C.J. Box --- best-selling mystery novelist

Name: C.J. Box

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: Two things. I was a voracious reader growing up in Wyoming. I read everything written about the state and the region I could get my hands on. It bothered me how few books portrayed the state and area as I knew it. I wanted to someday write my own vision of how I saw things. The other was the experience of reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, still my favorite novel. After I read that book for the first time I realized how unique writing could effect a reader. I wanted to do that. Not that I've written a book like Catch-22, mind you.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I guess we're talking high school newspaper here. I volunteered to write sports and feature stories for my high school newspaper as a freshman, and I was thrilled when I saw my stories in print. I couldn't get enough of that and eventually became the editor of my newspaper. That resulted in a journalism scholarship to college, where I wrote for the paper there.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? I'd have to say journalism. Journalism, if it's taught right, teaches the writer to get to the point, be brief and clear, and write in a straight-forward manner. It also taught me how to outline a story and how to meet a deadline.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Joseph Heller (see above) and my high school journalism teacher.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: A hard question. I'll say BLUE HEAVEN, my upcoming novel set in North Idaho. It was a hard novel to write because it takes place over 60 hours in real time and is told from the point of view of six different characters. The audience, I hope, is hundreds of thousands of readers.

Your publications or venues for writing: I can write anywhere, but I prefer my basement office in Cheyenne or my cabin on the Encampment River in Wyoming.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read! It astounds me how many fledgling writers don't read much. Read fiction, non-fiction, blogs, essays. Read good writing and then figure out how the writer moved you.