Where were you born and raised?
I was born and raised in
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
What was it that first got you
into writing and when did you start writing?
I started around the time that
Dylan, the Stones and The Beatles changed the world. The ideas and questions
which I found in English literature showed me that at least someone had tried and
many were still trying to express themselves creatively despite society’s
insistence that making money was the most important thing in life.
Which writers have influenced
you the most?
Shakespeare, Dylan, Kerouac,
Henry Miller, Flann O’Brien, Lecarre, Pynchon, Hesse, Kesey, Hiassen, Elmore
Leonard, James Ellroy, Ian Rankin and many others come to mind. Their exact
influence in my writing is impossible for me to judge.
What kind of things do you
write?
I have written a half hour tv
comedy which was produced by the CBC, won a prize for a full length screenplay
(unproduced), written short fiction and nonfiction pieces for paper and the
internet and five short novels (unpublished). I should mention the Amazon.com
shorts programme here because I heard of this site through an author there. I
have two stories in amazon shorts under humour. There is a problem for UK
writers and customers there I think. Amazon says they’re working on it.
What are you working on now?
I am rewriting the last novel.
I have a first draft but it needs a lot of work. I just reread one of the other
novels and I believe that needs to be rewritten too. Of course, like all
writers, I am constantly trying to get publishers to read my work. I also
submit short stuff to websites I like and write songs.
What is your writing day like?
I get the most done early in
the morning. After waking up at 5 AM and having a coffee, those few quiet hours
are the best for me. Otherwise, it’s any time in the day when I have a chance.
What’s the most exciting thing
about writing for you?
The new thoughts and ideas
which appear, unbidden, when you’re creating. If you could just have those
thoughts without going through a lot of hassles, it would be wonderful, but I
think you have to go through the writing process to reach them. The only real
freedom seems to be freedom of the mind although spiritual people regard even
that as superficial. It’s exciting to go to a place where only you and your
story exist.
What’s the most frustrating
thing about writing for you?
Impatience. The stories are
never finished fast enough and when they are finished, they’re not perfect.
Also, impatience with the publishing system.
What’s the best piece of
feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
Having short pieces accepted by
website editors is a compliment to me. Most of them are writers themselves and
they read a lot of stuff online and off.
Do you write for a particular
audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?
My first priority is to satisfy
my own creativity. I think it’s similar to not being able to like others
if you don’t like yourself. You have to be happy with your work before you can
expect others to like it. The internet pretty well makes it impossible to write
for an audience because who knows who the audience is?
Do you have a homepage? Do you
have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the
URLs):
I don’t have a personal website
but I have fiction and non-fiction published on these sites. I have included
the dates with the website’s name to make it easier to look into the archives.
www.laurahird.com Dec 2005, Jan 2006, Oct 2006, Jan 2007
www.zygoteinmycoffee.com Oct 2005
www.eclectica.org Oct 2005
www.litvision.org Nov 2005
www.kenagain.freeservers.com winter 2006-07
www.prosetoad.com winter 2006
www.thievesjargon.com Feb 2006, Sept 2006
www.whistlingshade.com May 2006
www.longstoryshort.us July 2006
www.theequity.ca Aug 2006
www.dogmatika.com Oct 2006, April 2007, May 2007
www.hackwriters.com Oct 2006
www.savagemanners.wordpress.com Jan 2007
www.amazon.com amazon shorts Mar 2007, June 2007
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