Written Author Interview
1. What is your favorite genre to read for fun?
Social Science and History – 2 of my favorite books are Frantz Fanon “Black Skin, White Mask” and Howard Zinn “A People’s History of the United States”
2. Is there an author who might have inspired you to write for the genre you currently write in?
Yes – Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. They are poets from The Harlem Renaissance and I adored them as a young adult. Cullen’s Incident and Yet do I Marvel, and Hughes’ I, Too and Mother to Son were critical to my understanding of the width and depth of social topics that I was living through in Irmo South Carolina. They also explored the range of class that one can write within to express their points in the most sophisticated of ways.
3. Which comes first in your writing process: Draft #1 OR Cover?
Draft #1 – I’m a rough draft writer, but a cover thinker…meaning, the cover is the thing that I obsess over enough to get to the point that I want to tell the story. But that typically happens subconsciously. It is the inspiration but not the first thing that I aim to perfect. I hope that’s not too confusing!
4. What things tend to interfere with getting work done for you? (Examples include: Other people? Time? Money?)
Money for sure right now…with my podcast at least. Production costs and unstable job security (which I write about) creates bottlenecks of risk when trying to maintain a schedule. If that were off of the table, I would say experiences and reflecting on the growth and change that I’m enduring in real-time. That emotional clarity is my poetic voice and that often comes with reflection, which requires the passage of time and endurance of experiences.
5. When is the most productive time of day for you to write? Early riser? Afternoon Delight? Or Night owl?
It’s less a time of day and more an obsession with the premise, like I was discussing earlier…I was obsessed with the idea of hurricane winds blowing in the sails of slave ships, pushing them to the shores of the Americas. At the same time, I was obsessed with the Atlantic as a graveyard and ironically, how my favorite vacation would include the Atlantic. Those ideas then created poems like Ivory Coast and Atlantic Voodoo. The obsession with the details create the story. Sometimes I can clearly see that story during the day…other times it’s dark out.
6. How many query/submission letters have you written and sent off?
Not many – less than 10 so far, but I plan to do more over the next 5 years. Most of the submission criteria that I’ve seen is for unpublished work, so I’m assuming that I’ll need to create more works! Most currently is published or scheduled to be published. I should also look into published submission sites!
7. What is typically playing over your stereo when you drive or have headphones on? Silence? Music? Podcast? Audiobook?
Podcast, for sure! I love to consume content that feeds me. So political podcasts, historical podcasts, social podcasts are all in my top 10 lists. Some music and audiobooks too, but I have a limit of audiobook time per month and tend to run through that fairly quickly.
8. How do you handle criticism or negative reviews?
I measure it – If it’s coming from a respectable source, then I instantly accept it and hope that I will remember it in my next attempts. If the source is less reputable, especially within my genre and sub-genre, I tend to pay it less attention.
9. How do you find you best handle road rage? Are you more of the passive aggressive driver? Or the Match your Energy type? Or are you the driver ignoring them cutting you off as you sing loudly to yourself?
Hahaha, I hate inconsiderate drivers. I assume the care and thought one puts into driving and following driving rules (specifically using turn signals) is indicative of the type of person we are. To me driving is one of the most trustful acts we perform within society and in order for it to go well for everyone, we all must adhere to the rules.
That said, I cuss inside of my car like the world is ending, then move on. I think my daughters are picking up on this too…not good, lol!!
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About
Ron Colrey, II is a father, poet, podcast host, Employment Law Education advocate and tech/geology enthusiast who grew up in Winston-Salem NC. His parents are Southern Baptist and Catholic traditionalists, which influences many (if not all) of his work on race, religion, society and social norms. They divorced when he was young, which had a huge impression on his views on family, which he writes about in relation to his own 2 daughters. Aside from writing as a passion, he advocates on his podcast (TheAwayGames_Podcast) for employees to better understand their rights and the proper procedures that lead to positive employee outcomes in litigious employment situations.
At present, he’s released 3 books (Adolescence: The Plot of my Escape, Maturation: The Predition of a Smiling Atheist, and Regressions: Suicidal Ideations) in a poetry collection (Rafiki’s Rough Drafts: Round Peg, Square Hole) available on Amazon Kindle. He is working on his second trilogy (Diogenes’ Legacy) which focuses solely on his family and the characters in it that drive his social understanding. This collection and reflection was greatly influenced by his sister’s suicide and trials as a black lesbian in the South.
Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-corley-ii-14a051138/ The Away
Games Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theawaygames-podcast/?viewAsMember=true
Author Website: https://roncorleyii.wixsite.com/theawaygames-podcast
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