Interview with James Garcia, Jr.

I am so delighted to have James Garcia, Jr. as a guest on my blog today! James was born in the Central California town of Hanford. He moved up the road to Kingsburg with his family as a child. After graduating KHS, he attended Reedley College, where he met his wife. They, along with their teenage sons, still make their home in Kingsburg which is also the setting of James’ debut vampire novel. Dance on Fire was published in 2010 and its sequel is scheduled for an early 2012 release.

What would you like people to know about you as an introduction?

I suppose the first thing I would like people to know about me is I’m just like them. I have a day job, a family, chores that need doing and I could use a few more hours in the day to be able to attend to everything, as well as my writing and everything that goes with all of that. I work as an Administrative Supervisor for Sun-Maid Raisin Growers of California. My day begins at 2:45 am and I’m in the office by 3:30 am. I work nearly 12 hours a day, five days a week. After squeezing in a little exercise, I can be found on my laptop, plugged into Twitter, Facebook and Google + while I catch up on networking and blog visiting. I head to bed at about 7:45 pm to try and get a little reading done before falling asleep.

Wow, that sounds like a full schedule indeed! Kudos to you for finding time to write even with such a busy schedule. Tell us about Dance on Fire. What was your inspiration/motivation behind this book?

I never intended to write a vampire novel, but found myself doing so quite by accident. I originally thought I was simply writing a crime thriller until a vampire came walking out of the shadows of one scene. The novel took twenty years because I pushed it away as marriage became family, and was followed by careers for each of us, etc., etc., etc.

I’m pushing 43 now, but when I turned 38, I really began to sense the regret that I was going to feel if I didn’t pull that manuscript out and see it completed. Over the course of the twenty years it went from being hard R-Rated material to the PG-13 crossover version that it is today. It went from being a crime thriller to vampires with Christian themes. I like to tell people that I thought the world needed another vampire story like a hole in the head, so I went with a crossover
slant to try and find my niche in the publishing world.

What have you learned through writing this book?

I learned that I am indeed a writer. I wrote a complete book with all of the components that one needs to have a working story. It may not be the next great American novel, but it has garnered fantastic reviews which I am forever grateful for. I did have that moment after the first one was done where I began to question whether I could do it again, considering the first one took so long. I wrote the first two drafts of the forthcoming sequel in eight months.

Amazing! So how did you get started writing in the first place?

I found horror novels while in Junior High. This was in the early 1980’s. I was inspired by The Amityville Horror, Jaws, most things Stephen King and Michael Slade. I grew my hair long and took up the electric guitar, thinking I might be a musician; however, I eventually began writing short stories instead of song lyrics.

What is your writing process like? Do you write on a computer? In a spiral notebook? Do you draw illustrations?

In the beginning I was a total pantser. I just turned on the computer and began typing. These days I have begun to outline a bit more. Creating an outline that is several binders thick takes the fun out of it for me. God love the ones that do that, but it isn’t for me. I want to be surprised a little by where a story is heading, too! For my third novel, which is only 10,000 words into its first draft, I have an outline that paces the plot for me with very general details.

The one thing that might make me a bit different from other writers is that I "see" the story. Once I hatch an idea, I begin to picture it and the direction that it might be heading. When I am ready to begin writing, I picture the first bit of action during the day before, as if watching a movie. The next day I sit myself down at the laptop and begin typing what I saw. Once I have written all that I saw, I leave and begin allowing the next bit of action to occur to me. The next day the process is repeated.

I don’t have the luxury of writing every day, although I am still attempting to figure out how I might be able to do so. At this point I spend most of my free time simply trying to get the word out there via networking and promotion.

How do you get ideas for what you write?

Once I had the first book, the sequel wrote itself. I have a third book in the series, too, but I have taken a break from those characters to write something else. I love haunted house stories and have always wanted to write one. I held off until recently because I didn’t want to simply retread over the same tired old ground. Too many ghost story films and books have started well, only to end poorly, and I didn’t want any part of that. Some inner office in the back of my brain has had staff working on this, searching for a great idea, and I think I may have found it. *laughs* I don’t want to say too much about that just yet. Perhaps spending most of the year networking, and little time worrying about next projects, helped keep the dreaded writer’s block away.

What is your biggest advice for other writers and young people reaching for their dreams?

