My fictional sleuth, Billy Winnetka, was "born" on an L.A. Freeway. I was driving on the 101 freeway through the West San Fernando Valley one night years ago when I passed the Winnetka Avenue exit. The name Billy Winnetka popped into my head. By the time I had driven the rest of the way home to Santa Monica, I had figured out who this character was and the rudiments of plot of what would become the first of my Hollywood-base mysteries, The Wicked and the Dead, which has just been reissued in paperback and eBook from Oak Tree Press.
Robert Weibezahl
I once worked on the 108th floor of the World Trade Center in New York Most people only made it to the 107th floor of the Twin Towers, but the summer after graduating from high school, not long after the buildings opened, I worked for a security firm and "guarded" the floor above the Windows on the World restaurant, where workers were still tweaking equipment in what was essentially a boiler room (in the literal sense). I was alone most of the day and it was the most boring job I've ever had. But, I did get a lot of reading done that summer.
I am attempting to read the complete works of Graham Greene. He's one of my favorite writers, and The End of the Affair is arguably my favorite book. So I've set myself the goal of reading all of his work, fiction and nonfiction, as well as seeing the films made from his books and screenplays. It is a long-term project, and I'm blogging about it at 26grahams.wordpress.com.
I have driven two Nobel Prize winners to distraction. Well, actually, just around L.A. I used to work as a media escort, taking authors to their interviews and book signings when they came to Los Angeles on tour. I only did it part-time, but still managed to drive many interesting people around, some of them famous. These included novelist Doris Lessing and physicist George Smoot, both of whom went on to win the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. Some other well-known writers who rode "shotgun": Isabel Allende, Judith Viorst, Joyce Carol Oates, Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Englebreit (who drew the biggest crowds by far-it was like driving around one of the Beatles), Studs Terkel, and Simon Winchester.
I have travelled to 42 of the 50 states. This is an obsessive, bucket list pastime peculiar to certain Americans. Still to go: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina. Pretty far afield, alas. I have also visited nineteen of the State Capitol buildings, which is, admittedly, a really idiosyncratic hobby.
I am writing a play about Mary Shelley and the creation of Frankenstein. The story of how this Gothic masterpiece came to be is fascinating, and we will celebrate the bicentennial of its original publication in 2018. Deadline looming.
I am a late bloomer. Not counting things published in school magazines, I had my first short story published at age 44, my first novel at 46, and first poem at 56. Hope springs eternal.
I would have loved to have been an opera singer. If I'd had the talent, of course. I have always sung in one capacity or another, but didn't take my first formal voice lesson until I was over 40 (see above: late bloomer), so that ship had sailed. I also would have liked to have been a lyricist. Maybe there is still time for that?
I am left-handed. Others who are left-handed will find this interesting. The rest of you, not so much.
I hate snakes, asparagus, and people who are full of themselves. Just thought you might like to know.
