Category Archives: The Writing Life

09/30/2024
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Claire Arbogast, The Writing Life

Big Talk Un-Miked: Claire Arbogast

Two of Claire Arbogast’s books have been published. One is a memoir and the other a novel. She’ll be talking about and selling both at the Writers Guild at Bloomington‘s Local Authors Book Fair, Saturday, November 2, 2024. Claire is one of 31 authors corralled by organizer Molly Gleeson for the event. As far as I can tell, Claire has taken the most labor-intensive route to getting her books into readers’ hands. That’s because she has a background in public relations, communications, and marketing and has a lot of experience dealing with the buying and selling of books. This is the fourth installment in my little series on authors who’ll participate in the Book Fair. Three of them — Claire, Molly, and Rebekah Spivey — have appeared on my WFHB radio interview program Big Talk. They and Keiko Kasza were key sources for my soon-to-be-published Limestone Post article on the Fair. All four happily provided me with more information than could fill a dozen articles and show episodes so I started this limited series. I just couldn’t let all the great tips, insights, revelations, epiphanies, setbacks, triumphs, and inside scoops I got from them fall, as it were, on the cutting room floor.

MG: Your memoir Leave the Dogs at Home got good reviews and sold well. Was it easy for you to get publishers interested in the novel If Not the Whole Truth?

CA: The publishing world has contracted so much over the years. I knew it would be hard. The top twelve most popular fiction genres are:

  • Fantasy
  • Science Fiction
  • Dystopian
  • Adventure
  • Romance
  • Detective and Mystery
  • Horror
  • Thriller
  • LGBTQ+
  • Historical Fiction
  • Young Adult
  • Children’s Fiction

The nature and topic of If Not the Whole Truth is serious. It’s got politics in it. No vampires, no speculative worlds, not uber adventure, not gooey romance, not a cozy-murder, detective mystery, no monsters, no heroes battling organized crime forces, there IS a LGBTQ+ person in the book but it’s not a key part of the story, not a traditional historical fiction novel, not for YA, and certainly not a children’s book!

It’s the kind of book an established author like Barbara Kingsolver, Kristen Hannah, or Jodi Picoult might get published. Or a professor or scholar, a debut younger writer with a key-market attitude (color, immigrant-related, recent MFA, LGBTQ+) with the potential to write many more books over the decades might get published.

I’m an old privileged white woman without credentials, so I knew it would be tough.

MG: How did you prepare for the process?

CA: I took classes on how to query agents and publishers, hired professionals to help me with my query letters, and queried 130 agents and 81 small presses.

Querying is a long, slow process. Nothing happens fast, and often a pass is a no response. While I was pitching and waiting, I learned as much as I could about self-publishing and book marketing, and worked on expanding my network, especially with other authors, staying engaged with the readers of my blog and previous book, and marketing my previous book. All these things I’ve continued to do.

I did hear back from one publisher who loved the book, but had just published a similar book and passed on mine to keep their small catalog more diverse. And, I heard back from the Santa Fe Writers Project 2023 Literary Awards (winners get their books published). They too loved the story but passed because they wanted more of the 2022 era in the story.

MG: This isn’t overnight success stuff!

CA: I gave myself a deadline of January 2024 to quit trawling for an agent or a publisher. (She began writing the book in 2020).

MG: What things did you do to get the word out about If Not the Whole Truth?

CA: A hundred million thousand things, but I also had to do a ton of marketing myself for the Leave the Dogs at Home (published by Indiana University Press). Unless you are a big name author, you’re gonna be doing marketing.

(Claire provided me with what she calls “a short, incomplete list” of steps she took to market her novel; you wouldn’t be too wrong to conclude it’s as hard to publicize and market a book as it is to write it.)

