CP Spotlight: Bryan Alaspa

1. Tell us a little about yourself. When did you first decide to become a writer, and what really inspires you to continue?

I first knew I wanted to write when I was in the third grade. I had always been a voracious reader even at that age and read well above my age and grade level. When I discovered and realized people actually got paid to write the things I loved to read I knew that I was going to do that. I realized how much fun it could be when I sat down in front of my mother’s electric typewriter and proceeded to pound out the most horrible three-page piece of crap ever written but I was hooked. I took quite a few diversions over the years as people would constantly tell me I had to take classes or get training in “real” areas. I took some time to be a radio broadcast, but always came back to my writing. As for what inspires me? Well, I have these characters and stories running around in my head. They keep running around in there whether I write about them or not. The only way to shut them up is to bring them to life in my fiction or whatever it is I write. I hope to eventually write fiction full-time but these days I freelance and write all kinds of things from press releases and marketing material to restaurant reviews to website content. It all takes creativity and I really enjoy it.

2. I understand you are not only a freelancer, but also the author of three novels, with another coming out in 2007. Tell us a little about your life as a novelist, and what we can expect in the future.