Hello! I’d love to introduce you to my good friend, J.D.
Estrada, a profound and prolific writer. I’m honored J.D. carved precious time
out of his busy writing schedule to answer a few…ahem, okay a lot…of questions
about his mad writing skills and what inspires his greatness. I’ve had the
pleasure to peek inside this talented writer’s very active brain and now so
will you!
1. Did you always
want to write?
As a kid, I wanted to be an inventor. Not sure if part of me
wanted to be one of those guys with crazy products and an 800 number although
writing is my way of inventing. I was always interested, and I often said I
wanted to write...that’s until I REALLY wanted to write. The difference is that
when you say it, you write once in a while and when you mean it; you can’t stop
writing.
2. Do you see
yourself as an author or a writer? Do you think there is a difference between
the two and how would you categorize yourself?
I’m sure if you searched for the etymology; there’s a
difference. My business cards say author, though, at the end of the day, I’m
more of a writer because I love ALL forms of
writing. It could be a blog post, a poem, a review on Amazon or Trip Advisor, a
story, a novel or a birthday message. The fact remains; I love writing.
3. Tell me about your writing process.
Every single project is a beast I tackle differently. I
learned a long time ago that if I get a routine or a process, I run the risk of
getting stuck. It also fully depends on what I’m writing. For a blog post, I
need it to be something that strikes a chord with me. For a poem, I love
capturing a moment although I need to challenge myself. In two collections I’ll
be releasing soon, I actually explored two completely different approaches than
my first collection. In one, I challenge myself in regards to variety, and in
the other I challenge myself to go to dark regions of inspiration. And this is
just poetry. For novels, Only Human was a beast that took me seven years to
complete. Then again, I was aiming for a story arc in more than one book... so
the research was intense. In short, between all three books of the Human Cycle,
there are over 600 pages of research. History, geography, topography,
religions, folk tales, you name it. For three other projects I have, I wrote down
the main plot points on index cards and went from there. Having a full-time job
makes time scarce and quite often, my projects keep me company on my lunch
hours. I have countless pages of notes, even stuck to my cell phone. I'm
efficient with whatever time I invest in a project. As for when I write, good
luck getting to me because I’m often lost in my stories.
4. What have you
learned about yourself through your writing?
A lot. From my fears, to my values, writing has allowed me
to cope, to deal, to understand myself and to explore my emotions. It’s also
helped me meet various other people and to show me how much words can heal. In
short, I’ve learned how much of a difference words can make when they’re
written or spoken from the heart with the sincerest intention to help,
comprehend and leave behind judging. I’ve also learned that I love stories,
reading and telling them. We grow as people through the stories we read and
hear, and of course, the ones we live.
5. Tell me about
your projects. You have an eclectic mix of work, which type of writing is your
favorite?
Oh, I always have an eclectic mix going on my reading and
writing queue. I have one published novel and one poetry collection. Only Human
is the first novel within the Human Cycle, a three-book journey in my
exploration of humanity through fiction. It started off as something simple and
quickly escalated into something that came from deep within. From casual
characters, I was writing about; these people became a reality through my
words, and it was a beautiful process. Between the Tides is my first poetry
collection. For the longest time I had forgotten about poetry, more focused on
other projects. Then one day I wrote down some lines on Twitter and people
reacted. I posted a poem, and it resonated with someone and I remembered why
poetry was so special. That was last year and from that time, I have published
one collection and have two others I’ll be releasing very soon. In addition to
this, I’m working on a Young Adult Book, a philosophy book, a bilingual
collection (English and Spanish), a noir book (dark and murky, kind of mafia
related though fictional) and at least 4 other projects, including my blog. I
honestly can’t choose a favorite because each responds to an interest, and whatever
my soul insists on working on, I follow. You see, I may delay with a particular
project because I’m working on something else; the thing is I’m ALWAYS working
on something. In addition to the two poetry collections waiting for formatting,
I’m also organizing my series of young adult short stories, the Daydreams on
the Sherbet Shore,
of which I’ll be releasing the first volume soon.
6. Do you write
because it’s your job or do you write because it’s your passion?
