Many of my writer friends have been gracious enough to agree to an interview here about their pets, families, and lives. In case you missed it, my first target was Jay Lake and my second target was Jim C. Hines.
Next up is the divine Miz Lisa Mantchev. I had the pleasure of attending a writing retreat with her last spring and she is absolutely a fun, funny, wonderful person. It just so happens that she’s also a phenomenal writer with her first novel (of a trilogy) coming out in 2009.
Aimee: What kind of things do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.)
Lisa: I write speculative fiction, which is an umbrella term for fantasy, science fiction, magic realism, New Weird, and other genres put into a blender and turned on “Frappé”. I’ve been publishing short stories for the last five years, and I just sold my young adult trilogy, The Théâtre Illuminata, to Feiwel & Friends.
Aimee: What’s a day of writing like? Do you have a set schedule? Do you have a day job?
Lisa: I don’t actually have a set writing schedule because I am also the Stay At Home mom to a very energetic three-year-old. The writing gets done in between preparing snacks, wiping up crumbs, tripping on Legos, and naptime.
Aimee: Do animals appear in your work?
Lisa: I had to ponder this for a moment! I have a cat that features largely in an unpublished short story. In Book 2 in the trilogy, I have a pair of ferrets.
Aimee: What kind of pets do you have? (Past and present if you like.)
Lisa: We have a small herd of Northern breed dogs, two outside cats and a set of beta fish that have lasted much longer than expected.
Aimee: Do your pets appear in your work?
Lisa: They haven’t, actually. I think it says something about my psyche that I don’t have any of my own dogs running amok in my work.
Aimee: How do your pets help you work? (And I use the term “help” very loosely…)
Lisa: I spend an HUGE amount of time vacuuming up tufts of fluffy undercoat (we get dog hair tumbleweeds if I skip a day,) and I use that time to brainstorm or muddle through difficult plot points.
Aimee: While we wait for your trilogy to be released, where can we find some other works to tide us over?
Lisa: For a complete list of my short story credits, you can go to my website.
And The Théâtre Illuminata will be released by Feiwel & Friends in the spring of 2009.