Hello Rick, welcome to Brand Education! What is your favorite word and why?
My favorite word lately is Charcuterie. I recently learned what a charcuterie tray is and have decided to misuse the word as often as possible. Instead of using it to describe an assortment of finger food, I might say that “There was a charcuterie of people or a charcuterie of events.
What’s the latest book you read?
Latest book “Inside Out” by Demi Moore. I find it so interesting to learn how these larger than life characters became who they are. Some stories are enlightening and uplifting. Others are sad and even painful to read. I no longer want to be an actor.
What’s the book that changed your life?
The Travelers Best Seller. While writing it, I discovered that being me was okay. I discovered that we are all different … and that’s beautiful.
What makes you laugh the most?
I love to hear other people’s laughter as long as it is in good fun and not at someone else’s expense.
If you were a superhero, what powers would you have?
If I was a Superhero, I would be able to fly and my vision would be that of a hawk.
If you could tell my younger self anything, what would it be?
I would tell myself that you are capable of way more than anyone imagines. Stay the course and practice.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was down and out. I had just lost a fortune in the housing crash of 2008. I watched as my houses, cars and expensive toys were getting repossessed one at a time. I was cleaning out my mahogany desk to sell it so I could put gas in the leased Cadillac that was next to get repossessed. While cleaning out the desk, I found an old fake ID. I had used it when I was 16 years old to buy beer. My fake name was Rick Timber. I was born in 1958. I turned the 8 into a 3 and suddenly I was 21. Now at the age of fifty, I stared at the thirty five year old fake ID and wondered what Rick Timber would be like if he were a real person. I described him in a sentence. Then I elaborated. Before I knew it, I had written a chapter. Chapter after chapter I was drawn into this imaginary man. Day after day I wrote to keep myself from slipping into a depression from the desperate position I had let myself get into. I think writing kept me from drinking or doing drugs.
Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?
I love hearing from my readers. Sometimes I’ll get a text from someone that I know that is reading one of my books. “Oh my god, I’m reading Bobby’s Cabin. I’m on chapter six. This is wild.”
Where do you dream traveling to and why?
I love my home but I do dream of traveling outside of the United States to exotic locations for months at a time to write a book.
Anything you would say to those just starting out in the craft?
To those of you just getting started. If you are doing it for money, I can help. Take all the money that will spend on editing, publishing, and marketing and put it in the bank instead. However, if writing is in your blood and you have stories that swirl around in your head and just beg to be shared, then write-on. Write with passion and be bold. Say what comes to your mind, not what you think people want to hear. If it makes you nervous to share these thoughts with others, you just might be onto something.
What do you enjoy doing on your spare time?
In my spare time I like to play ping pong and pickle ball. On weekends I like to kayak or take a bike ride. I love to make custom chess sets including the board. The chessmen might be made out of different size shot glasses or old spools of thread or carved from mahogany. I have made quite a few sets. I also like gardening and have a screened in pool area that looks more like a jungle every day.
What’s the single most important reason for your success?
Persistence. I think about writing every day. Between books I might tweak my website or see what others are writing. I belong to about a dozen large online book clubs. Readers are starving for good books. Writers are anxious to be discovered and appreciated.
What is a lesson that I want everyone to take away from my work?
Write about what you think about. Believe in yourself and don’t quit when your work is ridiculed. Write through it all with courage. The biggest mistake that I see from new writers is not getting their work properly edited before publishing. There are those out there that love to find your errors and shout them out, to let the world know how smart they are. Find I good editor and tell your story.
Find out more at: www.AuthorRickIncorvia.com