#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Jodi Rath
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I’d like to welcome mystery author, Jodi Rath, back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.
A few of your favorite things: My husband, cats, books, my murder board, all my screens (phone, tablet, monitor, and surface pro), kickboxing bag, yoga mat, cast iron skillets, my business.
Things you need to throw out: hmmm….some would say books BUT NO WAY! LOL Probably shoes and clothes—I have too much!
Things you need for your writing sessions: murder board (which is really a whiteboard), yarn to map out the plot on murder board, pictures—visuals of places in my fictional village Leavensport, OH, my style sheet or chart of characters, plot points, and settings to keep everything in order, computer, paper, pen, pencil, books for research, my cats, cup of hot or cold tea and dumdum suckers while I work.
Things that hamper your writing: social media—HA!
Things you love about writing: Everything!
Things you hate about writing: Nothing!
Hardest thing about being a writer: Probably the second and third drafts before finalizing for publishing Easiest thing about being a writer: Planning, plotting, first draft.
Words that describe you: feisty, sassy, determined, motivated, grit
Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: a bit obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist, control-freak
Favorite foods: most anything in cast iron skillet
Things that make you want to gag: oysters
Favorite music or song: 60’s and 80’s music mainly—but I love most music
Music that drives you crazy: country
Favorite smell: pumpkin/cinnamon spice
Something that makes you hold your nose: skunk smell Things you’d walk a mile for: chocolate or really good New York style pizza
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Snakes or alligators
Things you always put in your books: cats and characters that are similar to my family and friends and my frenemies over the ages
Things you never put in your books: abuse of animals
Things to say to an author: “I’m a fan.”
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Write faster or Can I get it for free?”
Favorite places you’ve been: Home
Places you never want to go to again: Most anywhere other than home!
Favorite books (or genre): Mystery
Books you wouldn’t buy: I’m not into fantasy.
Things that make you happy: My husband, my cats, my business which is a lot of research, writing, and art.
Things that drive you crazy: Hypocrite, liars, manipulators
Best thing you’ve ever done: marrying my husband and our cat family
Biggest mistake: don’t believe in them. I’ve done a lot wrong, but I learn from it—so therefore, how much of a mistake can it be. That’s the educator in me talking.
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: race car driving in CA at Laguna Seca
Something you chickened out from doing: I got my brown belt in kickboxing—one away from black and never got the black belt.
About Jodi:
Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her nine cats.