  • I researched book designers and networked with several until found the one that seemed right for me.
  • I worked with several professional editors to be sure the book content was as perfect as it could be.
  • I researched Amazon’s algorithms of Amazon and learned how to use key words to get as much visibility as possible on its site, using Publisher Rocket.
  • I requested early book reviews from other authors and key places such as Library Journal, Chicago Book Review, Kirkus Reviews, etc. and am still sending the book out for reviews.
  • I created an early reader group to read the book in advance so they could start leaving reviews on Amazon the day it was released.
  • I published through both IngramSpark and Amazon KDP to have the best distribution system possible, and had to learn how to navigate both of their systems so they will play well together.
  • I purchased ISBNs, bar codes, and QR codes.
  • I hired specialists to write the Cataloging-in-Publication block required for a library to process a book. It must have a cataloging block printed on the back of its title page. The cataloging block contains essential information about the book including the title, author, edition, ISBN and other metadata.
  • I created an If Not the Whole Truth “sell sheet” which is a specific flyer book distributors distribute to commercial bookbuyers.
  • I designed my website, postcards, bookmarks, and social media promotions.
  • I made, and am still making, in-person contacts with about 25 bookstores and libraries, including bookstores in related museums. 
  • I entered vetted book fair events like the Indiana Historical Society’s 2024 Indiana Holiday Author Fair and the Indianapolis Public Library Meet an Author, Be an Author Fair. 
  • I developed If Not the Whole Truth press releases, both general and tailored to specific individuals in the regional media.
  • I have a few online groups that have okayed the discussion my book release, including the 1969- 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival group and the email list of my Howe High School class. 
  • I have six If Not the Whole Truth book events in the works, and plan to do more – all with their own promotions:
    • Burning Convictions Double Book Release Party on September 15 at Backspace Gallery — a multimedia event
    • Author Conversation with Shayne Laughter at Morgenstern’s Bookstore & Cafe September 30
    • A joint event with two poets put on by the Indiana Writers Center In Indianapolis in November
    • A Women Writing for (a) Change event with Rebekah Spivey in November
    • A booktalk in November, moderated by Linda Whikehart, Juniper Gallery
    • A yet-to-be set event at Indy Reads with a local Indy journalist

(And you thought just writing a book would be hard work! Claire Arbogast already is contemplating her next book. When I first contacted her, she was driving around Indianapolis, visiting bookstores, spreading the word about her new novel. As she drove, she told me, she was formulating the idea for her next book in her head. Learn more about Claire:

Please read previous Big Talk Un-miked editions on this global communications colossus, The Electron Pencil:

And, whatever else you do, just read, period.)

09/27/2024
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Keiko Kasza, The Writing Life

Big Talk un-Miked: Keiko Kasza

Here’s the third installment in my Pencil series on The Writing Life. So far I’ve delved in to the works and philosophies of Molly Gleeson and Rebekah Spivey. This time I’ll shine the spotlight on Keiko Kasza. All three and more will be featured in my Limestone Post story on the Local Authors Book Fair, sponsored by the Writers Guild at Bloomington. That piece will run some time within the next several weeks. Gleeson and Spivey have appeared on my WFHB radio interview program Big Talk. Sadly, Keiko did not wish to come on the show because she’s self-conscious about her accent — she was born and raised in Japan. Despite her fears, she is articulate and passionate about her art and would have made a good guest. She’s the author of 23 children’s picture books including A Mother for Choco, a bestseller that was made into an audio presentation featuring the voices of actors Paula Poundstone, Mary Tyler Moore, and Bea Arthur. Kasza’s book, My Lucky Day, was a selection of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

MG: Was it hard for you to get published the first time?

KK: Not really. I’ve been very lucky in that sense. The first book was in Japan. I was living with my husband in Tokyo at the time. I think I was 29 years old. My boss knew some editor. He said, “Do you want me to introduce you to this guy?” I said, “Yes!”

(Keiko worked as a graphic designer at an advertising firm. She began drawing and writing children’s picture books as a hobby when she and her husband lived for a while in Ecuador.)

My boss took me to the meeting with the editor. Right there, sitting around the coffee table, the editor said, “I’ll take it!” I could not believe it!

MG: Is the Japanese publishing industry similar to the one in the US?

KK: Yes, Of course. All publishers want to make money.

In Japan, I would say, they are more into morals and lessons that books can bring to children. In the United States, there could be lessons but it could be just pure fun.

MG: You have said that when you’re creating your stories you’re an actor, you’re being the animal.

KK: Exactly. The character. Let’s say I’m working on My Lucky Day. That’s my best selling book in the United States. I become those two characters when I’m writing and illustrating.

MG: The fox and the piglet.

KK: Yes, yes! How would I feel or act or say in this situation. I’m in the mind of the fox.

