Well, I was born in New Mexico, seasoned in Texas and baked in Arizona, so I’m pretty well done.
For a time, I wrote under five personas and several pseudonyms, but I take a pill for that now and write only under my own name. Mostly.
I am a prolific professional fiction writer by pretty much any standard. In just over 8 years I’ve written over 85 novels, 9 novellas, and around 250 short stories across several genres. None of that is a typo.
I’ve also compiled around 30 short story collections and several lauded, major-prize-nominated poetry collections and nonfiction books on the craft of writing. That is in addition to hundreds of articles, essays and blog posts.
I follow Robert A. Heinlein’s Business Habits for Writers (click the link to get your own free PDF copy), better known as Heinlein’s Rules. I follow them as they were written, albeit updated for the 21st century.
I also enjoy the freedom of a technique called Writing Into the Dark, which I learned from professional writer Dean Wesley Smith. (See the blog roll.) WITD basically means allowing the characters to tell the story through your fingers on the keyboard. Seems only right. After all, the characters, not the writer, are actually living the story.
Following Heinlein’s Rules is extremely difficult, but if you manage to follow them, you will succeed as a fiction writer. Being confident in yourself and your creative subconscious and Writing Into the Dark makes following Heinlein’s Rules a great deal easier. It also makes writing and storytelling the most fun I’ve ever had.
My titles are available in every ebook format in over 400 markets and 1200 libraries worldwide. Several of my longer works also are available in trade paperback editions at Amazon. But frankly, I recommend buying at my publisher website, StoneThread Publishing. There’s a pretty good discount if you go that way.
Some of my short fiction still appears under the names of my various personas. They refused to let go. Hence, you can find those under both my name and under the name of Gervasio Arrancado or Eric Stringer or Nicolas Z Porter.
I miss and envy my former personas. I envy Gervasio Arrancado his rich cultural heritage and his wealth of acquaintances, Eric Stringer his frenetic frenzy, and Nick Porter his plethora of adventurous experiences. I still visit with them on occasion, and sometimes they still help me write. I am appreciative. After all, there are writers starving in China. Or something.
Oh, the ball cap. I was never a POW. However, I did serve a lengthy stint in the United States Marine Corps, and I do strongly support those who were or are POWs. That’s the story on the ball cap.
