Robin Hawke


Interview Robin

Ask a question. I’ll answer.


39 Comments so far
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Chocolate: Dark, Milk or White?
Or any and all? 😉

Comment by Kirsten December 16, 2011 @ 3:25 AM
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Dark.

Love it over pomegranate or candied ginger.

Comment by Robin Hawke December 16, 2011 @ 4:02 AM
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What kind of weather inspires you to write?

Comment by mgazzolo December 17, 2011 @ 4:17 PM
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I love a slow drizzling rain, a gardening rain, the kind that soaks the ground, the kind that doesn’t get you wet when you walk through it. I wonder if I would enjoy living in Oregon or England?

Comment by Robin Hawke December 17, 2011 @ 4:28 PM
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How do you relax?

Comment by xoxdede December 18, 2011 @ 5:34 PM
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It takes heat, lots of it:

1) a scalding shower (my favorite incubation spot)
2) standing on top of an old heating grate or in front of the woodburning stove
3) reading under lots of covers with heated beanbags under my neck and feet

Comment by Robin Hawke December 19, 2011 @ 2:28 PM
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I’m going to ask a ‘versatile’ seven 😉
1) What was your favourite music genre as a teenager?
2) Have you ever had a broken bone(s)?
3) What is the most interesting place you have visited?
4) What was the name of your first pet?
5) What author would you most like to have dinner with?
6) Would you go to your high school school reunion?
7) Would you do a bungee jump?

Comment by snagglewordz December 19, 2011 @ 1:10 AM
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1) Too eclectic a listener for one genre. It was at that time I was turned onto the textures of the avante-garde: John Cage, Meredith Monk, Anton Weber. Their thoughts about music and art continue to influence me.

2) No. Then, maybe one of those obscure foot bones.

3) Yesterday, I picked up a photo album. I was transported in time and learned new things about my great aunt and parents and sister.

4) The cat that no one wanted in my college dorm. It was sickly and living upstairs. I got tired of the boys and their names for it. Took it to the vet, gave it the name Luna. It died two months later of leukemia.

5) Ms. Prescott, an English teacher. I’ve never read anything she wrote; she must have written something. She had incredible taste and I only learned a few things from her when I could have learned so much more.

6) I don’t know. Always a conflict. Some bad stuff happened mixed in with the incredible.

7) Absolutely! And jump out of a plane (with a parachute). Bungee jumping is on my bucket list, along with dancing with Ellen. She’s a great dancer, so calm, sits right into the movement.

Comment by Robin Hawke December 19, 2011 @ 3:12 PM
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You adrenaline junkie, you! Thanks for answering and such interesting answers at that 🙂

Comment by snagglewordz December 20, 2011 @ 4:25 AM

I don’t get enough to be hooked. Come back any time.

Comment by Robin Hawke December 20, 2011 @ 4:34 AM

What is your favourite book?

Comment by limebirdbeth December 19, 2011 @ 10:06 AM
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A Collection of Beauties by Whitney Otto.

At least, this is the book that called me to reread it several times in a row in the same month.

Recently, loved Olive Kitteridge. But I won’t reread it for months.

Comment by Robin Hawke December 19, 2011 @ 2:24 PM
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Have you ever based a character on a relative and admitted it? 🙂

Comment by Leila December 19, 2011 @ 4:25 PM
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No admission.

Comment by Robin Hawke December 19, 2011 @ 4:42 PM
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What is your view on blogger awards?

I ask because I just nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger award – see http://jmmcdowell.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-kreativ-blogger-award/

My views are summarized in that post!

Have a great day!

Comment by jmmcdowell January 10, 2012 @ 11:16 AM
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I fall into the positive experience camp…I meet new bloggers and love pointing to deserving blogs.

I’m contemplating changing rules when I receive an award…or the graphic. Then when the award loops around, I’ll know I’m one of its ancestors. Is that terrible– being a prankster with an honor?

Anyway, if you want to learn ten new things about me, ask away below. I promise I’ll pick it up when that requirement fills. (This passive/aggressive shift of responsibility gives me some breathing room!)

Comment by Robin Hawke January 10, 2012 @ 2:50 PM
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I’ll help:

1) What are you writing now?
2) What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
3) Are any of your three sentence stories true?
4) What’s your favorite movie?
5) Do you have any words to live by?

Comment by xoxdede January 11, 2012 @ 7:00 PM
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1) Judging Jade–I have 50,000 words written during NaNoWriMo, but I won’t be using any of them. This draft, the words that come are lethargic but better than expected. My jury of one is out whether the NaNo process was worth this glacier progress.

2) Anything with coffee, chocolate and nuts.

3) Each one is true, but not one of them has its facts correct.

4) Blade Runner is a long-time favorite. Also love Wings of Desire. Both are moody and took my world apart. The former includes my favorite death scene: Rutger and tears in rain.

5) From Wings of Desire: There’s so many good things.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 12, 2012 @ 2:33 PM
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5) Continued with a second quotation from Wings of Desire:
The Far East. The Great North. The Wild West. The Great Bear Lake. Tristan da Cunha. The Mississippi Delta. Stromboli. The old houses of Charlottenburg. Albert Camus. The morning light. The child’s eyes. The swim in the waterfall. The spots of the first drops of rain. The sun. The bread and wine. Hopping. Easter. The veins of leaves. The blowing grass. The color of stones. The pebbles on the stream’s bed. The white tablecloth outdoors. The dream of the house in the house. The dear one asleep in the next room. The peaceful Sundays. The horizon. The light from the room in the garden. The night flight. Riding a bicycle with no hands. The beautiful stranger. My father. My mother. My wife. My child.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 12, 2012 @ 2:34 PM
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What did you want to be when you grew up?

