TSR:
What
does the word "story"
mean to you?
JJ: I’ll go with "thoughtful entertainment."
TSR:
Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
JJ:
I try not to, but I know in the back of my mind I am always trying to make sure that whatever I write won’t bore my friends.
TSR: Is
there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection,
anything at all?
JJ: Why
won’t my left eye stop twitching? When will this rash on my
shoulder go away? Why did I eat that entire bag of
mini-Butterfingers?
TSR:
How does
it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
JJ:
It’s weird. When you are publishing work in journals and
magazines, people can just page past your story without too much
animus. If they buy your book, the pressure’s on for you to make
every sentence memorable. That’s a lot of pressure and it’s why I
lose sleep at night.
TSR:
What are you working on now?
JJ: Most
writers are really superstitious and won’t give away any details of
their next project for fear that it will lose its mojo or
magic. Since my new project is a novel about magician who has a
ton of mojo, I don’t really have this kind of fear.
