Why do you think so often art is dismissed by adults as a ‘waste of time’?
Artists are looked upon as irresponsible and nontraditional. THANK GOD! There are far too many beige people. Someone needs to make others uncomfortable, to ask the questions that others dare not, to see and dream things that make the status quo nervous. Even Yeshua did this. Shoot me if I look like I could be on a reality TV show.
Let’s move on to your novel, The Tortilla Children. What inspired you to write it?
It took nearly one year to write The Tortilla Children. Mostly due to research, something that I enjoy very much. Plus there has been much illness around me lately.
My father is dying of Alzheimer's. He was the most honest, hardest working person I have ever known. He, like me, never quite fit in. We are from a time that no longer is. I bought a fig tree in his honor and have it on my patio. Someday I would like to have a bit of land on which to plant it on beside the anvil. He was good at growing things — they understood him and he them. I wanted to say a few things that he could never say before and now it’s impossible. Like, I love you. A friend of mine urged me to write when I couldn't paint. Thank you.
What was your process like while writing the novel? Do you have a disciplined schedule to write?
I am up at 3:30-4:00 am and write until 7:00-10:00 am and then I try again in the evening.
I need quiet and it is very difficult living in a city apartment complex. I have an oatmeal shake with banana and honey everyday then two black coffees or espresso. I sit at my laptop on my dining room table instead of desk. My desk in my bedroom has a computer set up for my research. I am rather OCD and read back over what I have done. But eventually I get there. Some nights I dream things and get up and run to my laptop. I am rather reclusive. I live in the dark, especially for my next book.
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