Author’s Month on Clutch - A Salute to Scribes: Omar Tyree

Name: Omar Rashad Tyree
Website: www.omartyree.com
Clutch: Who or what inspired you to become a writer?
OT: I was inspired to write because I found that I was good at it. At the college level at the University of Pittsburgh in my freshman year in 1987, I really began to shine in the top level of English with my writing and comprehension skills. So once I began to help friends with their English papers, and I received an A grade in the strongest writing courses, it was either put up or shut up time with my new talent. And as anyone who has ever been around me on an author panel will tell you, I rarely back down when it comes to discussing my work. So here I am as an author 21 years later, and I’m still inspired by people who love what I do with my work.

Clutch: If you weren’t a writer, what do you think you would be doing?
OT: I would still be an entrepreneur of some sort, owning my own company. I need my own space and my own ideas. And I’ve always been a hustler who can find his own way. So no matter what it would have been, I would have ended up in control of my own career and economic destiny.

Clutch: Sixteen novels in as many years of writing and publishing is an impressive track record. And all of your books have been different. As an author how do you continue to come up with new ideas to write about?
OT: There are a million ideas around us everyday that we all could write about, but the key is to find those particular topics that get us excited. Then you craft a story that would bring something new to your readers. Or at least that’s what I’ve tried to do. So I’ve always written about new subjects that keep my career moving forward. And this time the subject is business. Business has been the most important topic on my mind lately.

Clutch: In your opinion, what’s the one thing one must possess if they want to become a professional writer?
OT: You must always take in information like a human sponge. If you have nothing on your mind, then you have nothing to write. So writers must always have something to say or something to observe or to speak up about. Otherwise, you can’t fill up 300 + pages worth of material to produce an ongoing writing career.

Clutch: In June of this year, you wrote a blog article for BET Jazz that set off a bomb of discussion about your planned retirement from urban adult fiction Is Pecking Order your final adult novel?
OT: Yes it is, so please do enjoy it (smile). Basically, I’ve been writing urban adult fiction on every possible subject for sixteen straight years now. And when the well runs dry, the well runs dry. But many readers have only read three or four of my sixteen novels. So they’ll have plenty of catching up to do. And maybe, by the time that most readers are caught back up with me, I’ll finally have a few feature film deals in the can to inspire me to write some new urban stories.

Clutch: Tell us about your current book?
OT: Pecking Order is the new Wall Street. It’s all about experiencing the making of a multi-million dollar man and the story of Ivan David. This cat starts a party promotion company and marketing web site in California, and goes from a 5-figure income to 9 figures. And this story is NOT FICTIONAL. Americans get rich like that every single day of the year. In fact, most of the billionaires that many us would name were actually not even born with millions. They earned in it all in 1-generation. Just like Ivan David does. And that’s what the Pecking Order is all about, moving up the ladder of power. But how many of us are serious enough about our grind to read about it?

Clutch: What advice would you give to up and coming writers?
OT: Writers write. That’s what we do. So don’t talk about it, get busy writing. Talking means nothing. Everybody can talk. But let me see you write! That’s when we know that you’re serious.

To learn more about Omar Tyree and see his full catalog of work please visit www.omartyree.com.