#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Alan Orloff
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I’d like to welcome the one and only Alan Orloff to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday on Thanksgiving. Alan gave me one of the best pieces of writing advice early in my writing life, BICFOK (Butt in Chair, Fingers on Keyboard). He’s right. Check out his interview and his new novel.
Things you need for your writing sessions: a computer and a chair (usually, but not always)
Things that hamper your writing: that Internet thing
Hardest thing about being a writer: The muddle in the middle
Easiest thing about being a writer: Writing Facebook posts
Favorite beverage: water
Something that gives you a sour face: any hot beverage (I know, weird)
Favorite smell: Freshly baked bread is pretty awesome.
Something that makes you hold your nose: Cooked cheese. (It grosses me out even typing that.)
Something you’re really good at: I’m really good at the carnival game where you squirt water into the clown’s mouth to blow up and pop a balloon. Like really good. If this was an Olympic sport, you’d see me on the podium.
Something you’re really bad at: Singing. Like really bad.
The last thing you ordered online: Barley (I know, weird)
The last thing you regret buying: Compact floating light-up pool fountain (I know, sounds great, but it didn’t work. Alas…)
Things to say to an author: I really enjoy your work
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I’d like your work if the characters were more likable/real/unlikable/relatable/humorous/serious/whatever.
Favorite places you’ve been: Hawaii
Places you never want to go to again: Genoa, Italy. The entire city smells really bad (at least the night I spent there).
Best thing you’ve ever done: Married my wife and started a family
Biggest mistake: Pulling ivy off the trelliswork in the backyard. All of a sudden, the ivy released and I fell backward, landing on my lawnmower. I think I broke a bone in my back. This was about fifteen years ago, and my back still hurts from time to time.
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Constructed built-in floor-to-ceiling bookcases
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Tried to build a water fountain next to the back deck. It did not work.
Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: I went on a ride-along with a local police department, and I used one of our calls as the opening scene in a novel called…Ride-Along.
Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: My second and third books were part of the Last Laff mystery series, featuring a stand-up comic. Some people thought that I was actually a stand-up comic. Um, no.
About Alan:
Alan Orloff has published ten novels and more than forty-five short stories. His work has won an Anthony, an Agatha, a Derringer, and two ITW Thriller Awards. His latest novel is SANCTUARY MOTEL, from Level Best Books. He loves cake and arugula, but not together. Never together. He lives and writes in South Florida, where the examples of hijinks are endless.
Let’s Be Social:
Website: http://alanorloff.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alanorloff
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/alanorloff
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alanorloff/
