Day of the Dogs or My Writing Method

One of the regular questions I get asked is what is your usual writing day like? So here we go...

I usually get up at 4 a.m., no alarm clock, just wake up and go downstairs, slam down a cup of microwaved coffee from the day before while I make a fresh pot. Then I hang out with the dogs. This one pictured is Olive, our weimeraner. She's seventy pounds of determination, very fast, very much in touch with her inner wolf. Every morning when I let her out she races outside and barks at the raccoons who live in the giant fir tree out back. She hates those guys. Squirrels she chases, but raccoons elicit this deep, guttural growl that is pure killer instinct. She actually caught one once, a big one she cornered against the fence, sunk her teeth into its right leg and gave it a shake. The raccoon did not like this. Not at all. Neither did I. I grabbed Olive by the collar and dragged her away while the raccoon hissed, claws bared and limped away.

Anyway, where was I? Okay, once Olive and the new guy, Archie, a border terrier, come back in, we lie around on the floor in a pile for about twenty minutes, just listening to each other breathe. I respect dogs. They're ravening beasts that have adopted the guise of manners for practicality and a meal... just like us.  Then, coffee made, my dog bonding accomplished, I have a fresh cup of coffee while I read what I wrote the day before, making changes and getting into the mental space that I left the day before. Then I write for a few hours while the dogs chase each other around the yard.

If there's reincarnation I want to come back as a dog. I want to write a novel one day from the standpoint of a dog, but not one of those wimpy, wisdom-of-the-pooch books. I did a short story for Vice magazine a few years ago called "Bad Dog," which was a start. Take a read. Woof!

Tick Tock to Launch

Launch date, five days and counting. Tuesday, February 19, my new novel, The Girl Who Cried Wolf will launch as an ebook-only. Color me happy. I've been working on the book for several years while also working as a narrative designer in the video game business. (means I write the game story arc and the characters and can actually tell my wife while I'm screaming at the giant scorpions attacking me in Fallout New Vegas, 'I can't take out the garbage, I'm working!")

TGWCWolf is a contemporary comic thriller - at least I think it's funny. You can decide for yourself after reading the synopsis at the homepage link. The plot involves three environmental terrorists who kidnap an heiress, expecting her rich father to turn over his old growth timber holdings in exchange for her safe return. Good luck. It's inspired by an O'Henry short story called "The Ransom of Red Chief," about three kidnappers who snatch a little boy from a wealthy family, but the kid turns out to be such a toxic brat that they pay his family to take him back.

It's been three years since my last novel and I deeply appreciate all of you who have emailed me over that time essentially telling me to get off my ass and write another book. Well, here it (almost) is. Now email your friends and tell them to get off their asses and buy the book.

I curtsey for praise

Just found out that a short story I wrote for the collection THRILLER 2, was nominated for a Silver Dagger by the Crime Writers Association, the largest British crime fiction group. The story, "Can You Help Me Out Here?", is based on a dirty joke I heard in 3rd Grade and didn't understand until years later. The CWA judges described the nomination:

Robert Ferrigno has showcased an ability to mix humour with suspense along with having a knack for creating villains that make you smile even as they send chills down our spine.

Bo Barks at BIG JOURNALISM

I started a regular feature today, the Bo Chronicles, at Andrew Brietbart's Big Journalism site. The series will catalogue life with President Obama, as told from the viewpoint of his dog, Bo, the smartest pooch in the world, and a secret conservative. Fun ensues.

Here's the start...

Bow-wow. You can call me Bo. I’m President Shoutout’s family mutt, a Portuguese water dog with curly black hair. My real name isn’t Bo, but I’m not telling you my real one. Bo is fine. It’ll do anyway. Took the White House brain trust four months to come up with it — you wouldn’t believe the names they actually considered. Let’s just say that “Alinsky” was a contender until Axelrod said “why don’t you just name it ‘Arafat’ and kiss off flyover country for 2012?” Yeah, he called me “it.” Axelrod’s a real sweetheart. Barry’s chief political advisor, which means he spent the whole presidential campaign sending candygrams to the press corps so they wouldn’t do their job. He could have accomplished the same thing with a Hershey bar stolen from an orphan’s Halloween bag. I got his number. Axelrod smells like cabbage and tries to kick me when Barry’s not looking.

read the rest at the link

Enjoy!

Mark Steyn Tempts the Thought Police

The last time author and media powerhouse Mark Steyn reviewed one of the Assassin books in MACLEANS magazine he got hauled before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, their version of the Black Robes. In his 2003 review of Prayers for the Assassin, Steyn talked about its depiction of an Islamic SuperBowl with sword-swinging male cheerleaders, and of an American Islamic state that punished Jews, homosexuals and uppity women. The HRC, in their typically obtuse fashion, thought those were Steyn's thoughts, not realizing he was quoting from my fiction. It cost him time and money to beat the rap. Not content to let the thought police sleep their dreamless sleep, Steyn just reviewed Heart of the Assassin in MACLEANS. Maybe this time they'll blame me. Thanks, Mark.

National Review Online podcast

I was interviewed a few days ago by John J. Miller of National Review Online. The podcast has just been posted.