David Arp Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A:  I’m 59, married 31 years, with 3 children and 5 grandchildren. I live in Colorado, but my job in the drilling industry takes me away for 6 months a year, 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. I’ve travelled the world the past 37 years, working in a dozen countries and a large number of the world’s oceans, seas, and gulfs.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A:  I think I’m an accidental writer. I was in my early 40s, working on a drilling rig in the Saudi desert, and began writing short stories about my experiences and e-mailing them to a few friends. The list of addressees grew by the week. I’ve been writing ever since.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A.  I’m just now a professional if that’s what making money at something you love to do is called. Virginia Tenery asked me to contribute a character to her novel, Against The Odds. About the same time, I received a contract with Pelican Book Group for two of my own novels, a mystery titled Orb and a young adult titled Me and Jake. Both are due out this year.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Against The Odds?

A: The novel is set in Libya, in September, 2012, during the days before and after the attack on our consulate. Four random people are thrown together by circumstances far beyond their control. They rise to the occasion, helping each other escape and survive, and are better for the experience.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Against The Odds?

A: The premise for Against The Odds was Virginia Tenery’s idea. When she asked me to contribute, I thought why not. Could be fun. Turned out to be harder on me than the 5^th grade. I had to put a driller on the ground in Libya and tie him to Virginia’s protagonist. My character’s nickname is Tree. He’s a big man and the son, if you will, of several real-life characters I’ve met over the years. I had a blast. She’d write a chapter or two then passed them to me. I’d write one or two then pass them back. Neither of us knew beforehand where the story was going.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: I think, for those who believe in God, who have faith in Christ, faith and hope of an eternity after this life, that there is no such thing as a coincidence.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A:  Events inspire me, things I’ve experienced and seen.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A:  I have two stories in the works. The Bloodletting. A novel about a rig hand who is caught up in a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He was moving a rig across the northern Saudi desert one day, afoot and struggling to survive the harsh sun and escape invading armies the next. The second is titled Sleeping With My Boots On. It’s a non-fiction account about a medic who did 4 tours of combat, 2 in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan. His last in Afghanistan as an Air Medic, flying missions in a Blackhawk.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

A:  Between 15 acres of hay, 4 horses, a motorcycle, and a 16-foot raft my wife and I have plenty to keep us busy. We float the Colorado River in our home state, the Green and the Platte in Wyoming and the Bitterroot in Montana. I love to hunt. I say hunt because I hunt. I travel looking. I don’t have to kill, but I have to go. Alaska is one of my favorite places on this planet.