Tudor Robins's Blog, page 17

Guest Posting!

As part of Apt613’s Future of Ottawa series, I have a guest post up talking about the future of publishing for Ottawa (and all!) authors in an era when bookstores and publishers are struggling.

You can check it out here.

(Ironically, the photo accompanying this post is of a now-defunct former Ottawa independent bookstore – anyone know which one?)

Connections

Connection, a Creative Commons photo taken by jazbeck (license – http://bit.ly/1dsePQq)

 

Someone more scientifically minded than me can probably give a technical / biological explanation of what I’m going to talk about in this post (if you’re that person, please chime in!), but for me, I just think of it as connecting.

It’s what keeps me going. It’s what makes life worthwhile. I write alone at my desk – and I love doing that – but it’s the connections I make that enrich my world. Here are the connections I’ve valued just in the last little while:

– With my readers. Every time I read a review, there’s some nugget in there that makes me think “She gets my story!” It’s a great feeling.

– With everyone I work with to run the pizza program at my sons’ school. The adult volunteers, the student volunteers, our amazing supplier, the school administration, and custodian, and teachers. The kids who bring their big smiles, and their quarters in Ziploc bags … I fizz with connections every Thursday (pizza day).

– With Martin, the horse I’m riding right now. Before I rode him yesterday, I took him into the empty arena and let him off the lead. I ran, and he followed. I stopped and he did, too. There’s something touching about a huge animal like that choosing of his own free will to walk next to you. It’s trust. It’s respect. And, when we’re riding outside, and he’s so much bigger and stronger than me, and he wants to GO! because he’s a racehorse, it’s the belief that he’ll listen to me – not because he has to (because he definitely doesn’t) but because we’ve connected.

– With Martin’s owner! We email back and forth about small details and big thoughts. What we want Martin to learn; how we hope to achieve it. It’s deeply satisfying to collaborate with another person toward a goal you care about.

– With my collaborator on my next book. This is my first collaborative writing project and it’s making me dust off old skills (interviewing, transcribing) and forcing me to find new ways of doing things. It’s a learn-as-we-go process and that’s fun – it keeps my brain working on more than just the story, but on the whole project. It’s eye-opening to discover somebody else’s talents, and it makes me want to up my game. I’m definitely up for more collaboration in the future.

– With my editor. She sends me such insightful, sometimes tough, comments and critique. When she gives me a compliment I know it’s the real deal. Bottom line – she cares about my books.

– With my entire writing team – designers, beta readers, web gurus, promotional contacts – a group of thoughtful, caring, funny, professionals. Amazing …

Every time I experience one of these connections – or the many others that happen in the course of a day – there’s a fizz in my brain – a re-energizing. I’m motivated, pumped, excited by all these connections. When things are difficult, they comfort me.

Like I say, I’m sure there are chemicals, and brain wiring, and other stuff at work under the surface that make these connections so rewarding, but I just know I love them, and feed off them.

What are some connections that reward you?

Let’s Talk About Interviewing

Interviews, a Creative Commons photo taken by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Now that’s a gripping topic, isn’t it. Of all the “Let’s talk abouts,” I could have come up with, it’s interviewing … yay? Maybe?

It’s interesting to me, though – just like font choice is also interesting to me, and I know I’m not alone there (Lynn Jatania, Jeff Eustace, I’m looking at both of you!) – so maybe some of you are interested in interviewing as well, and just afraid to say so.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a Bachelor of Journalism. And one of the things we learned in j-school, was interviewing. I have a vivid mental image of a basement classroom with chairs for role-playing (I hate role-playing!). The interesting thing about my school was that we did “real” work right from the beginning. There were student-run newspapers, and broadcasts, and email newsletters we had to produce, so we were “doing” it at the same time as we were “learning” it. It was a good way to learn.

Learning this way meant you could wince about the interview you did Monday when you learned all the mistakes you made in class on Tuesday. Yikes … humiliation and mortification are powerful learning tools.

So, what are my main takeaways about interviewing from those days? Well they might seem simple, but they’re deceptively difficult. They are:

1) Be prepared. Have your equipment prepared. Is this an in-person interview? A phone interview? Today it could be a Skype interview. What will your surroundings be like? Will you be using a recorder? If so, do you have recording space on it? Do you have batteries in it? Do you have extra batteries? Do you have a notebook? Do you have a pen that works, and another one that also works in your bag? If it’s a phone interview that you’re recording, do you have the equipment you need to do that? Have you done a dry run to make sure it works? If in-person, what will your surroundings be like? How will you make your subject, and yourself, comfortable?

