An Interview with Josh Rank, Author of THE PRESENT IS PAST

If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make?  

Kurt Vonnegut. I’d make him eggs, hash browns, toast, and coffee because he seems like a breakfast for dinner kind of guy.

What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?

The scariest part is when you sit down to write and stare at a blinking cursor without any clue why you’re there in the first place. Self-doubt is almost universal across the literary spectrum and the only way to get past it is to suck it up and start clicking those keys.

Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? 

Character: Sadie in Stephen King’s 11/22/63

Author: Douglas Coupland

What books are on your nightstand? 

I’ve been reading a lot of Emily St. John Mandel because all of her books are fantastic.

Favorite punctuation mark? Why?  

I’ve really gotten into the em dash lately. So elegant. So mysterious.

What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? 

I took a broken chair from an old job, sawed a few inches off the legs, and screwed the frame back together as much as possible. And as much as I love that broken chair, it wouldn’t be as useful without the few pieces of wood I nailed together to fit across the armrests so I could sit my computer in front of me when I didn’t have a desk. So here’s to you, janky, wooden pseudo-desk.

If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? 

Get outside once in a while.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both. Thinking about writing can be exhausting, but once you get in the flow of it time disappears.

What is your writing Kryptonite?

My dogs. They’re too needy sometimes.