Tom Cox: A Self Portrait
Tom Cox Revealed
About Tom Cox
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. A comprehensive lesson in how not to time-manage.
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. "Always be closing."
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. A late summer evening. The British countryside. Good company. Possible some booze. Some elves playing a folk song somewhere in the middle distance.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. Scarecrows.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. 12th tee, Augusta National
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. "Thing". "Like". "Strange".
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Not stopping to take a photograph of a really spooky looking scarecrow a few miles from my house the other week (it's gone now!).
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Constant misguided optimism.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Constant misguided optimism.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. The Dude from The Big Lebowski
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Overuse of the word "iconic". People who don't signal at roundabouts.
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Pro golfer (bad).
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Pro golfer (good).
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Salt And Vinegar Snack-A-Jacks
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. The Battle Of Evermore by Led Zeppelin, The Name Of The Game by Badfinger, Money City Maniacs by Sloan, One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head, Willy O'Winsbury by Pentangle (naturally, this list will have changed completely by next week).
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Richard Russo David Sedaris Meg Wolitzer Rose Tremain John Irving William Boyd TC Boyle Thomas Berger
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. Ulverton by Adam Thorpe Naked by David Sedaris Straight Man by Richard Russo A Widow For One Year by John Irving Sacred Country by Rose Tremain
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Sacred Country by Rose Tremain
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Keep at it.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. "It made me laugh." (I hope in a good way.)
- Q. How did you come to write Under the Paw?
- A. My cats had been bullying their way into highly inappropriate areas of my writing for some time, so I decided to give them "the floor" for once, so to speak They took it happily, although the vacuuming up that I had to do afterwards was no fun.In short: they'd been treating this place like a hotel for too long, and it was about time they started contributing to the household income.
