First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
My family drove up to my grandmother’s for Christmas one year. My older cousin had just graduated and moved into a nearby apartment. All the kids around high school age walked over and sat on the floor of his kitchen eating Tater Tots. I remember feeling very cool and adult. We took turns going around the room saying what we wanted to do with our lives. It was like “landscaper, fireman, computers, waitress.” When it was my turn, my mouth sort of hung open. “I want to be a writer” popped out. It felt pretty dumb, not because they made fun of me, which they did, but because I had no idea if it was true or not. A couple of months later I decided it was.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I think the road to publishing is the amount of time you’re willing to be a lousy writer without quitting. Those early days are a little embarrassing. I’ve written a hundred bad short stories. You need to keep getting the stuff down and hope the hundred-and-first is good.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Going Nowhere Faster came out in April ‘07. The paperback will be out this fall, and you should by it if only for the hilarious fake interview they asked me to add to fill up the blank pages at the end. My second book, Fade to Blue, is in production and slated for Spring ’09. You should buy that one because it explains the afterlife.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
In high school my biggest influence was Hunter S. Thompson. I also read a lot of Jim Carroll, Anthony Burgess, and Don Delillo.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family all think they’re thinly-veiled characters from Going Nowhere Faster. They’re wrong, but there’s no convincing them otherwise.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Bagels. Grilled fish. Almonds. Hot sauce. Blueberries.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
1. Tell my daughter to get off my chest and stop pulling my hair. 2. Brush my teeth. 3. Make waffles.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
The attic is empty except for rotting insulation. The garage is filled with tools and amplifiers. You might be surprised to look in my closet and see the burgundy snakeskin cowboy boots someone gave me as a present, which I wore once, and then only long enough to hurt my ankle walking across the kitchen.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Red, so I could spend the rest of my life discussing the merits of Trotsky and Lenin.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I never really got into superheroes. I almost always wanted the villains to win. Green Goblin was pretty cool, tossing around those exploding pumpkins.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
Hmmm. The dog on Family Guy?
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
I’d like to be able to say “Riding with Alexander The Great’s army,” or, “In the lab with Einstein discovering relativity.” But, really, I think I think I’d choose something not very exciting, like hanging out with my grandfather when he was nineteen.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I like Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Funk, Speed Metal, and Classical. Art Tatum and Billie Holiday may be the two best musicians who ever lived to write along with. New bands I like are Fiery Furnaces, Budos Band, The Sword, MIA, and Ween.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
The Wire is my favorite show ever. I’ve seen Road House with Patrick Swayze about 72 times. I’ve seen Blade Runner, without Patrick Swayze, about 71 times.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
No one should have to listen to any advice on any subject until they’ve paid rent for at least a year. But, as far as writing goes: Start now. Stop reading this, find a pen, and get down some sentences. It doesn’t have to mean anything or be seen by anyone. Try to do that twenty minutes a day. When you’ve filled up one notebook, throw it in the closet and fill another. It’ll probably be right around that time you’re either totally hooked, or you never want to write again. It’s a great thing when you come to the realization, “Hey, I really want to do this!” or, and in some ways this is just as good, you decide to cross it off the list and move onto something else. It’s easy to waste years doing something you eventually conclude is not for you. Every time you narrow the list down, you will be 6 percent happier as a person.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on a crime fiction novel called Render Janes Is Dead. It’s a story about guns, dames, and loot.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thanks for having me.
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