Books with a soundtrack

My first published novel, Blue Rubber Pool, about my “mother of all mid-life meltdowns”, was written with a sound track. During my summer in that cheap kiddie pool I listened to a long lost cassette tapes found in a box while unpacking at Pineapple Hill. A lot of it was Led Zeppelin. I wrote them for permission to use lyrics —guess what— never heard back.

Bad things happened, an entire run of them that shut me down, caused me to withdraw from everything except my inner self.

One afternoon, in a hammock, I took a photo of myself. Just my legs. But there was no one to send it to. No one to understand.

I needed a sidekick so I sketched an armadillo because they’re crusty on the outside but not within. I made him my butler. Crusoe’s manservant Friday.

We began interacting—my hammock photo speaking to that critter, that critter speaking back.There’s a folder of cartoons somewhere. For now there’s just this one. (LINK)

Eventually after that I began writing novels.

I’m still a hermit, marooned you might say, but leaving my shell more and more—my inner self seeking its freedom through writing.