I just finished up answering some questions for a publication that will be featuring one of my articles this fall. It’s one of those “contributor profile” kinds of things where they ask a whole bunch of questions and then pick out some of the quirky stuff in your answers to give you a little context for whatever article you’ve written.

That kind of thing.

I like to multitask, so it occurred to me that my answers to those questions would make a good blog post. Also, I’m a narcissist. (All bloggers are, to a degree.) And so I just assume you readers want to read my answers to these interview questions, right? Of course you do.

So here they are:

What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you?

It’s actually a bit of design advice (I’m also a professional graphic designer): “White space is always good.” The more white space in a design, the more attention is given to the important stuff. That’s good design advice, but also good life advice. Margins are good. By making sure I have enough “empty time” in my life, I keep sight of what’s important.

Tell our readers three things they don’t know about you.

1. I can play the hammered dulcimer (like Rich Mullins…but not as well as Rich Mullins).

2. I am the drummer for the worship team at my church.

3. And the first book I ever wrote was a suspense novel, about a shepherd. (It never got published.)

When did you know you wanted to be come a writer? When and where was your first article published?

I knew I was naturally talented at writing in high school, when I always excelled in any creative writing assignment or essay. I didn’t decide I wanted to be a Writer (capital W!) until college. My first published article, I think, was for a Southern Baptist magazine called Student.

Who is the most influential person in your life?

My wife, Aimee. She gets to influence pretty much every decision I make.

Do you have any quirky rituals when you write?

I can’t listen to music while I write. It’s too distracting. I wish I could be the type of writer who puts in my earbuds and cranks up something cool to listen to while I churn out words, but I’m not.

What inspires you the most?

As a writer? As unromantic as this sounds, as a writer I am inspired by the idea of financial independence and freedom. My goal has long been to be successful enough in this pursuit to do it full-time, while also supporting my family. I’m not there yet.

As a human, I am inspired by the common mercy of helping improve the lives of others. I love charitable organizations that take a creative approach to meeting peoples’ needs, whether it’s poverty in the U.S. or clean water in Africa. Helping the helpless is so central to the Gospel, it always thrills me to discover a new way to do it.

What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your free time? movies, books, etc? If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

Since it’s not yet my full-time occupation, I guess writing is a hobby. I’m also a distance swimmer and sprint triathlete. I like to backpack, camp, and flyfish.

If I could have any job in the world? It would be as a full-time novelist.

What goal do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?

Publish my first novel. Only I have no idea what it will be about, so I had better start thinking…

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As a narcissist, I’m open to answer any other writing-related (or, well, completely random) questions you might have. Ask in the comments. I’ll try to answer.

I’m pulling together a post for tomorrow that I think you’ll enjoy. In the meantime, here are three not-at-all-related things to catch you up on:

1. The Daily Beast: If you keep up with my Twitter feed, you would have learned that, last Friday, I had an article in The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s new(ish) online magazine/news-aggregator. The article is called “The Gospel According to Speidi” and is a look at the faith and shenanigans of professional celebrities Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. Do they really love Jesus as much as they say? Will Christians embrace them at all? What do Christians make of Heidi’s posing for Playboy? Fun questions. Professional Christian celebrity Stephen Baldwin gets a shout-out, too.

From the article:

But the couple’s awkward public embrace of religion has left some true believers flummoxed. The pro-Christian message that Speidi is espousing becomes garbled when blended with TV’s need for sensation and sleaze. Then again, in an era where the church could use a PR boost, Montag and Pratt are providing Christianity the type of pop-culture credibility that could wrangle new followers. Whether this tradeoff is worth it depends on who you ask.

The Daily Beast is hoping to add more religious content, so hopefully you’ll be seeing more of my stuff there in the coming months. If you haven’t read the article, click on over. More visitors = more religious content at the Beast = more work for me.

2. First Triathlon of the Year: On Saturday, I participated in the first of three sprint triathlons I’m aiming for this year. Only it didn’t end up being an actual triathlon. Due to heavy rain before (and during) the event, the bike portion was canceled. So it was a duathlon. Swim 400 meters, then run a 5K. Not quite as challenging, but the fact that all of us contestants were standing, shivering in our swimsuits, in 60-degree weather and constant rain for 45 minutes prior to the start of the competition…well, you might as well have added a third event: The 45-Minute Shiver. Seriously, it works a lot of muscles. On Sunday, I was much more sore from shivering than from running or swimming.

I wasn’t super happy with my swim time — it took most of the 400 meters to get loosened up — but my 5K time (23:17) was respectable. At least for me.

Here’s photo of me swimming outdoors in the rain, taken by my friend James. Check out my funky mouth. It looks like there’s an invisible hook in my bottom lip and I’m about to be reeled in from behind:

3. Pocket Guide to the Bible Review: I don’t typically post every blog review of my books here — seems a little braggy to me (probably because, well, it is) — but this one was just uploaded today and it captures pretty well the flavor of Pocket Guide to the Bible. It’s by Kris Bather, an Australian who blogs at ComicBookJesus. He writes, “Boyett is a guy after my own heart. He speaks to the iPod, broadband, gaming culture with plenty of Gen X and Y references and an approach that’s refreshing without ever resorting to mockery” — which is pretty much exactly what I try to do with the Pocket Guide series.

So I love the review. Thanks, Kris.