TopShelf Magazine June 2023

WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

I’ve always written even from childhood. I guess I started writing jokes to engage with family members when I was 6 or 7 years old. I loved writing and reading in Junior High School as well.

WHAT DROVE YOU TO COME UP WITH YOUR DEBUT BOOK?

My debut book was “Fan Letters to a Stripper; A Patti Waggin Tale” which was a coffee table biography about a 1950’s-60’s burlesque queen who married a major league pitcher. I first got their story from the back of a baseball card when I was six years old. It stuck with me all those years and I have now produced a podcast and a film is in the works.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED WORKS. HOW DID THEY HAPPEN?

I chose to write a few books when I saw how easy it was with self publishing to get a real book out there. I’d tried to sell to publishers and even had an agent at one point but nothing sold. My agent passed away and I took it upon myself to make our dream come true (his and mine) and after the coffee table book (published by Schiffer Books, 2009) I went the indie route and wrote a few other books before embarking on a series of Western novels. Several of my other books have found real publishers.

WHAT IS YOUR LATEST BOOK; WHAT DOES IT DEAL WITH?

from my other books but probably the best book I’ve ever written. It deals with a surfing cop in the seaside community of Ventura, CA, who tries to solve a murder mystery while at the same time tries to keep two biker gangs from going to war.

DO YOU DEEM YOURSELF A PANTSER OR PLOTTER?

Oh, definitely a pantser with a bit of a plotter thrown in.

DO YOU FOLLOW A RIGOROUS WRITING ROUTINE? IF NOT, WHEN AND HOW OFTEN DO YOU WRITE?

Not really. When I embark upon writing a book, I write it. I usually start in the morning and write until my hands get tired, I need to get something else done during the day, or I just need a break. Then I do it again the next day.

COULD YOU SHARE YOUR AGE, WHERE YOU ARE CURRENTLY RESIDING, AND YOUR EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS?

I will be 70 later this year and live in the Conejo Valley outside of Los Angeles. I took a few extension courses at UCLA but really I have a high school education and a degree from HKU (Hard Knocks University) where life lives and you survive.

WAS BECOMING AN AUTHOR A CONSCIOUS DECISION?

The latest book “The Tattoo Murder” is a far departure

or

I think it has to be. Everyone thinks they want to write a book but few do. More now than say 30 years ago due

to the ease of self-publishing. Making a living at it is a completely different thing.

HOW DO YOU JUGGLE WRITING AND OTHER TASKS?

I’m a screen writer as well as a newscaster at a local radio station plus I’m married and do podcasts and am a film maker. To answer your question – I don’t know, I just do it. Sometimes it’s easier than others, mainly depending on my work schedule because I work overnights and weekends and my wife actually wants to see me on occasion…lol

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES AND INTERESTS?

Baseball cards I guess is my hobby but it’s more of a business as I sell anywhere from $10-$15, 000 a year in trading cards. I love buying collections. It is the treasure hunter in me. I do sometimes play Pickle Ball and I love to golf but don’t get out as much as I’d like to.

HAVE YOU FACED ANY CHALLENGES HITHERTO AS A WRITER?

The biggest challenge is getting through the noise is how I like to put it. There are millions of books out there and thousands more each day, so who has time to read them? Having your books find an audience and an audience who will pay for them, not just wait for the free ones, is a challenge. In publishing today it’s easy to publish, it’s hard to get people to buy, especially since publishers don’t support books

like they did in the past.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL THE BUDDING AUTHORS WHO LOSE MOTIVATION IF A FEW OF THEIR WORKS DO NOT DO WELL?

Is the stuff you wrote good? If so keep writing. If not then you have a choice to make which no one wants to make. There are other avenues of creativity to tackle. If writing doesn’t work out and you are not inspired to keep writing, then no one said you had to be a writer. Try something else. Now if your passion is writing and you can’t live without it, then just keep writing. If it finds an audience great, if not, well you should be satisfied with your work. Each individual case is different.

IF THERE IS ONE THING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE IN THIS WORLD, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?

Just one? The arrogance of people especially on the Right but also on the Left. I make no bones about my being Left of Center and some would say “Far” left of center. The thing I hate most in the world is arrogance. The arrogance of Putin to destroy Ukraine, the arrogance of Donald Trump to destroy the Supreme Court, and the arrogance of the far left to try to take us out of the mainstream. That is what I’d change.

DO YOU SPEAK ANY LANGUAGES BESIDES ENGLISH; IF YES, WHAT ARE THEY?

Speak no, get by yes. I can get by in Spanish, Italian, Russian and even French.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO STATE, PLEASE DO.

I like to tell people I’m an historian. History and sports are my things and sports history is important to me as well. I’ve been writing a sports history column for six years (www.baseballinthe1960s.com) and I try to live by my own motto “Be a student of history, not a victim of it.” In other words we must learn from history because if we don’t we will certainly die from what we did not learn.

ABOUT BOB BRILL

A native of Pittsburgh, PA and a hardcore Pirates and Steelers fan, Bob began in radio career in 1972 and worked all over the western US, several times in the L-A market. He's currently a news anchor at CBS Radio LA; KNX 1070 News Radio.

Bob has won multiple broadcast awards including an Edward R. Murrow Award (among others) for anchoring KNX's storm coverage in 2011.

A baseball historian, Bob writes the very popular weekly column found at www.baseballinthe1960s.com. He also is a podcaster who has teamed with former NFL Quarterback Erik Kramer for a weekly Fantasy Football Podcast called Kramer and Brill, which can be found where ever you get your podcasts or at their website www.kramerandbrill.com. Both are always posted on Facebook as well as Twitter.

Bob made his mark with the UPI Radio Network when a gunman went crazy in a San Diego fast food restaurant and Bob covered the story. It was his first big break. He later became a UPI National Correspondent and Bureau Chief. He has interviewed presidents, covered Super Bowl games and Hollywood as well as major news stories.

He lives in L-A. He has survived earthquakes and a beating during the 1992 L-A riots while covering the story, which was recorded on audio tape.

Bob is considered to have an excellent voice and has not only done many voice overs and radio spots, he's starred in television commercials. Bob authored "Fan Letters to a Stripper: A Patti Waggin Tale" from Schiffer Publishing and "NO BARRIER: How the Internet Destroyed the World Economy." His third book "Al Kabul; Home Grown Terrorist" is sure to be a controversial novel as well as a great read. "Lancer; Hero of the West - The Prescott Affair" is the first in a series of western novels set in the 1880's, centering on the central figure; Lancer. Lancer is a gun for hire, good guy, who works the West out of Tombstone.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Website www.bobbrill.com

Twitter @bobbrillLA

Facebook @bobbrillsr

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