Paul Spencer Sochaczewski was born in 1947 in Brooklyn and grew up in suburban New Jersey. His first memory climbs on the kitchen counter and the stove and above the refrigerator, claiming that it was Mount Everest. As a child, he loved baseball, writing and doing her motherly concern. Paul spent years developing international campaigns for advertising agencies and NGOs such as WWF and the International Foundation against osteoporosis, while pursuing his writing career, publishing Soul of the Tiger (1995) Redheads (2000) Sultan and Queen Mermaid (2009) A disproportionate Fondness for Beetles (2012). Paul now runs writing workshops in more than 20 countries.
When did you first know you were writing talent?
I wrote my first play in eight years the flying bears, foreigners and buried treasure. The first book I ever read was without images the wonderful flight of the planet Mushroom by Eleanor Cameron. I guess I inherited the sci-fi gene from my father who introduced me to the great -. Frederick Pohl, Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov and Robert Sheckley
Have you had an epiphany in your youth that predicts your life as a writer?
I realize that I was not good enough to play pro baseball and would need another job, preferably one where I could wear jeans and t-shirts. My early preparation for a writing life was everything I experienced while living in the suburbs in the 1950s A formative experience I remember how was in elementary school, we had squatting exercises under our desks in the case of a Russian nuclear attack. It was only much later that I began to question the value of such an exercise. One of my main motivations encourage me to write in the following years was the environmental destruction that I saw around me.
What are your hobbies / interests?
The collection of unusual pictures Ganesha, cooking, gardening (especially tomatoes), Italian opera.
What is your background?
I have a Ph.D. in life experiences. I hold a BA in psychology from George Washington University, the famous ancient include Alex Baldwin, L. Ron Hubbard, Jackie O.
If you had to name your favorite writers, who would they be?
Tom Wolfe. Carl Hiaasen. Joseph Heller. Simon Schama. Tom Robbins. Bill Bryson. Paul Theroux (fiction only), Graham Greene. John Updike. Malcolm Gladwell. Bonfire of the Vanities Wolfe and Heller Catch-22 are black and funny and real.
How did you first interested you in writing about Indonesia?
He was a natural evolution of the interest. Funny thing about writers, many of them are (at least initially) rather shy and introspective, and writing is a way to go yet any public semi-underground. But it takes courage to put your stuff out there, particularly personal things, because it is very easy for critics (and everyone who buys a newspaper is critical) to turn the page, or worse, say "c is garbage. "
When is your first visit to Indonesia?
In 1971, while living in Singapore and works as creative director of an advertising agency. I was sent for a short mission in Indonesia. Since then, I have visited dozens of islands of the country, including many obscure eastern Indonesian islands. Ever been to Aru, Bacan, Kei, Misool, Wakatobi and Halmahera?
What inspired you to write Redheads?
I left Washington, DC, where I went to university to go to Sarawak to work with the US Peace Corps. I was living with tribal communities. I am perhaps the only defender of the international environment to have practical experience in the burning of the rainforest. That's how I got interested in tribal rights, destruction of tropical forests and greedy politicians.
Is there another book like it?
Catch-22 , but in a different context. One critic wrote, "Redheads do for the fight to save the rainforests of Borneo this Catch-22 did for the fight to stay alive in the Second World War."
Is this the only book orangutans?
All characters have red or reddish hair (henna or tinted). It is on tribal rights. Rainforest destruction. fraudulent scientists. international conservation efforts Big ego, but naive. The similarities of Orangutan (and differences) with humans. Sex. Greed. I hope it's funny.
What you go through researching the book
The usual tropical forest experience - the wonder, boredom, lousy food, too much alcohol mixed (rice wine, Guinness, moonshine, brandy), discomfort, athlete's foot, leeches, snakes, rain and more rain. I learned that some things are so serious and depressing you have to laugh. Furthermore, that sometimes fiction is a better way to alert and influence people to the problems that non-fiction often boring and selfish. Just tell a good story!
What revelations about the people you come away with?
People are people, some good, some bad, most somewhere in between, just trying to get by and hoping for a lucky break when they can find one. There seems to be an inverse generosity law. Fewer people in life the more they are willing to share with you.
Is there a common thread through all of your books?
This ego and greed are dangerous. They are inevitable. We have to face. In addition, there may well be a way to develop, say, a "deep ecology" with nature.
What research do you prefer?
The rendezvous hands dirty kind. Recently I went on a trip to northern Thailand with a bunch of Thai paleontologists in search of coprolites -. Fossilized dung freshwater sharks that lived there 200 million years
What are you reading now?
A lot of adventure novels. I really admire any writer who can simply tell a good story. But the best book I've read so far this year has been the return of Tom Wolfe in blood.
What writing project are you working on now?
Ah, another great book. travel Sharing , the guide of a writer on how to tell their personal story, based on my writing workshops. I also worked for 30 years on a new novel, but will not jinx it by talking publicly.
Any words you want to leave us?
Be very careful of the large international NGOs. They do not need your money and waste a lot. Giving money and emotional support instead to small local NGOs in any field you are interested in: battered women, literacy, arts, animal welfare, conservation, child labor, the peace. The little guys have the passion and make things happen.
where people can learn about your work
My website: www.sochaczewski.com