Growing Down follows two drunk men who spend the day running around town trying to make up for what they feel is lost time in life. What was the inspiration for your story?

I don’t remember exactly the inspiration from it other than initially I wanted to write a story about a character who could not find their way home. I also remember sitting in a movie theater and seeing Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni. I thought the movie was wonderful.

Did you plan the tone and direction of the novel before writing, or did it come out organically as you were writing?

I would say organically. At this point in time I am so busy that hardly any planning goes into anything anymore. I have my notes, but I rarely use them and much of the finished product is often the initial idea reworked over and over.

Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your character’s life?

Yes and No. I don’t think I know anyone who left a wedding early and got drunk with a buddy, usually that happens after the wedding is over. I do know that I am thirty and a lot of people around me are as well. I think when friend’s or acquaintances start having children, getting married, talking about their retirement, etc. it does make one reflect because nobody tells ya, ‘you are this age, this is this time…,’ so much as one person does it and the rest follow suit. I think that is kinda funny.

What story are you currently in the middle of writing?

I’m working on a story called Louis, which is about this happy go luck guy that likes to ride the subway train. I would really like to do something that involves animals. I work at Unity Farm Sanctuary in Sherborn, Massachusetts and among many of the animals there I love being with the pigs. I have some stuff on paper involving pigs, but it would hard to be Babe or Charlotte’s Web.

Author Links: GoodReads | Website