ROBERT DUGONI with WENDY HINMAN

How do you manage to do so much? How do you balance it all?

Honestly, a lot of the time not very well. I’ve come to realize that I really have to find more time to write. I won’t sacrifice my family, my kids sporting events, which means something has to give. I love to teach, I really do. But you begin to realize that writers write and every day we don’t write is a lost day.  At the same time, we all have to make a living, support our families and practicing law provides a steady income in what is becoming a more and more volatile publishing industry.

You spend a lot of time at writers conferences. What makes them so useful to you?

I love the energy. I love to sit and talk with people about writing, about ideas. Writing can be so solitary, lonely. It is always great to get around others and share ideas, complaints, talk about the writing life.  Conferences provide writers with an outlet and I really enjoy being there.

How do you think acting and teaching helps your storytelling?

Acting teaches you scene structure. You learn about entrances and exits. Also, you communicate through action and dialog. You can’t communicate with an audience through internal dialog and the key to “showing” is action and dialog.  Teaching keeps me on my toes. I tell people all the time to read my earlier books and they’ll find all the mistakes I’m telling them not to make. Writing is a craft. You can always learn more.

What was it like to switch from being a full time attorney to writing full time?

Scary. The writing industry is the only career I’ve never been able to outwork. I’m a grinder. I’ll never win the lottery, but that’s okay. I just keep grinding my way forward. There is so much out of the writer’s control though that often hard work does not equate to success. I know many talented, hard working authors who just haven’t had that career break. Their writing is terrific. They do all the right things but for whatever reason – lack of exposure, a publisher who doesn’t care, too few books in stores, they can’t get noticed.

Describe your writing process. How do you come up with an idea? Do you begin with an outline or a list of scenes?

I usually come up with an idea and a character. I begin to formulate the story from there. I am not an outliner per se, but I do like to have a sense of a full story before I begin. Often for me it is simplifying the story. Deciding what is the true essence of the story and getting rid of all the extraneous stuff.

What techniques do you rely upon to create tension and suspense in your books?

The first sentence has to raise a question and the last sentence has to leave one.

Is there a secret to getting on the New York Times Bestseller list? If so, please do tell.

I wish there was. I think the most important thing is having a publisher who believes in you, is willing to do a large print run and get your books in the stores and will promote you, especially when you get that great review.

Is there something you wish you'd known sooner in your writing career that would have saved you some heartache? What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

You will fail, often. Writing is like baseball. You just have to keep taking your cuts and work on getting better.

Thank you so much for interviewing with us!