Central California
USA
Good morning, Marc, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the site that loves art and authors. Can you tell us a little about what you've written?
I’ve written four novels and one novella as well as a few articles for InD’tale Magazine. Three of the novels (the Jenns Cove Series) are contemporary romances set in a small fictional town on the north coast of California. The stories revolve around the Gallagher family and an ecological studies institute that relocates to town. The other novel (which I wrote first but have recently revised) is the first book of the paranormal-romance Crystal Wiccan series. Finally, Eve of the Storm is a Christmas themed novella. I’m currently about halfway through the fourth Jenns Cove story and a third of the way through drafting the second Crystal Wiccan story. I hope to have both out this year. I also dabble in fantasy.
What is your favorite genre to write?
Actually, I enjoy writing according to my mood. So I’ve always got several works in progress going at once. No matter what I write, though, it will always have a heavy romantic element, even if it’s not a full-blown romance. I try to balance character and action, but lean more heavily toward stories about how characters develop and interact—their emotions, their hopes and dreams, how their pasts affect, and sometimes determine, their futures.
Favorite food.
FOOD is my favorite food! Very few foods I don’t like and many I love. I’m a pretty decent cook, and my wife would argue I tend toward heavy dishes—lots of cheese and sauces—lasagna, pot pies, Indian curries, beef stew. I haven’t learned to bake yet. That could be dangerous… I never met a bear claw I didn’t like.
Tea or coffee?
Both, but coffee mostly—but sadly decaf. Doc won’t let me have caffeine.
Pizza or ice cream
Finally, a clear winner! Pizza! At least once a week. Ice cream only a couple times a year.
Wine or beer?
Beer, though occasionally wine with dinner. My wife’s German and I’ve grown to love German pilsner. Strangely enough, she loves west coast micro-brewed IPAs. They tend to be too hoppy for my tastes.
Where would you like to visit?
I’d like to explore more of Europe and Scandinavia. We travel to Germany once or twice a year to visit my wife’s family, but we don’t get to go far afield from the little town where she grew up. Bavaria would be high on my list.
Favorite musical artist.
I like 60s and 70s folksingers: Simon and Garfunkle, John Denver, CSN (without Y); also a big Beethoven fan. I love the choral movement of the 9th symphony. There’s a section about 17 minutes in that always gives me chills.
Do you listen to music when you write? What?
No. On rare occasion (usually when writing fantasy) I’ll listen to quiet, instrumental new age stuff. Lyrics are too distracting.
What makes you laugh?
Puppies and kittens playing (the internet is my bane); the British comedy “Coupling” is hysterical; as an editor, really juicy malapropisms tickle me—especially ‘taught nipples’ crack me up.
This is an art AND author blog, so I am obligated to ask: Favorite work of art or sculpture.
Not sure I have one. I like Van Gogh’s Stary Night and Michelangelo’s David. My wife’s an artist and I like her tile mosaics.
How old were you when you started writing?
I’m pretty dyslexic, so I started reading quite late—Junior High. When I finally read a whole book, I immediately decided I wanted to write one. So, I started writing about WWI fighter pilots. I didn’t start seriously writing until in my early 40s.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I’m definitely a plotter. I used to write out more extensive outlines, but lately, as I’ve tried to up my production, I’ve devolved to only a paragraph or two of outline per chapter. But I also write extensive character notes and world-building notes.
Describe your perfect evening.
Some of the best evenings I’ve spent have been with my wife and our hiking group. After work, eight or nine of us hike up one of the mountains in the area, and then we all go back to our place and have drinks, and we feed them dinner. We crowd around our small kitchen and dining nook and ten conversations—all interesting—go at once. I love hosting that group.
Where do you get your inspiration?
All over. Some from my own life experiences. Some from dreams. Some from experiences I wish I’d had. Snippets of memory. Walking in the woods or along the coast always gets my creative juices flowing.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
Until Covid struck, I’d never had writer’s block. I have the opposite problem: too many stories flitting around my brain at once. It makes it difficult to focus on one. With the pandemic, though, I’ve found myself feeling listless and uncreative. Only in the last couple weeks have I gotten back to setting words down. So I guess the answer is I wait for it to pass, then get back to work.
Who is your favorite author?
Couldn’t pick just one—impossible! J.R.R. Tolkien, Nora Roberts, Brenda Novak, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, Anne McCaffrey… the list goes on and on.
Best book you ever read.
I guess, if you judge by the hole it leaves in you when you finish because you have to leave the world you’ve been emersed in, leave the friends who have become part of you… I’d have to say The Lord of the Rings. But I read it as a teen, so my emotions were pretty intense at the time.
Last book you read.
Reread The Witness by Nora Roberts… one of her best.
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
I’ve done many things in my life. Besides writing, I’m an editor and a caregiver for my elderly mother. If I had to pick another field—and could go back a few years—I’d probably go back into the sciences and do ecological sustainability studies, or finish my doctorate and teach Early British Literature or History at the university.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
Probably my mother. She fostered my love of stories from an early age and has always supported anything I wanted to do, believed I could achieve whatever I set my mind to. That kind of support does wonders.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
Charles Darwin. I’d like to hear how his brain works. To have seen something happening in the world which so drastically went against the ideas of the day, he must have an amazing mind. And probably some fantastic stories about his travels.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
I notice your would-be writer’s aspirations are in the past tense. I hope they didn’t give up, because writing stories is truly wonderful and fulfilling. It’s also work. My advice is to sit down and write. Carve out the space and time that works for you, sit down and do it! And, in the current world of self-publishing, make sure you have another way to make money. But if this person has it in them, they won’t be able to not write. It doesn’t matter if you never make a penny. Write whatever it is that your brain and your spirit force upon you. Now… if you want to be an author, you have to be willing to accept that authoring (which is to say all the other stuff that comes before and after sitting and writing) is a business. Write because you love to and have to; publish because you want or need others to read what you’ve struggled to give birth to.
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