2) Be prepared2. What information do you need to take away from this interview? Often, you’ll have limited time, so you need to make sure you get what you need. Do research. Prepare questions. Don’t overlook the obvious. What is the person’s name? How is it spelled? TV and radio reporters will often get you to spell your name right into their camera / recorder at the beginning of the interview – good idea. What is the person’s job title? A long, meaty interview is next-t0-useless if you can’t explain who it is you interviewed and why they have something useful to say. Google your interviewee. I Google my resume clients and I once found out, in addition to having an impressive background in not-for-profit management, my client was also a Juno-nominated musician. That was useful information for the resume. It could also be useful to know before you interview that person.

3) Shut up. This is the biggest and (for me) hardest part. Just SHUT UP. This interview is not about you. You were assigned to write a story on Big Name Politician, not a story about “Ways in Which Big Name Politician’s Life Mirrors Your Own.” I’m exaggerating slightly here, but it’s not far off the truth to say the only words you should say are “What happened next?” and “And then what?” Occasionally “How did that feel?” is good. Note, not “That must have made you feel excited,” but “How did that feel?”

Some “shut up” rules:

– Don’t anticipate your interviewee’s answer – “That must have been terrifying …” AAARRRGGGHHH nooooo … because what if they actually thought it was exhilarating, or boring, or whatever? What if you could have had a really good, surprising answer from them, but you jumped in, and put your spin on it, and to be polite they say, “Oh, I guess maybe it was a little …” which is not a stellar answer. Or they say, “Well, no, it wasn’t,” and they kind of shut down. You ask the questions, they give the answers.

– Don’t start talking about yourself. Please. I’ve been listening to “Q” over the last little while (since the Jian thing …) and I’ve noticed a huge difference between the guest hosts who are journalists, and the guest host who are celebrities. The celebrities might be talented people, who do interesting things, but they are NOT great interviewers. They frequently start questions with, “When I first appeared on Broadway, this happened – has that ever happened to you?” or they cut guests off, saying “Oh! I have two small kids, and I often feel that way.” Um, not to be mean, but who cares? This is not about the host. This is about the guest. We want to know what happened to the guest the first time he / she appeared on Broadway. If you listen to an interview like this, you’ll find the rhythm is off. The guest often pauses to see what the interviewer is going to interject. Which leads me to:

– An interview is not a conversation. It’s not two people each having fifty per cent of the time to talk. It’s more like ten / ninety and the guest should get the ninety. It’s (short question / prompt) – (hopefully) long answer – (next question / prompt) – another long answer. This is not them saying “this happened to me” and you saying “Cool, a similar thing happened to me.” This is them saying “this happened to me” and you saying “when?” and “where?” and “how?” and “why?” and “how did it make you feel?” and “what happened next?”

OK, hopefully you get the picture. I have strong opinions on good and bad interviewing, but that doesn’t mean I’m good at it myself. I have to bite my tongue, and sit on my hands, to not jump in with, “Oh! Really? I went there too!” or “Don’t you just love it when that happens? It happened to me …” or “That must have been so exciting!”

Tomorrow I start an interview process for a new book. And so, I’ve checked my recorder batteries, and reminded myself to bring a notebook, and I’ve been thinking for ages about the questions, and what I need to cover, but I still have one more thing to do – which is write “SHUT UP” on the back of each hand, and at the top of several pages in my notebook.

Shut up.

I hope I can do it.

I’ll let you know …

The Makings of a Cover

A friend asked me this morning, how it actually works – getting a cover – what do I do? How does it come about?

I did a similar post about the Appaloosa Summer cover, so I thought it was time to do one about the making of the Wednesday Riders cover.

I try not to leave finding my images until the last minute. Every now and then, I have a reason to browse stock photo sites and, when I do, I keep my eyes open for any images I might like – not just the particular photo I’m looking for in that moment.

I bookmark ones I like, and I’d had this one bookmarked for a long time.

