A great question I have pondered at length. Do you really want to know? Ok. There is a claimed ancient Toltec technique for accessing the "Black Sea of Awareness." It goes like this: you do something mundane, like a long hike or maybe driving on a deserted road. This ties up your rational mind, and to some degree that part of you can go on autopilot...meaning it becomes part of the background. Other parts of you...subconscious, subliminal parts…able to directly interact with your nahualistic energy body or soul...can then do some actual work in the foreground. In that time, creative goodies come to mind, akin to bubbling up from the subconscious of that primal awareness that permeates the Universe...the Cosmic Dreamer. What is it trying to say? I liken it to "fishing" and you never know what you will catch. In fact, you cannot take credit for the quality of the fish. The fish takes credit for that. All I can do is take credit (or blame) for how I prepare it. Here's where it gets tricky. That "fish" is not in a human language or even human imagery. It is a feeling, a prodding of something unimaginable to be known and seen and understood...a longing. How do you "paint" (in words, art, or song) an image of something that has nothing to do with humans other than that a human caught a bit of its wave as it went by? Well...the way I do it...? …Is I make my own word-paints. I cannot go to the store and buy some, you see. So, I have to make my own. These palettes of paint are "scenes" that are influenced by my own life. I dab some here and some there, feather them together, etc. But please understand that these splotches of paint, their texture, the expertise of technique and style shown...none of that has anything to do with the *image* being painted. If the painting is great, if it’s awful, if it’s from a different angle than someone else painting the same thing...? ...None of that matters. You see, the abstract reality being painted is what matters. That is the whole point. And it cannot be communicated in words. Instead, it must be communicated soul-to-soul, using crude dabs of paint to paint Nature's sunset, for example. My hope is that a reader will figure out that they are looking at *paint* through a microscope, trying to see how it was made and the quality of its ingredients, yada yada. They will then take a step back and the *image* will strike their soul in crystal clarity. They will be changed by an impact they will never forget.

As suggested above, I catch what fish I catch. If it looks like an awesome fish, I prepare it for readers. If not, I keep fishing.

They mean it is not my time to be writing. If I have nothing to say...then I don't write. For me, I have to both have something to say and a need to say it. If I can then say it, and do my best job of saying it...? That is what success looks like.

At the end of the day, the stories I write are an experience in and unto themselves. The interaction between story and reader is unique. Everyone will have a different experience. For example, SORYANA'S SPEAR and HEVIN'S SPEAR are both written in layers. It's possible to gloss through them each in a week or so. Or (like me) you could stay immersed in that Scout Report Universe pondering it for years. Both are valid experiences. Realistically, they aren't for everyone. If someone's main genre is historical non-fiction, then what are the chances they will like magical realism or fantasy? If someone is expecting magical realism or fantasy to follow a formula or be like others in the same genres, they may be disappointed. On and on it goes. Who knows? At the end of the day, the part I have no control over is how a story is received. How well does it connect with its readers? Well...I did my best. Whether I succeed or not in that area, again, does not impact the actual image I am trying to draw. It stands alone. I hope people will understand that.

For sure it is finding readers and doing the marketing part. I'm a writer, not a marketing person. Every second I spend on marketing is a second stolen from The Story. Those big-name people who excel at marketing...? ...Are a bit suss, to me. I'm left wondering if their writing is formulaic, contracted out, etc. Not saying it is! They could have the energy to both do great writing and great marketing. (I don't.) But it leaves me wondering. Are they writing primarily for the money? Do they actually have something to say? What is *their* writing process like? I don't get it.

For the Scout Report Universe's series of eight books, I started in 1985! In 1991 I had 2.5 [unpublished] books done. Then, life happened and I got married. Fast forward to 2011 and life happened again [spine broken in a car crash]. I could not do anything...except write. I picked that project back up, rewriting those books. Then, a couple years ago I started the diptych of SORYANA'S SPEAR and HEVIN'S SPEAR, which contain substantial excerpts from the series and give this incredible image the holistic stereo vision it so deserves. The first book takes place in the Scout Report Universe. The second book describes the same effect, but happening in *our* universe. So, we are thirty-seven years in total into that story. Totally worth it, to me. It would have felt like a crime to *not* tell the story that I hooked.

If you don't have something you *must* say and think that writing a book will get you rich...? Do the world a favor and don't. Just don't. The haystack is already huge. This AI crap promises to grow the haystack 100x. Meanwhile, the needle-crafters are starving and cannot afford to make needles.

Organically. They develop themselves, to a large degree, and have their own lives. They start from some place in my own life, then they go wherever they need to go to satisfy that mysterious longing pressing on me from the Black Sea.

Ten. HEVIN'S SPEAR is my favorite because of the series’ climactic scene in it. Many scenes from the whole series haunt me and inspire emotion to this day. Some of the most amazing scenes show up in it excerpted from Book #7 and Book #8. Also, it is more accessible to me, I suppose, because a lot of it takes place in *our* Universe.

One of those amazing climactic scenes near the end, mentioned in #9 above. It went through so many revisions for YEARS. Several years, I don't exactly know how many. It was so hard to get it right, because it was entirely outside of human experience. Finally, finally, finally, the annoying parts upsetting the image’s feng shui were sorted!!! That was a huge day for me, when the lightbulb came on, and I was there, and I understood.

There are a number of candidates! If you ask me this every day, the answer will change. Today, it would be Alexander Key for his children or young adult book, "The Forgotten Door." Would love to chat with him about that.

It has been years. Having been born a vampyre of sorts, it seems my true self does not reflect in those mirrors known as the eyes of others. I'm de facto invisible and have made the claim in the past--as a single man--that I could walk into a bar filled with eligible womb-men, go behind the bar, open the register, take all the money out, and walk out...without anyone noticing. Ha! [This claim may be exaggerated, but not by much. See: "I'm not a marketing person."] These days, my vampyre schtick is made even more believable by the fact that I have human blood plasma products delivered to my door. [Insurance pays for it! So much nicer than the old days, dontcha know!] Also, my Ginger soul-sucking skin does not help the situation, as it makes it impossible for me to do more than fifteen minutes of bright sunlight without risking burning. *sigh* Anyway, I will say that it is a mistake to confuse the author with The Story...at least for people that write as I do. The image being painted has *nothing* to do with me. On Twitter, there are a number of big-name writers who make the mistake of sharing their opinions. Half of those [how it impacts me] effectively crap on the patina surrounding their stories. It's human nature. I know better, and so do they--but it's also human nature to go on the record with your stupid opinions. I do it every blessed day, fully knowing that I am alienating some people and drawing others closer. Honestly...? ...My opinions should do neither. I recently RE-watched a movie starring an actor whose political opinions *I CANNOT STAND*. It was still an awesome movie. So...it doesn't really matter what my anything is, on Google or anywhere else. It has zero to do with anything, at least with the fiction stories I write. Have recently started a quasi-autobiographical series. There, the argument can be made that it is relevant. If I have credibility or not, yada yada. I can see that. But for the stories where I'm painting a fish caught out of the Black Sea...? ...Not really. Saint Teresa, Charles Manson, Elon Musk, the homeless guy by Walmart begging for money, Hitler, His Holiness the Dalai Lama…they could all paint that image and I have *no idea* who would do the best job. The particular image in mind…? …To me, would be worth reading the best version, regardless of who painted it.