1. Can you tell
us a little bit about yourself?
I am a Montana librarian,
a former award-winning newspaper reporter, and a married father of three who
enjoys sports, fishing, cooking chili, and making beer. I grew up in Oregon and
Washington, the third oldest of six kids.
2. What do you
do when you are not writing?
I read as often as I can,
of course. I love watching football and baseball. But I also like going on long
walks. Walking the dog is one of my favorite activities.
3. When you were
a kid, did you want to grow up and be a writer? Or was there something
else you wanted to do?
When I was young, what I
wanted to be when I grew up changed almost yearly. I first wanted to be a
cartographer, then an architect, a diplomat, a lawyer, and finally a sports
writer. I made a living in journalism for more than a decade before getting a
Master's degree in library science and switching to my current field.
4. Do you work
with an outline, or just write?
I work with an outline. I
first outline a novel, then write chapter summaries, and finally turn those
summaries into a manuscript. I know how 99-percent of the story is going to go
before I write the first word. I can't imagine doing it any other way.
5. What has been
the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best
compliment?
The toughest criticism has
come from readers who have dismissed an entire story because they did not like
a single character. That's tough to take because characters aren't like typos
or formatting errors. They are baked in the cake. They are set. The best
compliment, at least forThe Mine,
came from an 84-year-old man. He wrote that he had lived in western Washington
in 1941 and could relate to the novel. He praised the story's authenticity.
That meant a lot to me because I had put a lot of effort into making The
Mine historically
accurate.
6. Is there any
particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or
as an adult?
There are two authors I
really like: Vince Flynn and Nelson DeMille. The former writes thrillers that
keep you on the edge of your seat and the latter writes thrillers that keep you
laughing from the first page to the last. Both men are great writers and
storytellers.
7. Can you tell
us about your newest book, The
Journey?
The Journey is a coming-of-age story
told mostly by a woman who has already come of age. When Michelle Preston
Richardson, 48, finds herself childless and unfulfilled following the death of
her husband in 2010, she seeks to reconnect with her happy childhood at a class
reunion in Unionville, Oregon. But when she explores an abandoned mansion with
three classmates, she is thrown back in time to 1979. Distraught and nearly
penniless, Michelle finds a job as a secretary at Unionville High, where she
guides her spirited younger self, Shelly Preston, and childhood friends through
their tumultuous senior year. Along the way, she meets a widowed teacher and
finds the happiness she had always sought. But that happiness is threatened
when history intervenes and Michelle must act quickly to save those she loves
from deadly fates.
The Journey has much in common with my
first novel. Like The Mine, it is a time travel story
set in the 20th century in the Pacific Northwest. It has romance, history,
humor, adventure, and a protagonist that is reluctant to share time-traveling
secrets with her new acquaintances. But The Journey is also different. It is darker and
deeper than The Mine and arguably more poignant. It's a
novel that is tailor-made for those pondering major life decisions.
8. Where do you
get your ideas?
I get them from a variety
of sources: books, movies, life experience. Several books and movies inspired The
Mine, including The Time Traveler's Wife, The
Notebook, Back to the Future, A
Walk in the Clouds, Yanks, and Racing
with the Moon. Inspiration for The Journey came mostly from my experience as a
young person growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
9. Do you ever
experience writer’s block? What do you do when that happens?
I rarely experience
writer's block. I often find myself at a loss at how to properly describe a
scene that I've mapped out. When I do run out of ideas, I go on a long walk.
There is nothing like a walk to clear a mind and find new inspiration.
10. Do you have any advice to give
to aspiring writers?
Yes. Don’t give up. Don’t
put off your project. And don’t let your inner critic overrule your inner
artist. Write the book you want to write.
AUTHOR:
Check John out at his BLOG, FACEBOOK, GOODREADS, AMAZON BOOK LINK, and his BARNES & NOBLE BOOK LINK.
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Happy Reading!
Cana
