"All Quiet on the Western Front " | "From the Corner of His Eye" | "To Kill a Mockingbird" | "As I Lay Dying" | "Push" | "A Farewell to Arms" | "It" | "Deer Hunting with Jesus" | "Gone with the Wind" | "Fear"

"Dark Maze" | "Memoirs of a Mangy Lover"  | "Research in Psychology: Methods and Design"  | "Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals"

On my back porch, especially if it is raining.

 [Also, in bed at night before I fall asleep.  At the beach, listening to the waves crashing.  By the river, listening to the water as it laps against the docks.]

I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing.  My writing has always been more of a psychological coping mechanism though--I've never had any desire to be "published"  (not that I would dismiss/decline an offer /grin/)

My writing style is about as eclectic as any other area of my life (as are my writing interests). [Looking over this again, I think what I'm saying in the next paragraph probably negates this description. Although my thoughts go in many different directions and examine a myriad of ideas in many areas (and the infinite aspects of each idea in every area),  I end up conveying them in a very repetitive way.] 

I have bi-polar disorder;  when I'm in a manic phase, I find myself writing a lot of poetry.  *All that I think (and say, if I don't censor myself) comes as a "rhyme."  I may as well take advantage of some of my more coherent thoughts, I guess. /grin/

I LOVE doing research.  So, I imagine if I were planning to pursue a career in  writing,  I'd probably try my hand at writing documentaries or biographies.  Possibly true-crime--I love reading true-crime stories.

Since losing my daughter, Jordan, in September, 2007,  most everything I've written has been about her and the God-awful pain of losing her.  I've written that if God was merciful He would have allowed my to die that day as well.  I still feel that way.   I no longer live--I just exist.

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*re: rhyme

Rusty has shown me that in poetry rhyme is not [always] necessarily a good thing (using rhyme excessively, as I was doing, is rarely a good thing ) - often the rhyme/rhythm distracts from the feelings/emotions that are being conveyed.  

While trying to take his advice to just tell my story--trying to be straightforward and clear--I found that the use of so much rhyme would not only be distracting for the reader, it was also distracting for me  (a type of defense mechanism, I suppose).  The reader would be unable to experience the true/full effects of the emotions behind the words, and I didn't WANT to feel/experience them.

Scout Finch ["To Kill a Mockingbird"]  | Jason Bourne/David Webb [Robert Ludlum's Bourne series]

Also, I'd like to be a character in a story that I would write.  I'd have the power to make people's lives full of happiness and peace.   I'd give all those I encountered the ability to truly understand and care for others (especially their family and friends).  I'd give them the desire to be accepting and respectful of others.
 
I'd also give them the ability to do the same for all the people they encounter (to pass on peace, happiness, love, kindness, understanding, acceptance, etc. infinitely).

Harper Lee; Dean Koontz;  Ernest Hemingway; William Faulkner; Joe Bageant; Stephen King;  Sylvia Plath; Emily Bronte; S.E. Hinton; Ann Rule; Virginia Wolfe; Kathy Reichs; Edgar Allan Poe; Scott Turow; Thomas Adcock