"Why did you write My Sister Rosalie?"

Bella, and Rosalie, are trying the best they can to be true to themselves, even though, obviously in Rosalie's case, she has no idea she's being true to what's hurting her and Bella. And also Bella has no idea she is better than she thinks she is. But that's the beauty of this story.

This is a story about hope, even when you don't see it anymore. 

So.

I ... my daughter died. Rose Marie. And it hit the family so hard, even today, more than ten years later. Little Isabel said: "I miss Rose Marie." That hurt. A lot. And I wonder. Can she hope now? Who would she have been as a person? I wonder that. Would she have been happy, or sad, or selfish, or generous? I wonder if she's happy now, and I don't know that, and I'll never know that.

And so I wrote MSR. I don't know about Rose Marie, but maybe Rosalie can find hope, and maybe she can be happy, and maybe that can help, her, a little.

FORE! Golfer-geophf on Motivation for Writing

4. What was your motivation to write your book?

My ... 'motivation'? Well, my motivation was to put the Galaxy under my Imperial Rule, and to that end I build a battle station that could obliterate an entire planet with one massively-powered laser beam, but ...

Well, these things never work out in practice, and some rebellious, misguided upstarts exploited the (inevitable) weakness using some stolen plans, so, plan B: writing.

geophf: not just another pretty-'Everybody wants to rule the world'-boy,
but the fo'-realz deal, yo!

K. That's one way of looking at my motivation. Another way ... 

You're a writer, so you know: it's impossible not to write.

But then I started getting reviews. I planned to write MSR, and that was it, no problem. Chapter 24 was written for a girl whose daughter's second birthday was the next day, and could I please write something thematically as a gift? Then I got reviews, three marriage proposals. These girls were so disappointed that I turned out to be a man. So weird: a guy writing about two girls talking and fighting and talking and fighting and then talking some more. Whoda thunk?

And then I got a review, then another, then another, that said MSR saved their lives.

And I got review after review after review saying they screamed when they saw I published a chapter, or: how could I so completely describe the depth of their despair, and that they weren't alone anymore, or: was this what love was? Yes, in all its struggle and dirtiness and sadness and relief and joy, or: how could Bella and Rosalie be so stupid? Can't they see love, right in front of them, or: "I could fall in love with your Rosalie, ... in fact, I kinda did."

What is my motivation for writing?

My writing touches people's hearts. What else do I need?

"The only end of writing is to enable the readers to better enjoy life, or better to endure it"

– Samuel Johnson

Questions II + III: Book/s, when and how long

2. When did you write your first book?

MSR I started 2008 after I wrote the short story: "Bella's One Fear" Bella's One Fear surprised me because I thought I never would be a writer, always a reader (insert bride's maid joke here).

It started then. I wrote chapter after chapter, up to chapter 55 or so, and then I left it for three years, you know, because it was too much for me to bear, writing this sad, sweet story.

I haunted me every day. So I went back to writing. Writing hurts less than not writing.

So, yeah. I finished this (first) journey Oct 2015. YAY! Confetti!

3. How long did it take to write your first book?

Two days, right? ;)

Meditation for these questions 2 + 3 ... hm. Fives are everywhere.

First Question: Who are you?

1. Tell me about yourself and the book / books you have written?

Me: shy, ... and quiet. And see my twitter bio. It was written by my evil twin brother, Skippy.

Book ... I am that three-volume novelist Oscar Wilde loves to ridicule, my first book of this trilogy/tragedy is My Sister Rosalie, Book I: Captor (MSR), 427k words, 92 chapters. I am currently writing Book II, which I've just published chapter 9 and now weighs in at just under 32k words.

The novella, Rose by a Lemon Tree, is 65k words. I've also written short stories of one-two chapters. The corpus of my works of fiction are all published on my landing page, so you can see my completed and uncompleted works there.

Day-job-wise, I am a mathematician masquerading as a data scientist, so I publish a daily puzzle here, have written articles for mathematical journals, given lectures at symposia, and done several case studies on big data, particularly against the (stock) markets, as I've been in the financial industries: taking a break from satellite mission planning. My most popular lecture to date is on graph theory, entitled Graphing with Goats. Meh!

Oh, and I like to cook, but I have to fight for kitchen time with my daughters now, so I occasionally surprise the family with roast chicken or gnocchi or lamb simmered in burgundy sauce. Ya know.

Meditation for this question: The sky is blue, isn't it.

Twenty Questions: Preamble

Being interviewed. Been given a list of 20ish questions, but, hey, who has all the power?

The person who asks the questions?

Nope, that's what they think.

The person who has the power is the person to whom you've empowered.

I am one self-empowered badazz. So, here we go