I liked the feel, and I liked that it was a horse running through water, as that happens when you ride horses on an island. Still, I knew the photo wasn’t perfect (for one thing, cover images should really be portrait, not landscape). However, I was sure the super-brilliant Allie Gerlach could do something with it.

I sent it to her, she agreed she could probably work with it, and this (as you know) was the result:

Some parts of the cover design process were easier this time (I’m speaking for myself – not Allie!) because we already had the font chosen for Appaloosa Summer. But there was still agonizing over just which shade of font colour, and just what photo treatment. I’ve learned it’s usually not much use asking for opinions, because everyone has a different one, but my friend Lynn is a great person to ask for an opinion because she points out why she has a certain opinion – she notices different treatments and shades I don’t notice at first, and then I’m able to communicate better with Allie.

Like most parts of my books, the cover is a team effort and I LOVE my team!

Let me know if you have any questions about this cover, or the cover process in general. Or, tell me about getting your covers done!

Springtime in Ottawa

So, it’s Easter weekend. April 5th. We’re a couple of weeks into spring.

And this is Ottawa:

And, you know, I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. I love where I live. I’m happy with our seasons. I like the snow and ice because they make the summer sweeter.

This is Mud Lake. I’m a big fan of this place – it’s probably the most mentioned / photographed place on this blog after Wolfe Island.

There’s always something new happening at Mud Lake.

It may be hard to see, but in the photo above, way out at the point, there’s a black blob that looks like a rock. That’s a beaver. There were three of them coming and going through a hole in the ice there. As we walked around the lake we’d see them surfacing at the different lodges that pepper the ice surface. They were swimming under that ice. C-c-c-old …

I love places that make me think of Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Although this is clearly a more traveled road … but perhaps less traveled than the parkways and highways around us?

I couldn’t resist including a photo of this – it almost looks like some kind of artwork / sculpture. Every time we come to Mud Lake there’s more evidence of the beavers hard at work, to the point where I sometimes wonder how there are still trees here? But there are … I think the beavers are more careful than we think (more careful than us).

Happy Easter / Spring from Ottawa!

Writing Projects Update

This might be more for me than you! I need to get a handle on everything I’m working on …

Appaloosa Summer

– Podcast completed and uploaded to Podiobooks which will then make it available free to listeners. Waiting for go-live; will announce when that happens

Wednesday Riders

– In process of producing print book.

– Podcast? TBD, depending on experience with Appaloosa Summer …

Book Three, Island Trilogy

– First eight chapters written – scheduled writing binge during end-of-April writing retreat on Wolfe Island.

– Also scheduled for writing retreat weekend; on-location research in Kingston / Wolfe Island.

– Needed: title, cover image, etc.

Fall Line (Book One, Downhill Series)

– Completing revision; due back to editor before “Island Trilogy” writing retreat at end of April.

– Have title and image so I guess it’s time to send those to my cover designer for a cover!

Book Two, Downhill Series – Working Title: Speed Test

– I have a near-complete outline in my head!

– This one is going to be written in a brand-new way for me … more details to come later.

Nice Girl

– Seven chapters written of this horse-themed YA.

– Have applied for a City of Ottawa writing grant to be able to complete the first draft over the summer – cross your fingers for me that I get it!

Adult Books

– Two in progress. One this close to being done. The other mostly an idea, but a very vivid one … just need some TIME to work on them!

Objects in Mirror

– Can’t forget the book that started it all. I’d really love to be able to bring this book to my readers in a more accessible / affordable way. I’m working on it …

Phew! That’s it for now. Looking at this list I should probably be going nowhere at all – staying right at my desk – but it’s fifteen degrees and sunny so I’m going for a run!

Let me know if you have any questions / comments about this workload / work process …

Presentation / Reading

For any of my blog readers in Ottawa, you might be interested in attending the Lisgar Collegiate Book Sale taking place tomorrow and Saturday.

I’ll be presenting and reading tomorrow – Friday, March 27 – at 5:00 p.m.

I’d love to see you there!

I have a crush … and he’s not even mine

Please meet my latest crush. His name is Martin. He’s a 17.1hh OTTB and he is breathtaking. This is the first horse I’ve ever ridden where people from the lesson before have stayed late to watch just because he’s so gorgeous in action.

And to ride … he’s all power. He has amazingly long strides, and a surprisingly soft mouth and, well, see … I have a pretty major crush on him.

