Interview with Jon Slone

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?

I was always in love with words! ALWAYS! From age six on up, whenever I’d stumble into a word I didn’t know . . . well, let’s just say it was like finding chocolate for the very first time, or staying up late on a school night, or sniffing toilet paper or flying through the frosty clouds. Intrinsically I’ve always known, outwardly, since 1997.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

It was harder than Chinese arithmetic! See Dr. Seuss’ arduous road to publishing and times it by ten! Then you’ll have mine.

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?

I’m currently writing 2 books. One is a picture book called “The Hungry Couch” and the other is my first foray into novel-dom! A massive, epic, awesome, splendiferous yarn of unadulterated action and heart-pounding suspense! With scads of yummy wit and promethean wordplay. If you like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Twilight series, you’ll love this!

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein and a modest wood-worker from Nazareth.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

My Mom is on cloud nine! My wife, Stacy, thinks I’m the Cat’s Pajamas and my 14-month-old daughter (who is just the cutest thing with a heartbeat) likes it when I feed her chicken nuggets and crinkled French-fries!

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Sour cream and onion potato chips and a glacial Coca Cola!!

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Change poopy diapers, kiss wife, feed MacKenzie. Watch the movie, “Mr. Mom.” It’ll explain everything!

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

We’ve got squirrels in the attic! And drums in the basement! In the closet, the hangers are barren and the clothes are on the floor . . . but is that really out-of-the-ordinary when you’re dealing with two women? I mean, come on!

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?

GREEN! My favorite color is green. Too many reasons to choose from. Maybe I’ve always wanted to be a lush meadow?! That or a Mountain Dew Bottle? Peradventure, I might just want to be a stack of sweaty cash! Sweaty cash in a lush meadow! That’s it!!!

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

TOO EASY . . . Sylvester the puddy tat!! I love the way he talks! He’s mine and nobody else can have him. I also can do his voice, so watch out!

Which cartoon character is most like you?

I’d like to think, Bugs. But some might argue, Daffy!

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 visit my parents when they were in high school. I’d bring the good photos of them and that’s all I’d display for them. That is, unless they ended up being butts. If that were the case, I’d have to whip-out the wrinkled-up fatty pics!

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

I LOVE MUSIC! My favorite is Chicago, circa 1969 through 1978. (Before Terry Kath died and Peter Cetera left) Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul McCartney. Pretty much, everything in the 70’s!!! I also like Keane, John Mayer, Level 42, the Human League, Men at Work, Maroon 5, . . . seriously, if it’s got good harmony, great lyrics and good musicianship, I love it! From Country to Hip-hop, from Jim Croce to Coldplay and then back to Color Me Badd . . . It’s all yummy for my tummy. And no, I’ve tried. But I can’t write to music, too distracting. But I illustrate to it just fine!

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?

I LOVE MOVIES! Last movie at the theatre was Iron Man 2! Shooter, Kiss the girls, Seven, Count of Monte Cristo, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman (1978), Star Wars (1977), too many to list! T.V. Shows . . . 24!!!!! True Blood, Heroes, Smallville!

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

“Hold on to your seat cushions and watch out for Pecan trees!”

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I’m a non-stop, never-sleep, super-funny, lush-Meadowy, Coke-swillin’, word-slingin’ writing machine! Thus you can look forward to reading stories that I write for forever

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!