(Keiko writes her story first, then illustrates it.)

MG: How long does it take you from the original idea to a finished manuscript?

KK: Two years. Wake up. Have breakfast. Drink strong coffee, and go to my studio.

Every book I work on, I’m in love with the main characters. Every few years I change my lover!

MG: Why did you start working on children’s picture books while you were in Ecuador?

KK: I could not speak Spanish. My husband was busy doing his research (he is a retired Indiana University professor). I had no job, no kids. What am I going to do with my time? I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got two picture books as a gift from a friend in Tokyo.

(One of those gift books was the classic, Frederick, by Leo Leonni. The other was a Japanese title.)

I was so engrossed by both books. It was the right time. I have an art background and I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a child. Seeing those two arts combined in those incredible picture books, I said, “Maybe I’ll try it.”

My first attempt was so bad.

MG: In your view or others’?

KK: I’m sure in everybody’s view. That particular one, I still have it somewhere in the attic.

MG: You’ve said you never liked art classes, even as a little girl.

KK: I hated it. I was not a bad student. I was getting good grades in math and Japanese and whatever, and then art? (She makes a retching sound.)

I just didn’t know how to draw. I was terrible at it. The reason why I chose graphic design when I came to the United States as a college student is because I didn’t think I could compete with American students if I majored in literature. I took an easy way; I chose graphic design. It’s not painting or drawing. Graphic design uses a lot of photographs — now computer graphics — and does not demand too much English language skills.

And then once the art classes started, I started to like it.

MG: What was it like growing up in Japan at the tail end of the post-World War II US occupation?

KK: The scars of war were visible everywhere. Some people were dying of malnutrition back then. That’s how I grew up. The parents are just busy bringing food on the table. I have to say, that’s kind of good, looking back. I grew up without much adult interference. I and my friends in the neighborhood just played every day until dinner time comes. Nobody is taking us to soccer practice. Kind of left on our own. During that time I developed ideas about how people think. What makes you angry or sad. In other words, social skills I learned. So many of my childhood memories are in my books.

MG: One of the defining moments of your childhood came while you were playing hide and seek. How old were you?

KK: Four. Running around with the neighborhood kids. I hid so well and then I started to get worried: “Oh my goodness, nobody’s finding me! Am I going to spend the night here? Or just come out and be a loser?” That struggle was written into one chapter of the book, Dorothy and Mikey.

A better one is The Rat and the Tiger. This is about bullying. Tiger is so big and I was the rat when I was growing up. From kindergarten to second grade, I had this nasty girl who bullied everybody in the class. The frustration that I felt growing up, it’s in that book.

MG: Your work was a form of psychotherapy.

KK: (Laughs.) That’s true! I didn’t have the guts to tell her off. In the book, rat tells the tiger off.

MG: Your drawings are vivid and natural and precisely executed. The animals look true to life. It looks as though you use pen and ink and watercolors.

KK: Uh uh. It is gouache. It is more opaque; watercolor is more transparent.

(Keiko is working on a new book but is having difficulty getting editors and publishers interested in it.)

MG: I would think publishers would see you as money in the bank.

KK: It’s not happening. I don’t understand. I sent the newest one to my editor; I haven’t heard from her.

One thing I can think of is I do my illustrations by hand. I’m not using computer graphics. Some publishers say, We do not like hand-painted pictures.

MG: Is that because the kids don’t want to see hand-painted pictures?

KK: It’s technically easier for them. If you create art in computer, all you have to do is send a file and they send the file to the printer. Simple. If it is original art, they have to scan it. The original has to be shipped. So many extra steps it would take.

But I think you’re right. I think children’s taste is changing so that they prefer computer-created art.

MG: Your target market is two to eight years old. It’s hard for adults to write children’s stories because our vocabularies are so advanced.

KK: I think that’s such an advantage for me because English is not my native language. I don’t have a huge vocabulary like you do. And secondly, as I said, growing up with the neighborhood kids, that social experience really helped me to write for children. When I’m ready to write I think back, What made me so angry when I was five years old? And then I write the story. So I have an advantage, being a foreigner.

MG: You have two grown children. Did you ever write a book specifically for them?

