Time to meet our A to Z Team captain, J Lenni Dorner! Here's what I want to know and maybe you might be interested as well. Hello, J!
Twenty Questions for J Lenni Dorner:
1) Why did you start blogging in the first place?
The A to Z challenge! I found it while surfing around and knew I wanted to take place in the next one. It looked like a great way to connect with people online, and yup, it turned out that it totally is!
2) How has blogging been helpful to you?
To give me a place to express myself. Also, as I learned more, it became a way to refine my "author brand." Blogging has also given me a reason to write more short stories.
3) What brought you to the A to Z Challenge in the first place?
The sense of community online.
4) Why would you recommend A to Z to other bloggers?
To connect with other bloggers and to set a goal for yourself. Finishing something, even a month of posts, feels a lot better than quitting your own blog. The challenge gives you a reason to write, the optional theme aspect gives focus, and the timeline gives a deadline. Hopping around gets you a community, entertainment, and new knowledge.
5) Besides writing, what interests consume you the most?
There are several. Reading, obviously. Being out in the woods. I was really into Pinterest (until the number of ads quadrupled). I tried photographing inanimate objects for about a year. I like to try new activities and explore new interests.
If anyone wants to suggest a new possible hobby, activity, or interest in the comments, that'd be awesome!
6) If you could choose one place in the world to visit at this time of your life, where would that be?
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| Armando al Pantheon- Screenshot from Google - March 2020 |
This is normally easy to answer. But... Armando al Pantheon in Rome is closed right now.
I've also always wanted to go to Mount Sinai, in Egypt. (Gebel Musa / Jabal Musa) See the sites, ride a camel, climb to the top, take the 3750 steps back down. It just seems like a really interesting experience.
But travel is restricted (as of the day I'm answering this), so right now I'd just like to go back into the woods. Actually, on any given day at any given time, I just want to go back into the woods.
7) How do you get to your happy place? (What relaxes you or allows you to find the greatest calm or focus?)
The woods, going there is my happy place. Go beyond where the cars go by, past the well-worn trails, into the rare spaces where the trees outnumber the people. Where nature is still wild. A place where clocks and calendars don't matter much. 🌲🌳🐇🐦🐻🐢🐺🦃🌳🌲
8) If you could spend a few hours in conversation with any person, famous or not, who would it be and why?
The Grandfathers, the Lenni-Lenape from thousands of years ago. Our legends have been passed down. But there was a whole time period (the mid-1700's until the late-1900's at least) when our language, culture, history, and stories were outlawed. Many of my people died to keep the legends I grew up on alive. As much as I appreciate that incredible gift, I'd love to be able to go back in time and learn them first hand. So much was erased. I'd love to recover those stories.
9) What would you consider to be the consummate form of artistic expression?
Truth, and anything that brings an unexpected truth to the audience (even if the audience is only the artist). This is why we sometimes remember creative expressions differently. (Apologies to every teacher who has had to make students remember anything creative with perfect accuracy.) I've written flash fiction where the main character was male, named after an ancient male deity; ask a dozen people who read it, ten will tell you the character was a woman. We see what we need to see to find a truth in the art, one to which we can relate. Any artist who helps their audience find that has given the world the ultimate gift.
10) What innovations of writing might you expect to see in the future?
The return to carving in stone. 😆 I'm mostly kidding. But if you digest too many dystopian and apocalyptic stories, you might notice a trend where all the digital information is inaccessible. And then bad things happen to paper. Break out the chisel, kids! 😉
Here are a few lightning round questions:
11) Sweet or salty?
🧂
The majority of my favorite foods are salty.
12) East or west?
Toward the sunrise (east). 🌅
13) Travel or home bound?
Travel 🚅🚕
14) New York City or New Mexico?
The original lands of the Lenni-Lenape include NYC!
🏙
15) Books or movies?
Text in print 📚
16) Fiction or non-fiction?
Tall-tales of fiction. (Though I presently have published two works of fiction, the novel Fractions of Existence and the short story Lumber Of The Kuweakunks, and two works of non-fiction, Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters and Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier.)
17) Plays or poetry?
Taylor, Edward - poetry
Almost done! Here are a few more to enlighten us with:
18) What do you see in your blogging future?
The new blog needs several years of posts. I see me writing them, perhaps with a bit more focus on certain topics this time.
19) What are you currently working on in your writing life?
Too many projects. I know I need to pick one and focus. 💎 Oh look, something shiny! 🤣
20) What do you see as your biggest project/achievement still waiting ahead of you?
To finish writing, and to publish, the rest of the Existence series.
You can see the list of all Blogs on our Master List!
