Q & A with JoAnne Soper-Cook

1. What was your first piece in print (book, review, or article, etc)?

A short story I wrote for my grade four class called “The Magic Elf.” I was 8 years old; that was back in 1975.

2. When do you like to write (time of day, day of week)? Where do you do your writing (location)?

It depends on what sort of thing I’m writing; certain times of day are better for non-fiction work.  Right now I tend to write early morning or late in the evening.  I do my writing wherever I can. I write longhand, so it’s just a matter of taking a notebook with me wherever I go.

3. What character from your book(s) is the most like you? What one would you most like to be?

I would have to say that Stella Maris Goulding from Waterborne, is most like me, except I don’t cross-dress. I have the same reclusive tendencies and an almost obsessive need to be left alone. I think I would probably like to be Inspector Devlin, because he’s very clever.

4. What was your favourite book(s) when you were a child?

The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder come to mind.

5. What are you reading now?

I read a lot of Nordic and Scandinavian crime authors; I think they’re so superior to many North American crime writers in so many ways. Right now I am reading The Torso by Helen Tursten (in translation) who is a Swedish crime writer.

6. What other jobs have you had besides being a writer?

I started my working life as a housekeeper, earning $2.75 an hour, back in the days when you could pay domestics lower wages than the minimum. I have been a book editor, a university lecturer, a secretary, a receptionist, a title deed searcher, and an entrepreneur.

7. What is your favourite food?

Chocolate, as is probably evident by my girth . . .

8. What kind of music do you listen to?

I’m a die-hard jazz fan. I listen to all sorts of jazz, mostly on web radio out of the United States.

9. If you could live during any time period and in any place, when and where would you choose?

Probably the Victorian Era. But I would want to be a man, because living as a woman during that time period would be intolerable to me. Not to mention that the corsets were murder . . .

10. Make a question of your own and then answer it.

Hmmm . . . well, right now the question I am pondering most is, “What lies in my future?” and the only answer I can think of is, “More of the same.” :)