About Larry Landgraf:
Larry Landgraf was born and raised on the Texas Gulf Coast in the swamp country of the Guadalupe River Delta. Larry has spent his entire life dealing with nature. He is at home with snakes, alligators, and every other swamp critter. In fact, a rattlesnake which crossed his path the other day is now a hatband. Larry started hunting and fishing to provide for his family while still in elementary school. He can build stuff with raw materials and make things work. Larry is a survivor by necessity.
Larry spent sixteen years in school. He majored in mathematics and earned minors in chemistry, biology and history while in college. He is book smart, but many years working for himself has given him common sense, practical ingenuity, numerous survival skills and the ability to make things work when they stubbornly choose not to work.
Larry wrote his first book Dangerous Waters in 1986 in an attempt to save his livelihood from government regulations. This book did not prevent the demise of his commercial fishing career. Larry began a new career as a contractor.
Larry and his wife raised three beautiful and smart children. After they moved away to pursue their dreams, Larry and his wife parted ways. Larry hasn’t looked back. It took a while, but after much searching, Larry met Ellen. She recently moved in with Larry and both plan to spend the rest of their lives together. Both work hard helping themselves and each other.
In 2012, Larry wrote his second book How to be a Smart SOB Like Me. According to his girlfriend, Ellen, this book is a rant. Larry says the book is his autobiography, but is much more than this. He claims it is a self-help pattern to a better life. Larry claims to be one of the happiest people on the planet, and would not change a single thing in his life. The book tells it like it is from Larry’s perspective. A rant? You decide.
This is Larry’s third book, but his debut novel. He thinks this is the perfect book for the times, and is well written and edited. Ellen played a big part in the editing process. Maybe he had to get everything out of his system with the last book to be able to write a great novel. Larry thinks this book has a great chance of becoming a best-seller.
If you wish to know more about Larry, maybe you should read his last book, How to be a Smart SOB Like Me. This book will tell you maybe a little more about him than you wish to know, but it is quite complete. He feels he shouldn’t repeat his biography here because it is available elsewhere.
Larry continues to work hard and play hard. Most of his work these days is for himself and Ellen. He continues to play poker and travel, but his yard, orchard, garden and other hobbies take up most of his time these days, as does writing. Larry has a cookbook in the works and has plans for a sequel to this book. He doesn’t consider himself an author yet, but he has great hopes for this book. Ellen thinks this is his best work to date, by far. A bona fide author? You decide.

What inspires you to write?
I am inspired to write by real life. I wake up in the middle of the night with visions of previous events which happened in my life. Some of these events happened recently, while others happened during my childhood. I have started posting short stories on my website which are all true and are past experiences during my life. I have just started and have a lot of stories to tell. I will try to post a new story every couple weeks. When I get the idea for a story started, the remainder just seems to flow from my head to my hands. I am a dreamer. I wake up most nights dreaming about something. Some are worth writing about and these go into my stories. Often, it takes me 10 hours to get 7 hours of sleep.

Tell us about your writing process.
Once I decide what I am going to write about, I just start writing. This makes writing very easy, but the editing process is a nightmare. What I thought I had written doesn’t always wind up on the word document. A word processing program can take out most of the grammar and spelling errors, but working on content to turn a mediocre piece of work into a great novel is the editing purgatory. Publishing is also easy if you self-publish like I did, but marketing is the next big chore.

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I interact with the characters primarily during the editing process. Maybe this is what makes the editing so tough. Thanks to modern technology, I now use a narration program, which allows me to listen to my characters talking to each other. This gives me a better feel for the characters and if their dialogue is working. I still get teary eyed here and there when reading or listening to my book, and I have read (or listened to) it at least 7 times over the past few months.

What advice would you give other writers?
Extreme persistence is the key to completing the writing process to the finished book. I have always been stubborn and a “get it done” type of person. If you are prone to giving up, you will not likely get the job done. If, however, you are stubborn, then nothing will hold you back. I gain a greater appreciation for all published authors with each passing day. Getting an idea to a finished book is tough. Finishing the job of getting the book accepted and sold will test your patience.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
Getting a traditional publisher to take your book and run with it can take 6 months easily; maybe much longer. With my latest book, I decided to go back to the self-publishing company who published my previous book. They produced a good product. As a return customer, they gave me a quality experience and produced my book in record time. They get 5 stars from me thus far. Can I mention their name? Xlibris, a Penguin Random House Company.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
People will always read books. Authors will always write books. Someone has to connect readers and authors, and publishers, from what I can tell, are getting the job done. I do not see this changing anytime soon.

What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer

What genres do you write?: My first two books were non-fiction. I think I’ll stick to fiction based on my real life experiences now.

What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Larry Landgraf Home Page Link
Link To Larry Landgraf Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Facebook
Twitter

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit, to allow you, the reader, to hear the author in their own voice.