The Same Six Questions - Paul Price

Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Same Six Questions! Today's guest is Paul Price!

Hello Andy! I've worked as a software developer for the past nineteen years in the DC area. Before that, I was in the submarine Navy for twelve years. I was born and raised in Miami, but I don't speak Spanish very well anymore.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

My latest eBook, When Do I Get to Live My Own Life?, (also available at Smashwords) was published in October. Its theme coincides with a Steve Jobs quote many articles cited following his passing: "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." The difficulties I've experienced in doing just that are expressed in ten personal stories. Stress and its effects have been a life-changer from my earliest history, and have been the primary obstacles in the way of me living my own life. I published eBooks #6 and #7 during 2011. Books #1 through #5 were published pre-Internet during the late 1980s as consumer education titles, and I sold them primarily to libraries.



2. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I only want to write when I feel that I have information to share that could really help people, and when reliable information on the subject isn't easy to discern.

3. What was your first lengthy piece of writing (say, >1000 words)? What was it about? When did you write it? Do you still have it?

I wrote a piece in tenth grade at age fifteen for my English teacher, Ms. Jasiecki. She was a single woman who was being treated for cancer, and did what she could to influence kids' lives by assigning books that challenged us. After my mandatory review of Camus' The Stranger, I continued by rewriting its theme in a hopeful vein. No extra credit, though, for hopeful existentialism. She's still alive 42 years later, and on Facebook.

4. When was your first indication, "I can do this (write)"?

I often wrote long papers in eleventh and twelfth grades for another English teacher, Mr. Obrentz, so I developed confidence in my writing skills during high school.

5. What's your next book going to be about?

I've jotted down a few themes, but none of them are compelling me to start writing my next eBook yet. I'm currently catching up on my reading from all the great indie authors' eBooks I have on my laptop! I get ideas and feelings by reading other authors, though it's not necessarily what the authors intend. For example, about a third of my way into reading a science fiction eBook over last weekend, it dawned on me that, through the interplay of the characters and environment, the author was indirectly describing her feelings about some of her childhood experiences. That got me thinking about the similarities of people in a spaceship with my experiences in submarines, and more specifically, scenarios when someone feels the need to escape from their present circumstances. The difference in the way that I approach feelings when they rise up is that I try to express them directly. A direct expression helps me, and may provide a clearer opportunity for other people to connect with what I express as a shared human experience.

6. It's a dark and stormy night...you're alone in the house...there's a knock at the door...you open it, look out, and proceed to scream like a little girl. What's on the doorstep?

A man on his knees with his guts spilling out! The perpetrator lurks.

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Thanks for sharing with us today, Paul! For more of Paul and his writing, check out his blogs: Getting Well for the First Time and When Do I Get to Live My Own Life?.

Stop back in on Monday, when my guest will be E. Stoops! See you then!