Category: Uncategorized

The Storms of Denali Book Tour: The Ethics of Climbing and Parenthood

mccallMcCall Public Library was a great venue for my first reading in Idaho. The weather was sunny and warm outside, with jet skis zipping over Lake McCall, a sparkling sapphire of a lake in northern Idaho. With all the the sunny weather and recreation opportunities, would anyone show up for the reading?

I set up my slide projector on a computer table. Librarian Lida Clouser pulled down a screen for the slide show. She brought her husband and kids, who sat in the front row. One of her sons told her that he wanted to be either a writer or a climber when he grew up. Guess what, she said, the guy giving the talk tonight is both! The pressure was on.

Gradually people filed in, sitting down on the overstuffed chairs. Chatting with them, I discovered than one man had attempted Denali and many read climbing literature., so I knew they would love The Storms of Denali. By the time I started my reading, over 20 people were in attendance.

After the reading and slide show, I asked for questions. This is quickly becoming my favorite part of the book tour, as I get a sense on how people are responding to The Storms of Denali.

“Can you comment on the ethics of a husband and father going on a dangerous climb?” a woman in the front row asked.

“That was one of the questions I wanted to explore in the book,” I said, thinking of what I discuss in my writing classes through The Writer’s Workshop. “The narrator, John, is a husband and father, and he feels a lot of guilt about being gone and away from his family, but he still goes on the trip. His climbing partner Wyn doesn’t see any conflict with marriage and parenthood and difficult climbing routes. The two of them argue about this in the course of the book. In the end, I think readers will understand what I think about this issue, but in a novel you don’t want to make an obvious pronouncement; you want to embody it through the characters. You want readers to discover it as if on their own.”

The answer seemed to satisfy her. I looked over at the boy who was in the front row, holding my ice hammer. What did he think about the issue? The enthusiasm for climbing shone in his eyes. The summit seemed in his sights, no matter what the ethics or obstacles.

Kudos to Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane

Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane is the central hub of the city’s reading and writing community. A thriving independent book store, Auntie’s invited me to read on Aug. 9. My fabulous publicist Andrea Dunlop helped me get coverage in two of the local papers, thanks to Rich Landers of the Spokesman-Review and Ted McGregor of the Inlander, as well as an interview on KPBX. Even with this coverage, I wasn’t sure if I would get a good crowd.

But soon, people started to trickle in, including Doug Sowder, my brother in law, and his wife Patty and then friend Duane Carlson. Slowly, the room began to fill until some 20 people were in attendance, a nice turnout for a reading, with lots of lively questions, and many books purchased. Long live independent bookstores like Auntie’s!

http://www.auntiesbooks.com/

Hijinks on the Book Tour

I’m always nervous before an interview. I like to arrive at least a half hour early, just to make sure I wouldn’t be late.

As I entered the Spokane Public Radio KPBX studio, host Verne Windham shook hands with me, his right hand curled up like a claw.

I shook his hand, trying not to stare at it. “Great to meet you.”

Then Verne opened his hand, revealing all healthy fingers. “Just like your character,” he said, referring to John Walker, the narrator of The Storms of Denali, who lost fingers to frostbite on the climb.

I laughed at the gag, which made me relax. I was keyed up in advance of our interview, but now calmed down.

Verne had read the entire novel and obviously loved it. It dovetailed perfectly with the music he was cueing up, including Alan Hovhaness’s symphony Mysterious Mountain. Interviews with such thoughtful, insightful folks like him are always a pleasure on a book tour. We talked for 20 minutes about climbing, writing and how I put the book together, a thoroughly satisfying conversation. I will put link up to the interview shortly. Thanks again, Verne!

http://www.kpbx.org/

The Storms of Denali Book Tour

For all those who like a cool, fast-paced read, that will act like air conditioning on a hot summer day, please crack the pages of my novel, The Storms of Denali, which will bring the temperature down in a hot house.

I’ll be reading from The Storms of Denali, my new novel, this coming Thursday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m. at Auntie’s Book Store in Spokane. Please join me if you can!

I’ll also include the other venues, with more to come.

Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, WA Thursday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m.

402 West Main Avenue

Spokane, WA 99201

509-838-0206

McCall Idaho Public Library, Thursday, August 16, 6 p.m.

218 E. Park,

McCall, Idaho

(208)-634 5522

Rediscovered Books, Boise, ID, August 17, 7 p.m.

180 North 8th Street Boise, ID 83702

(208) 376-4229

All Things Sacred, Galleria Building, August 18, at 7 p.m.

351 Leadville Ave N., Ketchum, ID

208-721-0767

Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA, Sept. 4, 7 p.m.