It is easy for me to say, having one book published and another on the way, but please do not let having your name appear on a book be the defining characteristic that qualifies you as a writer. It only means that I was fortunate. You are a writer! If you are a writer, follow that dream. Move heaven and earth to see that dream come true. I just don’t want to be sitting in that old folks home at the end of my life with the thought that I should have tried harder, and you don’t either.

That is so true! My next question is, what are some of your favorite books?

Good question! I still think The Amityville Horror is one of the scariest books ever, whether you believe it happened or don’t. Headhunter by Michael Slade is fantastic. Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always is a fable that can be read to the kids. In spite of the fact that I write horror, my favorite book is Beach Music by Pat Conroy. My sister-in-law twisted my arm to read it. Once I did, I haven’t stopped reading it; so many plotlines and great characters. It is the most brilliant
piece of fiction that I have ever read.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Only that I have been blessed. Sometimes I wonder whether my job is to write more books or to inspire others to follow their dreams and write theirs. If so, I’m okay with that. Thanks so much to your audience for taking the time, and thank you, Dallas, for having me. It has been great to meet you.

Thank you so much for being my guest today, James! It has been wonderful to meet you!

Connect with James at his blog: http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/

Where Elizabeth Berg Finds Inspiration

I just finished reading Elizabeth Berg's captivating collection of short stories, Ordinary Life. I was drawn in immediately her portrayals of everyday men and women, struggling with the ups and downs of ordinary living and loving. The Boston Globe raved, "Elizabeth Berg's gift as a storyteller lies most powerfully in her ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, the remarkable in the everyday."

I think that could be a challenge for all of us writers: how can we imbue the ordinary with a sense of extraordinary in our work?

About ten years ago I was fortunate enough to get the chance to meet Elizabeth Berg when she gave a talk at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. I went up and introduced myself to her afterwards, and after she had signed my book -- her terrific novel Durable Goods -- I asked if she had any advice for a young writer like me. She gave me some of my most cherished writing advice, words I find myself turning to again and again: "First, please yourself." The older I get and the more I write, the deeper this advice rings true to me.

In an interview at the end of her story collection Ordinary Life, Berg discusses where she finds inspiration for her stories and novels:

Ideas come from life: what happens in mine, what I see happening in others', mixed with a great deal of imagination. I might see a person in a grocery store and build a whole character and life out of what's in her basket. I might read a newspaper story about a guy on a bus and build a family for him. I might get a phone call from an old boyfriend and it might raise a lot of "what if" questions that become material. I might watch people in a bar, overhear a piece of a conversation. material is all around, all the time. Pots are boiling on all four burners. The only thing I have to do is feel in the mood to cook, which I usually do. Once I get a vague idea, I let the story write itself. When I write, I operate as a writer and a reader both -- I never know what's going to happen.

Do you write this way, too -- as a "writer and reader both"? Or are you more of the outlining type? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!

I'll close with a final passage from Elizabeth Berg's "Author's Note" at the end of Ordinary Life:

I love these stories the way I love my novels, which is rather how I love my children. My children are not perfect, but they are perfect. These stories are not perfect either, but they are the best I could do to portray certain life events, to illuminate certain ways of thinking, to illustrate the way we can get from here to there, or document some interesting insights. More than anything, they are meant to celebrate the extraordinary moments and events that make up ordinary life.

Part Two: Interview with Jeevan Sivasubramaniam

I am honored and delighted to have Jeevan Sivasubramaniam as my guest on the blog! I first "met" him on Twitter (follow him @EditorialHell) after becoming a fan of the informative and hilarious monthly newsletters he sends out for Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (Check out their website and subscribe to their newsletter here.) Berrett-Koehler is a publisher of nonfiction books and is a company dedicated to "creating a world that works for all." They are celebrating their 20th anniversary and also have a feature article in the latest issue of Publisher's Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50199-berrett-koehler-posts-another-profitable-year.html.

Read on for an editor's insights on the writing and publishing process!

Some writers are anxious about today's publishing landscape-- the loss of many independent bookstores, the rise of ebooks. What are your thoughts about publishing today? Any advice for writers, particularly ones anxious about so much change?

The landscape is always changing in media and someone's always complaining. Back in the 1950s when there was a gradual shift to paperbacks, publishers said it was the end of the industry. I am old enough to remember when videotapes came on the market and everyone said that television was now dead because you could fast-forward through commercials so advertising would dry up. Traditional publishing is changing but I think there's a tremendous opportunity here if someone could just figure out the answer to the challenge. The challenge is this: people are reading more today than in any other time in history. They may not be reading books, but they are definitely reading -- mass quantities of it, in fact. Publishers are essentially generators of reading materials, and we are living in a time when people are reading more than ever before. Do you see how frustrating that is? Ideally, this should be our time to shine, not crash. So, writers, don't be anxious, but be innovative and don't restrict yourself to traditional mediums. Look what Amanda Hocking did by being innovative about how she created a market for her writing -- and sold over a million copies of her book (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/12/amanda-hocking-self-publishing).

