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Q: What inspired you to start writing?
After reading J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye at age 15, I decided to start writing my own stories. First it was short fiction, then later on it was poetry.
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Q: Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest published work is not creative at all, but a collection of 27 musical playlists, going back to the 1950’s. For each playlist of songs, I provided information about the song title, the year released, the composer or performer, a personal critical assessment and personal memories for each title. The book is entitled: Mind Tavern- Essential Music Playlists for the Headphone Generation. It is a nostalgic journey to this Baby Boomer’s musical past.
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Q: How do you create your characters?
For my creative works, I write about real people, and my memories of them.
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Q: What does your typical writing day look like?
For the majority of my books, I did my “hard writing” in the early mornings and in the late evenings. The middle of the day was reserved for my “day job” as an English teacher for 37 years.
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Q: What has been the most rewarding part of being an indie author?
The best part of being an “Indie” writer is writing what I want to write without an outsider editor or publisher telling me otherwise. And the idea of being forced to do book signings is non-existent. After having some unexpected success selling baseball cards on Ebay during the covid lockdown, I started my own book publishing imprint— Mind Tavern Books, in 2020.
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Q: What’s one challenge you’ve faced in your writing journey?
I believe all “indie” writers have the same challenge— that of being discovered and read by an audience of serious readers. The publishing world has changed considerably since the advent of desktop publishing. I believe there are more authors and their books now than there are stars in the sky. My task as an author and publisher is to make my “star” shine brighter than all the other millions of “stars” in the publishing firmament.
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Q: What advice would you give to new or aspiring indie authors?
Never give up! Work hard. Create books that are different, intriguing and new! If your work is good, the readers will come!
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Q: How do you handle book promotion as an indie author?
I post poems at Facebook, X, and at Wordpress under the name “Stark Hunter at Mind Tavern.” I also post poems at poetry websites, like Allpoetry and PoetrySoup. Those two websites are great places to get honest feedback on your work from serious readers.
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Q: What’s next for you? Are you working on a new book?
I am always working on a new book. But for the past three years I have been working full-time, composing and publishing original music at SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music, I-Tunes, Amazon Music and YouTube under my pen name, Stark Hunter.
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Q: Any Influences by the Masters?
Absolutely! T.S. Eliot is the greatest English poet of the 20th Century. I have been studying “The Waste Land” for 35 years. I taught his poetry in my English classroom for 35 years.