KK: No. But for The Rat and the Tiger my second son was about five years old. His friend came to our house and they are playing and playing. Then the friend got mad at my son. He said, “I’m out of here! You’re not my friend!” And he walked away. I stole that line for this book!

(A Mother for Choco won the Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award. Wolf’s Chicken Stew won a notable citation from the American Library Assiciation. It also won the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.)

KK: You don’t have the biggest news. My Lucky Day was picked up by Dolly Parton! She made it into a children’s play. She created music. I was invited to Dollywood, the premier on stage. I was there! I was on stage with Dolly Parton! Eight or ten years ago.

MG: Thank you.

KK: Thank you.

09/23/2024
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Rebekah Spivey, The Writing Life

Big Talk Un-miked: Rebekah Spivey

Welcome to the second installment in my Pencil series on The Writing Life. This came about after I’d completed an article for the Limestone Post on the Writers Guild at Bloomington’s Local Authors Book Fair, scheduled for Saturday, November 2, 2024, at the Monroe County History Center. I had interviewed some terrific writers for the article and turned a few of those interviews into Big Talk episodes but still had great material that didn’t fit into either format. So, I’ve decided to turn that stuff into Pencil posts. The other day, author and Book Fair organizer Molly Gleeson was the subject. Today, it’s editor, author, and writing Facilitator Rebekah Spivey. She works as an editor for Holon Publishing, founded by Jeremy Gotwals of Bloomington. His Big Talk chat, in two parts, with alternate host Alex Ashkin can be heard here and here. Rebekah has published a novel, Marigolds and Boxes through Holon.)

MG; How long have you been writing?

REBEKAH: Since I can remember.

MG: As a little kid?

REBEKAH: Yeah. I made up stories about animals and people. It was a way to distract myself from what was going on at home which wasn’t always a whole lot of fun.

MG: Why did you choose words? You could have drawn pictures or sung songs.

REBEKAH: That’s just part of who I am and partly because I can’t draw [Laughs.] I like ideas. I have more ideas than I have time to implement them.

MG: You worked for the Indiana Daily Student newspaper, better known as the IDS, for 17 years before you retired in 2012. (She handled payroll and distribution, among many other tasks.)

Mostly I was the “mom.” Talking to the students, talking them off the ledge. A lot of crying went on in our offices.

(After leaving the IDS, Spivey became a Facilitator for Women Writing for (a) Change, a national organization with local chapters. Rebekah took the Facilitator training program offered by the Bloomington chapter. Members participate in “Circles,” formal writing groups led by Facilitators where they can read their work aloud and get feedback.)

MG: Is a Facilitator like the chair of a meeting?

REBEKAH: That’s a good way to say it. We prepare an agenda. There’s a poem, some epigraphs, some prompts. We have small groups where you’re paired with three or four other people; that’s where the real work gets done. You share your work with the group and then we have proscribed ways to ask for feedback so you’re getting the feedback you want and people aren’t crossing boundaries with your work.

“Fast writes” prompt a lot of deep writing. You get a prompt and you write about it for ten or fifteen minutes. You shut off that inner editor and you just write. It’s amazing what comes out.

I’ve seen women come in broken. Our mission is to help people find their voices.

MG: Broken in their personal, private lives?

REBEKAH: Absolutely. It’s where their life is at that moment. They’re kind of closed up into this tight little ball. Then, as they write and they find their voices and they see they’re supported unconditionally — we always presume goodwill in our Circles — they blossom! You can just see them standing up straighter and unfolding and becoming themselves. As a Facilitator, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

MG: In 2017 you wrote an essay titled “Names I Have Been Called to My Face and the Message That Resulted from Them.” It’s like a résumé or a CV.

REBEKAH: I just keep reinventing myself. I’d been called Becky by my family for years and that sounded kind of childlike. I did a numerology thing and I changed the spelling of Rebecca to Rebekah and I took my paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Spivey. She was someone I really looked up to.

MG: The last line of the essay is, “I wonder who I’ll become next.” Do you still wonder?

REBEKAH: Well, I’m a published author. That’s who I am right now.

MG: Will you be another person later?

REBEKAH: Oh yeah! I’m already working on a flight plan. Stayed tuned for that!

MG: You co-founded Poetry Detectives. What is that?

