Phil Fragasso's Blog: Blogs, Insights & Rants, page 4

The Story Behind the Book – “Going Both Ways”

Most of my writing has been centered on interpersonal relationships and the male-female dichotomy. Despite being a heterosexual male, my writing often portrays the male characters as boorish while the women tend to be more likeable and far wiser. It’s been said a million times that men don’t really understand women and vice versa. And it almost has to be that way because we’ve never taken the proverbial walk in the other gender’s shoes. But what if we did? How would that change our perspecti...

Interview with PUYB Virtual Book Club

Before you started writing your book, what kind of research did you do to prepare yourself?

As a novelist, most of my research comes about during the course of my daily activities. I like to write about relationships – pulling them apart and (sometimes) putting them back together – so the most effective research comes from watching and listening. I’ve always had a lot of female friends, and in my heart of hearts I do believe women are superior to men in the vast majority of ways. I think that...

Where Did I Go?

Where’s Phil? Has he gone into hiding with Waldo? What happened to his frequent blogs? Here’s the story.

As I explained in a recent piece, I have four books coming out in the first five months of this year. Two are already published. Most of my promo has been on the first Still Counting. The second Going Both Ways was published 10 days ago. As part of that launch I’m doing a “blog tour” that required me to do four written interviews and three guest blogs. Those are all done.

I’ve been workin...

Wag More, Bark Less

I recently saw a bumper sticker encouraging me to “Wag More, Bark Less.” As the proud owner of two sweet-tempered yellow Labs named Riley and Maisy, I couldn’t help but smile. More importantly, however, it reminded me of how much we humans can learn about life from our canine friends.

Riley and Maisy love everything. Every morsel of food is miraculous; every scent is addictive; every walk in the park is a tropical vacation; every sound is a revelation; every pat on the head or scratch on the...

Monkeys, Shakespeare, Writing, and Me

There’s an adage that says, “If you put 100 monkeys with typewriters in a room long enough, eventually they’ll write Hamlet.” It requires just a nanosecond of reflection to realize that the monkeys wouldn’t actually be writing. They’d merely be typing. But the idea is they’d be typing fast and furious and eventually create something worth reading.

This is the biggest year I’ve ever experienced as a writer and there are indeed times when I feel like the aforementioned monkeys. I have four book...

Interview with Jersey Girl Book Reviews

Before we get to the interview, can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
After a career as a marketing executive, I left the corporate world to focus on activities that were more fulfilling on a personal level and more contributory to the world around me. Today I focus on writing and teaching. I’ve often said “I live the American dream” and that is indeed how I feel. With a wonderful wife, two grown children, great friends and a couple of rambunctious Labrador retrievers, I stay...

“Stranded on a Desert Island:” Novel Escapes Interview

If you could only have one book with you, what would it be/
The One-Volume Columbia Encyclopedia. There are many books I could re-read multiple times, but not continuously. The Columbia book could keep me interested for weeks and probably stimulate a lot of story ideas.

What one luxury item would you want to be stranded with?
Assuming a Lear jet or helicopter was out of the question, I’d probably opt for a Bose music system loaded with my entire music library. I can cope with most anything wi...

“Stranded on a Desert Island,” Novel Escapes Interview

If you could only have one book with you, what would it be?
The One-Volume Columbia Encyclopedia. There are many books I could re-read multiple times, but not continuously. The Columbia book could keep me interested for weeks and probably stimulate a lot of story ideas.

What one luxury item would you want to be stranded with?
Assuming a Lear jet or helicopter was out of the question, I’d probably opt for a Bose music system loaded with my entire music library. I can cope with most anything wi...

Interview with “Change the Word”

Change the Word: What was your inspiration for Still Counting?
Phil Fragasso: I’d always wanted to write a classic romantic page-turner like Erich Segal’s Love Story, but I wanted the story to revolve around contemporary issues (in this case sexual identity). My goal was to create a character-driven story that would make readers laugh and cry and provide some insight in the process.

CTW: What was the greatest challenge you faced while writing it, and how did you overcome it?
PF: I’ve often s...

Phil’s Interview with “Change the Word”

Change the Word: What was your inspiration for Still Counting?
Phil Fragasso: I’d always wanted to write a classic romantic page-turner like Erich Segal’s Love Story, but I wanted the story to revolve around contemporary issues (in this case sexual identity). My goal was to create a character-driven story that would make readers laugh and cry and provide some insight in the process.

CTW: What was the greatest challenge you faced while writing it, and how did you overcome it?
PF: I’ve often sa...