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Where
were you born and raised?
I
was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA, and grew up in eastern
Pennsylvania. I graduated from Springfield Township High School, in
Flourtown, PA and graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia with a
degree in psychology. I lived for a number of years in north-central
Pennsylvania in the Williamsport, Jersey Shore, Lock Haven area where my
suspense novel, Crosshairs, takes place. After getting married in
1973, my wife and I moved to Sarasota, Florida, and we have lived there ever
since, except for short stays elsewhere.
What
was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?
I
have been writing nearly all of my 69 years but it wasn’t until I was in the
Air Force a long time ago that I discovered that I could express my thoughts
and feelings better on a sheet of paper than I could verbally. My writing
then consisted mostly of lonely and homesick letters. After leaving the
Air Force I took a short story writing course at Temple University and from
then on I was hooked on writing. After moving to Florida I started
working for a local government as a publications specialist. In that
capacity I wrote in many different forms: newsletters, annual reports,
speeches, audio/visual scripts, technical manuals, case studies, magazine
articles, newspaper columns, public relations materials and ceremonial
documents.
Which
writers have influenced you the most?
A
few of my favorite and influential writers include John Steinbeck, Stephen
Vincent Benet, Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, Bill Pronzini, Ed McBain/Evan
Hunter, Robert Frost, Robert W. Service, Jack London, and the classical
Japanese haiku poets.
What
kind of things do you write?
I
look at writing as a craft, similar to carpentry. A good, professional
carpenter can build anything from a napkin holder to a two-story house.
Likewise, a good, professional writer should be able to write in just about any
genre. The tools are the same in any field: words, sentences, paragraphs, and
punctuation. And ideas, of course. Some of the areas of writing
that I have worked in include suspense novels, literary short stories, a young
adult biography, texts for children’s Picture Books, book reviews, romance
stories, plus all of the forms mentioned in #2 above. I have been,
however, more skillful, and more successful, in some forms than in others.
What
are you working on now?
I
am currently working on the second in a proposed series of suspense novels, all
of which have the same basic set of characters and the same setting. My
recently released suspense novel, Crosshairs, is the first in this
series. I am also writing the texts for children’s picture books, as well
as book reviews.
What is your writing day
like?
My
mornings are generally filled with some form of physical exercise such as
jogging, weight lifting, stretching, or home improvement, yard work, or
maintenance projects. Afternoons and evenings are spent promoting Crosshairs,
reading, writing reviews, studying the techniques of other writers, or working
on various other writing projects.
What’s
the most exciting thing about writing for you?
The
most exciting thing about writing to me is the process of translating thoughts
and ideas from my brain into organized and meaningful words—and recognizable
people—on a page. It is a process that constantly amazes me. Where
do these people come from? Why do they say the things they say? Why
do they do the things they do? And what will they do next?
The
most difficult part of writing for me, regardless of genre or form, is the
first draft. After that is done, from beginning to end, the fun
begins. And the fun part for me is the rewriting, the revising, the
polishing, the rearranging, and the searching for the right word or words, the
right sequence, the right description, the right everything.
What’s
the most frustrating thing about writing for you?
The
most frustrating thing is only having 24 hours in a day to do all the things I
want and need to do—and to find the time to work on the writing projects that I
care about the most. I would also prefer not to have to do ANY of the
marketing and promoting of my work. But until I have a Best Seller—and
all the Big Publishers are exchanging blows over who will get to publish my
next novel—I guess I’ll have to attend to my promotional obligations.
What’s
the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
The
most satisfying thing any reader can say to me, and perhaps to any
other writer is, “I couldn’t put your story down! I just HAD to
know what happens on the next page, and then the next page, and then the page
after that!”
Do
you write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your
own creativity?
That’s
a tough one. When you write in different genres you have to be aware of
who the reader is for that particular genre. You have to be aware of what
they are expecting, and what they want. But no matter which genre I write
in, the ultimate satisfaction comes from inside of me. I have to like,
enjoy, and be satisfied with whatEVER I write. Because rejection is a
common experience for writers. And a piece is rejected for many different
and mostly unknown reasons. Therefore satisfaction, for me, can’t depend
on acceptance by someone else, although that’s nice, too. In the end, I’M
the one who has to be satisfied with whatever I write.
Do
you have a homepage? Do you have any short stories or poems published
online? (If so, please provide the URLs):
My website address is: www.russheitz.com
I have submitted several stories to Amazon Shorts and they should be published
soon.
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