William Petrick is represented by the interviewer's Pump Up Your Book Promotion, an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion.
William Petrick is an Emmy Award-winning documentary producer/director who has created programs for National Geographic, Discovery, MTV, Court TV and many other cable and broadcast networks. He is currently a senior producer with Bill Moyers' Journal on PBS. You can visit William Petrick’s website at www.thefivelostdays.com.
Thank you for this interview, Bill. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
I’ve been writing since grade school in one form or the other. In fact, not long ago, I found an “essay” from the first grade where it begins “I want to be a writer…” Besides writing fiction, I also write and produce documentaries for television.
Do you write full-time?
I try to write 2-3 hours a day, usually in the early morning.
At what point in your life did you make up your mind you were going to become a published author?
It took a while but I decided I really wanted to be a published author right after I graduated from college. I went traveling around the country, working odd jobs; after that for about a year until I returned to the East Coast (Baltimore), I sat down and started to get serious.
Was there anyone in your life that you can give credit to helping pave the way?
Any number of teachers but it was really a few close friends — who were also writing fiction and poetry — who kept me going.
What was your favorite book to read as a child?
To Build a Fire by Jack London. I remember the exact day I read this classic short story. I was in sixth grade and, I thought, wow, you can do this? Create a whole world with just words?
What is your favorite book at the present?
Believe it or not, I recently re-read Lord of the Flies which I had not read in decades. It knocked me out. Great prose, setting, characters and theme. It deserves to be a classic.
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