Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

I work at home. The proposition of writing as theater, or performance art, or even some spontaneous public practice is nails-on-a-chalkboard to me. I guess I’m old-school, or just plain old.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I’ve always written on a keyboard. I sometimes jot notes and fragments on whatever is handy, but that’s not writing, that’s me leaving a trail of breadcrumbs I can later follow (or not).

What is your routine for writing?

I am a creature of routine. My ideal state as a writer would be to have the same day, every day. I sit down at my laptop in the morning, go through email and peruse the usual sites for 30-40 minutes and then I am sitting and staring and, eventually, turning words into sentences into paragraphs.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

My sophomore year of college I wandered into the arts and entertainment office of the college newspaper. There were Roger Corman and French New Wave movie posters everywhere, The Jam was blasting out of a graffiti-covered boombox and a bunch of strange people were laughing and screaming at each other. I was hooked. I worked as a critic and writer for newspapers for the next 25 years. I was released back into the wild in 2011, and have since endeavored to make the jump from fake news to real fiction.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

Anybody who believes thinking and feeling are the highest kind of fun.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

I write because I need to and want to. If I’m blocked, I just keep sitting and staring. I know if I do, the words will come.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Whether writing or reading, there is nothing better than being solidly into a book, a story, a character or a situation that has you hooked.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Your inner-critic isn’t the part of you that helps you write. It’s the part of you that keeps you from writing.

Check out Thomas’s work in Volume 3, Issue 2.