xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	Why writing? What got you started? I wrote for my high school newspaper and started my first book after the end of a relationship in 1972. I needed something to save my sanity and so I decided to write a high school computer math text. Love does that to people! It almost got published but more important, it helped me get through a difficult period in my life. What books and/or authors have inspired you? I read a great deal. In fact in the last few weeks, I finished half a dozen books. Various authors inspire me, but indirectly. I recommend Nelson DeMille, Richard North Patterson and Tom Coraghessan Boyle for their fiction and Jim Hightower for his humorous political insight. For a list of other ideas on what I read, go to www.bobcooks.com and click on "recommended reading." Your newest book, for seeing eye dogs only pokes fun at missing intelligence as it relates things in everyday life. It's a great book to keep by the bedside for a quick "picker-upper" or in the car to catch a few laughs while waiting in traffic. How long have you been collecting these humorous thoughts and what inspired you to put them into a book? After reading Real Men Don't Eat Quiche by Bruce Feirstein & Lee Lorenz in the early 1980s, I figured I could write a book as good or better that that, having already written one book. Was I naïve? I put together some insight and observations about sayings, clichés and expressions of our language. The book wasn't completely finished, but in 2004, I decided to write something humorous on the lack of intelligence on the planet. I had collected plenty of examples over time and compiled them, added material from my earlier attempt, and the result was for seeing eye dogs only. For those who haven't read for seeing eye dogs only what is the significance of the title? It's a sign that you find in many places, that along with something such as ears pierced while you wait, is hilarious. In the former, who is that sign for, the dog or the blind person? In the latter, I wanted an earring so I was going to drop my ears off in the morning and pick them up later. Writing humor is tricky. How do you know when it's working for you? When Keith Pearson, the publisher at Aventine Press and my sister, who proofread for seeing eye dogs only, both said it was hysterical, I figured I was on the right track. Lois Marie Gibbs' comment about The Read My Lips Cookbook being a "great, funny cookbook" was very assuring as well. A woman I never met used these words to describe it: "I got a kick out of it...couldn't put it down until I finished it." She said that about my cookbook! Her name is Monica so she can be trusted. The Read My Lips Cookbook: A Culinary Journey of Memorable Meals is more than your average cookbook -- it is very personal. It is wonderful to read your stories about how and where you discovered your recipes. What is your favorite recipe or meal in the book? (not only the food itself, but the story behind it) How did you first learn to cook? Was cooking a part of your life from that point on? One of my favorite stories in the cookbook is the Black Bean Soup Caper. As far as dishes, I have a few favorites but jambalaya is right up there. Another that people rave about is my seafood gumbo, which is not in the cookbook. However, you can find it on my website. I started cooking before I left home, learning from my mom and others. I proceeded to become a better cook with time. Eventually, I even mastered the art of baking bread. It's really easy and anyone can do it. As soon as I moved from my parents' home, cooking became a part of me. I understand that your gumbo won an award in a cook-off in Buffalo on Super Bowl Sunday a few years ago. Where did you get this recipe and what makes it special? I got the idea from a recipe I saw in Gourmet Magazine a few years ago. However, I changed it somewhat. It's special because it's so delicious, economical and easy to make. At the same time, it's healthy since it's missing the fat that you usually find in gumbos. Your first novel, Don't Bet On It, is a technological, political thriller about a national lottery. What inspired you to write this novel? And do you personally play the LOTTO? (Have you ever won?) I haven't won since I don't play. Of course, I've never lost either. My background in software programming, teaching and mathematics probably inspired me to write the novel. You will find many facts about lotteries and statistics in the book. Reading Don't Bet On It may actually save you money since you'll buy fewer or stop buying lotto tickets entirely. Don't Bet On It is a novel about "politics, gambling, deception, technology, fear and FOOD." Can the foods mentioned in this novel be found in The Read My Lips' Cookbook? Yes, but not every one. As an author, you write about things you know. The chicken wing appetizer featured in the novel is one of my favorites and it can be found in the cookbook as well as on my website. Even the way John Kuzinski prepared and delivered the wings is something I have done on more than one occasion. Tick Tock, Don't Stop: A Manual For Workaholics takes a look at the origin of work, why we work so hard, and how we can work smarter, not harder. How can the average worker work "smarter?" You'll have to read the book to find that out. However, let me say that using your brain and getting away from traditional ways of doing things is a great start. Also use resources that are available to you. If you are given a project, rather than jump right into it, spend some time thinking about how you can do the job. In the long run, the effort you expend initially will result in the task getting accomplished just as well - if not better - as if you had dived into it. You probably will get it finished sooner and with less stress. It's said that Americans work two weeks more per year than any other country. Why do you think this is so? And with all of today's technology shouldn't we be working "less?" We are working longer hours because of technology and the incompetence of management. I have a degree in computer science but the PC (Pain in the Crotch) and the internet along with email software have more bugs than the Russian Embassy before the end of the Cold War. If we worked shorter hours and had longer vacations, there would be more productivity, less stress and better health for the employees. Of course, we still would need improvements in management as well as more friendly PCs (Positively Crap!) You say that it is also important to make the most of your time away from work? What are some tips you have to enhance this time? If God intended for us to work so much, we would have been born with hard hats! You do need a good work ethic but you should exercise restraint. This applies at home as well as in the office. Don't be a slave to your house and spend the entire weekend working. Learn how to relax, take up a bit of gardening, find a good relaxing hobby, keep the TV off as much as possible and read some books. I guarantee your blood pressure will go down. Of the books that you have written, is there one that is more special to you? Why? Like children, I love them all equally. Each has special meaning and is meant to teach others. The high praise for the cookbook and the book on work mean a great deal to me. You've written many different genres. Do you have a favorite genre to write? It may appear that the books are vastly different, but they all are self-help and meant to entertain simultaneously. Of course, my preference is for writing non-fiction, as novels are much more of a challenge. That doesn't mean I won't someday write another piece of fiction. What has been the reader feedback to your books? Do readers seem to have a favorite? I have gotten great feedback on the cookbook. The critics loved it and people who had to pay for it have raved about it as well. This included family and friends as well as people who I only met once or have never met. for seeing eye dogs only was highly acclaimed even before it was in print and reviewed. So far people have enjoyed it, even though it only came out in June 2005. I have gotten positive feedback about the novel as well as Tick Tock, Don't Stop. What is your advice to aspiring writers? What tips or techniques do you use to keep yourself motivated when life throws you a curveball or two? Don't despair and keep writing. Dedicate yourself to writing 15 minutes each day and stick to it. This can include thinking about what you want to put into your book. Don't give up your day job, read my book on work so you can retire sooner and spend all your time writing. Above all, read as much as you can and don't give up. Avoid fast food restaurants. What book is on your bedside table now? I just finished Among the Thugs by Bill Buford - a treatise on group violence witnessed firsthand by the author as he was embedded with the English football fans - Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All by Tom Fenton, Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen by Steven Freeman and Joel Bleifuss and Walking on the Land by Farley Mowat, another of my favorite writers. I will soon start Gene Wilder's Kiss Me Like a Stranger. For more controversial books, visit my website. Some of these books are better than spy novels! What lies ahead for Robert Swiatek? Can your fans expect any new books? I recently sent my agent three manuscripts. Wake Up - It's Time for Your Sleeping Pill follows in the footsteps of for seeing eye dogs only. I Don't Want to be a Pirate is my journey as a writer and Take Back the Earth is a work on our endangered environment. I am finishing and hope to soon send off my latest, Press 1 for Pig Latin - a treatise on the failure of technology. My next project is to work on and beautify the first book I ever wrote, the one I discussed much earlier.	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx