J.A. Merkel was our lucky winner from #BlogBattle numero uno: Four Leaf Clover. J.A. Merkel agreed to a quick interview after his impressive win last week, and now I get to share his answers with you today. 🙂

Let’s get started.

1) As a writer if you had to choose between eating expired sour cream (I mean the really sour sour sour cream) or losing the last three chapters of your book in a freak computer crash, which would you choose? Why?

I would eat the expired sour cream. Luckily, (knock on wood) I have never lost any chapters but I know I would be devastated if I did. There is something about writing that first draft that is irreplaceable. At least with the way that I write, my first and initial thoughts and the first time I write that scene down, will probably never be the same in a subsequent version. I may understand the scene in a better way and sometimes that changes my writing from very raw to almost too careful. Not sure if that makes sense. Yeah, I would get ill for the sake of my last three chapters.

I bet many are nodding in agreement at this moment!

2) When you are preparing to start writing, do you have any special ritual that you perform?

I used to reserve blocks of time for writing time but now as I get more and more busy I hope to just write when I can. Sometimes I’ll have a thought that I need to get down so I just sit down at my computer and start typing. Maybe I’ll only write that one thing down and maybe I’ll write like a maniac for a few hours. Other than that, there is no special ritual. Maybe if I have a full weekend of writing, I’ll get myself set up with lots of water, music downloads, writing podcasts, and some TV shows for the in between writing spurts.

Sounds like you’re pretty flexible!

3) If an alien offered you a million dollars, but the only catch was that you had to give up your ability to write, would you take it?  Why?

I would not take the million dollars. I think I have realized and admitted that a lot of my happiness and self-worth comes from the fact that I love to write. If I lost this ability, I don’t think I’d get as much out of it. I think we all want to be good at something, and writing is something I think I can be good at. It’s a life-long goal to keep getting better and to attain some skill in life. All that money would be great but it can’t buy what I really want. It’s only temporary.

Thanks for including me in this. Pretty cool what you are doing, Rachael!!!