Goodreads asked Ernest Brawley:

How do you get inspired to write?

Ernest Brawley My high school English teacher, Mr. Millhizer, read a story I wrote for his class, told me I was a “born writer,” and convinced me to do a weekly column for the school newspaper. I called it “Ernie’s Brawlesque,” filled it with comic local gossip, and found that it made me so popular with the girls that I no longer wanted to become an auto mechanic; writing was much more fun.
I was also inspired by my experiences as a tomato picker working with Mexican “wetback” laborers, as a guard at San Quentin Prison, as a penniless backpacker on a round-the-world hitchhiking tour, and by the experiences of my own family in Mexico and the American West.

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