In an effort to introduce my readers to other authors and their work, every week I will be running an Author Spotlight, sharing information about an author, their work, and how they go about writing their books.
Randy Attwood grew up on the grounds of Larned (KS) State Hospital, where his father worked as the dentist for that mental hospital. He attended the University of Kansas during the tumultuous 1960s. The first half of his adult career was in newspaper journalism, where he won numerous writing awards and was twice honored with the investigative reporting award by the KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism. The second half of his career was as Director of University Relations for The University of Kansas Medical Center before he transitioned to retirement as the media relations officer for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. He lives in Lawrence, KS.
Attwood’s fiction offerings are a smorgasbord of genres. Mystery, dark suspense, thriller, literary, comedy — his novels and shorter works touch all the bases. To find a commonality, read the reviews. What you’ll find is reader involvement with the writing, the story, and the sense of reality his words create. One reviewer summed it up this way: “You can’t explain Attwood’s writing; it has to be experienced.”
A conversation with Randy:
When did you decide to become an author and why?
Something in me needed self-expression and I started creating fiction in college (none of it very good.)
How long have you been writing, and what was your first book?
My first novel was The 41st Sermon about an Episcopal priest at mid-life and mid-faith crisis. I sent the first chapter to the famous Catholic writer, Walker Percy, who wrote back “Reads fine. Send rest.” Boy, was I excited. I waited and waited and six months later read his obituary in the paper. I have no idea what happened to that copy of the MS.
What genres do you write in?
Mystery, dark suspense, thriller, literary, and comedy.
How many books do you have out?
Eleven novels and three collections of shorter works.
Are you trade published, independent, or a combo?
A combo. Several works were published by the defunct small press Curiosity Quills.
What is your writing style? Panster or plotter or?
I’m very much a pantster. Usually a sentence or scene comes to me, and I then discover the rest.
Do you write more than one book at a time?
In a way. I have one novella that I worked on for 30 years before I found the last line of the poem that ends the story.
How much research is involved in your writing?
I research when needed. The most research I did was for Heart Chants which contains, I believe, the best, most complete telling of the fascinating Navajo creation story. I think fans of Dark Winds would like that book very much.
Where do you write? Do you have a home office, write in a coffee shop, or what?
My favorite place was in our old backyard in Kansas City. We now live in Lawrence.
Do you use any programs like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, or ?
No.
How do you promote your books?
Not very well, I’m afraid.
What are your writing goals, long and short term?
It has always been to find something that touches something deep inside me and express it in a way that makes for a good story for the reader.
Advice to new authors or someone who wants to become an author.
I am clueless. Just write.
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy Randy Attwood’s Crazy About You. Service brats grow up on military bases. Asylum brats grow up on the grounds of mental hospitals where their parents work. Both juveniles and adults will be riveted by the story of high school asylum brat Brad’s week in 1964 that tests his sanity and grows him up faster than he ever wished
He thinks he’s in love with the schizophrenic teen, Suzanne, who has to be tied up to keep from picking her palms until they bleed. Only Brad believes her story that she is trying to cleanse her palms of her father’s semen. And only Brad believes he has the plan to save her when her father wants her released back into his care. But then the brutal murder of a townswoman and the missing status of her daughter, a nurse at the mental hospital, rivets the town’s attention. The lit fuses hit the dynamite on prom night when a group of patients in the building for the criminally insane hold guards hostage and Alex Krout, squealing in his cell, waits for his chance to run amok.
To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.
Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. Nobody likes waiting at the doctor’s office, but being impatient doesn’t help.
Thought For The Day – You cannot find peace by avoiding life. – Virginia Woolf
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!