The Four Questions
After 25 years as an author, I’ve answered many questions about my books, but it’s usually the same three:
• When do you write? (I try to set aside a full day, and then I write for 14 hours. Also, if my writing is going really well, I like to pull an all-nighter.)
• Where do you write? (I sit at my desk in the study in our apartment in Sydney, Australia.)
• How do you write? (I use Microsoft Word on an Apple desktop computer. I used a Macintosh SE for my first book in 1987, and a Mac Mini for Old Bach Is Come.)
But there’s a fourth question that no one has ever asked me:
• Do you play background music while you write and, if so, did you play Bach while you wrote Old Bach Is Come?
Yes, there’s background music. When I wrote software engineering textbooks, I played Mozart, Haydn and Vivaldi, but never Bach — somehow it seemed sacrilegious to play the music of the great Johan Sebastian Bach in the background while writing a book! But when I started writing Old Bach Is Come, I overcame my scruples and played Bach’s music continuously.
• When do you write? (I try to set aside a full day, and then I write for 14 hours. Also, if my writing is going really well, I like to pull an all-nighter.)
• Where do you write? (I sit at my desk in the study in our apartment in Sydney, Australia.)
• How do you write? (I use Microsoft Word on an Apple desktop computer. I used a Macintosh SE for my first book in 1987, and a Mac Mini for Old Bach Is Come.)
But there’s a fourth question that no one has ever asked me:
• Do you play background music while you write and, if so, did you play Bach while you wrote Old Bach Is Come?
Yes, there’s background music. When I wrote software engineering textbooks, I played Mozart, Haydn and Vivaldi, but never Bach — somehow it seemed sacrilegious to play the music of the great Johan Sebastian Bach in the background while writing a book! But when I started writing Old Bach Is Come, I overcame my scruples and played Bach’s music continuously.
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Lilo wrote: "Gee, writing with background music! I never thought of it. Maybe I should try it.I just noticed that you have a German last name. When did your ancestors get to Australia?"
I moved to Sydney four years ago to be with my grandchildren.
Lilo wrote: "Did you live in Germany before?"No. I'm an American citizen, born in South Africa.
But my first historical spy thriller, Old Bach Is Come , is set in Prussia, Saxony, and Austria in 1747.
Oh, my! You have been around on this planet.Your books really sound interesting. Yet I am still into non-fiction before I move onto fiction. I have a lot of catching-up to do because Germany has swept the Third Reich and the Holocaust under the carpet. -- Teachers avoided the subject like the plague, bookstores did not display related books, and it was (and probably still is) a conversation tabu there.
Hey Steve ... I came across your literary bio and am amazed at your change of career (change of continent too)! Keep well and keep writing ...- Paul Kilfoil
Former Computer Science student
University of Cape Town
www.paulkilfoil.co.za
I just noticed that you have a German last name. When did your ancestors get to Australia?