Howdy Hank fans! 

We hope you enjoy this interesting interview as much as we did! "Lone Star Literary Life" definitely knows how to ask some great questions! 

From the interview:

LSLL: Let’s talk process for a bit. I read that you discovered a talent for writing when you began writing poetry in a high school English class. How do you know that you’ve just experienced new inspiration for your next work? How long does it take you to write a new Hank book? And do you still write poetry?

JRE: "I’m often asked about “inspiration,” and it’s a question I discuss in Finding Hank. I don’t think of writing in terms of inspiration. I’m a professional writer with professional habits. I write four hours a day, every day, seven days a week. I write two Hank books every year, and when it’s time to start a new one, I write the first sentence and go from there. It doesn’t matter if I’m inspired or not. The discipline pushes me through the hard parts.

I wrote the second book in two weeks, which seems a bit incredible, but most of them take four to six weeks. Hank books are very intuitive, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about them or sweating over them. 

I still write poetry but mostly in the form of songs that appear in the audio versions of the Hank stories. From the beginning, I have recorded them as audio books, and in that medium, I’m able to incorporate my love of music. Most of the songs are funny, but some are intended to be serious and beautiful, both as music and as poetry. Believe it or not, I have several songs that were based on Gregorian chant, an ancient form of sacred music."

Read the full interview here.