Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: In college, but it took me a long time to feel I had anything to say. Sometimes I still wonder.

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?
A: I’ve journaled ever since high school, but I began to make my living as a writer when I became a creative director in the field of corporate multi-media about ten years ago, I wrote/created videos and promotional copy for a variety of marketing purposes. Then I began writing screenplays and plays, winning awards, but soon realized that I would have to make a much deeper commitment for either of those forms to really work. So I decided to go for novels because I could have more creative control and I had a series in mind that would occupy me for some years. It was a commitment I felt I could truly accomplish.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?
A: To enjoy myself thoroughly in the everyday task/delight of writing. To love the present moment of writing without striving, without fret, or criticism. I accept that I will be the only reader, and as such will adore the process. It is my own form, there isn’t another Mugoux out there, so I might as well enjoy the heck out of it while I’m doing it, which I do.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: Right now I’m maniacally promoting my debut novel, Travels with William (the much more labor-intensive part of book publishing) but I will soon be finishing the second in this series, The Origin of Sighs, due out fall, 2008. This continues the hilarious journey, spiritual and mundane, of two wayward artists as the roam the globe searching for a path of peace. Can’t wait to start writing again!

Q: Name some authors or books that have influenced your writing life in a positive way.
A: My family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, The work of Henry Miller, Virginia Wolfe, Raymond Carver, Jorge Amado, Oscar Hijuelos, David Sedaris, Erica Jong, Jane Smilley, Michael Ondatji.

Q: What have you recently read or what are you reading right now that you would consider an outstanding work?
A: I just finished The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan. What a lean, twisted, other-worldly, fun bit of summer silliness. I consider it outstanding because there is no one like Richard Bratigan, who condenses reality into a tight nugget of wonder.

Q: What excites or ignites your soul?
A: My relationships, my perceptions (mis), traveling through this extraordinary world, and writing about it!

Bio
Mugoux’s childhood summers flip-flopped between a remote ranch in a red stone canyon in Colorado, where her grandfather snapped the heads off rattlesnakes with his bullwhip, to working at her Italian grandmothers lunch counter, slinging blue plate specials. Raised by theatre professors, Mugoux began her acting career at the age of ten, and has acted, written, directed and produced numerous plays, videos, and films for which she has won numerous awards – Pacific Northwest Writers Association – Best screenplay, Ashland, Oregon, Short Play Festival, Salt Lake Short Film Festival, Salt Lake Acting Company, Emerald City Awards, Seattle. She is a member of Seattle Women in Film, International Centre for Women Playwrights, National Association of Women Writers, Hugo House, and the International Women Writer’s Guild.
Travels with William is her first novel and the first in a series that navigate not just the globe, but the sphere of human consciousness and emotion.

Email Mugoux at mugoux@mugoux.com or on the Web at www.mugoux.com