Rhonda Baughman interviews Douglas E. Winter
Begin Transmission
An Interview with Author Douglas E Winter
The man speaks to me from a bar in Kansas City. He is alone and he speaks to me … sipping a whiskey, neat. He is tired from a long day of traveling. He is a writer, a lawyer – a warrior and champion of the people. He is Douglas E. Winter, author of Run, the upcoming Hide, and memorable, and numerous witty short stories including Bright Lights, Big Zombie and Less than Zombie.
And if you haven’t read him – shame on you. I mean, really … get one of his books, already … and if you don’t appreciate his wit by the end of this interview, chances are … we should never meet …
http://www.myspace.com/douglasewinter
http://www.myspace.com/ritualecho
Rhonda: Who is Douglas E. Winter? If you had to define yourself in this interview - what do you say?
DW: Tired.
Rhonda: Weapon of choice?
DW: Reasoning. Although, for certain special moments, I prefer a Glock 19.
Rhonda: Quality or Quantity?
DW: Quality. Except when it comes to money.
Rhonda: Favorite destination - why?
DW: Home. I’m away too often.
Rhonda: Please elaborate on your work with Video Watchdog?
DW: I write the soundtrack column for Video Watchdog, and just notched my 117th consecutive column. So I’ve written a book about film music --
you simply need to read 100+ magazines. VW is my favorite magazine, by the way... the one I always read, so it’s about loving the magazine, as well as loving the music.
Rhonda: Advice for aspiring writers?
DW: Read. Then read some more. Then realize that it’s not important to be a writer. What’s important is to be read – not by your parents, not by
your wife, not by your friends, not by your supposed fellow writers, but by people who don’t know you and will never know you except through
your words.
Rhonda: Advice for aspiring writers of horror fiction?
DW: Don’t write horror fiction. Write fiction.
Rhonda: What interview question are you most sick of ... ?
DW: For a long time, it was: What is Stephen King really like? But in recent years, it’s become: When will Run be made into a movie?
Rhonda: Pet peeves?
DW: I don’t have peeves. I have dogs.
Rhonda: Please elaborate on your work with ... the law ....
DW: To quote Bobby Fuller: "I fought the law, and the law won."
I teach lawyers to write, and I have this ironic cachet as an instructor: I’m a professional writer. But about the first thing I tell those lawyers is that lawyers are the highest paid professional writers in the world. And we don’t get paid by the word, but by the minute. I came to a realization, a few years ago, that this whole notion that I’m a lawyer by day, a writer by night, was not only wrong as a matter of time – usually I’m a lawyer by day and by night, and a writer only when I can find the time – but also wrong as a way of looking at who I am. I’m successful as a lawyer because I’m a writer
and an editor. So these days I think of myself as a full-time professional writer, and of my law firm as a well-paying publisher.
Rhonda: Please elaborate on your work with Ritual Echo ...
DW: We’re just trying to become the planet’s dominant gloomy electronic/ psychedelic post-music trio, that’s all. My friends Michael Barry and
Leslie Combemale and I now have twenty original songs and a lot of unique covers, and we've released one EP, with maybe two full-length
discs in the making. We work together remarkably well, mainly because we interlock in interesting ways as friends and musicians -- he's the
virtuoso, she's the enchantress/lyricist, and I'm Brian Eno. And playing live is always an incredible experience.
