Writing Q & A

2003 Author Interview

Over recent years, I've given several online "interviews" to people who are interested in my views on writing. Here is one from 2003.

1. Where do you come from? Where did you grow up?

I was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and moved to Cape Town when I was eight, where I fell under the spell of the mountain. I think of myself as an African. Africa is in my blood and eternally inspires me - on my 21st, I even made "Africa" one of my official middle names.

2. What drew you to writing and when did you begin writing?

I wrote a cute little story when I was eight called My Shoes Are Magic. But it was only really in high school, thanks to my English teacher at Fairbairn College, that I began to be inpired by the writing of others - mainly poetry. I think I was drawn to the excitement of discovery (seeing new worlds through others' eyes) and the powerful emotions that the words evoked in me. I even remember, instead of studying the night before my final Matric English exam, I was copying out my favourites from our poetry textbook that had to be handed in the next day. At the time, I was also going through an existential crisis and so I began writing a diary, which has been instrumental in learning to express myself on the page. But, if the truth be told, it was a passionate and unrealisable crush on a girl at university (UCT) that really got the juicy words flowing.

3. What did you read when you were a child and how did it influence you if at all?

I read all the usual children's books - Enid Blyton, the Hardy Boys, Roald Dahl and Willard Price's African adventure stories. My parents also read Call of the Wild (Jack London) and Children of the Oregan trail to my sister and I when were we still fairly young, and they left a real impression. But, as I said, it was really in high school that I began to appreciate the power of writing - poems like Horses on the Camargue and books like Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Richard Bach) and the Afrikaans book, Raka (NP van Wyk Louw). Many of the books that influenced me the most had to do with the power of parables.

4. When and how did you first come to be published? What was the book?

Beyond Reasonable Greed (with Clem Sunter) was my first book. I had met Clem through my work at KPMG as a management consultant and I asked him if he would consider writing a forward for the book I wanted to do on business transformation. He agreed, but after some early drafts, we discovered that we shared many common ideas, and so we decided to write and publish the book together. It was a great experience to collaborate with him.

5. Who or what has influenced your writing the most?

The biggest personal influence was Bob Steyn, the late minister of the Cape Town Unitarians, because he introduced me to so many of the philosophical authors that have shaped my thinking. The fiction writer that has had the most influence on me is Richard Bach, since he often writes inspirationally using parables and metaphors, and I love Kahlil Gibran and Ben Okri's poetry. In non-fiction, Marilyn Ferguson's Aquarian Conspiracy stoked my interest in exploring and writing about social and personal transformation.

6. What is your vision? What do you hope to give to readers through your work?

My vision is to inspire people to make a positive difference - in their own lives and in the world. That is the strong theme in my book with Guy Lundy (South Africa: Reasons to Believe) - we have to power to make things better, and it all starts with a constructive attitude. I hope that, through my writing, I contribute to people's sense of personal mission and meaning in their lives.

7. What are you working on?

I am working on three books at the moment, all fiction: The Little Book of Business Inspiration is a collection of poetic reflections on business; Parkbench Perspectives is about how the world looks completely different, depending on whose eyes you are looking through; and Dreams of Gold is a rags-to-riches parable story set in South Africa, which is about discovering what is really important in life.

8. Who do you read? What are you reading now?

I read autobiographies, spiritual parables, and the occasional classic, plus books on African travel, modern philosophy and business transformation. At the moment, I am reading Sychronicity, and Modern Man In Search of a Soul (both Carl Jung), The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, and Motivation and Personality (both Abraham Maslow), SQ: The Ultimate Intelligence, and Rewiring the Corporate Brain (both Danah Zohah), Dark Star Safari (Paul Theroux), The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver), and The Wheel of Life (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross).

9. What movies or music do you enjoy?

Movies - fantasy (Lord of the Rings, the Matrix, Brazil), romantic comedy (Four Weddings & a Funeral, Nottinghill), action/suspense (The Fugitive, Conair), musicals (JC Superstar, Moulin Rouge) and drama/arts (The Red Violin, Shine), biographical (Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind); Music - African (Johnny Clegg, The Power of One, Amampondo), rock n roll (Elvis, Neil Diamond), folk (Don McClean, Carpenters, Paul Simon), 80s pop (Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones), greats (Elton John, Queen, Billy Joel, Madonna), light classics/musicals (Sarah Brightman, Michael Ball, Charlotte Church, Elaine Page), soundtrack/meditative (Big Blue, Twin Peaks, The Mission, Spirits, Vangelis)