Q: (My wife and I are also a creative team.) Is it easy for you being in a “creative household” or do you prefer to work and develop on your own?
A: Generally, Don and I have our own ideas, and we pretty much pursue them independently. It’s wonderful to have another artist in the house, since it does provide a second set of eyes – we exchange comments very freely in the studio. If a suggestion fits, we will use it. If not, we let the difference of opinion be. Don’s way of working and mine are very different in approach, and that hasn’t changed at all since we’ve been together. I watch how he paints, and I’m mystified, and he does the same, in reverse. Generally, he is too busy to follow along with my novels while I am writing them. He tends to catch up when they’re done, but “To Ride Hell’s Chasm” was the exception. That one got to him, and he read the draft of each chapter as I finished it. That one, so far, has been his favorite.
Q: Do you feel that your experience as a musician balances out your creative efforts or do you prefer one area over another (art/writing/music)?
A: I see the writing and the art as inseparable – there’s no way I want to create a story and not produce the visuals as I envision them. Music is a very absorbing hobby – but since there isn’t a music score with a book (yet?) I don’t feel the need to get out there with the killer instinct. There are only so many hours in a day, though I’d edit that limitation if I could get away with it.
Q: What is your advice to aspiring writers?
A: You have to write. If you don’t, your dream dies with you, and that is the only lasting failure there is.
Buy the book “Techniques of the Selling Writer” by Dwight V. Swain, published by University of Oklahoma Press. It’s the only book I’ve seen worth mentioning that can teach you an on page understanding of how to assemble a work of fiction. There are no substitutes that come close that I have ever encountered. This one’s the “bible.”
When you create – do not try to destroy at the same time. You are either drafting (creating) until you have a story, then after that, you are editing (destroying). The two processes are diametrically opposed. If you try to “perfect” while drafting, you will only choke yourself down. The voice that wants to be critical MUST be turned off when you are setting down a new idea. Only after that idea is set down will you realize what you have, and know how to apply critical thinking to it to polish its form. If you don’t have the “steam” to work, or you can’t seem to get much done, or stuff keeps arising that won’t let you write, recognize that this is simply self-pity. Cut the excuses, quit procrastinating, and get back to business. Tell yourself the truth: if you really wanted to write, you’d do it in coffee breaks, in lunch hour, or commuting to work on the bus or the train.
Your process will be your own. Don’t expect other people’s systems to work for you — explore until you find yours, no matter how crazy it may seem to someone else.
Even the very best writers and painters have been rejected! Not everybody on the planet is going to love everything that is written or drawn. It’s sheer arrogance to hold the belief you must please every reader, and at the outset, an editor is just an experienced reader with the power to buy what they like within the limits of what they believe they can sell. I moderated a panel, once, with editors and agents on it, in which I asked what was the most embarrassing manuscript or author they had ever rejected, and the list of famous books, award-winning books, was a revelation!
Q: As an Epilogue Interview I am required and compelled to ask: What cartoons did you watch as a kid?
A: I spent a great deal of time outdoors, and to this day, am not much of a TV person. However, if I had to pick, I’d say Roadrunner was my absolute favorite, closely followed by the Pink Panther.
Interview by Patrick Keith.
