Today we’d like to introduce you to Lou Pugliese.
Hi Lou, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My current business is writing fiction novels. My Mother got me started on reading and writing at a very early age, telling me that verbal and written communication skills were the essential building blocks for success at anything. Naturally, I paid little attention to her early guidance but learned through life lessons she was always right. In high school I took a creative writing class and started with poetry and short stories. It turned out I was pretty good at writing, but I had to take a long break from it to make a living.
I’m now retired from two different careers. The first was a senior manager at Toyota Motors with national (US) and international experience. That entailed a lot of business travel, public speaking and business writing, but little creative prose. While I was with Toyota, I completed my master’s and doctorate in preparation for career number two. I took an early retirement and became a business professor at a small, liberal arts college in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. That gave me more creative writing outlets, and I published some poetry working with other academic colleagues. Upon my second retirement I began career three as a novelist.
My wife Kathy and I (and our dog Mitch) are now settled in Green Cove Springs, Florida. The writing influence comes from both careers, extensive travel, and a passion for obscure research. Outside of the mystery and historical fiction writing, I’ve also published my dissertation on the roots of prejudice, and a book of my poetry. The current fiction series started with “Blame it on the Moon,’ a haunted house mystery set in an Arlington Virginia home that had been a field hospital in the Civil War. That was joined by its prequel, ‘Final Exam,’ a small campus crime thriller sharing the past of one of the main characters from the first book. ‘The Portal,’ the next book in the series features another one of the main characters from ‘Moon’ who returns from a near-death experience to learn lessons about life, and after life, and faith. ‘The Portal’ will be released for publication in the first quarter of 2026
Per the back cover bio: “Lou Pugliese writes contemporary fiction that explores the spaces between certainty and mystery, focusing on the emotional consequences of extraordinary events in ordinary lives. His work often draws on real places and relationships, weaving subtle paranormal elements into character-driven stories rooted in realism.”
I belong to the Mystery Writers of America and the Florida Writers Association (FWA), hosting the monthly FWA chapter for Clay County.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Early life was a self-inflicted struggle. I had a little too much personal freedom in the turbulent 60’s and 70’s to explore the depths of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I forgot my early guidance for a while and gravitated to friends and situations with common interests. The result was that I didn’t finish my bachelor’s degree or get started on any real career path until I was 30. I learned a lot about life choices through a number of experiences that I would never recommend to anyone, but those experiences also gave me an empathy that I probably couldn’t have learned in any other way, so I don’t regret any of them for me. When I finally realized I didn’t have to continue feeding my self-interests, I joined civil society, and things got a little smoother.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The current work is the writing which is all creative but grounded in everything else that came before it. The misspent youth was a great influence in coming to learn what it’s like to have nothing to lose and then learning further that it’s never too late to make the changes that result in better choices and recovery.
Career one took me from a small geographical life to experience all 50 states and five continents. It taught me how to package a professional and public life that could be based on continuous improvement and service to others.
Career two let me deliver that message to my students. Not as I learned it or in the way I believe it, but by creating an environment where they could explore and research choices to determine their own best paths.
The writing today is my way of continuing to show the value of relationships and learning expressed through stories.
I think the variety of the seasons of my life is what sets me apart and what I’m most proud of.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My fourth birthday. I came downstairs to discover my Mother had baked a cake. I didn’t even know it was my birthday, but I knew I liked cake, and I remembered my Mother’s love and all of my birthdays after that,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://loupuglieseauthor.com
- Instagram: lpuglies
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556456145344