To be honest, both. I’m a copywriter, editor, proofreader
and translator by trade, meaning that’s my day job. Within me though, there’s a
deep seated need to write, and it truly is a passion. If you read Only Human,
you can see when I went from writing because I was intrigued and then the
moment when the story took hold of me and didn’t let go. It was a blissful
feeling to lose track of time as I etched down that story. Writing is a true
passion, and I write passionately on a lot of topics. I may tackle various
genres, but beyond all interests and projects, I just love writing.
7. Your writing
reflects a desire to reach out and make a connection, please tell me more about
the connection you’d like to make with your readers.
When you write something and someone clicks like, that’s nice.
However, when you dig down into your gut, write deeply and have someone write
you a private message thanking you... that is the most humbling and rewarding
experience I could ever experience. I am fascinated by the aspect of humanity,
and I truly do my best to connect with as many people as possible. It could be
something casual, a flight of fancy if you’d like, still... it can be
meaningful. There are so many things in the news that inspire fear,
constriction and people limiting themselves... I’d like to work against that.
So many people have so much to offer with just a little encouragement. It’s the
21st century and I truly believe we are living through a massive shift in
humanity. Some people will insist on limiting views while others adhere to a worldview
of unity, of connection, of love, of understanding. I want to put my grain of
sand into that second worldview. I’ve met such wonderful people in real life
and online who have been kind enough to invest their time in me, on my writing
be it online or in book form. We’ve connected, and I truly believe positive
connections cause positive ripples in our lives, and I’m all for positive
ripples. Maybe a joke, a comment, a compliment or a conversation sticks with
someone and they pass on a smile. I like that and I think that during these
times, we need a little more of that and a little less division. Still, that’s
my worldview and people are entitled to their opinions. For me though, we have
so much more that connects us than what divides us.
8. Only Human is on
my TBR. Please tell me more about Only Human.
Only Human spawned from seeing a commercial for the
Underworld movie while chatting online and listening to Bach and me being
stubborn enough to say, “You know what, I can write something as good as that.”
It began as fiction, something simple, my homage to many great writers. I kept
writing, then the characters started to get their voices, and then topics
started creeping in, then I started seeing links in history, in geography, in
philosophy, in psychology... in life. I started seeing so many aspects that
fascinate me about what makes us human. I went back to my psychology roots; I
started reading on different theologies, I saw how so many things coincide... I
saw the beauty of what unites us... and I just wrote. I set certain bullet
points, no rules, no limitations; I just needed to get from one point to the
next. And slowly but surely, my influences came out, childhood dreams came out
in the text, links to forgotten short stories came into play, and the path
revealed itself clearly... I found my story, and I committed to it. Regardless
of theologies, my story is of unison, of growth, of exploration, of love, of
sacrifice, of suffering, of questioning... of life. I started seeing the
possibility of angels, of demons, of vampires, of therians (don’t call them
werewolves), of photogeni... of any and everything and in that ocean of
possibilities I swam. Only Human is the first book in this exploration, and its
sequel is in progress. There is much to say, much to explore and much to
digest, because imagine if you were told that all you thought was true was
actually fiction and that the fiction was actually true... imagine the
implications... that’s the basis for the Human Cycle.
9. How do you manage
your wide variety of writing projects?
I honestly just go with the flow. Depends on how much time I
have and how much time I can make for my writing. Then there’s also the matter
of having one project demand and command your attention. That happens as well,
and when it does, I stick with that project until it lessens its grip.
Sometimes it does, sometimes it insists on me finishing it. I don’t make the
rules with my projects, and you’ll probably see me walking with three notebooks
to see what catches my fancy. I don’t work on word count quotas; I work on
milestones, on chapters and as long as I’m moving forward with my projects, I’m
happy. And that’s what it’s all about. I’m looking for my creative happiness,
and every single day can have a different answer to what that is. I do keep
loose tabs on where I’m at with most of my projects because I like to know. As
for deadlines, I only have two set deadlines in all my projects. The sequel to
Only Human will be finished by next year and the Young Adult book I want to
finish this year. They’re both aggressive although I don’t mind; sometimes you
need to prove to yourself just how much you can accomplish.
10. Where can we find your work?
You can find my work at
Amazon,
Barnes and Noble and soon in Puerto Rico at the
Book Mark in San Patricio Plaza.
JD, thanks so much for sharing your work with us and
answering my questions. Once you’ve experienced a book by J.D. Estrada you will
certainly feel a bigger and brighter connection to yourself and the universe.
Go check it out!
