#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Sean O'Leary
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I’d like to weclome Sean O’Leary to the blog for #WriterWednesday!
Hardest thing about being a writer: the waiting
Easiest thing about being a writer: I don’t get writers block. All I have to do is go to the desk and work.
Things you need for your writing sessions: Coffee, laptop, notes galore.
Things that hamper your writing: Ah, boring stuff, like paying bills, cleaning, but good stuff too, like great films and books, I can’t drag myself away from.
Last best thing you ate: Lemon Cheesecake.
Last thing you regret eating: Garlic bread.
Favorite music or song: Chet Baker/Royel Otis
Music that drives you crazy: lift muzak
The last thing you ordered online: a desk lamp.
The last thing you regret buying: some dodgy headphones.
Things you always put in your books: sex/fights/plot twists
Things you never put in your books: I’m up for everything.
Things to say to an author: I love your stuff
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I always thought I could be a writer. (There’s nothing stopping you.)
Favorite places you’ve been: Vietnam
Places you never want to go to again: Bali
Favorite books (or genre): The Great Gatsby. The Quiet American.
Books you wouldn’t buy: I’m up for anything, but if it doesn’t work, I don’t mind quitting early on.
Favorite things to do: Write/drink great coffee. Arabica in Bangkok is great. Travel.
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Get insurance. Complain about bad service.
The nicest thing a reader said to you: This was an extract from a review. I loved it: Fast-paced, sleazy, violent. O'Leary doesn't just show you the seedy sights of two of Australia's most famous cities; he drags you down into the gutter along with the losers, deadbeats, and addicts that populate this engrossing tale. I needed a bath with a wire brush and Dettol once I was done with this one.
The craziest thing a reader said to you: I got a 2-star review recently, and it started with, this isn’t my usual fare—and went downhill from there.
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done? I just started doing screen printing, plus I’m a mad photographer.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: A few short stories got burned and shredded.
Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: I’ve been in a psychiatric ward for a short time on three occasions. I have schizophrenia.
Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I wrote a short story collection called ‘This is Not a Love Song’ about failed love affairs, and a few people thought some were true. None were by the way.
The first 8-track, record, cassette, or CD you ever bought: I bought ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ at Brashes at Chadstone Shopping Centre, and I’ve been editing an anthology called ‘Crime Songs’, and Nevada McPherson-one of the contributors, chose that song as her inspiration.
A type of music that’s not your cup of tea: Rave
My favorite book as a child: The Guardians, a sci-fi book by John Christopher.
A book I’ve read more than once: The Great Gatsby.
Your favorite movie as a child: My parents took me to the cinema to see ‘The Man Who Would be King’ with Sean Connery and Michael Caine. It stayed with me.
A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): The Thirteen Ghosts/The Exorcist.
About Sean:
Sean O’Leary is a writer of crime and literary fiction from Melbourne, Australia. He has published five short story collections, two novellas and four novels as well as over fifty individual short stories in journals both literary and crime. He walks through cities, along coasts and on bush tracks. Takes photographs like a madman, does some drawing and thinks test cricket is the greatest game of all.
I write crime novels that are fast paced, action filled stories featuring relentless protagonists who never give up.
I write crime and literary short story collections filled with slices of life that will make you laugh and cry and break your heart.
My crime novels are also translated into Spanish and Portuguese.
Let’s Be Social:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sean.oleary.404569
Instagram 1: https://www.instagram.com/oleary4119/
Instagram 2: http://www.instagram.com/point_and_shoot_88
