1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?

(AY) I’m thirty-five years old, and I run my father’s accounting firm. I’m something like a cross between an office manager, a clerk, a secretary, and I don’t know what else. I just do whatever needs to get done in that office, and I make sure that everything stays operating to the best of my ability.

I also train in Tae Kwon Do under Grand Master Heung Taek (Ben) Hur. I’ve been training with him for over twenty years, and am a Third Dan black belt, currently preparing to test for my Fourth degree.

As for writing, it began in school. I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school, but I started writing science-fiction at some point in sixth or seventh grade. What eventually became Codename: Winterborn and its universe got its first beginnings in doodles and short stories I wrote sitting in high school literary magazine meetings.

2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.

(AY) Well, I know that the best way to get out of “block” is just to keep chipping  away at it, but that doesn’t seem to work all that well for me. I guess I have to look around at other types of writing and get interested in them – for example, once, when I was bored with the story I was writing, I started working on a screenplay just as a writing exercise. It helped me out a bit.

3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?

(AY) Outside of work? It depends on the time of week. Sometimes, it’ll be training at my Tae Kwon Do dojang, and other times it might just be playing some video games, watching a movie, reading something, or sometimes just writing. It’s important to stay relaxed and healthy.

4. I know many writers keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?

1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?

(DF) Well, let’s see – I’m an overeducated history and philosophy nerd who studies Krav Maga, the self defense system of the Israeli military. That’s the short version. The long version includes being accused of terrorism (pre-9/11 … it’s complicated), a fascination with IRA songs, and being a walking confessional for college (and that was a long four years, let me tell you).

My start in writing? Once upon a time, I fell into a tv show called Babylon 5. I followed the show, read the writer’s notes on it, and I started dabbling myself. Soon, I had over 4000 pages of text, none of my material looked like where it started, and I was addicted to writing.


2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.

(DF) I don’t actually suffer from writer’s block, mostly because I’ve never been forced to work on just one project. If it ever happens that I can’t think of what to do next on one project, I go onto another. Usually, I sit down at the computer, double check what cliff I left everyone dangling over this time, and start figuring out how to get them off of it without dropping them. I tend to have a lot of cliffs involved. And when the plot gets slow, I send someone through a door with a machinegun.

3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?

(DF) Not writing? What is this thing called “not writing”? There is no such thing. If I’m not writing a book, I’m writing a press release, or a letter to bookstores, or a guest blog for a site that’s never heard of me before. Or talking with a church group about talking in front of them, or … or … or … 

I will occasionally see a movie, or read a novel. Since my PR has started on both novels – Codename: Winterborn and A Pius Man – my reading speed has dropped significantly. Books I used to finish in a day now take weeks. When I really feel the need to just stop – as in “My head hurts even thinking about writing” – I turn on my Xbox and fall in for a few days.

4. I know many writers keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?

(DF) Most people know what I do, but my best friends tell me that I should rock on and keep plugging away. The ones who are just acquaintances tell me “that’s nice” and start discussing their little universe, because the latest Jersey Shore plot they call their life is more interesting than anything else.


5. Will you share with us your all time favorite authors? If you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.

(DF) John Ringo, Vince Flynn, James Rollins, David Weber, Timothy Zahn, S. Kenyon (didn’t see that one coming, did you?), Jim Butcher, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (who really only count as one unit, they’re practically joined at the hip), Terry Prachett and Terry Goodkind.

(The Pius Trilogy) (Volume 1)

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