To avoid pre-conceived
notions which can sometimes be connected with certain genres, the number of
books published and/or an author's appearance, none of that information
will be revealed until the bottom of the interview. So pour a cup
of coffee, have a seat, and check out this interview - see how much, or how
little, you have in common with this published author.
ON WRITING:
What is your favorite part
of being a writer? My favorite part? Touching someone with
something I have written is my “favorite” part, although I do like just being
able to SAY “I’m a writer” when asked what I do. Words are harmless collections of letters in
a dictionary, but in the hands of someone who knows how to wield them they
become potent weapons and can bring emotions welling, build hope, tear down
anger and bridge or widen the gulf between us all. That’s what I like most about writing, having
that power at my command.
What is your least favorite
part? My least favorite part of writing is the paperwork. Seriously my least favorite thing is
rereading and rewriting what I have read and written. Someone once said (I believe it was Michener)
“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m a great rewriter” and going back over
something and having to tweak it is something I hate while I am doing it. I love when it’s done though, except all the
second guessing I end up going through.
Name one obstacle you’ve
had to overcome. Taking myself seriously as a writer. My family didn’t look on a self published,
free lance writer as a “job” at first.
That changed after I got a royalty check.
Is there a specific part of
your writing you’re working on to improve?
I tend to over use comma’s,
but in my defense it’s only because they’re cheap and I bought a truckload on
eBay, so, as you can imagine, I am learning to use them less but, between you
and I, I don’t think it’s working.
What part of your writing
makes you particularly proud? I’ve had people tear up with what I have
written. I am very proud of my words when they touch someone on a level that
causes such an emotional response.
What does your favorite
main character have in common with you? I don’t really have a favorite main character. Who I most identify with depends on my mood,
really.
Do you do a lot of research
for your projects or do you only write about what you already know? When
I write what I know it just flows. Most
everything I read would be considered research for me since I usually use that
knowledge in my writing. When I don’t
know the subject I am writing about I do research as I am writing. Finding out things like Texas cattle driving routes in the late
1860’s is not something I would have researched before hand, because I had no
idea I was writing about it until I started.
How do you use the internet
for your writing? I use the net for research and for music. I sometimes write to music and having the
worlds musical library pretty much at my fingertips makes finding music for the
mood easy, fast and cheap, three words which have been used to describe me too.
If you’ve won any awards
for your writing, what impact do you think that has had? I’ve won no awards for my writing, and I’m
not sure that will ever happen.
What one marketing tool
have you had good success with? Word
of mouth is the best tool so far for me, followed by internet radio. I’ve never taken out an ad and I am horrid at
self promoting, so perhaps if I tried one of those avenues I would have more
success.
What good writing habits
have you developed that you think would be helpful to someone starting out? I have no good writing habits. I write when the muse strikes me (usually at
4 A.M.), I am loathe to have my work edited, I start projects and let them sit
for months sometimes. The only good
habit I have when writing is I save, a lot....losing an hours worth of work
because something crashes hurts, so save your work, a lot. Better yet write in as an email draft in
gmail....it saves automatically every so often....I’ve written a lot of my
stuff as email drafts.
Do you have any bad writing
habits that you’d advise writers to avoid? The aforementioned
comma. That’s my worst writing habit. I
sometimes write as I speak, with tangents, so the comma becomes an enemy to
clear writing as opposed to a very helpful tool. Although I have noticed some
writers I admire very much who also use comma’s to create paragraphs composed
of one sentence, so perhaps I needlessly beat myself up for it, either way
that’s what editors are for so find a great one and use them.
Do you have any strange
writing habits? I don’t have any real
habits when it comes to writing, a habit being defined as a regular tendency or
practice, but I have been known to pull over to the side of the road and pull
out a notebook and write when inspiration strikes me.
When you’re not writing, do
you read, and if so, what? I read a lot of news and opinion sites. I
occasionally will read for pleasure these days but it’s rare. Most of what I
read would be considered research.
