Writer Interview #3

-- Writer Interview --

Our special series of writer-interviews running through April & May continue with:


Bio: Born in Los Angeles, California Lloyd Kaneko has traveled throughout the continental United States as well as internationally to Japan, France, Spain, Holland and Algeria. Throughout his professional career, Lloyd has served as columnist for Drum Corps Digest in 1973, and became senior staff writer form Drum Corps News of Boston, Massachusetts. As a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development, he has served as Editor of the L.A. Interchange Newsletter. http://www.lloydkaneko.com

Q: Tell us a bit about your passions in life.

I am passionate about life and the quality of life as a whole. Not only for the people of this country, but for the entire world. I believe the needs and priorities of people should come first before profits. Profits will eventually follow, but that is usually after you have taken good care of your people first – not the other way around. I am passionate about shedding light onto the dark qualities of life here in the United States. Generally, people may think that life in general is very rosy here. Truthfully, there are a lot of serious dark traits of the country that the people should be concerned about.

Q: What inspired you to write?

The manuscript was taking up room in my office and I was recovering from cervical spine surgery. Listening to classical radio and writing Kami Jin help with the recovery process and minimized the post surgical pain. In short, the therapeutic value of writing was my inspiration

Q: Where do you hope to take your writing in the future?

Electronic publishing is rapidly going to establish a stronger presence in the publishing industry. This plus self-publishing. The traditional means of publishing are becoming too slow, too limited, and too picky. Often the wrong books for the wrong purpose are being published for the sake of maximizing profits. This leaves a lot of very good writers with important messages to tell out of the market. Self-publishing will offer the channel of getting the word out faster and more efficiently.

Q: How do you come up with ideas for your writings and why do you feel you choose some over others?

Either I just start to write my ideas in a notebook or I record the ideas onto a digital recorder. Some ideas just seem to stand out more than others. It depends largely on where the ideas lead me. A lot of times, the ideas lead to a dead-end. Sometimes, they segment into other stories…

Q: In your career as a writer - what do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

My strengths as a writer is being able to clearly express my thoughts and convictions on paper through the written word.

My weakness as a writer is being able to clearly communicate those same ideas verbally and convincingly. Although I have made public speaking appearances and conducted seminars and workshops, making a convincing argument in a debate is not my forte.

Q: What is your opinion of the world today?

Heavily flawed and focused on the wrong priorities. Especially here in the United States, the focus of attention is on “what’s in it for me?” rather than “what’s in it for us?” – “What can I benefit or profit from a particular matter” instead of “What can we or the world benefit from the same matter?” Essentially, it is a greedy, very selfish attitude which has manifested itself in the behavior of many people in this country. Society is no longer compassionate towards its fellow man – look at the problems of homelessness and poverty. Why are profits more important than the needs of people?

Find Dave & Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows & free resources & articles at www.brummet.ca