Faculty Interview: Robert Spiller

Compiled by Jason Henry

Are you excited? We certainly are! Why shouldn't we be? The 2015 Pikes Peak Writers Conference is just around the corner! It has been an absolute pleasure recruiting the incredible faculty that we have lined up for you this year and the workshops they will be teaching are proving to be just as amazing.

Pikes Peak Writers Conference is known as one of the best and friendliest conferences for many reasons. One of those reasons is that we provide as many opportunities as possible to not only learn from our faculty, but to get to know them. Keeping in the spirit of that very statement, we interviewed all of our faculty members to get inside their heads just a little. Really, we don't see the point in waiting until April. Do you?

Over the weeks to come, we will be posting those interviews along with the responses right here on the PPW Blog. Be sure to check in on Facebook and Twitter as well! We hope you enjoy reading these brief Q&As as much as we have!

Robert Spiller (Author, Colorado)

1. What are the most compelling elements you feel are necessary for a good read? 

Two things really: First of all is the fun factor. If I am enjoying myself during the read, as in time spent with a good-hearted lunatic like Bertie Wooster or in the mind of an ingenious antagonist as in the Cask of Amontillado, I'm there. Second I love to learn something. Luckily for me, a number of the books I've been sucked into lately fit this bill. One that comes to mind is Freakanomics. Now a book that is both fun and teaches me something is a gem.

2. What do you see as the pleasures and difficulties of being a writer/artist in today's world? 

Time is a factor in both. Time to write, edit, promote, and critique other's works comprise both pleasure and pain. Although, I have to confess, the magic time at the beginning of a new project is as close to pure pleasure as only one other activity that I can think of.

3. What is the best career/writing advice someone has given you? 

Write even if all you have to say is pure crap. Because behind the crap is all the good stuff.

4. Would you pass that same advice on or alter it? 

I pass it along as often as I can.

5. What do you love most about your career?

 I love to hold a book I've written in my hand.

6. What is something you wish everyone knew (or didn't know) about you?

 I'm not sure I have any secrets, but here goes. I have room in my heart and soul for as many friends as are willing to give me a go.

7. Which fictional character do you relate to the most, and why? What character would your friends/family pick for you?

I have no idea what character family would pick for me, but as for myself, here's a list: Cyrano, Harry Bausch, The King in King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, AJ Fikry, and of course Samwise Gamgee.

Quick Qs:

Pen or Keyboard? Keyboard

Plotter or Pantser? Plotter

Book or E-Book? Book

Spicy or Mild? Spicy

Sunrise or Sunset? Sunrise

Mister Rogers or Sesame Street? Mister Rogers

Facebook or Twitter? Facebook

  

Besides being a master of space and time, Robert Spiller is the author of the Bonnie Pinkwater mystery series: The Witch of Agnesi, A Calculated Demise, Irrational Numbers, and most recently Radical Equations. Napier’s Bones, the fifth in the series is due for release at the end of 2014. His math teacher/sleuth uses mathematics and her knowledge of historic mathematicians to solve murders in the small Colorado town of East Plains. A retired mathematician, Robert lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado with his wife Barbara. Robert has taught a number of classes at PPWC, Writebrain, Authorfest, Texas Middle School Conference and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference