7 Questions With an Author: Knox McCoy

This is my weekly series titled 7 Questions With an Author... where I pose seven questions to an author and then share their unedited answers here.

Today's author is an incredibly funny blogger/satirist named Knox McCoy, on his Twitter account he's a self-proclaimed "....retired rodeo clown...and hater of all things Malfoy and mathmatical..." - I don't know about all that, but I do know that he's got mad writing chops.

One other thing I know for sure, Knox McCoy is his real name - even though it sounds like a drinking buddy of video game hero Duke Nukem or the Texas Hold 'em partner of Doc Holliday.  Even though he has two last names (or maybe two Cowboy first names) he's still the real McCoy!!! [Editor's note: Don't judge me - I had to write that.]

Knox is also a voracious viewer of ABC's hit TV shows "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," which he blogs about regularly during their respective network television airings.  However, he's not some flaky reality-TV follower but a true satirist of the show's unbelievably shallow premise and its distorted societal projection. He takes the shows sketchy pablum and uses it for both profound and funny uses.

His biting, witty, sharply written Bachelor-esque commentaries, along with other musings, can be read at his blog www.knoxmccoy.com. 

Here's 7 Questions with An Author: Knox McCoy
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1. Tell us about your book?
It's called Jesus and The Bachelorette. A strange title? Yes. A strange concept? Yes. But not as dissimilar as you may assume. Essentially the book is about how the show tries to find love, but does it in all the wrong ways and how Christians often do the same thing in the search for God.

It's available at my blog, at Amazon for the Kindle, iBooks for the iPad and on 9/12 it will be available for the Nook.

2. What led you to write it?
I started recapping the show a year ago because I thought it was absolutely stupid, To my surprise, almost everyone else felt the same. I started thinking more deeply in those terms: something that exists for a stated purpose but it actually functions counter-intuitively to the stated goal

I wanted to consider this idea in a more broad sense, while also making fun of the show, because, I mean, people LOVE to make fun of that show.

3. Who is a writer that inspires you and why?
Chuck Klosterman is probably the biggest one. He writes intelligently, humorously and combines seemingly opposite ideas for resonant analogies. That is what I want to be like.

4. What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book?
There's a point with any project when you sit down amid all the clutter and think, "Hmmm, this is a huge mistake." But you have to get beyond that. I think accomplished writers are people with talent, but more than that, they are people who are disciplined and determined to finish projects.

There's also the challenge of finding the time to write when you have a full-time job and a family.

5. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Write. You won't improve till you do it exhaustively. If you really want to do it at a high level or for an audience, you have to write and read without ceasing. Some ideas will crash and burn and crash again, but the skill reveals itself as you continue to hone your instincts.

Early on, I always thought that I needed to save all my good ideas for when I "made it." That's dumb. You don't "make it" until you pay your dues. I'm still paying mine.

6. Where do you get your ideas?
A dark and deep reservoir of strange ideas formed from tons of TV watching, movie watching, and music. I try to write about things that interest me in the hopes that it will strike a chord with people.

I feel like most people are pretty smart and attentive to things that interest or resonate with them, so I consider it my job to find those subjects that will capture their attention.

7. Anything that you'd like readers to know that I haven't asked?
Dennis Quaid is a terrible actor. I mean, when has that guy ever been in a movie where you were like, "Dennis Quaid just nailed it." Answer: he hasn't. If you see him in a movie, avoid it like a dead body.

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Despite Knox's knocking against Dennis Quaid, Disney's movie The Rookie starring Quaid still makes me tear up when the high school baseball team his character coaches win state and tell their coach - "It's your turn" to follow his dream and try out for a professional baseball team (sniff).

Despite our disagreement on that single cinematic moment in DQ's career, please check out Knox's website and buy several editions of Knox's new book Jesus and The Bachelorette.  Please do it...for the children.

Question: Do you have a favorite satirist (e.g Dave Barry, Jon Stewart...etc.) who's work you enjoy? If not, Knox is always looking for groupies....