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Even though he's only 31 years old, Thomas Nesbit has lived many lives. His first job involved picking up dead turkeys for a nickel a piece at his uncle’s farm in North Carolina. A high school failure, he was nevertheless one of the first of his lineage to attend college – an opportunity he immediately wasted by becoming a philosophy major.

Ten years ago he moved to Boston to get a Ph.D. because he wanted people to call him “Dr. Nesbit” like in those Indiana Jones movies. These days he fancies himself a novelist (when he’s not working as a temp in a cubicle near you). After doing time in places like NYC, Prague, and Vienna, he’s happily settled in Las Vegas, working on his second novel between the twin sands of nothingness.

Thank you Thomas for taking the time to answer some questions for us!  Please tell us about your latest project.
 
My latest is DEEP FRIED – my first novel – which I published this summer. It’s a dark comedy about a 14-year-old violinist stuck in fictional Roughedge County, North Carolina. He lives in a decrepit trailer with his single mom, and has developed an innocent but unhealthy obsession with her – enhanced by puberty and his oversexed mind. The story chronicles his development as a violinist and an individual. Despite the heavy themes, I promise you’ll laugh from page one!
 
How has your education, profession or background helped you in your writing career? Or conversely, how has your writing success helped you in your profession?
 
Tough question, as I’ve launched three writing careers over the past decade. First, I wrote exclusively academic works and getting a Ph.D. in Religion and Literature from Boston University certainly helped. I then worked as a freelance writer for non-profit organizations in NYC, but I found that writing for cash hindered my third writing career as a budding novelist. These days, I prefer to make money with simple jobs completely unrelated to writing – it gives me loads of fodder and frees my imagination.
 
What kind of other works have you had published?
 
My first book was HENRY MILLER AND RELIGION, a rewrite of my dissertation published by Routledge in 2007. It’s mostly for literature scholars, but I’ve received some great feedback from Henry Miller fans. I’ve also edited a few collections of academic essays – both credited and uncredited – and published numerous articles in peer-reviewed books and journals.
 
What will your next project be?
 
It’s a novel set in Las Vegas, my current home. I can’t say much more now, but it’s another dark comedy tentatively titled DEUCE DEUCE. It’ll be worth the wait.
 
What type of work is the most rewarding or satisfying for you?
 
Revising. There’s nothing more rewarding than communicating with great clarity, and this never happens in a first draft.
 
What can you recommend for writers who are just getting started and are trying to make a name for themselves?
 
Before you get too far along, try to figure out your motivations for writing. If it’s for fame or profit, I’d stop and do something else. If it’s to help people, make sure there aren’t other books out there that do it better. It’s easy to make a name for yourself in writing if you have a lot of cash for advertising, the right connections willing to help you, etc. For the rest of us, you have to be persistent at your craft, notify potentially interested parties when something newsworthy happens, keep your eyes open, and repeat the cycle until you’ve had your say.
 
How did you get started as a writer?
 
Reading TROPIC OF CANCER as a young teenager convinced me that I’d found my calling. Like many angsty teens, I began chronicling feelings and impressions in journals. Everything else that followed has been a natural extension of writing every day.
 
Which is your favorite book/work published? Is there a favorite?
 
My favorite book is always in flux. It’s usually the one I’m committed to at the time (currently DAS KAPITAL by Marx), though I remain completely in awe of the Bible, the most complicated book I’ve tried to understand.
 
What does a typical work day look like for you?
 
I work as a permatemp from 8-4:30pm and put in a few hours of reading and writing in the evenings. There’s nothing glamorous about it, but this is how it has to be.
 
Have you ever had a mentor, or someone who sparked your passion for writing?
 
A lot of my motivation comes from within. Some college professors encouraged me to try out different types of writing and I’ve acknowledged their contributions in each of my books. I think I’m the only one who has an idea of why I write or, more specifically, why I need to write. It’s a drive that I don’t completely understand.
 
Who is your favorite writer/author?
 
I really don’t know. There are so many I admire and for different reasons. Albert Camus was probably one of the most recent among us who got the message clearly and wrote it down. Deleuze and Guattari are great too. I have other favorites but they got sidetracked along the way or the writings seem more together than the author.  But at the end of the day, I have to give it up to Hart Crane, Henry Miller, and Virginia Woolf for getting out there, way out there. And let’s not forget Faulkner.
 
Finally, a most important question: what was the last song you sang out loud when you were by yourself?  :)
 
“Big Brother” by David Bowie off the album “Diamond Dogs.” It’s such a sincere song and a hoot to sing! As with the Bible, I often wonder what “Diamond Dogs” is about. I guess “Big Brother” is just another Bowie hymn to paranoia.

Thank you Thomas! We wish you great success with your first novel Deep Fried and good luck with your writing career!