REBEKAH: My friend Jackie Tirey — she was a student at the IDS; that’s how we met — we wanted to take the intimidation out of poetry and just have a discussion in a non-academic setting. That’s not easy to do in Bloomington

MG: Intimidation? It’s poetry!

REBEKAH: People are intimidated by it. They think they’re not smart enough to understand it. It doesn’t make sense to them. Once I was introduced to poetry through Women Writing for (a) Change, where you really get into the poem, you read it, you get writing prompts from these poems, I just fell in love with poetry. I wanted other people to enjoy it, too, in a way that they could get out of it whatever they needed. We did that for several years.

MG: Good writing is best when it flows like music.

REBEKAH: That’s a very apt description. We would discuss lyrics sometimes. Lyrics can be poetry. One of my favorite ones that we discussed was Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” You can find poetry anywhere. Sometimes I will take a Fast Write, write it as an essay, and then turn it into a poem.

MG: When do you write?

REBEKAH: I don’t write every day, but most days. I like to go to coffeeshops and write.

MG: Just like “Writing Down the Bones“!

REBEKAH: Exactly. Natalie Goldberg. Get out there! I have gotten more ideas…. I’m a really good eavesdropper. I learned to be hyper-vigilant as a child so I can listen and still do other stuff at the same time. I sometimes take notes so be careful what you say in coffeeshops if I’m around — it might end up in a book! [Laughs.]

If I’m at home, I’m distracted — “Oh, I need to alphabetize my spice rack.” So I get good energy from people.

I used to do a thing called Writing Wednesdays where I would put on Facebook, “I’m going to be at this coffeeshop from one to four, come join me if you want.” People would come and write. I’m starting to do it again. You’re wlecome to join us.”

MG: Thank you.

REBEKAH: Thank you.

Listen to the Big Talk edition featuring Rebekah here.

09/18/2024
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Molly Gleeson, The Writing Life

Big Talk Un-Miked: Molly Gleeson

I’ve just finished writing an article for the Limestone Post on the Writers Guild at Bloomington‘s Local Authors Book Fair, to be held Saturday, November 2, 2024, at the Monroe County History Center. There’ll be 31 local authors whose books have been published either traditionally or non-traditionally — that is, either by a publishing house or self-published — on hand. In doing the story I got to meet some awfully cool writers, including Molly Gleeson, who is organizing the affair, Rebekah Spivey, Keiko Kasza, and Claire Arbogast. All but Kasza were recorded for Big Talk editions (Keiko, a native Japanese speaker, is shy about speaking English publicly, althoughI think she’s being too hard on herself).

We five covered so much stuff, much of which doesn’t appear in the printed story or on the program episode, that I figured, hell, why don’t I just turn parts of those chats into Pencil posts? And so I will.

These conversations will be edited for accuracy and narrative flow. Otherwise, I’m presenting them in Q&A format, just as we recorded our conversations.

I’ll start today with Molly.

MG: What’s your writing all about?

MOLLY: I write fiction and I write some memoir nonfiction. The books I’ve written are…. [pauses, laughs modestly] not published.

The most recent book I’ve been working on, I call it my smutty, apocalyptic, survivalist, lesbian love story. The grid goes down and there’s this group of women traveling north, trying to get into Canada. They have to go through the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. It’s an adventure.

MG: How long have you been working on it?

MOLLY: I started in September of 2020 so it was a really dark time.

MG: Depressing!

MOLLY: Yes. It was kind of an antidote, actually. It’s not a depressing book. It’s meant to be hopeful. It has a happy ending. People, in spite of adversity and terrible things going on, can still fall in love. They still thrive. Life still happens.

I finished a novella in April. It’s a contemporary story about a woman who’s recently divorced with a ten-year-old kid. Her kid is being bullied at school and she confronts the principal. She and the principal end up having an affair. It’s a love story.

MG: Humor?

MOLLY: Yes, a lot, actually.

MG: You’re balancing the adversity with humor.

MOLLY: Yes, you have to.

MG: How do you write?

MOLLY: In the last five or eight years, I write everything by hand.

MG: On what?

MOLLY: A notebook. Like Moleskine or something.

MG: Cursive or printing?

MOLLY: Oh, cursive! Then at some point I’ll put it on the computer.

