"I’m a goofy guy who’s always been passionate about distractions, primarily via film/TV/music/books. College ticked all of those boxes, but since then I’ve mostly worked as a screenwriter, which comes with many ups and downs. Wanting to deliver my silly thoughts directly to audiences, I’ve transitioned to writing my eBook series The Workshop, and am happy to have an outlet for everything that escapes my tiny cranium."
What are you reading now?
I just finished reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, am almost finished with How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker, and have worked my way through most [available] Jericho Brown poetry. I also just recently went through a spree of Ada Limón and Sharon Olds poetry.
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. After that, probably The Fall by Albert Camus and Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild. Perhaps I’ll also add something lighter—I try to curate an even balance of genres/tones/ideas to help my brain grow as ubiquitously as possible.
Ooh, we’re going there. I think it’s Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss. I will add that I was definitely a Goosebumps kid growing up. (I also collected Beanie Babies, if anyone was wondering.)
What book made you love reading?
The general escapism it provides. I enjoyed reading as a kid, but my passion for it waned with obligations of school and work. As an adult, I rediscovered my love as I was able to find authors whose thoughts and voices resonated with me. It felt like a tidal wave of validation and a new (old) escape from the “real” world.
What book can you always re-read?
There are so many books to read and I’ve read so few of them that I don’t care to re-read anything, to be honest. I want to experience everything I can before my vulnerable husk of a body washes away. I will pop back into anthologies, collections of poems, etc. like William Carlos Williams’ Imaginations, Artaud’s Anthology, etc., but those are momentary reads to re-expose myself to some specific ideas.
What book do you think is underrated?
I’ll go out on a limb here and generally defend Bukowski. His writing is full of misogyny and various disgusting things, but I find that he writes his vices as a result of brutal capitalism-forced labor and the continual crushing of an individual’s spirit. Plus, his voice grips me in a way that made reading infinitely more appealing.
1984, Return of the King, maybe Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott… It’s a short list, though I do love crying.
What book makes you laugh?
A Confederacy of Dunces, anything by Bukowski, This Is a Book by Demetri Martin, Little Weirds by Jenny Slate.
What book do you think everybody should read?
1984, but it’s mostly required reading, so I’ll add the less-assigned The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It’s insane and frustrating how many of our problems now are the same problems we had over 120 years ago.
What’s the last book you wrote?
The Workshop: Week One, and Week Two, and Week Three, and… you get the picture. My favorite class in college was a creative writing workshop that was incredibly fun, randomly competitive, and featured an eclectic group of sort-of-writers. I thought it would be an entertaining, diverse, dynamic experience to recreate in written form. Hopefully, you agree! Please clap.
What are you writing next?
The Workshop series until all sixteen weeks are finished. But I do have several quirky ideas floating in my brain for my next eBook project(s)! Various films as well, but we’ll see about those.
You can find out more about Matt on his website; https://mattmillswrites.com/
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