manuals, and a book or two. So we meet up at Starbucks one night to go over the publicity of my book and different things we could do drum up some interest. One of the things Bill suggested was a standard PR interview. I was interviewed about four or five days later by a journalist for an interview that I would send to people that wanted to review the book, and needed a few quotes to pull as if they “interviewed” me. The first question was: “What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?” And my answer pretty much summed up my early writings: “Tricky question. The first book I remember liking enough to go out and purchase was Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater. But I don’t think this shaped me as a writer. Back in 1994 or 1995 I met poet Clyde Wray. I was going through a big poetry phase. I’d write a bunch of stuff, and then give it to Clyde to look over. One day he tells me that the stuff is good, but I haven’t found my own voice. He tells me go to Barnes & Noble, go to the poetry section and buy the first book I find with a name I recognize. So I’m looking and looking and I find one by Jim Morrison. I buy it. It sucks, but I realize that poetry, like writing doesn’t have to be structured or, in Jim’s case, good. So, I meet up with Clyde a week or so later, he reads some of my new stuff, and says “Go and buy Bukowski’s Love Is A Dog From Hell.” I find it at a bookstore, I flip through it, and I’m laughing out loud in the middle of the store. It’s then that I realize that writing, at least for me is more about the stories, and less about the structure. Tell the story as if you’re talking to your best friend.” #michaelessington #lifewontwait
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:54:42 +0000
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