OK, I had to use this picture of him because doesn’t he look cool as a racehorse! Such a beauty …

 

This is Martin in his new life – the Martin I know now (in case it’s not clear, he’s the chestnut on the left). Still handsome, in a different way.

The thing is, Martin’s not my first crush; not by a long shot. Looking back now, I realize there’s been a whole string of 17-hand thoroughbreds – young, fast, and strong – who have grabbed my heart. There was Sun, who was as close as you can get to pure black. There was Crombie – he’s the one in my author picture; the one with the cute wavy edges to his ears. And now, Martin. A chestnut. I never thought a chestnut gelding would grab my heart, but he’s got it.

This is Abercrombie – my first crush at Meadowvale – the barn where I still ride. Isn’t he handsome?

These horses I crush on are never mine. I’ve never owned a horse. I came close, once, right before university, and I had a BIG crush on that horse. He was also an OTTB, and he was also chestnut. His name was Hazard, which my coach hated. When I first saw Hazard, at a barn snugged into the base of the Gatineau Hills, he was scruffy, to say the least. There was something about him, though.

When we got him back to our barn, on the Ontario side, he cleaned up nicely. Even my coach started liking him. And he was adorable. He always checked himself out in the big arena mirrors – not great for proper flexion, but I thought it was sweet.

And then he didn’t vet check.

It was terrible. I’ll never forget my coach calling me at home – my coach NEVER called me at home. He told me Hazard hadn’t passed the vet check, and then he had to listen to me cry, and he probably remembered why he never called his seventeen-year-old riders at home.

After that, I’d lost most of my heart for horse-hunting – it had taken us a long time to find Hazard – and university was coming up quickly, and I thought it was probably better to go away without a horse to worry about.

And so, the crushes. I had them before Hazard, of course. Lass – the little half-starved quarter horse mare who inspired Whinny in Objects in Mirror. She was one.

Lassie was such a sweet mare. I seem to love either huge thoroughbred geldings, or small, feisty, quarter-horse mares.

And I’ve had them ever since. Everything about my riding is better and brighter when I’m in love with the horse I’m riding. This winter has been brutal – frequent extreme cold warnings, and consistently riding in temperatures colder than -20 degrees – but I’ve never minded going out because … Martin.

The other great thing about having a horse-crush on somebody else’s horse? Instant friend. There’s nothing a doting horse-owner likes more than another person who’s smart enough to see how perfect her horse is. I have email exchanges with Martin’s owner where we talk about what a goof he is, and what we love about him, and how he’s doing. Who do you think sent me those great pictures of Martin I used above?

Horse owners are generous, amazing people – lucky for non-horse owners like me!

How about you? Are you in love with your own horse? Do you crush on somebody else’s? If you’re a horse owner, how do you feel when somebody falls in love with your horse?

Commitment

For those of you who aren’t completely horsey, the above is an “Equestrian Body Protector.”

We didn’t have these when I was a kid – slap on a helmet, make sure your boots wouldn’t slip through the stirrups, and you were good to go.

Now though, especially since I ride at an eventing barn, these are everywhere.

I’ve thought about getting one but they are not cheap. Not cheap at all. Especially not this lovely version above, which has individual cells that all conform to your body and, to be honest, make it so I can hardly feel the vest when it’s on me (to my surprise).

Thanks to Greenhawk‘s spring sale, I now own the one pictured above. And, yes, I had sticker shock when I saw the price tag, and no, the discount was not large – it covered the sales tax, but I did buy the vest.

Why?

Because it’s a commitment.

I’ve decided to return to showing this year. Not in a big way, but I am entering a show. A home show. For fun. But, still, it’s a commitment.

Because I’m entering a Derby / Radical Jumper class which uses cross-country jumps, I need a vest to be able to compete.

And, yes, some of my lovely, generous riding friends offered to lend me their vests but (a) I’m sure they don’t really want my sweat in their vest, and (b) it’s a commitment. I mean, in theory, I don’t just want to compete in this one show – right?

In theory, I want to keep showing so, at some point, it seems like I should have my own vest.

And now I do. And with what I paid for it, I darn well better register for that show.

So, I think this means I’m showing this spring – yay! And again after this spring, too – fun!

I guess it’s just like with a lot of things:

– Writing – at some point, you just have to hit “publish” on that novel.

