Again Bish, I really don't think you need to bite on this one.

I was thinking more for his own sake and inconvenience.

And Richard is just fine.

He's laughing.

It's the first book I've sold. Previously I've sold the notes for a book (Which I thought was a cute trick - Selling a book without writing a book) and almost sold some radio plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taADLPtyDb0

Too much madness and substance abuse, with very little prospect of recognition and reward in this lifetime for those at the real cutting and artistic edge. If I was going to do it, I would be the heir of William Burroughs, nothing less than voodoo alchemy and storming the reality studio once and far all would do for me.

It depends on what characters you create - I mean, whether you could live with them - or have the discipline and skill to operate in a historical context like the wonderful historical fiction of Len Deighton. But in any event, in general, most wannabees can't engage the conscious and sub-conscious minds in the right doses, although alcohol can help with this, or learn the hard craft of writing  as a discipline. Of course, there are exceptions: James Herriot writing watching television in a state of extreme ease with only a cup of tea. Then at the opposite extreme, you have Kerouac unable to write his "spontaneous" prose until the wee-wee hours and after copious amounts of benzedrine and Old Grandad.

By the time I figured all of that shit-out, I had moved on into a career with no time to engage in the aspirations of my youth.