Many authors have inspired me over the years. During high school, I eagerly read every novel and short story written by Kurt Vonnegut. My favorites were "Cat's Cradle" and "The Sirens of Titan". My high school thesis was devoted to Vonnegut and I remember writing to his publicist and receiving an autographed copy of "Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons" - his non-fiction collection of essays.
Next, I became a big fan of John Irving, especially enjoying his novels "The World According to Garp" and "The Hotel New Hampshire", but also his earlier work, "Setting Free the Bears" and "The Water-Method Man". As an aspiring author the thing I most admired about John Irving was his statement that he wrote the ending first, and then he created the plot for his novel, a story that would reach that concluding line. When I write, I too envision where the plot will take me in the end, and then my creative process brings me there eventually.And one other author I must mention – Haruki Murakami. I'm not sure when I started reading his novels and short stories, but certainly "Norwegian Wood" was one of the first. I once made myself a list of seven reasons why I enjoyed reading Murakami. Among the reasons were that the settings in Murakami's stories are realistic, yet anything can happen. At one point, the bookshelf in my home included every Murakami book translated into English, but in subsequent years, my collection was built with digital copies as well.
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