An Interview with James Siegel:

As the vice chairman and senior executive creative director of BBDO, one of this country's leading advertising agencies, your accounts range from Visa to Frito-Lay and you had two commercials that aired during this year's Super Bowl broadcast. How did you get your start in advertising?

Purely by accident. I had my own apartment by 17. I drove a cab through college. After college, I continued driving and one day I was boasting about my writing skills to a passenger who happened to be an ad exec. He gave me a chance, because someone gave him a chance when he'd been my age.

I didn't know the first thing about advertising and I proved it in my formal interview. I was told to bring my 'book' (translation: portfolio, something, of course, I didn't have) and I brought my book, my unfinished "great American novel," which I promptly plopped down on the interviewer's desk. The interviewer happened to own the agency, which only occurred to me later when I realized his last name and the name of the agency were remarkably enough, one and the same. For some reason, he hired me.

Have you always wanted to be a novelist? With such a high-pressured job, how did you find the time to write fiction?

Writing fiction is something I always wanted to do. As a child, I breathed books. I spent an unhealthy amount of time buried in the stacks public libraries. Some people love the smell of a new car; for me it was always the smell of a new book. It still is. I find the time to write when and where I can. Planes are good - you're in forced confinement for up to 7 hours. When I'm out on the coast, I'm invariably on New York time, which means I'm usually tapping away on my laptop at 5 AM. I write on Saturday and Sunday mornings, on my commute into NY, sometimes at night or at lunch. If you want to do something, you find the time to do it.