For you as an editor, what makes a writer great to work with?

A genuine openness to guidance. I understand why writers are hesitant about letting someone get involved with their writing. Writing is the most personal thing we can create and we're inevitably going to be very protective and guarded about it. That said, you have to trust the editor because, quite honestly, you can't trust yourself. This is why surgeons don't operate on their own family -- a level of distance and objectivity is needed to really assess and edit a project and a writer's over-protectiveness is not going to help. Just as the even the best surgeon in the world will hand the scalpel over to a trusted colleague when it comes to operating on a family member, writers need to listen to their editors. Remember that an editor's job is to make the book the strongest it can be and so make the author look the best he or she can be. Editors' names do not appear anywhere on the book (unless they are specifically thanked in the acknowledgments) and no will ever know their role in creating a book, so authors should understand that editors are not in this business for personal gain or fame. They genuinely like what they do.

Do you have some favorite books that might be helpful for writers to read?

• Elements of Style has always been the primer for any writer, I think.
  
• On Writing Well by Zinser
  
• And of course the instruction manual for language, The Chicago Manual of Style (though I hate that they keep revising it annually).
  
• Also, my friend and author Mark Levy's book Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I was thinking of something clever to say here but I think that if I really wanted to help your readers, I would be better off saving the pithy remarks and instead saying I am happy to take any questions and will do my best to answer them. Just email them to me at jsiva@bkpub.com and in the subject line, say "Question after reading Dallas' blog interview" so I'll know it's one of your folks.

Interview with Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial at Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

I am honored and delighted to have Jeevan Sivasubramaniam as my guest on the blog today! I first "met" him on Twitter (follow him @EditorialHell) after becoming a fan of the informative and hilarious monthly newsletters he sends out for Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (Check out their website and subscribe to their newsletter here.) Berrett-Koehler is a publisher of nonfiction books and is a company dedicated to "creating a world that works for all." They are celebrating their 20th anniversary and also have a feature article in the latest issue of Publisher's Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50199-berrett-koehler-posts-another-profitable-year.html.

Read on for an editor's insights on the writing and publishing process!


What would you like readers to know about you as an introduction?

Well, I'm the Managing Director for the Editorial Department here at Berrett-Koehler Publishers. I do work on acquiring a project or two here and there but by and large I am the chief administrator for the Editorial Department and handle a lot of the inter-departmental stuff. People never think of editorial departments as having administrators, but they actually need it more than anyone else because a company lives or dies by the acquisitions and decisions the editorial department makes. I am responsible for tracking all projects, drafting contracts, administrating editorial reviews, overseeing signings by the editors (and meeting various signings goals), handling author relationships, inter-departmental communications, legal and copyright concerns, communications with various Library of Congress offices, and a few other boring things. I am also given some leeway to do the initial legwork on acquiring some promising projects and authors and I usually pull in about two or three a year. Because I don't have a quota of signings like the other editors, I can be very selective and hold out for the most promising authors -- a luxury few editors can afford.

How did you get interested in editing and publishing?

I was originally interested in intellectual property and legal documentation but slowly gained an interest in copyright and publishing legal issues during my time with a legal services company after graduation from college. In grad school I worked with a professor as a graduate research assistant and her big task for me was to find a publisher for an anthology of plays by women from around the world. I had to educate myself as I went along and it was quite exciting. It was also downright frustrating as I saw how publishers can treat authors. Almost all authors you meet have an adversarial relationship with their publisher -- as if they consider each other as necessary evils. I felt publishers could do better, and also wanted to be a part of a better publishing model.

What grabs you as a reader?

A compellingly different way of looking at things. I say "compellingly" because just seeing something in a different way is not enough. As human beings, we are programmed to see things differently whether we like it or not -- that in itself is nothing too exciting. But some people see things that almost contradict what everyone else sees. To give an example, there are so many books on how to act on the here and now -- how the past is not relevant, only the present moment and what you choose to do with it. Then I met an author who actually felt that was simplistic and wrong. He felt that the past was the most valuable tool we had to shape our futures -- that the lessons from our regrets and things we would rather not think about are most important to this exercise. I liked that he was not afraid of going up against an entire movement (you know which authors I'm talking about and you know how big they are) and challenging how they advised people to do things. A colleague once told me that I'm always looking for a good fight when it comes to the books that I like. I think his assertion was spot-on. I like books that create trouble and make people question what they thought they knew.

