Photo by Can Türkyilmaz
Bob Sinnott went to work for a Big Four accounting firm right out of college. It was a grueling, competitive work environment, where young associates clawed their way up the ranks. Those days of working 60-hour weeks and partying at night were the inspiration for Sinnott’s novel, “The Ex And The Why.” “It’s a novel about young professional 20-somethings working for big firms, and the shenanigans that go with that,” he says. “Everyone’s jockeying for their place in the chain. It’s a satire on that whole environment.” The 47-year-old neighborhood resident 
says he always has been mathematically inclined as well as creative. Over the years, he has written nine screenplays, four of which have received option contracts from studios, although none have been produced. In 2010, the accounting firm he worked for was acquired by another firm, and he accepted a severance package. He’d been toying with the novel for several years, so he took the opportunity to write it “for real,” he says. He treated writing the novel like a regular job. Monday through Friday, he drove to Starbucks and started writing around 9 a.m., and he would call it a day around 4 p.m. The story of the novel “is really a love triangle,” he says. “The main character wants to upgrade to his ex’s best friend, and the ex is stalking him,” Sinnott says. “But he feels this is really the woman he’s supposed to be with.” He drew from the many notebooks he’s kept over the years, containing journal entries, character sketches and details from his early days in the accounting jungle. Once the novel was finished, Sinnott entered it into a contest for new writers through self-publisher Create Space, and he won. The prize was artwork, editing, publishing and distribution through Amazon.com. So far, the book has sold about 1,100 copies. Sinnott is back to a day job as CFO of a Dallas company. His sons with wife Kimberly are 7 and 4. But even though he’s back on the numbers grind, that doesn’t mean he’s neglecting the right brain. Sinnott paints in his free time, and he’s busy writing his next screenplay.
