If you could have a dinner party and invite five authors - dead or alive - who would they be and what would you serve them?
I would invite John Locke and J.A. Konrath to learn more about their paths to becoming enormously successful indie writers, James Michener in order to get an education on his masterful approach to research, John Steinbeck to discuss his use of dialog and dialect to capture a time period and mood, and Douglas Adams to entertain us with his absurdly humorous look at the world.
I love to cook, so for such a special opportunity, I’d have to carefully select some of my favorites. I think I would go with an entrée of chicken with Caribbean coconut-curry sauce, a watermelon, green onion, and mint salad, and wrap up with my signature dessert, bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce.
What is a book that you wish you could say that you had written and why?
I would have to choose the Harry Potter series, but probably not for the reasons you are thinking. I recently returned from a family vacation that included a visit to Universal Studios in Florida. As we walked through the recreated Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, drank Butterbeer, and shopped at Zonko’s and Honeydukes, it struck me what a feeling it must be to J.K. Rowling to have created something that has brought this level of entertainment to the world.
What is the greatest piece of advice (for writing and/or just living) that you have heard?
If you think you can, you’re right. If you think you can’t, you’re right.
Article comments