Will Duane, Founder and CEO of Numenon. Is He Real?

19 Nov

Will Duane, founder and CEO of Numenon, the largest corporation in history.

This blog post is living proof that you should clean off your desk every couple of years. I did that today––as well I should. Thanksgiving is in a few days and we’re having company. Wouldn’t want them to see that mess.

I found a transcript of the following interview that I gave three or four years ago when my book Numenon was released. The name of the host wasn’t included on the print out––I don’t remember who the interview was with. I read the transcript and decided to post it. It’s funny. We should read funny things. And laugh.

It also marks the fact that I’m really working on Numenon’s sequel, which will be released sometime in 2012. The sequel, Mogollon, is where the rubber hits the road. Will’s team reaches the Meeting, the Native retreat they’re going to in Numenon. What happens? Everything. Some people have been quite irritated at me for not getting it out sooner. I’m sorry. I had writer’s block. Really.

For those who haven’t heard of Numenon, it’s the story of the richest man in the world meeting a great Native American shaman. Numenon has been out about three years, or maybe closer to four. It had a pretty illustrious ride, winning six national awards its first year. The Kindle version hit # 1 on three Amazon categories of mysticism and stayed there for almost a year. It was well up on Amazon’s sales rankings. For a while, my book topped spiritual giants such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. Only on Amazon could that happen. It’s settled back into the pack now, and makes a great read.

I’ll begin the transcribed interview now. BTW, Will Duane is the mythical founder and CEO of Numenon, Inc., the largest corporation in history and Numenon’s hero. Of a sort.

Q. The character of Will Duane is such a rich combination: powerful and conflicted. He seems more human than many other protagonists. Talk about that.

A. I hate the kind of slick thriller where the hero is an iron man who takes horrendous abuse and keeps on ticking. Oh, maybe he’s got a glitch or two, but he’s essentially unstoppable and perfect. Reminds me of the guy on the Oscar statue. I want to know the real hero, and I want to feel everything he does.

Q. What do you find the most interesting about Will?

A. That he’s as screwed up as he is and manages to function at all. He’s really amazing: a tough, ruthless competitor with a horrible family background who’s driven himself to become the richest man in the world. And he’s cute, too. Will is a 63-year-old babe.

Numenon: A Tale of Mysticism & Money

Q. Numenon––and I assume all of the Bloodsong series––has its share of sex. Talk about that.

A. First off, I don’t think there’s any actual sex in Numenon. A pervasive aura of sexuality, perhaps. Thoughts and memories of sexual situations. No actual sex that I remember. I would remember it. However, even if the book were as brazen as a standard romance novel sold in every drugstore in the world, it’s OK. I have permission from my mother to include sex in my writing. She’ll tell you about it here. I always try to follow my mom’s orders.

Q. Why do you think people would want to read the Bloodsong Series?

A. For the pervasive aura of sexuality, certainly. The for everything else––this is a high-energy textbook about psychology, business, Native American history and spirituality, and tantric yoga. All in one sweet, very readable package.

Q. How close are your characters to real life people?

A. I know people who are as messed up as my characters and who have achieved as much. Not too many, though. My characters have no counterparts in real life. Certainly, my dad, who was a very successful businessman, shows up in parts of Will, as do famous rich people, and others I’ve read about in psychopathology books. But my characters are truly fictional. I made them up.

Q. How do you research your novels?

A. By living. My books are essentially the footprint of my life. The Bloodsong Series didn’t happen until I had a transcendent experience when I was fifty years old, in 1995. It’s taken from 1995 until now for the manuscript to become something I could share with people. Much of the research was done before I wrote it. My master’s degrees in economics and counseling contributed, as well as working for a business school professor for years, coaching negotiations. My life growing up as the daughter of a builder who created 14,000 houses in the San Francisco Bay Area contributed a great deal to the real feeling of the series. I know high-powered corporate life in Silicon Valley. It’s what I lived. The content was in me already, and I also did do the normal research of reading books and combing resources. as needed.

Q. How did you get stared as a writer?

A. They taught me to write in first or second grade. I’ve written for a long time. People who got my letters and such told me that I should write a book, but I couldn’t do it until I had that experience in 1995. After attending a meditation retreat and being healed there, I was in the shower (yes, showers are very spiritual places) when an entire book was injected into my brain in about a second, accompanied with lights and fanfare that special-effects studios would be hard up to duplicate. I’ve been writing and completing books ever since.

Q. How do you write, when and how many hours per day?

A. I write at a computer. Every day. I spend so much time writing that I have damaged myself physically: I’ve got bursitis in booth hips and my right arm feels like it’s falling off. If I don’t write, the words pile up inside and I feel like I’ll explode. So I let them out. Taking care of my poor body is my biggest growth challenge these days.

Q. What advice to you have for other writers?

A. Meditate. Live your own life, even if it sucks. Write about it. Meditate. Walk through doors when they open. Write about that. Meditate.

So there it is: Numenon. You can buy it as a Nook or a Kindle for $.99. It’s sequel will be out in 2012.