Comment by Kourtney Heintz January 13, 2012 @ 3:33 PM
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A Russian ballerina or Dr. Zhivago’s love.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 14, 2012 @ 2:41 PM
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7) Favorite television show as a kid: My Favorite Martian

8) Favorite television show as an adult: The West Wing, oh and does anyone remember Crime Story?

9) Favorite animal: cheetah

10) Favorite flower: zinnia, if only they would reseed…

Comment by Robin Hawke January 16, 2012 @ 3:08 PM
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Before The Sopranos or Mad Men, there was Crime Story:

Comment by Robin Hawke January 31, 2012 @ 4:22 PM
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What was the first book you published? The latest? How did the experiences vary?

Comment by columbibueno January 29, 2012 @ 6:11 PM
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A how-to, co-authored.

My editor kept deleting my flowery bits (bits don’t flower she would say) and I kept bemoaning my co-author’s inability to bring language alive. It was a mismatch of all proportions even though the first printing sold out in six months.

My first fiction: Trusting Scarlet

I’ve improved, I’ve improved. Most of me wants to yank it off the shelf or rewrite it. Then I leave it be to keep me humble.

My latest fiction effort: Recommending Honey

I’ve improved (read the above!) …

Comment by Robin Hawke January 30, 2012 @ 4:03 PM
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I’m thrilled to be writing fiction, by the way, because I like watering bits and watching them flower.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 31, 2012 @ 2:00 PM

What wassa your favorite class in high school?

Comment by Kourtney Heintz January 30, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
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There was this little adding machine looking thing. It was an early computer and I learned to program it. I loved flow charts and making this thing spit diamonds, pluses and minuses. I don’t think I ever got a question wrong on my homework or in class. Is that why it was my favorite?

Comment by Robin Hawke January 30, 2012 @ 4:06 PM
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What kind of car do you drive?
What kind of car do you wish you could drive?
What kind of car does your MC in your WIP drive?

What song makes you stop everything and just listen?
What song makes you cry?

Comment by Kay Camden January 30, 2012 @ 2:24 PM
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I drive the smallest car that would fit a seven foot Xmas tree. It’s a Matrix. And every other year, I saw down a tree and put down the seats and close up the hatch.

A ’59 Corvette. Course then I’d want to change my entire lifestyle and I’m not sure that’s worth it.

Jade takes the bus.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 30, 2012 @ 4:13 PM
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I was wooed with Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix so I’m partial.

Norwegian Wood–my children used to sing it together with the prettiest voices I’ve ever heard.

Comment by Robin Hawke January 30, 2012 @ 4:20 PM
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What is your favorite part of the changing seasons? (submitted by cestlavie22)

Fall, the colors of light
Winter, when it snows me in
Spring, early flowers
Summer, the long days

Comment by Robin Hawke January 30, 2012 @ 4:34 PM
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I was sure I asked you what the difference between the Romance genre and a Harlequin Romance story was … just not so certain where that question ended up. 🙂

Comment by Tracy Hutchinson February 2, 2012 @ 7:34 PM
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You did. It ended up here:

Mind the Gap

Comment by Robin Hawke February 3, 2012 @ 3:25 PM
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If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? This is pretext for the following. 🙂

I have nominated you for the 7 x 7 Link Award! As I’ve said before, I like to share blogs with others who might not have found them yet. If you’d like to join in the fun, you can find the details at http://jmmcdowell.com/2012/02/02/versatile-sunshine-7-x-7/

Have a great day!

Comment by jmmcdowell February 2, 2012 @ 8:12 PM
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The difficulty lies in narrowing my answer down to one place. I’m weak in the face of the world’s bounty, so I’ll give many answers:

For amusement…the Wizarding World of HP
For romance…the Alhambra or Taj Mahal
For adventure…the great roller coasters of the world
For nolstagia…all my old neighborhoods
For a long, meandering vacation…any countryside
For a climb…Machu Pichu
For amazement…the rainforests of the Amazon
For my love of art…The Hermitage
For drama…the Mariinsky Ballet…ok all of St. Petersburg
For relaxation…Cumberland Island
For awe (manmade)…Xi’an’s Terracotta Warriors
For awe (natural)…New Zealand
For sanity…a hike along the Appalachian Trail
For renewal…the temples of the Himalayans
For excitement…sky diving in Norway
For coffee…Boquete, Panama
For chocolate…the chocolate valley of Italy
For another time…a trip on The Orient Express

With the exception of my old neighborhoods and the Alhambra, I’m a stranger to all of these places. A quarter million fantasy dollars later, I’m off to open google earth. Thanks for helping me add to my ever-growing, never-crossing bucket list!

Comment by Robin Hawke February 3, 2012 @ 4:46 PM
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[…] Interview Robin […]

Pingback by More than a Record « Robin Hawke March 16, 2012 @ 12:57 PM
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What kinds of wildlife have you seen from your kitchen window?

Comment by jmmcdowell March 16, 2012 @ 5:26 PM
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Since I found your blog, I’ve had a lot of fun reading your 50-100-250 snips and I love following your blog, Robin, yet I am still hesitant to buy one of your books.

You answered my last question re: romance vs. harlequin, yet I’m still not convinced that the romance genre has evolved enough from where it was 20 years ago, for me to dive into it. I don’t want you to convince me that I need to take another stab at the genre, but I am interested in how you view “female desire” in a world where male desire still rules. Does your writing address this issue?

Comment by Tracy Hutchinson March 18, 2012 @ 6:22 PM
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