First up, tell us a bit about yourself. 
Amy Lou Jenkins’ third-grade teacher told her she would be a writer. Her parents thought that was stupid, so she did too, until one stupid day. That day her job as a registered nurse sucked so badly, she decided to go back to school and applied to Bennington Writing Seminars where she earned an MFA in Literature and Writing. She’s been writing and teaching writing since then and has won a bunch of awards that her mother never heard of, and was published in dozens and dozens of magazines that her father never heard of. She has also been published in dozens of anthologies and several books that her parents have heard of because she gave them copies.

Please tell us about your latest work.
I’m in the revision stages of a new memoir, but my last published book was Friends: Voices on the Gift of Companionship. This anthology celebrates all kinds of friendships, not like in a Hallmarky way, instead, it’s about long and short friendships. Those we lost, those that only lasted for a season, and the ones we ended because they got weird. They were all important. 

Have you ever tried homemade ANZAC biscuits?
 No, because no one ever offered me one, and I’m not going to bake them because my husband isn’t keen on trying new cookies. If I made them, I’d have to eat them all, and then I’d feel bad about eating them, or I’d like them so much I’d have to make more and eat them all and then feel worse. 

Who is your favourite main character?
 I keep going back to Jane Eyre, always trying to be honest and good and not to be kicked around and to be someone she herself admires. She’s got some issues about equality and God, but she keeps working on herself. 

Would you go on holiday with them? 
Gee, I don’t know if she’s fun.  But I’d like to think about going to a Maroon Five concert with Jane Eyre and seeing if she’d do the Mick Jagger point and pout to the song “Mooves Like Jaggar.” 

Would you let them pet sit at your house?
She’d be ever so responsible, so of course. 

Are they someone you’d go shopping with?
  Oh no, Jane is too practical and pious. She’d have me buy oatmeal, and not even the quick-cooking kind. 

What would they be like at a nightclub?
 Jane can play the piano a little, so I’d take her to a piano bar early in the evening before the regular crowd shuffles in. We’d try to get her some time at the keyboard  to play Maiden’s Prayer, which is an Easter Egg. 

Are they a series character?
 No, her author died of TB, like just about everyone in the Brontë family. Thank God those Brontës got some writing done while they were young. 

What’s a hobby or skill one of your characters has that you wish you could master? 
Now in terms of books I’ve written, DJ in “Every Natural Fact” plays the cello, and those full-bodied floating, heavy dreams in the skein of the played notes has me playing air-cello every time they float from ear to ear through my head. I wish I could make emotion and movement so beautiful.  

What’s one piece of advice your protagonist would give to readers in real life?
DJ says “Chicks dig guys with skills.” Even though some might think the use of “chicks” isn’t politically correct, if we look at his intent, we see that he wants to build useful skills for himself and his partner; good for him. The world has enough video-playing couch potatoes. Give me a partner who can change a tire and install a new thermostat. I dig that.

Have you ever put an Easter egg or hidden reference in one of your books? If so what’s your favourite?
It’s natural to sneak them in. In “Corners, Voice on Change,” the book, without ever mentioning it, in its recesses and between the lines, has a big subtheme about making peace with the idea of death, but maybe I’m the only one who sees it. 

What’s the weirdest or most surprising place you’ve found inspiration for a story?
The door of an outhouse at my aunt’s camp inspired an essay I wrote for Sport Literate magazine. My aunts’ boyfriend used a storm door that he found, a glass door. The free door came with a free show. The magazine essay was about prayer, and it was later anthologized. 

What’s the strangest piece of research you’ve done for your writing? 
I flew all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, because I believed I couldn’t write about looking at tragedy if I didn’t see the city that survived the big munitions explosions in its harbor. I wrote the piece I needed to, but never mentioned the Halifax explosion.

Have you eaten pavlova? Eaten it?
I make it. This is one of the desserts my husband enjoys. The sweet egg white clouds should be crisp, but my husband likes them chewy, which is how mine turn out by accident. 

If you could collaborate on a book with any author, living or dead, who would it be?
I’d like to work with Barry Lopez, because he’s such a good soul.

And what would you write about?
If he’s coming back to write with me, I’d like to write about how to have a great afterlife. 

I grew up with the term Waikikamukau to denote rural small towns or out of the way places. (Sometimes also described as the wop wops.) What term do you use? 
Even though there don’t have to be any docks, we sometimes call remote places the boondocks.

Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, or some other type of pet?
All the dogs of my life live in me, because all that unconditional love is impossible to let go of. These days I can be found carrying around a bag of Wilson’s Poop. Wilson likes me and appreciates my portage skills. 

If your writing space could magically transform into any location, real or fictional, where would you choose to work?
I’d like to transform to a future where power-drunk, egotistical bullies didn’t try to rule the world, and instead we all give our best to each other. (I’m from the U.S.; Sorry, everyone.)

Book Links: Nature, Rowing, Friendship, Corners