Write From The Soul 6

I've been writing down ideas for books as they pop into my gray matter, but I haven't really had a block of time to sit down and actually write in about two weeks. And I've made a discovery.....I've missed writing! Now to those of you who are published authors, long time authors, or individuals who knew from a young age that you always wanted to be a writer the previous statement sounds absurd and you're saying: yeah, so? What's your point? My point is I'm surprised  and  thrilled  that I have made such a connection to writing. I'm the one who hated to write papers in school. I'd read anything just don't make me write about it. Then I turned into the person who wrote the best consumer letters to store managers or complaint letters to companies and airline customer service departments. And I still didn't like writing. Then I wanted to get back to my dream of writing children's books (of course when that dream started, I naively thought picture books would be a breeze to write-HA!). Now I discover that I enjoy writing, especially fiction. Oh, and now I know that writing children's books is definitely N-O-T a breeze!

I've noticed in the many blogs I've been reading, that other authors like to talk about enjoying writing too. In many "blog tours" (for the uninitiated that's cyberspeak for a printed interview with Q and A on someone's web site or blog), authors often share that they always were a writer, or that they came to writing later in life. Then of course, there's a shameless plug for their latest book! It looks like fun to me but as I haven't published yet, I guess I'm not ready to do a blog tour. So I decided to start off with an occasional interview of my own. In reading Jon Skovron's blog, http://jonnyskov.com/blog  I noticed he asks authors the same 3 questions, but nowhere had he answered those questions himself. A great way to begin my interviews, so I cajoled him into giving me the "exclusive" on his three answers  with the promise of inclusion in today's blog post. Thanks Jon! Here they are:

What is your favorite part of the writing process? Least favorite?

My favorite part of writing is working on the first few chapters, when it's all fresh and new and I'm totally making it up as I go along, as well as the last few chapters when I know exactly what I'm doing and how it's all going to happen.
My least favorite part is writing that squishy middle bit where I actually have to figure out what the heck I'm doing.

What writing “gear” do you like (could be anything from your favorite tool to your favorite tchotchke).

I work on a Macbook Pro, usually on the couch with a little IKEA laptop tray and a coonhound curled up next to me. My favorite tchotchke on my desk (when I work at it) is a little plastic Riddler figurine in the pose of Rodin's The Thinker. I've had it since I was 18. It reminds me both to keep working hard and to not take myself so seriously.

Preference: Zombie, Pirate, Robot, or Ninja…you must chose one.

This is really is the question of the age:
Zombie = Culture
Pirate = Individualism
Robot = Progress
Ninja = Discipline

Each has strengths and weaknesses. The zombie offers community and solidarity (albeit stinky and gross). The Pirate offers freedom, although sometimes at the expense of others. Robot offers expanding possibilities and technological advancement, though offers no morality to contain it. Ninja offers skill and loyalty, but is stuck in traditionalism.
So which would I choose? Why, a zombie-infected ninja pirate cyborg, of course!

And now for the shameless plug of his latest YA book:
STRUTS & FRETS by Jon Skovron, published by Amulet Books
http://strutsandfretsbook.com