About 20 years ago I was going about the business of being an artist, and was a fairly successful one. I had shows in NY, around the US and the world. Then a fire destroyed almost 10 years of my artwork and it changed my life. I wrote a novel, THE DEATH ARTIST, and when that did well I wrote two more. It took me a while to figure out that I loved writing as much as I did painting. Now I’ve published 5 novels, numerous stories and edited several anthologies. Writing is completely different than painting; you have to keep it all in your head. People have said my writing is very visual and I like hearing that. I want the reader to see it. When I’m writing and it’s going well I can see it in my mind and that’s what I try to get on the page.