#WriterWednesday with Joel McKay

I’d like to welcome Joel McKay to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Building and maintaining the discipline to write even when it’s painful.

Easiest thing about being a writer: It doesn’t require any special tools – a pencil and paper will do.

Something you’re really good at: Running public sector organizations

Something you’re really bad at: Keeping my mouth shut

The last thing you ordered online: Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain

The last thing you regret buying: These hippie shorts that looked ridiculous and wound up just being cheap and too small.

Things to say to an author: I read your book.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I don’t have time to read fiction.

Favorite places you’ve been: Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, Yucatan Peninsula … so the Caribbean

Places you never want to go to again: Surrey. If you know, you know.

Favorite books (or genre): Stephen King books, Raymond E Feist books, Anne Rice vampire books, Stephen Graham Jones books, Susanna Clarke books

Books you wouldn’t buy: Non-English books – I don’t speak or read fluently in any other language (for now).

Favorite things to do: Hangout with my partner, hike, bike, golf, fish, swim, watch TV, read, play vids

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Sitting through long, pointless meetings

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I paint D&D miniatures for fun … I rarely even play! I enjoy the meditative challenge of it.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: A time travel novel I got 30k words into and lost the plot. I’ll go back to it eventually.

The first 8-track, record, cassette, or CD you ever bought: The Batman Forever soundtrack on cassette.

A type of music that’s not your cup of tea: Top 40

My favorite book as a child: The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

A book I’ve read more than once: Magician by Raymond E Feist

Your favorite movie as a child: Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (still is)

A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): The X-Files or The Outer Limits or Fire in the Sky

About Joel:

Joel McKay is an award-winning former journalist and author. His books include the horror comedy novella Wolf at the Door, young adult fantasy adventure The Dungeoneers and the Treasure of Roan, and the short anthology It Came From the Trees and Other Violent Aberrations. He lives in Northern British Columbia.

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