This week’s author interview is with Geoff Ziegler. He is the author of Free to Be Sons of God (Reformed Academic Dissertations).

Ziegler_Geoff             Free to Be Sons_black border

  • Question #1—Tell us a little bit about yourself: where you’re from, family, job, personal interests, unique hobbies, what you do in your spare time, etc.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts in a small town one hour southwest of Boston, eldest in a family of four boys. My wife, Jennifer, and I are the parents of three boys, so boys seem to run in the family! Though I live in the Chicago area, where I pastor a PCA church, I’m still an avid fan of New England sports teams. I also like to do whatever my sons find enjoyable—disc golf, board games, Legos, and, of course, reading!

 

  • Question #2—When did you first want to write a book?

I was such a bookworm in elementary school! I told my parents that one day I would grow up to be an author. Of course, at that time, I was imagining me writing something about dragons or superheroes.

 

  • Question #3—Have you always enjoyed writing?

I have a love/hate relationship with writing. I enjoy how the process clarifies my thinking, and I also enjoy the work of improving writing through careful editing. But there are few things I like less than an empty white page before me and the awareness that I need to somehow fill it.

 

  • Question #4—Other than the Bible, do you have a favorite book?

I am quite eclectic in my tastes. In terms of theology, I am, like many, deeply impressed with John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Again and again I find his writing both intellectually clarifying and deeply pastoral. I also have an irrational fanaticism for the “Thief of Attolia” series by Megan Whalen Turner. It’s been about a year since I read any of those books, so I’m probably due for a reread of them. They’re just so, so good.

 

  • Question #5—At what time of day do you write most?

Mornings by far are the most productive times for me. All of my best ideas seem to come between 7 and 10 AM.

 

  • Question #6—How do you deal with writer’s block?

This is a weekly question for me (given my preaching schedule). I’ve found that I need to be content with very mediocre writing when I first put pen to page and to believe that my subsequent editing can rescue my prose and make it at least somewhat coherent. Unless I have that mindset, my internal editor slows my writing down to a crawl, and it’s excruciating!

 

  • Question #7—Favorite animal? Why?

The wombat. I think that needs no explanation.

 

  • Question #8—The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia? 

LOTR. Narnia is great for sermon illustrations, but Middle Earth is a far more fully realized world.

 

  • Question #9—If you have a favorite book of the Bible, what is it and why?

That feels a bit like asking which of your children is your favorite, doesn’t it? I will say that I keep coming back to the gospel of John, because it’s just so transparently full of Jesus.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

 

Related posts:

  1. Author Interview with Dan Barber
  2. Author Interview with Jim Newheiser
  3. Author Interview with Guy Richard
  4. Author Interview with Richard Gamble
  5. Author Interview with Brandon Crowe