Interview With Author Amy A. DeCew
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m rarely myself anymore after all the recent events, which is how my one book got written.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Almost Over, Never Done: A Reluctant American’s Pandemic Tragicomedy. You’ll never figure out what inspired it, but I’ll give you three guesses anyway. Frankly, America, I am less than amused at your antics, so I created my own.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’d imagine overcaffeination, insomnia, and a laptop that begs for mercy are merely standard. I have a habit of performing my work; it flows from speaking it to writing it and back again in an unholy assemblage of scribbled notebooks, smartphone recordings, and snack breaks. Compiling the evidence into a narrative is its own comedy whodunit.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
When I was 15, I picked up an old beat-up paperback hanging around my grandparents’ house called “Welcome to the Monkey House”. Kurt Vonnegut’s been top of the list ever since. I’m also a huge fan of the Lost Generation literature, which strikes me as some of the most raw and lyrical work in the English language.
What are you working on now?
When I’m not waging a campaign to preserve the Oxford comma for all eternity, you’ll find my preoccupied with preserving democracy and an understanding of germ theory. Usually this means I’m very dependent on the good graces of places with parliaments and public health care.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We’ll find out! So far, it’s been the support of the people who always expected me to write a book that’s carrying me through the process of figuring out the rest as I go.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I love the scene from “Walk the Line” when the record producer stops the session and asks if that’s the work Johnny Cash would choose if he had one song to sing before he died. Write that book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Oh, I’m writing these days because I’m not sure I have heard much good advice. Definitely ignore or question most advice out there, since it usually stems from a desire to take pieces of your identity away from you that may prove to be necessary for critical thinking and unique solutions. But that sounds suspiciously like advice, so I’d examine that closely.
What are you reading now?
“The Path Between the Seas” by David McCullough, about the creation on the Panama Canal. For a chunky history book, it reads like an action/adventure novel.
What’s next for you as a writer?
My advance reader team has indicated interest in both a sequel to my current book and also a poetry chapbook. Maybe both? I want the readers to weigh in on what they find valuable.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, no, not the desert island question! I can hear my library screaming. Since it’ll take me the rest of my life to have this debate with myself, we’ll just say the least likely categories are anything romance or religious.
Author Websites and Profiles
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