Today I will be interviewing Jonathan Rogers, author of The Charlatan's Boy.
Welcome to Ridiculous Reviews!
That's wonderful. A legacy found in your writings. That just sounds amazing.
Welcome to Ridiculous Reviews!
Out of all the books you have written, which is your favorite and why?
The Charlatan's Boy is easily my favorite. In many ways it's more ambitious than the Wilderking books; it concerns itself with the main character's inner life in a way that the Wilderking stories don't. And that inner world is a wilder place even than the Feechiefen Swamp. Before I wrote The Charlatan's Boy, The Secret of the Swamp King (Book 2 of the Wilderking) was my favorite. It's the swampiest of my books. At the moment I'm working on a short biography of Flannery O'Connor; I have a feeling that's going to end up high on my list of my favorites.
I can't wait to read that biography your working on.
What advice would you give to any aspiring writers?
I guess one piece of advice I would give is not to think of yourself as an "aspiring writer." If you want to be a writer, then write. Don't aspire. Sit your butt in a chair and put words on a page. And ask yourself, "Would I be willing to write this even if it never got published?" Because it's the writing that matters, not the publishing. In Choruses from The Rock, T.S. Eliot wrote, "Take no thought of the harvest, but only of proper sowing." That is great advice for a writer.
That's great advice! I think I should take you up on it.
What do you enjoy most about being a published author?
Every now and then I get a note from a person I knew years ago, and it says something like, "I haven't talked to you in fifteen years, but I read your book, and it sounded just like you." That's a remarkable thing. My great-great-grandchildren will be able to pick up one of my books and hear what my voice sounded like. And, by the way, you don't have to publish to have that benefit. That's available to anybody who will sit down and write in his or her own voice.
That's wonderful. A legacy found in your writings. That just sounds amazing.
What do you do when you are not writing?
I raise children. Six of them.
Where can readers find out more about you?
Thank you so much for giving us your time.
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