#1: What was the first thing you ever wrote?
“I’m sorry”—I was a kid and I got in trouble a lot! Coincidentally, it’s also the last thing I wrote. (I’ll try to remember to take the trash to the curb next week, dear.)
As far as fully developed writing, the first thing I ever wrote was a short story entitled “Left to Soak,” which was published in 2005 and featured in my personal anthology, Without Expiration. Incidentally, it is centered around a hospitalized woman reflecting on the fact that her husband on 46 years has never helped wash the dishes. He doesn’t offer an apology at the end, but they do manage to come together once again as the story closes.
#2: Your new novel But the Ripping Apart is about coming to terms with one’s demons. What drove you to write about this?
They may not come to terms with them as much as just accept them, maybe even surrender to them, which isn’t necessarily a healthy thing, but it is an intensely human thing. The first chapter is based on a real encounter my wife and I had with a hoarder when we were first dating. At the time I was a single dad (a #girldad before it was a thing), and to say I was figuring things out on the fly would be too kind.
Jack struggles with his demons more than I did, but to not acknowledge that they played a part in forming the person I was (and am) would be disingenuous. Our vices, torments, and broken pieces are as much a part of us as our more noble qualities. I hope by offering some real blood to Jack’s story, it will encourage the reader to reflect on their demons in a space without judgment, guidance or expectation. The greatest thing a writer can offer their reader is a space for self-reflection.