Ultimately, I write to communicate with others, to share thoughts and feelings. The same can be said for anyone who talks, gives speeches, paints, sculpts, and composes music. In general, great speakers give speeches because that is the way they communicate most effectively. The same may be said of great painters, sculptors, composers, and musicians. As painters love colors and how they work together to create works of art, and as musicians love sounds and the way they combine to create pleasing melodies, I love words, their various meanings, and the countless ways they interact. It fascinates me the way words lie dormant in a dictionary, thesaurus, or electronic word bank until a writer selects them to work with certain others toward a creative objective. On the written page, a word comes alive as an essential part of something greater than itself. It is the pursuit of that greater self through the language of words that brings joy and meaning, and sometimes revelation.

Yes. Originally, I wrote the book as a gift to my granddaughter, whose love and imagination brought life to me. There is a real-life version of each stuffed animal friend in the book.

It always starts with something I observe, read, hear, or otherwise experience. It’s when I record those things in my journal that the actual writing kicks in. Sometimes, nothing other than a journal entry is the result. Other times, a creative thought or feeling breaks free from the journal entry and takes on a life of its own. When that happens, I write whatever words or sentences come to mind without regard for word choice, technique or form. In Finding Forrester, a favorite movie of mine, the celebrated author tells the young writer he is mentoring to write the first draft with his heart. Then rewrite with his mind. That’s the way it unfolds for me and always has. The first draft usually generates a lot of emotion and passion. The rewriting phase is when the real work begins. That’s when I turn what I’ve written upside down and inside out, considering everything from syntax to figures of speech to point of view to line breaks (poetry) to structure and everything else in the writer’s toolbox, all in an effort to find the most effective way to communicate and impact the thoughts and feelings of the reader. Numerous rewrites are the rule rather than the exception. For example, it’s not unusual for a short poem to undergo dozens of revisions over the course of a few years.

A book could be written detailing the differences and similarities of prose and poetry. The key difference for me is the way poetry is more densely packed with meanings, literary devices, and associations. That’s why the rewriting phase for a poem may take as long and be every bit as intense as it is for an essay, short story, and even a novel. There are other obvious differences. Most poetry incorporates purposeful line breaks, whereas in prose words go all the way to the edge of the page without turning back. Poetry is often referred to as “verse.” For many poems, the common unit of verse may be meter or rhyme. The common unit of prose is purely grammatical, such as a sentence or paragraph.

Primarily as a gift to my granddaughter, but also because of my long association with children’s literacy and my years teaching English, American Literature, and language arts to middle and high school students.

A second book, Finding Friends, is in the works. Some of the characters are the same, but it’s not yet clear that it will logically function as a sequel per se.

For writers of poetry: Ted Kooser, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Mary Oliver. For children’s books: R. J. Palacio, Megan Freeman, and Tom Rogers. For novelists: John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway. For non-fiction: Walter Isaacson, David McCullough, and Henry David Thoreau. For public speakers who influenced my writing: Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I absolutely believe in God. For all the theories dressed up as fact, for all the logic illogically argued, and for all the excuses human beings use to excuse themselves from acknowledging their creator, it takes far more faith not to believe than to believe. Evidence of God’s presence is everywhere. While Godly principles, such as love, forgiveness, helping others, doing the right thing, and accepting personal responsibility, play a prominent role in both my prose and poetry, doctrines and tenets from various Christian denominations, as well as other world religions, do not play a significant role, if any role at all.

Read as many books as you can, especially books of the type you want to write. Spend more time reading than you spend in front of a screen (e.g. TV, computer, cell phone, video games, social media). Keep a writer’s journal and write in it every day. Write about things that happen to you and others. Describe things you see, places you visit, people you meet, and things you learn. Keep writing. Describe your feelings, your hopes and dreams, as well as your disappointments and frustrations. Fill those pages. Use the journal also to practice writing poems, scenes in a possible story, paragraphs in an essay or new report, et cetera. More than anything, keep reading, writing, and observing the different ways that others write. Beyond that, attending online and in-person writing workshops and seminars can be very helpful in teaching specific ways to improve your writing. Eventually, one of the best things you can do is to seek experienced writers or editors to critique your work. I don't recommend this step until you are emotionally and mentally ready to welcome constructive criticism, which at times may seem overly direct and harsh, as a positive, if not necessary, step in your development as a writer.