Interview with Erik Atwell

Why did you want to write Thank You For Flying Air Zoe?

Hi Samantha! Real quick before getting to the Q&A, I want to thank you for both having me here on Chick Lit Plus, and for putting together this ridiculously cool blog tour!

Okay, so… Why did I want to write Air Zoe? Maybe because I felt I owed it to readers to share my experiences about being in an all-girl garage band.

Kidding. I do that a lot. Hopefully it won’t get too annoying.

The truth is, I wrote this story because I very much wanted to tell a universally relatable story about reconnecting with one’s youth. I think that for many, adulthood arrives without much warning, and it often leaves our wildest and most unbridled dreams in the dust. To me, this is sort of a bummer. Granted, adulthood brings with it a full boatload of responsibilities, and we can’t all just pitch everything on a whim and backpack through Europe whenever an adventurous itch needs to be scratched. But I believe that with enough emotional maintenance, we can hold on to the urgency and energy of our youth.

I think that one of the many keys to happiness is to live without regrets. And for the most part, I’ve followed this blueprint well. Though I’m still slightly bitter that I never won an Olympic gold medal. I was kind of a hotshot on skis as a six-year-old, but looking back now, I see where it all went wrong.

Not enough training and too many trips to the local DQ.

Oh well. I’m sure the chocolate milkshake has derailed many amazing athletic accomplishments over the years, huh?

Anyway, I thought it would be both challenging and fun for me as a writer to take a shot at writing a story about a woman who wanted to correct her life’s one big regret. And really, didn’t we all dream of being a rock star at some point during our childhood?

What is the hardest part about writing for you?

That’s an easy one… Starting. Starting a new story, starting a new chapter, starting the day’s writing session. Just plain trying to get out of the gate and hit my stride. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet located the little on/off switch that will allow me to be a writer one moment and a rational, agreeable, and normal person the next. I can do my best to schedule a specific writing time, but unless my mind is properly slanted toward creativity in that moment, I will be utterly useless as a writer.

Conversely, my favorite part of writing is barreling past all of those horrible potholes and speed bumps that clutter up my path. Once the story gains speed and the writing is in rhythm, that’s when the whole process can be pure bliss.

What is the most rewarding part of being published?

Now see, this is such a great question that I’m having a hard time starting my answer! (*grin*)

Maybe this is because there are so many possible answers. For one, being published eliminates what would likely be a massive regret were I to never publish a novel. I think that’s the basic reward as dictated by my unofficial Bucket List. Been writing a while. I really wanted this.

A rewarding memory that’ll forever make me laugh… When the book first came out, I received three boxes of author copies. So I did what any sane person would do — I stacked all 96 copies on top of one another to see whether or not I was taller than the stack! I was, but not by much. And wow, wasn’t there a spectacular moment of pure panic when at about 80 books high, the tower started to topple! Anyway, I think that the sheer lunacy of building my own little Air Zoe high rise kind of captured the euphoria of being published. You don’t quite know what to do with yourself, so you end up going slightly cuckoo. I’m surprised I didn’t try to build a fort!

But I think that the most rewarding part of being published has to be hearing compliments from readers and reviewers. It’s definitely a trip when you check your daily websites and see that someone has taken the time to share their thoughts about your novel. And if you’re lucky enough to get four, or even (*gasp*) five stars for your work?

You kind of spaz out a little. Maybe do a somersault/handstand/Macarena combo. It’s not all that pretty, but I find it effectively conveys the right amount of enthusiasm.

Are you currently working on another novel?

Not at the moment, but this is only because I’m currently working on being a new dad, and the little one has staked a claim to my schedule for a while. That said, I’m definitely eager to get something else out there soon. Right now I’m looking at two options.

Option One… I already have a finished draft of a pretty nifty novel called Most Likely To Succeed that I wrote prior to writing Air Zoe, but it needs to have maybe a hundred or so pages lopped off around the edges. It’s just way too long. I think I thought I was the Tolstoy of chick lit or something.

Option Two… Maybe a sequel to Thank You For Flying Air Zoe? Yeah, this is what I’d love to write next, provided this first effort can win over enough of an audience to justify an encore performance. I even have an (extra top secret) title and storyline swimming around in my head!

