{"product_id":"9781465341686","title":"Lurking","description":"I started painting houses for my father  \u003cbr\u003eat the age of ten years old. He paid  \u003cbr\u003eme $2.00 per hour. In 1972 at age  \u003cbr\u003efourteen my father gave me a pay raise,  \u003cbr\u003efrom then on I worked part time in the  \u003cbr\u003ewinter and full time in the summer and  \u003cbr\u003eI was fi rst introduced to books around  \u003cbr\u003ethe same time by my reading teacher who asked me to  \u003cbr\u003ewrite a paper on an author. My selection was Edgar Allen  \u003cbr\u003ePoe. I found him to be an inspiration. His stories really  \u003cbr\u003ecame to life and opened my eyes. My next taste of literature  \u003cbr\u003ewas a book called \"The Hobbit\" by J.R.R. Tolkin. This set  \u003cbr\u003emy mind in motion to write. In the mid \"80s\" when I really  \u003cbr\u003estarted to write. I was twenty-eight years old, still painting  \u003cbr\u003ebut I wanted to write as well. So I set out to write poems. I  \u003cbr\u003emodeled my style after Edgar Allen Poe by trying to keep  \u003cbr\u003eit short and to the point. I didn't try to write \"macabre\" but  \u003cbr\u003ewhat I felt. I made my own style. I wanted to write for my  \u003cbr\u003eown amusement. I worked as foreman for my father for eight  \u003cbr\u003eyears till the crash of 1987 and suddenly found myself out of  \u003cbr\u003ework. Two years later I started my own painting company.  \u003cbr\u003eI continued to write while painting houses. In 2008 went  \u003cbr\u003eto school at Long Ridge Writer Group. This is how I got to  \u003cbr\u003ewhere I am today.","brand":"Xlibris Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47141232935152,"sku":"9781465341686","price":9.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781465341686_p0.jpg?v=1763683786","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781465341686","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}