Car here. This is a series of interviews I’m doing for my author, Rebekah Webb, for the participants of the Wicked Women Writers challenge. (http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/wicked-women-writers-challenge/) Since I only interview inanimate objects, I have used the power of booze and lack of sleep to transform my interviewees into various assorted objects.
Hello, today I am going to interview a very talented fishhook, named Chantal Boudreau. When she isn’t being used as a slingshot, acting as tubing for equipment or cutting pieces of herself off for washers, she’s an author/illustrator and member of the Horror Writers Association. Her works include the Fervor series, Masters & Renegades series and many more. (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4446228.Chantal_Boudreau https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chantal-Boudreau-WriterIllustrator/107318919341178.) She’s currently involved in the Wicked Women Writers competition, with her entry titled On a Wing and a Prayer, about a battle between pregnant woman and pilot for the last parachute in an EMP blast-disabled plane. I think I dreamed something like it once, but the pregnant woman was a spider, the plane was a flying shoe and the EMP blast was a burst of chocolate lightning. So, not like it at all, actually. (http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/www-contestant-4-chantal-boudreau/)
What made you start writing? As rubber tubing, I bet you had a lot of possible choices for your future career.
Too many…I’m multi-purpose. But as flexible as I am, I still had to commit to something, so I went with writing (and accounting).
How does rubber tubing write? Do you fill one end of yourself with ink and pour onto a piece of paper? Do you tie yourself to a slingshot and fire rocks at a keyboard? Or is there another way to be able to put words to paper/screen?
I dangle from the ceiling fan weighed down by heavier objects and collide with the keyboard as required. I rub off some of the letters as a result. “H” and “N” are completely gone, “L” and “C” are mostly missing, and “E,” ”A” and “S” are fading fast.
Have you ever been used for draining a wound and how does that affect your confidence as rubber tubing?
Oh goobers no – I hate blood, especially the pus-riddled kind. No – I stick to red wine.
Tell us about your inspiration for On a Wing and a Prayer. Did it involve staring into the sun until the afterimages turned into an interesting story? That’s how I come up with interview questions.
I wanted to be involved in geology/mining since I was just sludge in a mould. Given the location, disaster and handicap, the story just sort of gelled (like that sludge). I try to avoid hanging out in bright sunlight. It might melt my edges.
What made you turn to dark fiction? I always imagined rubber tubing being pretty flexible, with so many options for careers that novels would never enter their minds. If they wrote, I always figured it would be lyrics to upbeat dance tunes.
Like I said earlier…I am flexible. Horror is only one of many genres I’ve dabbled in. And I have written lyrics before and even sold songs. One of the songs with my lyrics, written in French, was sold to George Hamel, a Quebecois country singer. I don’t think it would qualify as an upbeat dance tune, though.
Is it true that rubber tubing has a lot of pull and can stretch out ideas in a way that blow people’s minds?
It is true, and I’m not stringing you along.
Is there a special tube in your life? Or are you currently unattached?
A tube and a couple of extensions. We have a real connection.
What else have your wrote and how many products have been made by cutting off pieces of you?
It’s pretty extensive at this point. You can find the list here: http://chantellyb.wordpress.com/about-me/ . And isn’t writing all about cutting off pieces of yourself?
What hobbies do you have? Do you double as a slingshot or a fish a polespear?
I like to garden, I’m great at irrigation, and swimming, although really it’s all about floating. I double as a slingshot if someone really pisses me off.
Do you have any advice for young rubber tubing out there who might want to try their hand at writing?
Read everything you can get your hands on, and practice whenever you can. Remember, it’s all about honing your craft.
Cartopia 
Not so long ago, I had an operation to clean some gunk out of my left carotid artery.
They had to have what’s called an A-Line in an artery near my wrist so they could monitor my blood pressure constantly.
Took the technicians 20 minutes to get that A-Line in and ya know what? It wasn’t the normal plastic tubing—it was RUBBER!
It’s a small rubber tubing world! 🙂 Maybe it was a friend or relative of Chantal.
A Carpendous interview with rubber tubing. You must have had a good long session of staring into the sun before posing your questions. Excellent work Car!
My eyes were seeing spots for hours. It was worth it, since without random splotches of light, what sort of questions would I come up with? Probably boring ones about car insurance and sock preference.