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Prior to writing my first novel, I had written just about every form of creative material for business -- from speeches and magazine articles to space ads and video scripts. For 20 years I was the president of an advertising and public relations agency, and like many creative types in that field, I yearned to write a novel. But, truth be told, I had no reason to believe I could succeed at it. I had never so much as taken a creative writing class. I knew that plotting, character development, etc. was much different than writing a brochure for medical supplies. And so, after retiring young, it was easy to procrastinate. I didn't have writer's block, I had writer's terror.
After three years of this, I finally took a brief adult education course on novel writing. The instructor kicked me in the backside, got me to write a few pages, and lo and behold, I was hooked. Not to mention more confident and having fun. Six months later, Follow The Falcon (all 136,000 words of it) was born -- well, at least ready to pitch. People told me I had a winner, and so did two publishers. I signed with Club Lighthouse Publishing.
As I begin my second mystery/thriller, it's clear that what influences me most in my writing is what I love. And I love many things. In Follow The Falcon, it was art, architecture, the French Riviera, great food and the Red Sox. In my next novel, a Costa Rican cloud forest -- my wife and I own a villa next to a Costa Rican cloud forest -- will be the setting.
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