|
Dear Readers or Browsers:
Thanks for stopping by. I’ve read
about so many authors who knew they wanted to write from a young
age. I wasn’t like that. I’ve always been a reader,
though. I knew early on that books were special. I could get lost
in the characters, find out about worlds I never dreamed existed.
As a kid, I’d look for the fattest book in the fiction section
of the library. I’m still addicted to reading. I read everything
from the daily newspaper to the back of cereal boxes, but novels
are special.
I made it all the way through high school and college without
writing so much as a short story. I didn’t start writing
until I was in my thirties. At the time, I worked at a job that
I hated. I was traveling all the time and spent a lot of time
alone in hotel rooms away from my family. I got tired of watching
TV and didn’t feel like hanging out in the hotel bar. One
of my brothers had taken a class on writing screenplays. I loved
movies and I had an idea that I thought was a natural, so, having
time on my hands, I thought I’d give it a try. I found that
the story came out naturally. I’d think about the characters
during the day, and they’d surprise me by what they did
or said, when I wrote at night. I finished the screenplay in about
six months, and was happy with how it turned out. I sent it out
and got some interest from some Hollywood agents, but nothing
came of it. After that I wrote another screenplay and some short
stories before starting this novel.
I first got the idea for Living Proof when they
executed Karla Faye Tucker in Texas a few years back. Karla Faye
was the methamphetamine crazed axe murderess who became a born
again Christian while in prison. The week before her execution
there was a real circus like atmosphere in Huntsville Texas, the
site of the death chamber. Hundreds of people gathered in the
square across from the prison. On one side of the square, priests
and nuns led candle light vigils; on the other side, hawkers sold
t-shirts and fraternity brothers chanted and drank beer. This
case crystallized the whole capital punishment debate. Her supporters
noted that she had changed in prison, and the person they were
going to kill was not the same as the one who had committed the
crime. Others just wanted vengeance, or the chance to party while
it all went down. Watching all this got me thinking – what
if they didn’t really execute her? What if she were still
alive? The whole novel flowed from that idea.
I’m a native of Chicago, I still live near there with my
three sons. I’ve been in sales of one form or another for
my entire adult life. For the last ten years I’ve been a
mortgage broker. When I’m not writing or working, I enjoy
painting, guitar playing, rock climbing and following politics
and current affairs. I’m currently working on my second
novel.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop
me a line. I’d love to hear from you. If you’ve read
the book and liked it, tell your friends. Thanks again for stopping
by.
|