Check back tomorrow for PART TWO of my interview with Jeevan!

A Boost of Motivation for the January Slump

It's now a couple weeks into the new year. Is your motivation lagging? Are your goals and dreams getting eaten up by the daily grind and busyness of your everyday life? Sometimes all it takes is a little boost of encouragement to get you back in the game! Here are some quotes that might help:

"Don't let your learning lead to knowledge; let your learning lead to action." ~Jim Rohn

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." ~Goethe

"It's not what you've done that matters - it's what you haven't done." ~Mark Twain

Take a little time today -- even if only 15 or 20 minutes -- to work on your goals and keep moving forward. A little bit every day goes a looooooong way if you keep it up! I believe in you!

(And thanks to the wonderful Karen Cioffi & my friends at Writers on the Move for these inspiring quotes!)

Dan Choan on Sharing "Common Ground" With Your Reader

I recently finished reading Dan Chaon's superb collection of short stories Among the Missing, which I would highly recommend. The stories are thought-provoking, funny, heart-wrenching, and beautiful. Nathaniel Hawthorne famously said, "Easy reading is damn hard writing," and Choan's stories manage to seem both effortless in their reading and masterfully complex in their execution. My favorite stories tend to be those that leave me with a sense of inevitable surprise. Choan's stories certainly evoked that feeling within me.

I was delighted to find an interview with the author in the back of the book, and I really liked what he had to say about his process and intent:

I think one of my main interests as a writer are those moments that are unpackagable, and, conversely, trying to remystify the stuff that's been already packaged. I feel like we already live in a society that is too constantly encapsulating and explaining and summarizing itself, and that we're often too quick to find easy insights, themes, and messages. I'm not particularly interested in the idea of Truth, or even of "epiphany" in fiction. Instead, I think the thing I value most is the stuff that shakes us up and makes us question our solid ground. I don't feel like I can stand up on a stage and preach anything convincingly; I'd prefer if the reader and I were standing together on common ground, both of us puzzling and wondering in the face of these moments that can't be explained. (Among the Missing, 267.)

What do you puzzle over in your everyday life? What are you obsessed with, curious about, interested in? Maybe you can take inspiration from Dan Choan and write about what puzzles you. It's okay if you don't have all the answers -- in fact, maybe that's a good thing!

I'll leave you with a quote from Dan Choan to give you hope and inspiration whenever criticism
or rejection knocks you down:

Many of the stories in the collection that went on to win prizes were flat-out rejected by any number of magazines, and even when I personally feel confident that something I've written is the best that I can do, I can't hold on to more than a hope that someone else is going to like it. It's always a shock when a story gets attention or wins a prize, and it doesn't seem like it will be less of a shock as time goes on, because it always feels to me like I'm starting over every time I start new work. (271.)

So, onward and upward, and remember -- you're in good company!

Story Published & Nominated for Pushcart Prize

A *big* thanks to the editors at the Valparaiso Fiction Review for not only publishing my story "Jared Sampson's Mom" in their debut issue, but also nominating it for the prestigious Pushcart Prize! I feel honored, humbled, and very grateful for their support of my work.

Here is the opening of the story:

She died in a car crash yesterday. She was driving down Hawthorne, past the strip mall with the Benihana's, when her '05 Corolla unaccountably careened over the center meridian and into oncoming traffic.

"I just thought you should know, sweetheart," my mother says. My cell phone feels hot against my ear. "I know you and Jared were never close, but you did go all through school together. And Annette was such a lovely woman." My mother sighs loudly into the phone. "Only fifty-three. So young. I just can't believe it."

"Me neither."

"Maybe you could send Jared a message on that bookface thing."

I'm not Facebook friends with Jared Sampson. I haven't really spoken to Jared since eighth grade, when I asked him to dance at the semi-formal and he said, "Um—no thanks, I’m okay." That was the first time I wore mascara, and Jared was the first boy I cried over in a musty, cramped bathroom stall, and I unknowingly wiped mascara-tears all over the front of my new white dress.

"Yeah, Mom," I say now. "I'll do that."


You can read the rest of the story here.