Donna, you and I share at least two things in common. Our mutual love of knitting and our need to write. As I am currently writing a mystery novel and as you have just finished publishing a book, I would like to talk with you about writing.
Me: From where do you draw your inspiration?
Donna: I'm inspired by everything -- by things I love, and things I hate, by things that make me laugh and things that piss me off. The only thing I don't find inspiring is boredom! As long as something is going on, I find ideas.
Me: What is your writing day like?
Donna: I have never been able to get into a fixed schedule. I usually go to write at a cafe for an hour a day, but sometimes I do other things while I'm at the cafe. I'm not a "write every day" kind of person. I write when I have something compelling that wants to come out, or when I have a deadline. I'm the same way with knitting. Sometimes I go months without writing or knitting much of anything. (Often when I'm not writing or knitting, I'm bingeing on reading.) It's very impulsive and not rigid at all. For years I got up at 5:30 or 6:00 and did some writing in the morning, maybe working on a project, or blogging, or writing "morning pages" in my private journal. But now I can't wake up early any more, I have trouble getting started before 8 or 9 o'clock. Now I write a lot in the afternoons and sometimes even in the evenings. It's frustrating because I really like organization and structure, but I'm slowly learning to go with the flow of my own energy levels and my own changing needs. I look at it as following my bliss. I'm interested in doing so many things, that I can't focus on one for any huge amounts of time. I found the book Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher to be very helpful in coming to terms with my own scattered interests and in finding tools to help me feel more in control of my life and work.
Me: How do you write: pen and paper, computer?
Donna: Both. When I'm early on in a project, I make lots of notes and rough drafts on paper. I call this pre-writing. Sometimes I do this on the computer, but not usually. The process seems much more organic to me when I'm writing in a notebook. It's not until it gets into the computer that I actually consider what I've written a "first draft". Then it starts to be work. Before that, it's all fun and games!
Me: How did you first become published? Do you have words of advise for the would-be published?
Donna: I wrote in notebooks and worked as a technical and marketing writer for a decade before I was published. Then I had one article published in a technical magazine, then nothing for several more years. It never occurred to me to write about what I loved -- knitting -- so I just kept scribbling in the notebooks, practicing, learning how to write, and not being able to focus on anything or find my niche. Then a friend in my critique group, whom I'd met at a yarn shop, asked me "Hey, if you can write a book about how to install a hard drive, why can't you write a book about how to make a sweater?" and that just opened up a whole new world of opportunity to me!My advice? Write. The rest will come.After you've written for a good long while... Pitch. Don't get discouraged. Learn about the business. Act professional. Join a writer's group or attend a conference to network. There are so many books of advice to writers and they're all good. Buy one and read it. Then do what it says.
Me: Have you concerned self-publishing? Why or why not?
Donna: Not really. I used to work as a graphic designer and technical writer and I have all of the skills to create a book and get the files to the printer and so forth. But I have no desire to do all of that now. I love writing and I am more than happy to let professional designers, photographers, editors, and illustrators do the rest -- to collaborate with me -- on my books. Sometimes that means a degree of compromise but that is OK. I feel like my books are greatly improved by the contributions of all of these other people on the publishing team. Plus I know nothing about the distribution side of publishing and I don't really want to learn about that part of the business. And finally, I don't want to tie up my money in thousands of books sitting in my garage!
Me: Have you concerned publishing your books as E-books? Why or why not?
Donna: Working on it! Several of my titles are coming out in Kindle and Sony Reader formats, although I don't know exactly when. And the individual projects from the Ethnic Knitting series are being released (slowly over time) in PDF format. Personally, I like books with pages made of paper. But I can see the appeal of having ebooks on a small device that you can always have with you for reference. When my books finally come out on Kindle, I will be very tempted to buy one. (I think Amazon should give them free to authors, but what's the chance of that happening?)
Me: Please share tips and techniques for web-based marketing.
Donna: Oh, I have a whole handout on that topic. I've attached it as a PDF so you can post a link and people can download it.
Me: How do you organize a blog tour?
Donna: Another handout! It's a little old, but I still work this way when setting up my tours.Thanks for being part of the tour! Good luck on all of your own knitting and writing explorations!
Note: I have read the articles Donna mentioned. They are very helpful. If you would like to read them please request them by emailing: leanne@oknitting.com I would, of course, like to have been able to post a link to them but was unable to do so. I simply lack the technical know-how. However, I am happy (and am capable of) forwarding them to everyone interested.
