Jennifer Echols: A Self Portrait
Jennifer Echols Revealed
About Jennifer Echols
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Wrote a lot and finally got published. Hooray!
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Write the book you want to read.
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Lying on the beach reading a great book, or writing my own.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. Medical procedures.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. At the beach!
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Jane Austen.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Barack Obama.
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. Awesome. Ooooh! Ubiquitous.
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Not traveling more before I had a child.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. I would love to be a better musician. I'm so interested in music but that doesn't mean I'm good at it.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Raising a happy child.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Stubbornness.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Sticktuitiveness. Wait--wasn't that my flaw?
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. It would be cool to be Barack Obama right now. If I couldn't be him, I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Oval Office.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. I wish it were my blonde hair, but I'm pretty sure it's my weird nose.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Quentin Compson.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. The Reavers on the canceled TV show Firefly are the most terrifying invention ever. That was a great show and I'm so sad it's gone!
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. I would try to save the four girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing on September 15, 1963. I live in Birmingham and September 15 is my birthday, so they are never far from my mind.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Book banning.
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. I have a terrific job as a copyeditor.
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. High school band director. This was my first career goal in college, but I am not a good teacher.
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Honesty, open-mindednesss, and a good sense of humor.
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Cadbury Creme Eggs.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. "That's the Way of the World" by Earth Wind & Fire, "Dig" by Incubus, "Next Year" by the Foo Fighters, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago, "Grace Is Gone" by Dave Matthews
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Jane Austen, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, E. M. Forster, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ursula K. Le Guin, David Levithan, R. A. Nelson, Jennifer Crusie, Victoria Dahl
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Write the book you want to read.
- Q. How did you come to write Boys Next Door?
- A. It's based on my experience growing up on a beautiful lake in Alabama.
