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Former newspaper reporter Joe O'Connell earned an MFA in creative writing from Southwest Texas State University. O'Connell's stories have taken first prize at both the Deep South Writers Conference and in the Louzelle Rose Barclay Awards. He teaches writing to graduate students at St. Edward's University and to undergraduates at Austin Community College. He is also a film industry columnist for the Dallas Morning News and has contributed articles to Variety and Texas Monthly. O'Connell's novel Evacuation Plan is loosely inspired by three months spent, as part of a competitively chosen group of writers and visual artists, at Hospice Austin's Christopher House. Visit his blog at joeoconnell.com

Thank you Joe for taking the time to answer some questions for us! Please tell us about your book.

Evacuation Plan is a book I never set out to write. I was actually doing research for a mystery novel when I learned of a program that would send writers and artists into a residential hospice. It grew from there. I finally understood where I was headed after reading Tim O'Brien's novel July, July, which tells of a 30th college reunion, but drifts off into the stories of what happened to these people since their college years. He gets to those big moments of life. I decided this novel-in-stories was the structure I wanted for my book. I wanted to tell the story of this place of last moments. I wanted people to know the stories of the nurses, the dying, their children. On the surface it's about a screenwriter who goes into a hospice in search of a plot for his next film, but we really end up getting the stories of what it means to be a human being.

Have you received any awards for your work?

It won the North Texas Book Festival Book Award recently, and was also a finalist for the Violet Crown Book Award which is given out by the Writers League of Texas, the second largest writers group in the nation. That was very cool. Those awards help give legitimacy to those of us published by smaller, literary presses.

Do you also do speaking engagements, or seminars? 

I talk to hospice groups, both local and national, as well as writers organizations and just about anyone who will have me! This is a literary work, but I also like to spread the word a bit about hospice and how it is more about life than it is about death. It's also not always a depressing thing. Hospice gives people a chance to take charge of the ends of their own lives. What could be more empowering and important? I fight the notion among some readers that my book will depress them. Many have told me how uplifting it was. I like what Joe Holley, a Washington Post obituary writer, said in my book's introduction calling it a "rich and compelling book of life."

How has your education, profession or background helped you in your writing career? Or conversely, how has you writing success helped you in your profession?

I've been a film writer from more than a decade and a fiction writer for even longer, and that certainly had an impact on Evacuation Plan. That the main character is a screenwriter is no accident. Matt the screenwriter is a scribe, taking down the stories of the dying. He also sees himself as a bit of a vampire, sucking up other people's stories. I wanted to talk a bit about the creative process and how we go about weaving stories. One friend said the book would be a perfect writing textbook.

What will your next project be?

I'm finishing that mystery novel for one thing! I've got another mystery completed and I'm seeking to place it. But I'm also making a documentary about the famed film stuntman Gary Kent and I'm about to embark on a nonfiction work about the incredible life of my mother, which begins with the story of how her grandfather, a doctor in East Texas, had an affair with his nurse and the two conspired to poison their spouses. They got away with it, I must add.

Who inspires you on a personal or business level?

The mystery of what it means to be a human being. We are so full of frailties and fears. How we deal with those is the human story. I tell students that their goal is to find the "little truths" of what it means to be human. That's pretty much it.

What can you recommend for writers who are just getting started and are trying to make a name for themselves?

Read a lot, write a lot and join a critique group made up of people you trust. The writer Joe R. Lansdale told me recently that there's no secret other than getting your butt in the chair and writing.

How did you get started as a writer?

I've been writing is some form since I was a kid, but I got into fiction through journalism. I was a newspaper reporter in some smaller Texas towns to start out. The reporters had to take turns working what I call the festival beat on Saturdays. We'd be sent to a corn festival, a rodeo, that sort of thing. The beginners would write about these events as "a good time was had by all." The pros learned the secret is always to tell the person story. Tell us about the little girl riding her first horse in competition. Give us all of her fears and joy, and we'll want to read.

Which is your favorite book/work published? Is there a favorite?

The book that does it for me is Feast of Love by Charles Baxter in which a fictional Charles Baxter the insomniac walks around asking people to tell him their stories of love. I like to say my book is a "Feast of Death," and it's certainly influenced greatly by Baxter, whose short stories are also incredible.

Have you ever had a mentor, or someone who sparked your passion for writing?

In graduate school I worked long distance with the late Andre Dubus, who was certainly the short story master. He was generous in his praise and precise in his criticism. He also said writers have no right to complain about the financial trials of the profession since "we volunteered for the job."

Finally, a most important question: what was the last song you sang out loud when you were by yourself? :)

Burning Down the House by the Talking Heads. I was doing one of those Facebook quizzes where you use song titles to describe your life!

Thank you Joe! We wish you great success with your book and future projects!