Ask the Author: Rick Skwiot
Answered Questions (3)
Rick Skwiot
Hi, Lori. Thanks for following my reviews, etc. ... I live now in Key West but spent most of my adult life in St. Louis and visit frequently. On Thursday, January 22, I will be doing a reading and signing at STL Books in Kirkwood.... I spent my early years on the East Side, which I recount in my childhood memoir "Christmas at Long Lake." Later we moved to North St. Louis County, just five or ten minutes from the scene of the latest arson and rioting.
Rick Skwiot
The best thing about being a novelist is being able to put to use everything you've experienced, everything you know, everything you feel, to create something out of nothing, something with substance that endures. Including characters and events and stories and places and ideas that exist due only to your hand. Nothing else I've ever attempted requires so much of me or gratifies me as much.
Rick Skwiot
The initial seed for FAIL was planted by my colleague and fellow author John Leslie over lunch one day, when I told him about my attempt once to teach remedial grammar to inner-city college freshmen, who had gone through 12 years of education in the St. Louis Public Schools but still had trouble putting together grammatically correct sentences. He said, "You should write a book about that." I initially dismissed the idea, saying, "It's a short story, maybe." But the idea took root and, after a couple years, blossomed into an urban mystery.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more