Born and raised in Philly, I left for a a couple years to go to grad school at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, moved back to South NJ (a few minutes outside Philly) and got married. Most days, I write. Some days, I teach. I spend most of the remaining time barbecuing, begging my dogs to stop barking, reading about football, reading about things that aren’t football, traveling, and otherwise being married.
Aside from writing and teaching, I have very few marketable skills.
My first name is Walter, but I go by Tom. My mother is mildly disappointed that I don’t use W.T. McAllister as my pen name.
I hate driving, not in the way that some people hate it because they don’t like traffic but love the feel of the wind in the hair, etc., but in the way that the act of driving fills me with terror every time I’m behind the wheel, regardless of road conditions.
If I could change one thing about myself, it would be to have a cooler voice. Like Charlton Heston, maybe.
If my wife could change one thing about me, it would probably be to make me handier around the house (full disclosure: I did not ask her for fear of what she might say. Sometimes best not to know).
Of Mice and Men is the book that made me want to be a writer. Slaughterhouse-Five is the book that made me want to be a very specific type of writer. Consider the Lobster is the book that made me view writing in an entirely different way.
There’s a guy at the gym who talks to literally everyone except for me. Probably my fault.
Given the opportunity to become an expert on any one instrument, I would probably pick the harmonica.
If I could eat one food without consequence, it would be donuts.
I have no patience for people who only write in conspicuous public places just so that people will approach them and ask them what they’re writing.
I have an affinity for bourbon and Irish whiskey. Not so much for Scotch.
When I get invested in something, sometimes I get carried away.
You can contact me at:
tom@mcallister.ws
