1. How did publishing your first Book change your process of writing? The publishing of my first Book was quite nerve-wracking and excited at the same time. I was not sure if any publisher would give me a chance. Dog Ear Publisher gave me that chance like a local business company did for me with my first job so that I can put that experience on my resume. I’m grateful for the opportunity of publishing my first Book and have continued writing for about six years now (2017-2023).
2. Do you try to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? I view writing like composing a song or drawing a picture. I have to follow the basic rules of writing. But, I also need to create something that is appealing to readers and also make my work unique compared to other writers. That is the equation I have to balance for my writing.
3. If you could tell your younger writing-self anything, what would it be? Like writing a computer app, I need to have a general plan for a book with the introduction, body, and conclusion. Then, I have to do lots of research for those parts before coming up with a detailed plan for the whole book and sitting down to write it.
4. What does literary success look like to you? Literary success for me is not about how much money I can make with my writing. Rather, it is about how many lives I have changed by my books and how many aspiring writers I have inspired by my personal example.
5. What’s the best way you think to market your book? The best way to market my book is to have potential readers touch it and flip through its pages themselves at a bookstore. That way they can see and feel it for themselves.
6. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? I do my research for a new book by reading through relevant books and then checking out other sources through the Internet before beginning a book. This researching process might take a while until I get all the facts and materials that I need to write a complete and inspiring book. Hence, sometimes I’d have to mull through the materials for a little while like marinating a dish before cooking it, or in my case getting inspired to write the first chapter of the book.
7. How many hours a day do you write? As a pastor and preacher, I write sermons and various articles for the church every day.
8. What are the ethics of writing about your book? My book “Living for a Higher Purpose” is a Memoir. So, I have used the chronology of my life, from the last days of the Viet Nam War to the first few years of my priesthood, as the framework for the book. I give readers facts and also share the emotions of the protagonist and other characters as I try to paint a fascinating picture of the events in the book. But, one thing that all my books have in common is that I have got to be inspired and motivated before I can write something down.