Claire Cook Revealed
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Totally thrilled to finally be living my dream!
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Karma is a boomerang. (One of my characters said it first!)
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Perfectly fleeting.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. That I’m still a bartender and I can’t remember where this drink should go. Oh, wait, that's the recurring nightmare.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. Exactly where I am.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. P.T. Barnum. I’m a direct descendant, and by the way, he did not say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” He said, “There’s a customer born every minute.” I have updated that to, “There’s a reader born every minute.”
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. It’s a three-way tie between my husband and two kids. Aww.
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. My literary agent once told me it was Aww. I think she actually called it a verbal tic. That’s the kind of agent you want to have.
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Who has time?
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. I’d love to be a songwriter. I used to teach the Aerosmith kids, and right around the time my first novel came out, I had this great conversation with Steven Tyler. He wanted to know how I could write a whole novel, and I said that if I could say it in a song, I wouldn’t have to.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Helping my two kids grow into people I both admire and want to hang out with.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. I can’t do anything halfway.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. I can’t do anything halfway. And if that’s cheating, I would say kindness.
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. For me, the gift of midlife is that I’m finally being exactly who I really am. There’s great power in that.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. People always say my laugh. They also often tell me I laugh just like one of my characters, which I think is interesting.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Nancy Drew
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. I always skip the scary pages.
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. I always skip the historical questions, too.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Mean people
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Walking the beach.
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Being a novelist. It’s the career I almost didn’t have, and nine books in, it still feels like a fantasy.
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Humor, honesty, kindness.
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Trader Joe’s organic popcorn with olive oil.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. I never play favorites. I just can’t. I’d feel too sorry for the songs I didn’t pick.
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. The ones who've been nice to me!
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. The ones I haven't written yet.
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. I'd love to reread every book I've cared about enough to keep. Someday!!
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Read everything you can get your hands on; you can't be a writer unless you're an avid, joyful reader - and check out the writing page at ClaireCook.com!
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. OMG, you're writing my life.
