Q and A With Mr. Alexi (What I Would Have Asked at Wordstock)

I wanted to raise my hand. I wanted to ask something. I wanted him to know I was a fan...that I thought he was brilliant, great, inspiring, and a comic genius.

But when he opened it up for questions two other ladies beat me to it. And, instead of asking good questions they just tried to impress him with what they knew. The jabbered. I was in the back. I felt deaf. He nodded. They expounded, and then finally at the end of their intelligence vomit he dove into an interesting monologue. Maybe he was trying to avoid more questions like there's? I would have.

So, Sherman, here are my questions: (Nothing intellectual about them.)

1. What percent of War Dances is autobiographical?
2. Should I have read War Dances in order? I went through and read all the poems first and then the short stories. Did I miss something?
3. I loved your "Ode to a Small-town Sweethearts." I totally related.(The voice in the poem reminded me a ton of my husband who is from Hayden Lake.) I got it. However, sometimes I didn't get everything in all your other poems. Do you sometimes not totally know why you write what you write? Can an writer do that? Sometimes I do when I write.
4. At what age will you allow your children to read your writing? Are they at all interested?
5. Who is your favorite author? Past and current?
6. What are your sons' names? I think you mentioned having two boys. How has having children changed your writing?
7. Who is your secret group? You know, the group you share your writings to first? Your wife? No one?
8. After you write something, how long to you let it sit before you look at it again and edit it?
9. How often do you go back to your hometown(s)? I'm counting Reardan in the mix.
10. Did you go to your high school reunions? How were you received? Do your friends/enemies/associates like being featured in your books?
11. Do you consider Flight at young adult book?
12. How did you meet your wife? At Wordstock you mentioned that she's Native American too? What tribe? Did she grow up on a reservation? Was her experience similar to yours?
13. Did you always want to write? What was your very first thing ever published, even if it was just a bit in a newspaper....
14. Religion and faith seem to come up a few times in War Dances, plus you had a soapbox on it at Wordstock. You hinted that you think that faith should be kept to oneself, yet faith seems central to many of your stories in War Dances. So, where are you at personally with your thoughts on personal faith and how that interacts with our daily lives....personal, social, political.....?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I look forward to more books by you to put on my shelf.

-Rebekah D. Schneiter