Behind My CanvasRebel Interview

A few months ago, Jenny Tran from CanvasRebel reached out to me asking if I'd be interested in doing an interview.

Now, of course my first instinct was to say no.

I don't have much going on. Scratch that—I do have things going on. I wrote a children’s book, I’m busy trying to market it, and I’ve been revisiting old feature projects, blogging, and juggling about a million other tasks. But it didn’t feel like enough to be worthy of an interview.

But, somewhere along the way, I’ve developed this attitude: unless there’s a real reason to say no to something… say yes.
And no, fear doesn’t count as a real reason.

So even though my first instinct was to pretend to mull it over and then say no, I already knew I’d say yes. I still waited a few hours before replying, just in case I changed my mind.

Then I messaged my photographer sister (she’s AMAZING. I’m not just being biased—I’ve read the reviews her customers leave!) and asked if she could squeeze in a photoshoot during her upcoming visit.

Then the real worrying started.

I had to figure out what to say.

I really don’t enjoy talking to people. I want to. I’m so jealous of people who are outgoing and have such smooth, easy-going conversations. That’s never been me. I don’t think it ever will be.

So, I was very relieved when I got an email from Jenny letting me know the interview was written.

I took a look at the list of questions, but I couldn’t decide which ones to answer (she asked for a specific number). So, I put on Blink-182—Dance With Me is one of my summer jams this year, btw—and just started freewriting responses to as many as I could.

Whenever I have something difficult to write, I always start by freewriting and jotting down things I want to remember. There’s something about it that helps every time. I even wrote a maid of honor speech that way.

After a few days, I started shaping my answers and narrowing down which ones to send to Jenny.

You can find the winners here.

Ultimately, I had a good time.

It was fun showing a side of me that I don’t usually share. I talked about some of the music I like, some of the film memorabilia I have in my office, but most importantly, I reminded myself what it felt like when I first started taking my writing seriously. There was something naive and special about it that made me think anything was possible.

I missed feeling that way. Hopefully, I can hold on to that a little longer.

Lately, I’ve even been revisiting some older ideas and wondering if there’s a way to update them for today’s audiences.

Who knows—maybe this interview was exactly what I needed.