Our guest today is Gary Kuper, author of A Fifty Percent Chance of Happiness. It can be found here on Amazon.
Stacie: Hi Gary—thank you for joining us today and welcome.
Gary: Hi Stacie, Thank-you for this opportunity to talk about my book.
Stacie: You’ve recently written and published A Fifty Percent Chance of Happiness. I found the premise to be quite interesting—a guy seeks love and then has to choose between two perfect women delivered straight from heaven (literally). How did you go about developing this story line?
Gary: It’s based on a long standing joke I have with my three brothers about how I had to choose between a movie star and a famous singer when I was younger.
Stacie: I have to say, you’ve peaked my curiosity. That sounds like a great story in itself–perhaps one for another day.
Your book also strikes a nice balance between anticipation and conflict. What life experiences did you draw from for this aspect of the book?
Gary: I found we should carefully weigh the need for drawing a little attention to ourselves by having things that others might covet over focusing our attention on making ourselves truly happy without regard to outward appearances.
Stacie: That seems like something from which we could all benefit. Many writers have a process or ritual that gets them in the writing zone. How would you describe your approach to writing?
Gary: Mine was just by shear will. Every day, I would force myself to sit in front of the computer for three hours no matter how much I accomplished. And sometimes, days would go by with very little getting done, but it eventually it got a little easier.
Stacie: I can relate to that! I think a lot of writers think it’s supposed to just flow out of your body, but most of the time it’s pure discipline for me too.
What has been the most rewarding part of publishing A Fifty Percent Chance of Happiness?
Gary: As I wrote the story, sometimes I would find it difficult to move it along but something would pop in my mind that would help me through that I personally thought pretty good – it gave me a lot of good feelings.
Stacie: What part of writing and publishing did you find the hardest?
Gary: English grammar! There’s about ten rules in using a semi-colon. I almost gave up writing my book until I could learn French, thinking it might be easier to write in a foreign language.
Stacie: Based on your experience, do you have any words of advice for those who are trying to write a book?
Gary: Just start now and keep going. You can make corrections, learn the rules, edit the mistakes, and clarify the story later.
Stacie: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Gary: Start a journal. Later, you might find it interesting enough to turn it into a book.
Stacie: Where can we learn more about you and your book?
Gary: It’s listed here on Amazon.
Stacie: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.