One of the most difficult questions that a writer can answer is “What makes you tick?” and in my mind that’s like asking a musician how and why they create music or an artist why they paint or an actor/actress how they’re able to portray a magnitude of characters and make it seem so effortless.  The answer is not simple, it’s actually rather complex because when an individual has a god-given talent, he or she is able to execute it automatically, with no preconcieved preparation or will, it’s as if the paintbrush moves on its own, or a musical symphony of sounds and layers and bridges plays in a musician’s mind, or an actor/actress is able to read a script and ” become” the character of his or her liking.

Interviewer: So tell me how long have you been writing?

Writer: Well, in theory I’ve been writing since the day that I was able to understand words, not just hear the words, but actuallly understand their context and meaning, structure, and so forth. In reality, I began writing when I was eight or nine years old, in grade school, entering and winning various writing contests.  That’s when I initally realized that I had a talent, that I was “on to something” so to speak, that I possessed an ability to “do” something that not everyone else was capable of doing as effortlessly and easily as I and I’m so grateful for the fact that I met my “calling” at that young of an age, in a world where people spend their entire lives in search of their identity.

Interviewer: Who are some of your personal influences?

Writer: Well, when I was younger I was an avid reader of poetry, and some of the poets that I read frequently were Maya Angelou, Phyllis Wheatley, and Langston Hughes.  However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve embraced authors such as Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, and Brett Easton Ellis, and Sister Souljah, and Hubert Selby Jr., and Jack Kerouac, and Truman Capote, the list goes on and on.  I read various types of authors from a variety of different cultures and genres, I don’t stick to just one type of author/poet or one type of poetry/story, I like all different types/kinds.

Interviewer: Last,  but certainly not least, what makes you “tick”?

Writer: That’s a hard question to answer, because everything around me, hell life itself is an inspiration, people, places, and situations that occur either to myself or others motivate me and make me want to jot them down via poem and/or story, plots and sentences and structures swim around in my mind consistently, and at warp speed.  I don’t know how they do, they just do, in the same way that a painter paints or a musician composes music, and so on and so forth.  It’s unexplainable and unattainable to some.

Interviewer: Well, I wish you the best in your budding career and much success, thank you taking the time out to allow the public to get to know you better.

Writer: Thank you for taking the time out to speak with me.