Run - Softcover

AN INTERVIEW WITH INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS

Q: What is your profession and how are you connected to the writing world?
 
A: I am a writer. That's it. I used to be a moose wrangler, but the owners started complaining, saying things like "I don't need my mooses wrangled!" and "Leave my meese* alone" and "You know the restraining order applies to both me AND my moose!" So I gave it up and focused on writing. Also, writing has the huge bonus of being pants-optional, which is almost as cool a job perk as having a spacesuit. If I am ever offered a job as a writing astronaut whose spacesuit has no pants . . . WOW!

But for now, I'm just a writer. I'm one of the top selling indie horror writers in the U.S., I sell pretty well in a number of other countries as well (bestseller in over 40 countries as of this writing), and I also work in Hollyweird as a screenwriter from time to time.

But the moose... the moose will always have my heart.
 
Q: What inspires you to write?

A: The need to eat.
 
Seriously, I do this for a living. And while occasionally that bolt of lightning strikes and the angels sing and dance upon my noggin while I scream "EUREKA" and dance naked atop a flagpole, usually it's just a matter of banging away on the keyboard. Because eating.
 
Q: Tell us about your writing process.

A: See above. I sit down with my computer and face off. There can be only one.
 
Occasionally I square off with a pad of paper. There can still be only one.
 
Q: What do you think about the future of book publishing?

A: It will happen sometime after today.
 
Q: What first attracted you to horror writing?
 
A: Probably the chance to attract babes. Because nothing is quite as cool as going up to a random stranger at a party, leaning nonchalantly against a wall, and then saying, "I dream about interesting ways to murder people for a living. You have lovely skin. Very... skinnable..."
 
Sigh. If only the world worked that way. High school would have been much better, and I would have spent way less time in the school therapist's office.
 
Q: What's your opinion of writer's block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you 'cure' it?
 
A: I never suffer from it.  I actually have written a series of articles on it, one of them at michaelbrentcollings.com/2012.07.22.DiePoopBirdDie.html. Basically, I think that most people suffering from "writers block" are really suffering from "the idea that the first draft has to be perfect block."  Just write, people!  Write total dreck if you must, but write!  Mistakes are what God invented the "delete" button for.
 
Q: What do you do when you're not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
 
A: I used to do a lot of martial arts and work out and play videogames.  Now I'm a dad, so I do a lot of Dora the Explorer, Phineas and Ferd, and Voltron watching.
 
Q: What's next for you?
 
A: More writing! I've always got another book or two up my sleeve. Best way to keep abreast of what's next is to join my mailing list at eepurl.com/VHuvX. Those folks get first crack at new books and sales. Also, I will occasionally offer you a great home mortgage refinance rate and/or the opportunity to get in on an inheritance from a Saudi prince!

Michaelbrent Collings is a #1 bestselling novelist and screenwriter. His bestsellers include Strangers, Darkbound, Apparition, The Haunted, The Loon, and the YA fantasy series The Billy Saga (beginning with Billy: Messenger of Powers). He hopes someday to develop superpowers, and maybe get a cool robot arm. Michaelbrent has a wife and several kids, all of whom are much better looking than he is (though he admits that's a low bar to set), and much MUCH cooler than he is (also a low bar). Michaelbrent also has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichaelbrentCollings and can be followed on Twitter through his username @mbcollings. Follow him for awesome news, updates, and advance notice of sales. You will also be kept safe when the Glorious Revolution begins!