Hey, Swell, you are in for a real treat with this interview. C. J. Connor is a Pitch Wars alumnus who primarily writes queer romance and cozy mysteries. Their debut cozy mystery novel, Bored to Death, is forthcoming from Kensington Books. When they aren't writing, they can generally be found doing many of the same things that I also love to do, such as perusing art museums, listening to angsty folk music or stress knitting. Their main goal as a writer is to make their dog proud
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:18
CJ I would love to start out by hearing in your own words how you would describe bored to death and also, if you feel up to it, maybe reading a few lines or a favorite paragraph to give listeners a sense of what they can expect
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:32
I absolutely love how your novel plays with genre. And there is something just so deeply satisfying to me about a mystery. Is mystery a genre that you grew up reading or how did you get into it? And when did you first know that you wanted to write this novel and then make the time to do all the drafting and eventually lead to publication? What was the book's journey? Essentially
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:31
We have a lot of writers here on Swell, and I know something that they really appreciate hearing about. Including myself as a writer is different writing advice that you'd maybe either give to yourself or learned along the process of writing this novel, or maybe some advice that have been given to you over the course of your creative, creative practice that has really stayed with you and helped you get through the drafting of this book
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:31
Lastly, a favorite question of mine to ask all creative people, but especially writers, is what are you currently obsessed with? It can be anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be books or stories. It could be something even like a recipe, a moment in history. Anything is up for grabs. I'm really curious what's kind of occupying your heart and mind as you get closer to celebrating this novel being out into the world