Reader TTS

“Retirement is not in my vocabulary.” That’s the bold proclamation actor Lou Diamond Phillips, 62, shared with AARP. “I want to continue what I’m doing, perhaps on a larger scale.” Phillips

first rose to fame portraying rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Ritchie Valens in the 1987 movie _La Bamba_. Since then, he’s worked steadily in film and TV as both an actor and director while also

rekindling his lifelong passion for writing. His second novel, _The Tinderbox: Underground Movement_, comes out Nov. 19, and his latest movie, _Werewolves_, hits theaters on Dec. 6. He

shares with AARP how his priorities have changed as he’s gotten older, the sage advice he gave his daughter, and why 2025 is shaping up to be one of his busiest years. _This interview has

been edited for length and clarity._ HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN A WRITER? Yes, this goes back to my teenage years. My dad (George Phillips), a former Navy man who grew up in North Carolina and is

now a Texan to the core, asked me when I was around 13: “Son, what do you want to do for a living?” I told him, "Dad, I want to be a writer.” He said, “You might want to think about

something where you make a little more money.” I came back to him a year later and said, “I don't want to be a writer. I want to be an actor.”  So he  said, “That's not exactly

what I had in mind.” The acting thing worked out, and I did minor in writing in college. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH YOUR WIFE, YVONNE, WHO DID THE ILLUSTRATIONS FOR YOUR BOOKS? She's

my ultimate sounding board. I bounced ideas off her and read each chapter to her after I finished to get her feedback. I kind of painted her into a corner in the beginning because she

thought I was writing a screenplay. She never thought it was going to be a novel first. Even then, she didn't think she would have to illustrate. I think AARP readers will appreciate

that she was watching an interview one day with David Bowie and he was giving advice to artists. He said, “Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in.

Go a little out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.” Yvonne took that to

heart and did some great illustrations in the second novel using markers.