Prior to writing my first novel, I had written just about every form of creative material for business -- from speeches and magazine articles to space ads and video scripts.  For 20 years I was the president of an advertising and public relations agency, and like many creative types in that field, I yearned to write a novel.  But, truth be told, I had no reason to believe I could succeed at it.  I had never so much as taken a creative writing class.  I knew that plotting, character development, etc. was much different than writing a brochure for medical supplies.  And so, after retiring young, it was easy to procrastinate.  I didn't have writer's block, I had writer's terror. After three years of this, I finally took a brief adult education course on novel writing. The instructor kicked me in the backside, got me to write a few pages, and lo and behold, I was hooked.  Not to mention more confident and having fun.  Six months later, Follow The Falcon (all 136,000 words of it) was born -- well, at least ready to pitch.  People told me I had a winner, and so did two publishers. I signed with Club Lighthouse Publishing. As I begin my second mystery/thriller, it's clear that what influences me most in my writing is what I love.  And I love many things.  In Follow The Falcon, it was art, architecture, the French Riviera, great food and the Red Sox.  In my next novel, a Costa Rican cloud forest -- my wife and I own a villa next to a Costa Rican cloud forest -- will be the setting.