Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 9 | Page 25

Beast of Guangming Peak,” published in Sher-
lock Holmes: The Hidden Years, was named a
“Distinguished American Mystery Story” of
2004 by Joyce Carol Oates and Otto Penzler.
And then we have your contributions to Sis-
ters in Crime/Los Angeles.
I created and co-edited the Sisters in
Crime/Los Angeles anthology Murder on Sun-
set Boulevard, and co-edited its follow-up,
LAndmarked for Murder. I’m also a consult-
ing editor for The Strand Magazine.
for the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach fea-
turing Prince Michael of Kent. Celebrity
events included ones for Macaulay Culkin,
Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky; and Eliza-
beth Taylor’s 60th Birthday Party.
Animation is a different sort of writing. I
know because several years ago I dated an
award-winning animation writer, someone
you knew too, and I was also a cousin by
marriage to one of the owners of Filmation
Studios. You’ve become an authority on an-
imation. Tell me a little about that.
We’ve talked about your works for adults.
How about what you write for kids?
Somewhere in between I indulge in my love
of writing for young readers. My kid’s myster-
ies and scary tales have appeared in Fox Kids
Magazine, the Los Angeles Times “Kid’s Read-
ing Room” page—which publishes my ongo-
ing “Scotty” series—and online at The
Case.com for Kids. My kid’s thriller Night
Shocker was published by Baronet Books as
part of its “FrightTime” series. I’ve been
nominated three times for the prestigious
Pushcart Prize, once for fiction and once for
non-fiction
So, did you start out as a writer? So many of
us have previous careers--how about you?
Actually, I started out as a radio newscaster.
After moving to Los Angeles I launched a ca-
reer as an actor, and appeared on such tele-
vision shows as Days of Our Lives and General
Hospital, and in the films Frances and Elea-
nor, First Lady of the World, and many stage
productions. Occasionally I still take on an
acting role (most recently in Mad Men), but I
largely transitioned from performing to writ-
ing in 1989. I joined the show production
staff of Disneyland as a show writer. Then
for the next three years I wrote more than a
hundred shows, ceremonies and special
events, including the rededication ceremony
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
I’ve been a fan of
animated cartoons
as far back as I can
remember, and,
yes, I’m now inter-
nationally recognized
as an authority on the
history and industry of
animation. I’ve been
interviewed by E! En-
tertainment Television, BBC Radio, CBC Ra-
dio, The New York Times, TV Guide, USA To-
day, The Charlotte Observer, The Atlanta
Journal, The London Times, The London Inde-
pendent, Britain’s Red Galaxy Productions, as
well as many radio and television stations
across the United States.
You say you were with Disney for three
years. What came after that?
After leaving Disney, I worked for other
theme park and new media companies, in-
cluding Universal, Iwerks Entertainment and
Sony New Technologies. I wrote attraction
films and simulator ride films, contributing to
the first virtual reality simulator ride. I also
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S UMMER 2019