What are you trying to
accomplish with/through your writing? It depends on what I am writing about. If I am
writing for fun I want to entertain. If
I am writing to make a point I am trying to sway people to see, and agree with,
my view of things.
ADVICE TO OTHER WRITERS
What words of wisdom do you
have for young writers? Punctuation, grammar and spelling are your
friends. Learn them. Specifically idioms
of language, such as phrases you may hear a lot, should be spelled out in your
head and question what that saying means.
An example is “seize the day” as opposed to “cease the day”, the first
one is correct, the second is not, and the difference in the words and their
meaning is light years apart. When you
hear words spell them in your head. As people speak to you visualize the words.
When you do this long enough it becomes second nature. As a secondary note on this subject, synonyms
and antonyms are exceedingly important.
In the end I would say get a dictionary and a thesaurus and read them
both, several times all the way through.
A good writer loves words.
What advice do you have for
someone looking to get published? You have to decide what’s more important to
you. The alleged credibility that comes with being traditionally published or
the freewheeling world of self publishing.
I have found many traditionally published authors to be elitist, smug
and condescending to the self published crowd, and sometimes with good
reason. There are many books that suffer
from bad (or no) editing, horrid grammar, mangled punctuation and sometimes
just a missing storyline. Those books
reflect badly on those of us who work hard to put out a quality product that
people want to read. If you can suffer
the slings and arrows of the traditional publishing industry (whose funeral we
will be attending in a few short years) go with self publishing. If you can’t
submit your manuscript to everyone you can find, just be prepared to wall paper
your house with rejection letters.
Any thoughts on what this
author writes? How many books published? Here's a little more
information about the author...
How many published books
are to your credit? 3
Do you have an agent? Nope
Are you self-published? Proudly
How many different companies
have you published with? 3?
How long have you been
writing? Professionally? About 5
years.
Do you write full-time? If
not, what is your other job? And how do you balance work/writing? I have several “jobs”, almost all of them
depend on me to find the work, negotiate the contract and then make it
happen. I do storytelling at renaissance
faires, mostly, and balancing work/writing is easy for me.
So, any thoughts?
Here's the full scoop:
In “The Wordsmith, Kender
MacGowan’s” own words: Born in SoCal,
spent a couple of decades training race horses after dropping out of school,
became a street actor and storyteller then a writer. I spend most of my days working on
curmudgeonly skills by being anti-social and yelling at people to stay off my
lawn.
Kender’s poetry titles
include: Shattered Ashen Heart; The Hunter and the Elf Queen; Watering
the Tree, Thoughts on Liberty
and Tyranny-poetry
All of Kender’s books (and
where to buy them) can be found here:
http://kendersmusings.blogspot.com/2011/11/where-to-buy-my-books.html
THE FUTURE
What are you working on
now? I have several stories in the process of being written, 3 books
sitting in the editing folder and there’s always articles to write and sell.
I’ve been spending time putting together next years stage show for my acting
troupe, The Bawdy so that kind of takes away from a couple of minutes worth of
sitting online and trolling facebook.
PARTING WORDS
Anything else about being a
writer that you’d like to share? I started writing when I saw a quote about
being a writer because it’s easier than honest labor. It’s not. If you’re going to write for public
consumption you need an exceedingly thick skin, you need to be certain that
what you’re writing is technically correct and, if you’re writing about factual
things, such as current events and issues, that your facts are correct and you
need to be prepared for the fact that you’re not going to reach everyone, you
most likely won’t get rich and there’s always going to be someone who speaks
badly of you and what you write. Take
their criticism with a grain of salt and an eye toward improving your writing. And for the sake of all that may be holy learn
your punctuation, spelling and grammar.
This cannot be stressed enough.
Where can people learn more about you?
I’m not sure I want people learning more about me beyond “This guy
writes amazing poetry, you should buy his book.”
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