Tea Iced coffee with the Dragon and Cairn Rodrigeus!

Oh how the Dragon loves tea time!!! The dishes are set and I have a delicious delightful visitor today. No, I do not mean the ant!!! Cairn Rodrigues is the author of the book The Last Prospector —-a high fantasy soon to be released— and blogger on The Light Stealer’s Song. She is a talented writer and creator of the Askew Questions series of interviews.
I have read her book and am a follower of her blog! Please help me welcome my talented guest… (NO! NOT the ant!)

Dragon: Tea? I have Earl Grey!
Cairn: I’d like an iced coffee with a chocolate cinnamon cookie please!

(I snort and a puff of smoke escapes through my teeth…It is tea time! I am a fire dragon…. However, I too am a coffee lover so I will not speak my displeasure at the thought of iced coffee, but rather simply comply and make my best recipe.)

Dragon: Cairn?
Cairn: Hmmm?

(She looks up at me…I think perhaps she does not like my other guest, Mr. Ant. I am ready to address the important and pressing questions that lurk in a dragon mind.)

Dragon: If elephants could indeed fly, where would they go?
Cairn: I’m wrestling with this … because I want to honor your question. But as I try and be the elephant, my only elephant thought is, “Why would I want to fly? I’m perfectly happy down here as long as all you people leave me alone.”

(Perhaps Cairn knows ants better than elephants. she seems to be making friends with the ones on the table…)

Dragon: You created and write in the blog called the Light Stealer’s Song. Can you tell us about the name and its ties to your upcoming novel?
Cairn: Light stealers are beings of my creation. They are living crystals, they grow like plants but look like many other things in the natural world. There are flower, animal and mineral shaped ‘stealers all over Solstice. The light stealers are an integral piece of the overall story of Solstice and an integral component to the world of Solstice. There are rumors that it was the ‘stealers who actually created Solstice. I’m not at liberty to confirm or deny at this time.

(The ants have been eyeing Cairn… Perhaps she will invent Antstealers. I lick my claws and try not to think of what lightstealers might taste like…)

Dragon: I’m looking forward to publication of the Last Prospector. Can you give us a release date? Can you also comment on your past love affair with a certain bit of punctuation?

Cairn: I’m looking forward to it too!  What is not so appealing are all the technical aspects of formatting and self-publishing a book.  It can be overwhelming so I’m taking it slow and trying to do it right.

 Regarding the punctuation situation:  Since I frequently describe myself as an obsessive questioner, my love affair with the question mark is ongoing.       Therefore I must assume you’re referring to all those messy semi colons that used to pepper my manuscripts.  Well, according to informed sources anyway, book editing is a “thing” nowadays. 

Find and replace is also a“thing.” 

(For Dragons “the thing” is always fire or maybe eating; I’m not sure; Quite possibly it is reading as well; It is not semicolons.)

Dragon: If you were a cat, what kind would you be?

Cairn:  I’d be an ocelot.  It’s fun to say ocelot.

(I am thinking it is more fun to eat ocelot than say it! I am thinking of eating many ocelots. The ants are thinking of eating Cairn)

Dragon: As a huge fan of street art, what would you draw or do…if you could?
Cairn: As much as I admire street art, I have no desire to be a street artist. Since I’ve always expressed myself very well with words, those have become one area of my art. But my artistic expressions range from cooking to backyard installations and beyond. Frankly I can’t even really imagine what it’s like to be able to draw, to me it’s a wondrous ability.

(I begin to draw another puff of smoke and watch as Cairn takes a bite of cinnamon cookie. I notice that she has an impressive set of incisors…not as impressive as my own, but to the ants… )

Dragon: You and I like our gardens. How does planting a garden
help you write? Does it interfere?

Cairn: Gardening interferes with everything.  A garden is full of living creatures that need tending in order to thrive, they can’t be put off until the time is convenient.  But
it’s a form of meditation, a time when my body is fully occupied but my mind is
free to wander.  I can work out story ideas, blog posts and other notions
almost without distraction.  Most of the Song of Solstice was actually
“written” in my mind while gardening, especially during rose tending for some reason.

(I shoot a glance to my snapdragons…they interfere with nothing…they are dragons.)

Dragon: Why do you write? Do you
feel it’s essential that your work be read, or is the project complete when
written?

Cairn: Writing for me is not the grueling, self-doubting experience that many authors seem to wrestle with.  When I’m tucked into writing an installment of my series, I can’t wait to get up in the morning and start.  And yes!  Being read by others is pretty darn close to being essential!  I won’t pretend anything differently, I want everybody to fall in love with Prospector the way I have.  I want everyone to get caught up in the world of Solstice like me, it’s too much fun to be there alone.

(Cairn has been patient with the ants, but now she is staring at me…I am afraid to ask her why.)

Dragon: Tell me a little bit about your blog. Have you enjoyed doing interviews? Stories?

Cairn: What to say about my blog?  You never know what you’re going to get, that’s for sure.  I’m opinionated and excitable, many things catch my attention.  Eventually it all gets sorted and filtered into reasonably entertaining posts.  The interviews are too much fun, each one is better than the last. There are more than enough serious and fatuous interviews to be found, the genre needed some whimsy.  Askew Questions appeals to people because they would love to answer some of the questions themselves.  Everyone has their own choice for schoolyard pick and very soon everyone will be putting their shoes in unusual places…

 As for my one blog story, Wanderer, I have no idea if that was fun or not.  I enjoyed writing, but I don’t think anyone read it because I haven’t heard one thing.  So there you go.  Will I do it again?  I dunno.  You never can tell what I’m going to do next.

(I have begun to worry as to whether or not Cairns eat Dragons. I am uncertain of her dietary needs. However I will refrain from gobbling her down  for today. I will wait patiently– at least until her book is released)

Sadly it is time to say adieu to my ant friends and Cairn Rodrigues! It has been my honor to feast ask her so many things! I am hoping that she will find time to return for more tea iced coffee once her book is released. You can find Cairn on Facebook or twitter! At least before the ants get her and carry her off!!!

COMING SOON!!!