SIX MINUTES WITH GEOFF RODKEY:
Have you seen Daddy Day Care, RV, or the Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas? If so, then you are familiar with some of the work of LitPick’s Six Minutes with an Author Guest, Geoff Rodkey. Geoff is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and the author of The Chronicles of Egg trilogy. He's also written for the educational video game Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the non-educational MTV series Beavis and Butt-head, Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect, and at least two magazines that no longer exist.
How did you get started writing?
I wrote for my high school newspaper. Mostly by accident, I discovered I could write things that other people actually enjoyed reading. After that, I never really wanted to do anything else with my life.
Who influenced you?
When I was a kid: Judy Blume, John D. Fitzgerald, and Charles Schulz. When I was a teenager: Garry Trudeau, P.J. O’Rourke, Monty Python, John Hughes, and The Simpsons. As an adult, too many people to list.
Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?
Not really. As I’ve gotten older, the concept of having a favorite anything has sort of fallen by the wayside. There are too many good things in the world to have to choose just one. And everything’s situational—a lot of the time, what I like depends on how my day’s going.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?
Three things: 1. You don’t need anybody’s permission to do it. 2. All good writing is rewriting. 3. No matter how talented you are, the first thing you write probably won’t be any good. But if you keep at it, you’ll get better.
Where is your favorite place to write?
I work at a communal writer’s space, which is one of those things that can pretty much only exist in New York City, because we’re all crammed into apartments the size of shoeboxes. I have a favorite cubicle at the space, and most days, I get there early enough to lay claim to it.
I used to have a favorite coffee shop—Doma, on Perry Street off Seventh Avenue—but it closed and turned into a clothing store. And the clothing store’s no fun to write in.
What else would you like to tell us?
THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) is a fun read no matter how old you are…although it’s particularly fun if you’re between the ages of 9 and 12. And it’s available now! (Assuming you’re reading this on or after April 7th, 2015.) And there will be at least three more Tapper Twins books — the second one, THE TAPPER TWINS TEAR UP NEW YORK, comes out September 29th.
Congratulations, Geoff on the release of your first Tapper Twins book! We’re already looking forward to the next one. And thanks for letting everyone know you’re no longer writing in the location on Perry Street off Seventh Avenue. There might have been a lot of people in there looking for you! Thank you very much for spending six minutes with LitPick and our readers!