David Waldman

I have been blessed with an infinite supply of curiosity about people, places and things.

This gift has afforded me the ability to take risks and experience new things and allows me to constantly reinvent myself.

Professionally, I have worked in public relations in New York, in Hollywood as a talent and literary agent, on the Jersey Shore as an attorney, and presently I work in compliance and have recently had several short stories published. (Under a pen name and for a less than glamorous advance. Monetary rewards will come from the inevitable film rights!)

Great writers like Denis Johnson, David Foster Wallace and James Lee Burke inspire me to look at the world differently. They focus the lens through which I see the world. And their awesome talent keeps me awed and humbled. I thank them specifically, along with dozens of equally talented writers whose work moved me to follow my bliss and the journey is what is paramount.

It is about the work. The impossibly total surrender of one's ego for the sake of it.Huge advances, critical acclaim and fame and fortune are nice perks, but they are not the goal. The journey is the goal.

I learned this from my heroes and that debt can never be fully repaid. I thank them sincerely.