Each day leading up to the 32nd annual Minnesota Book Awards announcement, we’ll be featuring an exclusive interview with one of our 36 finalists.
Interview with Geoff Herbach, author of Cracking the Bell, part of the Young Adult Literature category, sponsored by United Educators Credit Union
How does it feel to be a Minnesota Book Award finalist?
I love being in a state that values its writers and their books so much. You really get to see it when you’re a finalist for this award. I’m so grateful to be here again.
Tell us something about your finalist book that you want readers to know?
I was a crazy mess before I started playing football seriously in high school, prone to little outbursts of vandalism and disorganized as can be. Football really organized my entire approach to life. It taught me to work hard, get up after being knocked down, to lift up those struggling around me, etc. I love it. Also, I know, football is dangerous. My character, Isaiah, a kid who was a deep mess before playing football, but has had a series of concussions, tries to work through the dangers of life generally (his sister getting killed in a car accident, his grandfather dying on the job) versus the dangers in this game. It’s tough for him to think through. He has the help of a really goofy kid who loves life.
Share something about your writing process and preferences. For instance, where is your favorite place to write?
I love to go to River Rock Coffee Shop in St. Peter, where I write in twenty-five minute bursts. I keep in earbuds and the timer on my phone makes a ticking noise, so I’m aware of time passing, which keeps me from jacking around on some terrible social media platform, hopefully.
Minnesota has a reputation as a state that values literature and reading. In your experience, what is it about our state that makes it such a welcoming place for writers and book creators?
We just have critical mass of people who are interested in being moved by written work, who are interested in writing themselves. It’s a community that reads and writes. I think The Loft helps that. I think the great colleges and universities in the state supports that. I think that fact we’re stuck huddled in warm rooms half the year helps, too. We read and write to stay warm?
What is something you are good at that few people know about?
I don’t have any hidden talents. People don’t know how bad I am at High Intensity Interval Training. I do it every week and it makes me want to cry every week and I think I’m going to die and I secretly curse the instructor, who clearly hates people and wants them to hurt. But I feel pretty good after the work-out.
What do you love about libraries?
When I was an obsessive kid, it was the one place in my life where my obsessions (ranging from bowling and break dancing to the history of urban planning) could be addressed. That’s still true. Google can’t do the work of a reference librarian who knows the databases and the search terms.
Geoff Herbach is the Minnesota Book Award-winning author of the Stupid Fast series and Hooper. He teaches creative writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato.