J. L. Willow

After blogging for over a year, I feel like you know a lot about my writing but not much about me as a writer. I decided to do a little Author Tag so hopefully you can get to learn a little more about me and how I write!

This Author Tag is courtesy of Vivien Reis, author of The Elysian Prophecy. I highly recommend you check out her book and awesome YouTube channel!

1. Where’s your favorite place to write?

My favorite place to write is outside (preferably on a warm, but not too hot, summer night). The white noise of nature is the best possible music to accompany my thinking and writing. It’s easy to get wrapped up with everything and stay indoors when you’re writing, but it really rejuvenates your work. I can absolutely tell a difference when I write outside for the first time in a while.

2. Coffee or tea?

Coffee all the way. I enjoy tea during the winter, but coffee is an all year round obsession. I don’t like it too sweet, but a touch of mocha on occasion never hurt 🙂

3. Favorite book of all time?

Choosing a favorite book for me is like choosing a favorite child. I do have favorites according to genre. I’ll list those in a later blog post because I feel like I need to rant about how wonderful they all are.

4. NaNoWriMo: Yes or No?

This year was my first year doing NaNo (to read more about my experience, click here) and I will absolutely be doing it again this year. Although it’s a lot of work, it pushed me as a writer and I have so much fun communicating with different people around the world. I highly recommend checking it out!

5. Genre you would write if you had no restrictions?

I’ve always wanted to write horror. I don’t feel like I’m quite there as a writer yet, but in the future, I will definitely try my hand at it. It may come as a surprise, but I absolutely love everything horror (books, movies, video games, etc.). I’ve read only a few books that can really convey that sense of frantic fear and I would love to emulate that one day.

6. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

I would definitely choose the ability to start and stop time at will. I don’t need to time travel, but I would love to stop time at certain points to maybe get a little extra sleep or have more time to read. If only that was the way life worked . . .

7. Favorite author?

My favorite author has got to be J. R. R. Tolkien. His writing is absolutely brilliant and I could read his work over and over again. 

8. What kind of music do you listen to when you write?

I like listening to soundtracks, specifically John Williams and quiet background noise. I actually wrote a blog post about that. If you want to read more about it, click here!

9. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I honestly like where I live now. It’s a really good area with pretty, rural surroundings. The one thing I would change is our winter. It’s really eight months long, and if I could cut that down to a more bearable two or three, that would be best. Like I mentioned before, I love those warm summer nights.

10. What do you do when you get writer’s block?

When I have writer’s block, I simply put the work down and pick it up again later. Sometimes it can be really hard if I’m really into writing something, but it’s healthy to take breaks and renew your mind. Most of the time, that’s enough to get me back on track. If it doesn’t, I usually try bouncing some ideas off my Beta Readers and ask their opinion as to where I should go next.

Hope you enjoyed this post! I had fun talking a little more about myself as a writer.

Do you have any additional questions for me? Feel free to comment them below or shoot me an email!

Keep on writing!

— J. L. Willow