Post date: Jan 25, 2016 2:29:46 PM
Author Jane Ozdowski interview with David Alan Binder
The answer to question 10 is chock full of good information for those of you who would like to be writers.
Her Website: www.janeozkowski.com
Her Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14204523.Jane_Ozkowski
Her Amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/Jane-Ozkowski-Books/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A916520%2Cp_27%3AJane%20Ozkowski
Or
http://www.amazon.ca/Best-Most-Beautiful-Jane-Ozkowski/dp/0993981704
1. How do you pronounce your name (only answer if appropriate)?
My last name is pronounced Oz-Cow-Ski (pretty much how it’s written)
2. Where are you currently living?
Toronto.
3. Where would you like to live?
I honestly feel like Toronto is the best city, but maybe somewhere warm in the winter.
4. Why did you start writing?
I think I was always writing. Over Christmas I went to my parent’s house and came across stories I wrote when I was seven or eight. I was a princess and my brothers were faithful dogs. I don’t think I realized could be a “writer” as a profession until I was about seventeen though.
5. What is the most important thing that you have learned in your writing experience, so far?
That if you try to make your first draft perfect you’ll never finish anything.
6. What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I sometimes consider myself a method writer. I’ll be trying to describe an unusual way a character holds a cup, and I’ll find myself unconsciously miming drinking something at a weird angle, just to see how it looks.
7. Tell us your insights on self-publish or use a publisher?
I’m really excited about the possibilities of self-publishing. I think it allows stories we wouldn’t normally hear to be told. I like the idea of presenting work directly to the public rather than to what is quiet often a board of straight, white, fifty-plus men who then determine if your work has any value. That being said, the downfall of self-publishing is that without a board of curators and because self-publishing is so easy, a lot of half-finished or not fully-thought-out books get published with the stunning and unconventional ones, and sometimes the really good books get lost in the thousands of other books being self-published every day.
a. Who is the name of your publisher and in what city are they?
My first novella came out with Nautical Priest Press, this was a sort of half self-published venture. My next book comes out with Groundwood Books this fall. Both these publishers are in Toronto.
8. Do you have any secret tips for writers on getting a book published?
Try really, really hard and work really, really hard. Forever.
9. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
In my everyday life. I also like to travel a lot and talk to strangers.
10. Do you have any suggestions or helps for new writers?
The same as for getting a book published. From what I’ve found, if you actually want to make it as a writer, you will have to work harder than you ever imagined, and you will probably have to work that hard forever. Make sure that you actually like writing and not just the “idea” of being a writer and the fame and fortune you imagine you will receive.
11. How many books have you written?
One novella, one full novel, and my second novel is almost done.
12. Do you have any tricks or tips to help others become a better writer?
Read a lot, and read consciously. Ask yourself what do I like about this book? Why? How is this story told? How are these characters constructed? What is described and why? How could this book have been written better?
13. What makes your book stand out from the crowd?
I think (Hope!) that my books are funny. They talk about important issues and life experiences, but they’re also entertaining to read.
14. What is the one thing you would do differently now (concerning writing) and why?
I would spend less time perfecting the prose in my first drafts. Inevitably once a story is written out, I end up cutting or re-writing at least two thirds of the first draft anyway.
15. What would you like carved onto your tombstone? Or what saying or mantra do you live by?
Try your best, forget the rest.
END OF INTERVIEW
Please contact me at dalanbinder at gmail dot com or ab3ring at juno dot com
If you a published author or in a band with or without a book or an up and coming celebrity and want to garner following or get your message out there then I’d like to interview you and feature you and your book(s) or message on this web site in one of my blogs.
Write Coach service (Donations accepted) - Contact me at dalanbinder at gmail dot com or ab3ring at juno dot com
Ghost Writing service - Contact me at dalanbinder at gmail dot com or ab3ring at juno dot com
Do the social thing and like this blog to your friends and family; recommend it often, I’d appreciate it. See the social tab.
Even further feedback and tips are appreciated, see the Tip Jar tab.
Tips from $1 to $110 are definitely appreciated.
Now I've been told by professionals that this old website requires an upgrade. In order for this to happen a benefactor will be required. Benefactors please contact me before your donations of $1000 to $10,000 or more.
Thanks so much to all of you.