Robert Firlotte

I am a Canadian military brat who was born in Lahr Germany on the military base. Canadian citizen born abroad was the official title. I spent my younger years on many Canadian bases. We eventually landed in a small town in eastern Ontario, where I went through high school.

I graduated from Loyalist college for Television broadcasting.

Meanwhile I honed my skills as a cook. That even took me to the north pole, working in the most northern military base kitchen in the world.

I spent time at the Banff Springs hotel, working as a supervisor in the kitchen while looking for a job in TV.

I eventually landed a job at City TV, Calgary and went on to have a 17 year career as a news camera person. Was laid off in a mass cull to cut costs.

I then became a professional photographer and actor in films and TV. “Hell On Wheels” Season 5&6 you can spot me as a background actor.

I then came home to Eastern Ontario and opened a food truck for 10 years.

The last two years of owning it, I had a movie start forming in my head and needed to get out and onto paper. So that’s exactly what I did, and “The Winter Man” was born.

I am now a part time writer working on numerous books and a full time chef at a restaurant.

What country do you live in?

Canada

What does your ideal writing set up look like?

I work on the Readsy platform. It makes sense to me and although I don’t utilize all of the platform tools properly, it works for me. Laptop on the back deck, coffee, and free writing.

Do you plot or wing-it when it comes to planning out your books?

I have always been a visual person. I get an idea for a character or scene, close my eyes and visualize the action.

Like in my first book, I believe in creating a full backstory of the main character to understand his/her motives and motivation. The more real the character development is, the easier it is to plot their actions.

I enjoy free writing the first draft. No thought to spelling or punctuation. Just get the story out. Then fix everything in editing.

What is the hardest part of writing for you & how do you combat that?

Battling my dyslexia. Some days are better than others.

I actually never knew I had dyslexia until I started writing my first book. I gave the first draft to my wife and she read it. Handed it back and told me I have an issue. A paragraph that looks correct in my mind will have words out of place, or a sentence in the wrong place.

I have been actively working on retraining my brain to notice these issues as I write.

I cannot believe I went 50 years before learning I had dyslexia. I guess that’s why I couldn’t write an essay in high school to save my life.

Other than “Don’t give up/keep going”, what piece of advice would you tell yourself when you were first starting out?

Get it out and write this story for you.

Who is publishing your upcoming book(s) and how did you know they were the right fit for your story?

The first book was self-published. I was new to the book world and did every cost cutting thing I could to make the publication as affordable as possible. THEN... I learned that this was a business and every investment into my business will pay for itself.

I came into this with blinders on my eyes, not knowing anything. My focus was only on getting it on Amazon.

It’s only after publishing the book did I learn that I had to do so much more than just write. I was so naive.

How long did it take you to get your first publishing deal?

That is an interesting question coming at a very precarious time. At the moment I have two agents talking to me about my new book “Paraphilia”. It’s a crime/thriller story, based in Toronto.

At this time, I haven’t decided which direction I am going. One agent is from a big agency, while the other is mid-size. Many questions and answers will have to be sent back and forth before we can make a decision if we’re a good fit for each other.

Recent / Upcoming release(s) & where we can get a copy:

*Please note that the author does not condone the use of Gen AI, this cover was made before they had the information to understand the harms of AI. The author is actively working towards supporting human artists for all future covers. The book itself is completely human written.

The Winter Man - Resort to Violence

Upcoming releases

“Winter Man - Ascension” TBA

“Paraphilia” TBA with the second book “Plague” still in first draft.

“Angel’s Ashes” is still in first draft. A Dan Brown style historical/adventure. TBA

“In Focus” a collection of short stories through the lens of a news videographer. TBA

What other authors would you recommend?

Actively search out local authors. I have learned, over my very short time writing, there are an incredible amount of very talented writers locally. Much more talented than I am, as you can tell by the way I have free written this email.

In my location there’s Elle Wither. She writes fantasy/romance with “City of Skies” and “The Chosen Throne”

One big name is Stephen King. I read “The Stand” and was instantly hooked to read as much of his work as I could get my hands on.

What cause/charity would you like to shout-out?

Whenever I can I support the Canadian Special Olympics team.