MG: Which way do you think better?

MOLLY: For some reason, it’s been by hand. I don’t know why.

MG: That’s how you were raised?

MOLLY: Yeah, that too. I’m really old school.

MG: When do you write?

MOLLY: I’m not a good routine person. I write, usually, in the afternoon. I’m not much of a morning person. I don’t write for long. I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself to write. I know some writers are like, “I have to get a thousand words today!” I’m not like that. It doesn’t work for me that way.

I have to feel it first. With my stories, I always know the beginning scene and I know the end scene. And it’s kind of a mystery to fill it in.

MG: It’s a discovery.

MOLLY: Yeah, yeah, yeah!

There’s the pantser/planner thing. If you write by the seat of your pants, they call you a pantser. Or are you a planner? Do you plot it all out? I never outline.

MG: I read somewhere once that Kurt Vonnegut wrote in different colors for each character and their dialogue. We’ve all got our ways, our tics.

MOLLY: Yeah. It has to be that way. You have to find what works for you. Otherwise, you won’t write. You have to find your way.

MG: When are you going to publish?

MOLLY: [Laughs] Ah! [Sighs] Well, the book fair has taken over my life. But I did an online class in May. It was incredibly helpful. It was though Authors Publish, a Canadian organization, nonprofit. They offer classes and free lectures and workshops and stuff. Anyway, I took this class called Revising Your Novel or something like that. I took notes and now I need to work hard on that.

So, the question is, when will I publish? It could be a while. But I do have shorter things out that I’m trying to get published.

MG: Are you afraid?

MOLLY: Nah.

MG: Well, I am.

MOLLY: Okay.

MG: I’m always afraid.

MOLLY: Well, yes. Life in general.

MG: I think, “Why would anyone want to read my stuff?” I have to go through these mental gymnastics.

MOLLY: Like the imposter syndrome. Yeah, yeah! They’re always hovering back over your left shoulder.

MG: The bad guy.

MOLLY: The bad guy! Yes, it is!

I’ve gotten away from, “I have to get this published traditionally,” “I have to make money,” ” I have to be famous.” I’ve let a lot of that go. The writing is the thing.. For me it’s I just need this in my life. I may never “make it.” That’s not the thing. It’s creating something. You’ve made something. You’ve told some truths.

MG: Do you enjoy the actiual physical work of writing?

MOLLY: I do. I mean, the tortured artist thing is…, we’re over that! [Laughs] It can be joyful.

It can also be work. Especially going back and editing.

MG: People don’t realize you can be writing and not have a pen in your hand or your fingers on the keyboard. I do the dishes every morning, but I’m actually writing.

MOLLY: Yes, yes, exactly! The moments that you wake up at five o’clock in the morning and you’ve got some idea. Or doing the dishes. Or taking a walk. Or talking to somebody. You are always writing.

MG: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

MOLLY: I came to it late, but I actually worked on a student newspaper in high school. There was something called the “Whole Press.” It came out in the Herald-Times — it was called the Herald-Telephone back then. It had writers and editors from all the high schools: Ellettsville, Bloomington North, Bloomington South. I was an editor for South. That’s where I learned how to write.

I got my masters degree at the Indiana University School for Public and Environmental Affairs. My $60,000 mistake! I’m not very good at what I should be good at. [She took a job in Washington, DC after getting her masters.]

My family came to DC for Thanksgiving. My older sister’s boyfriend at the time said, “Why aren’t you writing?”

I said, ” What would I write about?

I was probably 32. I didn’t have an answer for that until I was probably 40.

I knew I wanted to be a writer. I just didn’t know how to start. After my fiasco in DC as a federal employee, I went overseas for a long time and taught English in China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. I did that, in part, so I’d have something to write about. Later I realized you can write about anything. And I do now. I write about anything. But back before that, I thought I had to have something “big” to write about.

So I wrote a partial memoir of my time in China and then, later, I wrote a whole novel about Saudi Arabia. I taught overseas for like seven or eight years. Then I came back here because my parents are here. And then I got involved with Women Writing for (a) Change. That helped me write regularly. They have “circles” — workshops, basically. They have retreats. A lot of great opportunities. It’s also for all genders, too, sometimes.

MG: Thanks.

MOLLY: I enjoyed it.