talks about the creative process, dog-walking and Buffy.

JOB DESCRIPTION: Writer, Professor, novelist, scholar, teacher, director, dramaturg, editor and screenwriter. I think that’s quite enough, don’t you?

CURRENT PROJECTS: Final revisions to the sequel to ACT OF WILL and less final revisions to a new thriller tentatively titled THE TEARS OF THE JAGUAR, along with a cluster of academic articles and a book length performance history of Julius Caesar.

FIRST STEP ON A PROJECT: Walk the dog about a hundred times until I have the beginning of an idea to write down.

LAST STEP ON A PROJECT: Type “The End” and retire cautiously in case the computer explodes. That’s not really the last step. More like the last step of the first stage. Then the editing and revision starts. But typing those last two words (about 100,000 words after the first one) really make you feel like you’re making progress.

WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO? It’s a disease. I can’t not.

EDUCATION: BA, MA, Ph.D.

NO. OF COUNTRIES YOU'VE LIVED IN: 3

HOW DO YOU BREAK A CREATIVE BLOCK? Walk the dog. Play computer games. Read. Play my guitar. Wait for lightning to strike.

OFFICE CHAIR: Yes, thank you.

OFFICE SOUND TRACK: Silence. Total. How could anyone write with a soundtrack?

FAVORITE TCHOTCHKE: Huh?

MOST USEFUL TOOL: Er…my computer.

BEST PLACE TO THINK: I think as I write, but I have some of my best ideas when I’m out with the dog, in the shower or while I’m asleep.

BEST PLACE TO WRITE: In my study.

LONGEST DAY AT WORK: Define work. If you mean simply writing (not going into the office, teaching etc.), I rarely do more than 6 hours straight.