Featured Friday! William Matthies
Like his main character in “The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn”, William Matthies served in the U.S. Army including a year-long stint in Vietnam during the war.
After leaving the service, he graduated college, married, raised two sons, and eventually found his true calling as a serial entrepreneur. His first book, The 7 Keys to Change, is based on years of research on personal and professional change management.
His other accomplishments include earning a lifetime ban from Catalina Island, age 13, viewing Earth from 80,000 feet during a Mach 2.5 flight in a Russian supersonic aircraft, and remaining an absolute beginner after “playing” guitar for more than three decades.
What’s your favourite part of the lifestyle of an Author?
The freedom and ability to imagine what is unimaginable to most people, communicating it, causing them to want to learn more.
What made you start writing?
Having time no longer needing to work, a mind full of ideas and concepts I wanted to present to others, and an excuse for not doing so many other things I have no desire to do if I weren’t writing.
Is there an Author that you consider your inspiration?
Jack Kerouac
What’s your number one tip for an aspiring Author?
Before you write a word, learn all you can about the writing, publishing, and marketing aspects of being an author. Chances are very good you have no idea what you’re getting into.
What type of book do you like to read and does this differ from the genre that you prefer to write?
The irony of it is, I read almost no fiction. That being so, I of course, decided to write a speculative fiction novel.
Which one of your characters would you most like to spend time with?
Asian
Which book do you consider a must-read?
For me, Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”. But that is such as subjective thing it should be seen as must-read for me, not for many others.
What’s been the hardest edit that you’ve had to make? Why did you want to keep the material in?
The hardest edits, and there were a lot of them, was forcing myself to be open to changing anything and everything. Many authors will consider what they’ve written to be as it should be because they’ve written it. It won’t be, take another look.
If you could live in a book, which one would it be?
I’m extremely interested in the theory of parallel universes. My book speculates what that would be like; I would enjoy visiting that existence.
If you could pick an Author to write your biography, who would it be?
I would first need to view my life as worthy of being written about. I don’t. It’s been a good life to this point with no reason to believe it won’t continue to be so. I’m proud of my accomplishments, manageably regretful for a few things I wish I hadn’t, or had done, but none of that adds up to a biography of me.
Is there any conflict between what you want to write and what you think your readers will like?
Interesting question. No author’s writing style is appropriate for everyone. No topic is of interest to everyone. This “conflict” (reality?) demands the author balance what they want to say, to who, with what others want to hear, taking into account their ability to communicate. That is far easier to recommend than it is to do.
What effect can a review have on you, if you read them at all? Both the good and the bad.
Being honest, bad reviews hurt! I put them aside for a day or two before reading them again, ignoring those without a basis, accepting those I can learn from. I do my best to focus on what I can do to improve my writing based on the review. But again, being honest, sometimes I just want to scream!
Can you sum up your life story in ten words or less?
Yes
What’s exciting you about your next project?
Just starting to envision where I will take the characters in my book. Or maybe it’s more about where they will take me.
And finally, you have one quote to be remembered by, what is it?
Probably my last words. I don’t know what they will be, but I always imagine they will be worth remembering me by.
Find out more about William and his Unlived Lives series on his website.
And on social media below:
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