Do you have a writing routine you try to stick to?

Once upon a time in the pre-fatherhood era, yes. I would spend mornings lost in impossibly deep thought over what I would write later that day. And by that, I mean that I pretty much surfed the internet while watching SportsCenter and drinking way too much coffee. On occasion, I might write what I thought was a cool sentence or two as I prepared to tackle the project that afternoon.

Afternoon would arrive, and I would be raring to go! But after even more coffee, I would usually conclude that my cool sentences were not at all cool, and I was probably going to have to give up on this writing thing for good. I imagine that in my mind, I have given up on having a career as a writer close to five thousand times. “I should quit writing,” I would say to myself. “I should quit writing, and instead focus on trying to make the 2014 Olympic Ski Team!”

Fortunately, I’m not very good at quitting. And sure enough, by late afternoon, while in full sulk over my epic creative inabilities, the proverbial bright idea light bulb would suddenly shine brightly overhead. I would then hurry to the computer, hammer out a few paragraphs — or even pages — and thus make an amazing and dramatic eleventh hour save of the project!

Then the very next morning, I would wake up, make coffee, read these allegedly brilliant things I’d written the day before, and think, “Wow, this is kind of awful.”

Lather, rinse, repeat! (*grin*)

How important do you think blogs and/or social media are to authors?

Given the web’s global reach, I think that blogs and such are an absolute necessity these days. I recently wrote a blog post announcing this Blog Tour, and I joked about how traditional book tours are just so 20th century. Sure, some of the more established authors hit the road and draw large crowds at signings, but us debut authors don’t have the resources needed to facilitate such promotion. Social media, however, gives us a bit of a fighting chance to compete. Still, it takes work to connect with others through blogs, or sites like Facebook and Twitter, because with so many writers out there trying to get noticed, the creative chaos can be tough to sift through. Too many voices at one time can create a white noise wherein none of the voices are truly heard.

I’m definitely still learning how to best utilize social media, but it seems to me that a good strategy is one that comes pretty naturally to me, and that is to both know and respect that fine line between connecting and self-promoting. My own blog is almost criminally primitive, but it achieves what I believe is its most vital goal – it helps me connect with readers on a more personal level. And if you can give readers a chance to care about you as a person, I think they’re more inclined to support your career as an author.

So yeah, I think that blogs can be fantastic little windows into the worlds of authors they might otherwise never get to know. I mean if I had this same fledgling career a dozen years ago, would my audience know that I’m a new dad who’s now rockin’ a burgundy minivan?

Wow, did I just admit that?

What is your advice for aspiring writers?

I would tell them this… Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feelin’. Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past, you must fight just to keep them alive. You’ve gotta hold on to what you’ve got, it doesn’t really matter if you make it or not… And… Um…

Okay, time out.

Can you tell that I’ve spent the last few months mired in 80s music?

Kidding aside, there’s actually a whole lot of sound advice within the 80s lyrics mash-up above, cliché though it all may be. Unless you’re incredibly lucky and/or impossibly talented, you are going to need enough belief in yourself to overpower rejection. Because it probably will happen, and when it does, you will question your own voice. You will doubt that you have what it takes to make it in an industry that is growing increasingly tougher to break into.

And you know what?

That is totally okay. Maybe you don’t have what it takes — at least not yet. However, maybe you’re close, and all you need is to keep trying. Keep studying the writings of others. Keep picking yourself up when you stumble and fall. Keep writing, because your creative evolution demands that you never give up. And above all else, don’t beat yourself up if you’re struggling. Because writing isn’t easy, and struggle is just part of the program. Personally, I’ve always found that the less pressure I put on myself to succeed on others’ terms, the better my writing is. Seems to me that the less you worry about the outcome, the more likely you are to see results.

I have a favorite quote that fits here and will be a nice parting sentiment. It comes from Anonymous. I don’t know about you, but I hope that someday they discover who Anonymous is, because he/she says tons of quotable things.

The quote: “The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you didn’t write.”

Remember this and just write.

Thanks for everything, Samantha — I’ve had a blast being here.

Like, totally!