#ThisorThatThursday with Dan Flanigan

I’d like to welcome Dan Flanigan to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing a book.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Finishing a book.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Grit and extended periods (multiple successive days preferably) without other distractions or significant interruptions.

Things that hamper your writing: Almost everything.

Words that describe you: Dedicated, Hard-working, Visionary, Witty, Generous.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Irritable, Impatient, Temperamental, Moody, Somewhat Messy.

Something you’re really good at: The practice of law (I hope).

Something you’re really bad at: Anything mechanical, i.e. anything useful.

Favorite music or song: Bach, Sacred choral music, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, a lot of rock (especially 60s and early 70s)

Music that drives you crazy: Opera recitative (not the rest, just that part).

Things you always put in your books: Unattributed quotes from Wordsworth poems; one or more references to Bach’s music; references to Grail knights and blood brothers; the words “importunate” and “vouchsafe.”

Things you never put in your books: The words “journey,” “curate,” “iconic,” “game changer,” “cool” (unless spoken by a character I don’t like); “forever” when preceded by the verb “changed”; the word “chops” when referring to anything other than a cut of meat, especially “acting chops”; and any words that have become like invasive species, proliferating everywhere, whose original meanings have been so transformed that we are near forgetting what they really mean (e.g. “agency,” “existential”). And I could go on . . . and on . . .

Favorite books (or genre): Shakespeare, Dickens, 19th Century Russians, Yeats, Joyce, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Robert Stone, E.L. Doctorow, Joseph Campbell

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything by Milton Friedman or his ilk.

Favorite things to do: Working, Whale Watching (Carefully), Kayaking, Tennis.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Cocktail parties.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Neck and neck between (1) recovering from alcoholism a day at a time for 41 years now and (2) helping my daughter and grandchildren along in life—the occurrence of (1) having been a necessary condition to the occurrence of (2).

Biggest mistake: Not valuing my wife of more than 40 years as much as she deserved or letting her know how much I did value her. She died in 2011. It’s too late now.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: The creation of Sierra Tucson, alcohol and drug treatment/center in Tucson, Az.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: The creation of Sierra Tucson, alcohol and drug treatment/center in Tucson, Az.

About Dan:

Dan Flanigan is a novelist, playwright, poet, and practicing lawyer. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Rice University and J.D. from the University of Houston. He taught Jurisprudence at the University of Houston and American Legal History at the University of Virginia. His first published book was his Ph.D. dissertation, The Criminal Law of Slavery and Freedom, 1800-1868.

He moved on from academia to serve the civil rights cause as a school desegregation lawyer, followed by a long career as a finance attorney in private law practice. He became a name partner in the Polsinelli law firm in Kansas City, created its Financial Services practice, chaired its Real Estate & Financial Services Department for two decades, and established the firm’s New York City office and served as its managing partner until October 2022.  His legal bio may be viewed at https://www.polsinelli.com/professionals/dflanigan.

Taking a break from the law practice for two years, he and his wife, Candy, founded Sierra Tucson, a prominent alcohol and drug treatment center located in Tucson, Arizona. 

Recently, he has been able to turn his attention to his lifelong ambition—creative writing. In 2019 he released a literary trifecta including Mink Eyes, the first in what would become the Peter O’Keefe series, and 2023 Best Book Award Legacy Fiction Finalist, Dewdrops, a collection of shorter fiction, and Tenebrae: A Memoir of Love and Death.