Featured Interview With Constantine Dhonau
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
In 8th grade, I started a myspace-official religion (thank you to our 121 dedicated followers). I picked up trombone after my ska/punk band broke-up in high school. Florida sucked me back in and I became depressed after blowing-out my knee on a 52-day backpacking trip in Colorado because I thought I blew my only chance at realizing my dream by just trying to chase after it. Someone planted the idea in my head to pick-up skydiving as a hobby in college. 8 years later, I jumped out of an airplane solo after watching a man break his leg on landing right before it was my turn to fly. I’m terrible at cooking. After 3 & 1/2 years as a wilderness therapy field guide, my roommate and I woke up one morning and decided to start a high-end catering company. Life is good & I’m satisfied with myself.
All that aside, I like tea. I’m a homebody and a space/tech nerd. I’m becoming increasingly attracted to Daoism. I’m working on letting go of fixed plans and surrendering to the current of life.
“Collateral Intentions” is my first-ever publication into official authorhood. I am currently working diligently on another project with plans for a 12-book…series?…not exactly, but something of the like, at some time in the future. Gotta let it percolate.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Hate to break it to you but I’m not that much of a reader. Every so often I’ll pick something up and go on a streak but they’re few and far between.
I started writing around 17 years-old because of a girl. She was fascinating to me at the time, as weird as I was, and she walked away from me after a mental romance of a month and a half. Writing became my method of emotional processing. Looking back, its easy to say I was a pretty depressive teen with a bad outlook on things but that’s just the arena where I brought most of my problems.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I lean heavily toward non-fiction. Fiction, I go sci-fi dystopia. Margaret Cheney did a splendid job portraying the life of Nikola Tesla in “Man Out of Time”.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Collateral Intentions” is a comprehensive collection of my writing from 17 to 28 years-old.
Yes, it has teen angst & cringe.
Yes, it has smile-back-at-that-moment coming-of-age.
Yes, it has letters to unrequited love.
Yes, it has knee-cracking, tear-extracting, mind-blasting, stomach-stirring rawness.
No, it does not have the answer to your problems.
T’was inspired by a desire to put together a book of selected works to read to my students in the field while I was a wilderness therapy guide. I made a small booklet with a few originals and many other established works. It was a fun process creating it (stirring a deep satisfaction to organize and agonize over the most minute details night after sleepless night, cursing the dawn as a landmark of time passing beyond what I could accomplish within “reason”). So, I decided to continue (how insatiable was the urge) and create a larger collection by combing through my dozen journals. Some friends caught wind of my side-project (whole-hearted obsession) that I started so I could have all my writing in one place and they began asking after it. I gave away manuscripts for the cost of printing. At some point, someone teased me about publishing. “PFEH!” I would say. “HA!” I would scoff. “HRNGH!” I would grumble. Then, after sifting through many-a-scam-site, I decided I would self-publish with Overlord Bezos.
Now, I’m like…submitting it to book contests & $h!*. Who’da thunk?
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