Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

Born in DC (Walter Reed), lived early in VA and CA, but the experience that shaped it all was two years alone with my parents on a 56-foot cruising sailboat, age 6-8, onto which they fled with me from California to teach me to read properly (insane “whole-word recognition” was just then in vogue in CA schools). Constantly on the move (avoiding truancy) from Texas to Massachusetts and back, all up and down the East Coast and throughout the Bahamas. I learned that the sea and sky were home, and they still are. And I learned to read, a lot…

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

How to play every new instrument I learn, literally and metaphorically. Sounds great, wish I’d picked that up sooner, would have been further along had I known…;-) …that can be generalized, like, what took me so long to run across (or figure out) this…? Life is full of those resets, and one looks forward to them.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

To do what you think the current or imagined future market wants to buy — unless the details of whatever that is happen to already be your inner inspiration. It’s not only because you should “follow your own star” but because when you do otherwise, it shows, and no one will want to buy that already behind-the-curve, second-tier product. Be the real thing, not an imitation. And even if that doesn’t sell, at least you have something that’s your own.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?

A two-year stint in a tiny shack in the Virginia tidewater boondocks after leaving a long and increasingly destructive marriage. The wolf constantly at the door, my most faithful company my instruments, and a good bottle (long a steadfast muse, but less reliable with age). I remember looking up one night at Comet Hyakutake stretching majestically across the dark Western sky and feeling awed and somehow grateful, despite the loneliness…it was there on a shaky dial-up telephone modem I got to chair one of AOL’s first chat-rooms, leading eventually into a move back to New York, and civilization again. The lesson: persevere, wait for the signs, and this, too, shall pass – and, like the sky, move on, while yet remaining.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

Variety — and knowing when once having writ well to move on. Do not pursue things past their sale date, don’t beat a dead horse, find a new one. When you’ve completed your current bright idea to the point of diminishing returns, listen for the next call and follow it. Your previous efforts will only age and mature on their own, and you can return to them with fresh eyes after shifting and broadening your view. That even applies to things necessarily repetitious (the same song, a selective routine, even eating and drinking). Each time, add a variation, decorate, extemporize. Turn every moment’s performance into a live rehearsal that makes each routine newly-perfect in its own time. The present is prelude to future history.

What is your morning routine?

Wake at 8-9 AM, a liquid breakfast (coffee, protein drink, maybe cereal or yogurt). Then checklist from the night before to see what actually needs doing, in what order, and then on to it.

What habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

Patience, and to not dwell on expectations (which drain you, and are so often proved false or irrelevant and thus a waste of time better spent improving immediate things). And making that to-do list that I check in the morning, check off at night before bed, staying in the relative present. Particularly during Covid times, it makes even lockdown seem (and become) more productive.

What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?

All things come to him that only sits and waits. Think things out first, so you make your first draft your last. It’s not procrastination, it’s developing careful aim, or giving it time to develop. Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes, then gently squeeze the trigger. If you behave like it’s your last bullet, you are more likely to hit the target. Sometimes revisions may be necessary to gauge the landscape (as in spotting and adjusting for artillery fall), but the economy of motion derived from developed steadiness is at the heart of it. Know you’re right, then go ahead – don’t just keep randomly plowing ahead until maybe you finally get it right.

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

The 1940 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church. It is a combination of 800 years of the most abiding folk and classical tunes (and their harmonies) with some of the best Biblical philosophies put into rhyming verse, all divided into seasonal and metric classifications. It is the only single book that has survived every move I’ve made. After that, perhaps the Tao Te Ching by Laozi.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often?

“Tenez Le Vraye” (Old French: “hold to the truth”), which is actually the Townley family motto on its coat of arms. Reinforced by the motto “Whatsoever Things Are True” (Philippians 4:8) of the school I went to, just to rub it in later. Truth is elusive, but it’s often best pursued at the one anomalistic spot, the ignored (and often intentionally locked) doorway where the facts seem to contradict the rest of currently-accepted reality. Go there, down that rabbit hole, and the next amazing layer of the universe will begin to blossom right in front of you (as per the famous 1888 Flammarion engraving). Sort that out, rinse, and repeat…