– Running – at some point, you just have to register for that 10K.

– Skiing – at some point, you just have to buy all the equipment (my friend Lynn’s family did this, and I’m so happy for them – it means they’ve committed to skiing – yay, Lynn’s skiing family!).

If you really want to do something, at some point there’s a commitment to be made.

For me, for this, it was purchasing Equestrian Body Protection.

So, I’m good to enter a Jumping Derby and / or engage in a firefight. Just joking – the vest isn’t bulletproof – which, when you think about it is a bit crazy since I think a horse’s galloping hoof might hit with more force than a bullet – better not to entertain that train of thought …

Letting Go

 

Inbox Art, a Creative Commons line drawing by 10ch – http://bit.ly/1FM1Zxx

I have a clean inbox policy … with limited success.

I keep my cellphone message inbox clean. That’s easy. I keep my Hotmail account inbox clean – except for the back-up files I store there, which is the main reason I have a Hotmail account. I keep the email inbox provided to me by the company I contract for clean, because email there means a client to serve, and I want to make sure my clients are always served.

But my “family” inbox – it’s hard to strip bare. There are always notes from Scouts, or information about ski club, or my parents’ contact details in Florida, that I have to keep just in case I need to refer back to them.

And my writing inbox … there are so many things I just might need one day, and nice emails from readers, and tips and tricks. I try to file them where I’ll find them again, but there are things that seem to defy labeling and filing.

But I do want an emptier inbox. Which means I’m going to have to let go of a few things.

Maybe sharing with you will help, so today I’m getting rid of some of the emails I got when I first notified a few people I was going to self-publish Appaloosa Summer.

These aren’t the “go for it” or “why wouldn’t you?” or “yeah – why not?” emails I got from friends and family. These are the warning / disappointed / somewhat chastising emails I got from certain people in the traditional publishing world.

Here are some of the key phrases from those:

– “… in my mind the self-publishing route is not one that will ultimately benefit you as a writer.”

– “… you don’t need the hassle involved in trying to also be designer, production editor, distributor, publicist, sales force …”

– “… having seen a number of situations where a self-published author was left looking at stacks of books in their garage or basement and wondering what went wrong.”

– “… the credibility of an author who is self-published – no matter whether they accomplish acceptable sales – is in question.”

When I read the above, a little lightbulb went off in my head. I had heard, over and over, from self-published authors that these were the arguments traditional publishers used against self-publishing, but I couldn’t quite believe they were true. I mean, these just don’t seem like very good arguments. I thought there might be stronger ones. But, no, that was it.

In fact, these kind of reassured me. I thought, well, if that’s the worst you can come up with, it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.

There was one, single, comment that did irk me. It got under my skin a bit.

As background, at the time I decided to self-publish APS, it had been nearly two years – twenty or twenty-one months – since my publisher has first read the manuscript. They read APS before offering me the contract for Objects in Mirror. The contract for OIM was for it alone – no second book covered at all.

Then, after OIM was published, the talk turned to APS, but very vaguely. Like “we might include it on this list,” quickly followed by “no promises.” I suggested a couple of strategic possibilities, like if it came out on a certain list, maybe we could time the launch with a suitable event. The answer was, “That probably wouldn’t work.”

At the time I decided to self-pub APS, OIM had been published for six months, and I had no written commitment to publish APS, and only vague “no guarantee” mentions of when it might be published.

So, perhaps you can imagine how I felt when it was suggested my decision to take control and self-publish this book was “unprofessional.”

Really? That’s unprofessional?

And, you know what? I know where this feeling comes from. It comes from an industry that operates on unwritten rules, and unspoken ways of doing things. That takes a long, LONG time to get anything done, and expects everyone to wait. In my opinion, that entire way of doing things is unprofessional. But, if it’s what you’re used to, then me getting on with things might feel like a betrayal.

So I was called unprofessional. And it bugged me. And I longed to go back to that person and ask “What about me not having a contract?” and “What about me being told ‘no promises’ over and over again?” But I didn’t.

Instead I just wished that person had done more research before sending me that email, and had taken the time to think about what being “professional” truly entailed. But they didn’t. And they sent it. And it can’t be unsent.

But it can be deleted.

Which is what I’m doing right now, as I write this post!

Gone! Thanks for helping with that …