Jon David Cunningham
Norfolk, Virginia USA
Good morning, David, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors. We are thrilled to have you with us this morning! Tell us,what have you written?
In grade school I did
several comic books. The artwork was better than the writing. In middle school
I attempted writing a play. It was in my thirties, that I finally did write it,
a two-act play. However it was in my late forties I told myself I could write a
novel. I knew it was never going to be the great American novel, but I wrote it
anyway. I have no plans to ever let it see the light of day. It was in my
twentieth year of working as a hairstylist, I realized our story needed to be
told. I wanted to tell it with a tongue in cheek attitude. To tell all the
crazy thing we go through with our clients. Shortly after my fiftieth birthday
I watched as Delilah Mancini came to life. She had something else in mind, so I
ended up telling more about her life than about her days in a salon.
What is your favorite
genre to write?
When it comes down to
reading, it would have to be horror. I don’t believe I have gained the skill
necessary to do it justice. If I had to pick just one, at this point I would
say ‘Family Sagas’.
Favorite food:
Chinese, Mexican
Tea or coffee?
As a Southerner, I must say tea, and served
very sweat with ice. Yet I would never turn my nose up at a good cup of Joe.
Pizza or ice cream?
Why can I not have
both? Okay if I must, it would be ice cream.
Where would you like to
visit?
The UK, all of it, but
London first and foremost.
Favorite musical
artist.
To know me is to
understand my musical taste cannot be tied down to just one artist. There
again, if I had to, it would be Julie Andrews.
Do you listen to music
when you write? Yes!
What?
While writing it
is ‘The Piano Guys’.
What makes you laugh?
Thanks to my father, I have a wicked since of humor. I can find almost anything
funny. I enjoy watching those who take themselves far to seriously.
Favorite work of art or
sculpture.
Michelangelo’s David
How old were you when
you started writing?
I’ve known since I was
a child I was a storyteller. I feel I started learning about the art of writing
in my late forties.
Describe your perfect
evening.
It would be after my
dogs have started to settle down. I would have a rum and coke sitting next to
me. My headphone would be on my head playing some kind of instrumental music.
Then I would start telling a story as fast as my fingers would allow me to
type.
Where do you get your
inspiration?
Forgive me, but as
Stephen King once said, “Amateurs
sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” All I ever known was how to work, it’s just something you do. I can’t
explain it.
What do you do when you
get a writer's block?
Pace! I live in a small
Cap Cod, which allows me to walk in a continuous circle. While walking I remind
myself where the story is going, and how much the characters need me to tell
their story.
Who is your favorite
author?
Stephen King
Best book you ever
read.
I have read my share of
the classics. The one that spoke to me the most at the time was ‘The Art of
Racing in the Rain.’
Last book you read.
Don’t tell anyone but I
just finished a trashy little novel. But the one I’m get reading to start in
the next few day is ‘Outcry Holocaust Memoirs’.
What would you do for a
living if you weren’t a writer?
I am a hair stylist and
colorist. Working part time at writing. Yet if I had the true talent for
singing. I fantasize about being a Broadway actor.
Who is the one person
who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
Two years ago I would
have denied it. After her passing I
would have to say it was my mother. She taught me how to be self sufficient, to
stand on my own two feet and not to back down. I can hear her now, ‘Live and let
live, but never take no crap off of nobody’.
If you could sit down
and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who
would it be and why?
Jesus of Nazareth. To ask him just how far off the mark
did King James of England get it? What did he really mean, without two thousand
years of someone else’s interpretation.
What advice would you give someone
who aspired to be a writer? "However great a man’s natural talent maybe, the art of
writing cannot be learned all at once." -Jean
Jacques Rousseau-
Take as much time as you can to learn the art of writing, not
just the techniques. Be true to your voice, yet make sure you have a voice
first.
The link for the first
book is
For the second
one
My website is
My Face Book Like Page
is
My Twitter page is
My Amazon Author page
is
My E mail address is
Dear Gentle Readers,
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