I was an Air Force brat, born in a small community in northern California, near where my father was stationed. My mother often spoke of the good times she had at the Nut Tree restaurant, eating dates and drinking soda pop. Eventually, the family found its way down to San Bernardino, a dusty city at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains in California. My dad left the Air Force and became a graphics artist civil servant working out of Norton Air Force Base.

I have quite a few great memories of childhood in that dry, hot and dusty city. I sheltered from the heat in a tree house that my dad and I built together. Everything changed on the fateful day in 1967, when I was dragged into a library kicking and screaming by my mother. She had determined that I needed to experience a library – that it was time for me to become a reader.

The screaming stopped as soon as a librarian gave me a cookie and took me on a tour of the whole building. I fell in love with the librarian and with books, and before long I checked out as many as a dozen a week. As I grew older, I read every book that I could get hold of.

In junior high school, I ran across a book carefully stored in a box that my grandmother had left with the family for safekeeping. That book was called Stranger in a Strange Land by an author name Robert Heinlein. I read that masterpiece in a weekend, and soon discovered other authors such as Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance, and John Campbell. After pouring through those books, I decided I was going to be an author when I grew up.

Life got in the way of my dreams, as sometimes happens. The family moved to Lake Arrowhead and my parents open an art gallery in Blue Jay village. A few years later, they opened a larger store in Lake Arrowhead Village and sold arts and crafts.

For me, the pressure of high school college, a full-time job, and eventually marriage and family got in the way of my dream of becoming a writer.

In 2005, my wife passed away and I decided that grief was something that I wanted to get out of his quickly as possible. I became a photographer and photographed every national park in the western United States. From there, I was introduced to some dancers, and became a very well-known performance photographer in Southern California. During those eight years, I photographed over a thousand women, did 1200 performance shoots, and photographed over 300 Renaissance festivals, Civil War re-enactments, and other similar events.

For 33 years, I worked in the technology field, first as a vice president of a computer consulting company, then as a senior designer, and finally settled down to a job at Trader Joe’s as their computer operations director. I worked at Trader Joe’s for 20 years, managing a team of eight people and varying numbers of consultants to keep their operations working well.

In 2013, I decided it was time for me to finally pursue my dream of becoming a writer. I left my job at Trader Joe’s, moved to Florida, and settled down to become a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and author. Since then, I’ve written and published 63 books of my own in my name, a number of others under pseudonyms, ghost-written 22 books, and written several hundred articles for blogs and publications. I’ve also written over 300 LinkedIn profiles for business leaders, ambassadors, government officials and others.

Tell us your latest news

I’ve created a new series of courses called Fiction Master Class which are designed to help writers improve their abilities and careers.

For the past few months, I’ve been interviewing 1 to 2 authors per week as part of a podcast designed to showcase their talents and abilities.

And I just finished writing my 22^ndghostwritten book.

When and why did you begin writing?

I’ve written most of my life, generally for work related projects such as technical manuals, articles for technical magazines, and so forth. In 2013, it was time to change direction, and writing seem to be the natural place to put my talents.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I first considered myself a writer when I published my first best-selling book, Focus on LinkedIn. I sold over 10,000 copies and became an Amazon Kindle bestseller, in the top 100 for several days. That was my third book.

What inspired you to write your first book?

My first book was a labor of love. I always been interested in computer security, and I decided to take my knowledge and help others understand how to make the computer secure. The book didn’t sell well, but that didn’t matter. I just wanted to write all of that down in a very well done book.

Right now, I’m working on a novel called Peacekeeper, which is based about a million years in the future. This will be my first science fiction novel, and I expected to be between 80,000 and 100,000 words long. I’ll focus the rest of the answers about my book on this one.

How did you come up with the title?

Peacekeeper is the name of a type of fleet of spaceships designed to keep the peace, hence the name of the book.

Do you have a specific writing style? Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

I tend to write in a casual or business casual format.

I can work in any genre, from romance to science fiction to mystery to nonfiction. I haven’t found anything yet that I can’t write.

How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Absolutely none of this book is realistic or based on experiences of anyone I know.

To craft your works, do you have to travel? Before or during the process?

No.

Who designed the covers?

Haven’t designed the covers yet.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Yes, the book is about how big governments can be ruthless and enslave people, and how eventually the people revolt against their masters, regardless of the cost.

Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

My favorite writers are J.R.R. Tolkien, Mike Resnick, Robert Heinlein, Jack Vance, Winston Churchill, L Sprague DeCamp, Arthur Hailey, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Aspirin, and Fred Saberhagen.

What strikes me about their works is they are all well plotted, faithful to their genre, have strong characterization, and the stories tend to be solid.

Outside of family members, name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

The Alliance of Independent Authors

Do you see writing as a career?

Writing is my career for the rest of my life.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Nope.

Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

I learned that writing is easy for me. I can literally right between 10,000 and 12,000 words every day.

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

For the Peacekeeper book, the admiral would be played by Milla Jovovich.

Any advice for other writers?

If you’re writer you have to write and get published. So don’t make any excuses, don’t stop, don’t accept any failures, just right.

Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

Hope you enjoy my books, and please let me know what you think of them.

What book are you reading now?

I’m working on a book called Peacekeeper, which I mentioned earlier.

Do you remember the first book you read?

I remember the first adult level book I read was Stranger in a Strange Land. One of the early books I read was also Narrow Land by Jack Vance

What makes you laugh/cry?

I laugh every day, because life is supposed to be fun.

Is there one person, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?

I think I’d like to meet Isaac Asimov. He is one of the most prolific authors ever, and he had a way of making difficult understand subjects simple to comprehend. He is one of the reasons why I decided to become a writer.

Do you have any hobbies?

I’ve got several hobbies. First of all, I’m a photographer, I collect amethyst and quartz crystals, miniature fantasy figurines, stamps, movies, and books. These days, my life mostly centers around writing since that’s my passion.

What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?

My favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Godfather 1 & 2. To me, these are among the most well-done movies of all time.

I’m enjoying watching The Expanse, and can’t wait for season four.

Imagine a future where you no longer write. What would you do?

I’d probably be a photographer, because I’m a creative person and that’s just a different kind of creativity.

You only have 24 hours to live how would you spend that time?

I have no idea.

What do you want written on your head stone?

I don’t want a headstone.

Do you have a blog or website readers can visit for updates, events and special offers?

https://thewritingking.com/

Fiction Master Class/

All my books are at https://www.coolauthor.com

(Originally published in Author Interviews)

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Richard Lowe

Owner & Senior Writer at The Writing King

Richard is the Owner and Senior Writer for The Writing King, a bestselling author, and ghostwriter. He's written and published 63 books, ghostwritten 48+ books, as well as hundreds of blog articles.