Serials and Scenarios ~ Robin Jones Gunn

Hey Dreggers...

Robin Jones Gunn dropped by to visit for a spell. It's been awhile since I posted an interview. So enjoy.


Fiction character you would most like to be or most identify with and why?

[Robin Gunn] I’d like to be Ransom from C.S. Lewis’ “Perelandra” because Ransom is transported to Venus and observes another sort of Adam and Eve before their fall. He tastes food not grown on Earth and rides dolphins. He is a character that has stayed in my imagination for decades.


Some out there in writing land have strange rituals. Share yours.

[Robin Gunn] I rise early in the morning when I’m on a tight deadline. Usually 3am. I make a pot of tea in my favorite china tea pot, put on soft music, light a vanilla scented candle, pray and start writing. I’ve been doing this for over twenty years. Not every day, of course, but sometimes 3 or 4 days a week just so I can write unhindered and uninterrupted.


Favorite turn of phrase or word picture, in literature or movie.

[Robin Gunn] I love “As You Wish” from Princess Bride. I even titled one of the Christy and Todd the College Years books, “As You Wish”. For me, the phrase is how I often end my prayers – “as You wish, God, not as I wish”. Isn’t that how Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer with the line, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”. Also, when Jesus prayed before the crucifixion that “this cup could pass from him” He said, “Not my will but Yours be done”. I think the act of such surrender is critical to ever entering into a true and deep and lasting relationship with our Father God.


What period of history intrigues you the most?

[Robin Gunn] Mid 1800’s, specifically 1840’s to 1860’s.


What makes you feel alive?

[Robin Gunn] First Light on the island of Maui. I’ll attach of photo I took a few weeks ago while our family was camping on Maui. I unzipped the front of the tent just before dawn and quickly crawled out to snap this photo. Then we hiked down the trail and swam in the pools beneath the waterfalls.


Book, music, person, food you would take with you on a very long trip.

[Robin Gunn] My husband. Always love having him near.


Where would you most like to travel ----- moon, north pole, deep seas, deserted island, the holy land or back to a place from your childhood, somewhere else? – and why.

[Robin Gunn] Anywhere, anytime. As St. Augustine said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” I want to read it all!


What would you do today if you knew you had only a week to live?

[Robin Gunn] Exactly what I’m doing. I had a number of serious health problems a few years ago and that caused me to start living each day as if it were my last.

Thanks, Robin.