1521 10th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122

(206) 624-6600

Icicle Creek Arts Center, Leavenworth, WA, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

7409 Icicle Road

Leavenworth, WA 98826

(509) 548-6347

Black Diamond Retail Store, Salt Lake City, Thursday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.

2084 S 3900 E

Salt Lake City, UT 84124

Office: 801 993 1318

Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, Portland, Maine, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.

Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church

P.O. Box 11251, Portland, ME 04104 . (207) 775-MOAC (775-6622)

Appalachian Mountain Club HQ – Boston, MA, Thursday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.

4 Joy St., Boston, MA 617-523-0655

AMC Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham Notch, NH Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

Appalachian Mountain Club PO Box 298 Gorham, NH 03581 603-466-8119

REI Soho, NYC, Monday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.

The Puck Building

303 Lafayette Street

New York, NY 10012

(212) 680-1938

Book Tour Launch of Storms of Denali

I’ll be kicking off my book tour for The Storms of Denali on Thursday, July 12 at 7 p.m. at the Trail’s End Book Store in Winthrop, WA. Please stop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

For other book tour dates, please take a look at my website, www.nickoconnell.net.

Happy Trails,

Nick O’Connell

The Book as Physical Object

The Storms of DenaliThe book as physical object. Though the number of electronic books continues to grow, there’s nothing quite like a book with an appealing cover design, elegant type and tempting jacket copy. With the explosion in growth of electronic books, such details are increasingly being lost. That’s why I so enjoyed receiving in the mail a stack of my new novel, The Storms of Denali. Yes, the carton was heavy, the postage was expensive, but turning the book over in my hands, the smell, feel, and tactile sensation of it was pure pleasure.

For an author, the physical book is a proof that your idea, your world, your characters have become real. Authors can tend to doubt this will ever happen, especially after working for years on a project as I did on the novel, wondering if the words will ever reach a larger audience. The physical book is proof that they will. The Storms of Denali will be out to bookstores within the next few weeks.

Readers benefit as a well-designed book enhances the pleasure and experience of reading, turning the pages with your fingers, working back and forth to take in all the details and insights and appeal of the manuscript.

I have nothing against digital books. I read them myself, but when it comes to a work I really want to devour, nothing beats the actual, physical, tree -sacrificed paper pages of a book.

Writing for Story: Summer Seattle Creative Writing Class

This summer I’ll offer a Seattle Creative Writing Seminar entitled “Writing for Story: How to Recognize, Organize and Write Narratives.” This course will demonstrate how to heighten conflict and resolution in fiction and nonfiction, greatly enhancing the readability and publishability of the finished piece. You’ll receive detailed, constructive criticism of your fictional and nonfictional stories and book chapters. In addition, we’ll discuss dramatic scenes, outlines, cover letters, and other topics of interest to you.

The course will run June 13 to Aug. 1 on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. and one Monday evening July 9 in Room 221 of the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood (4649 Sunnyside Avenue North).

In addition to the classroom work, I will schedule individual conferences with each student. This will give me a chance to go over your story or book with you one-on-one and suggest ways to improve it. There will be six assignments: a 150- to 250-word story idea or book concept statement, a 250-word dramatic scene, a 25-word outline of your story, a 1500- to 2500-word story or book chapter and its revision, and a cover letter for your story or book. The cost will be $575 per person. Texts: Writing for Story by Jon Franklin; The Art of Fact edited by Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda. Both titles are available at the Elliott Bay Book Company.

To enroll, please send me check for $575 to 201 Newell St., Seattle, WA 98109. Enrollment is limited to 15. For more information, contact me.

CREATING COMPELLING CHARACTER SKETCHES

Hugo House classI taught a writing class at Seattle’s Hugo House today entitled, WRITING COMPELLING CHARACTER SKETCHES. Strong characters are the heart and soul of every great story, whether fiction or nonfiction. A character sketch introduces the main figures in your story and makes readers care about them.

Strong characters are the heart and soul of every great story, whether fiction or nonfiction. To make your story compelling, you have to ensure that readers care about your characters. Even a topic as seemingly dull and unpromising as Great Basin geology can enchant readers if the story comes through someone who cares deeply about it. This is exactly the strategy John McPhee employs in his book, Basin and Range. McPhee is a writer interested in everything: the Merchant Marine, Russian Art, the Swiss Army, the cultivation of oranges, the building of birch bark canoes, the collection and consumption of road kills. Yet he doesn’t assume a similar level of interest from his readers. Instead he courts them by seeking colorful individuals through whom he tells the story and so entices readers into the subject. In Basin and Range, he chose the geologist Kenneth Deffeyes.

“Deffeyes is a big man with a tenured waistline. His hair flies behind him like Ludwig van Beethhoven’s. He lectures in sneakers. His voice is syllabic, elocutionary, operatic. He has been described by a colleague as ‘an intellectual roving shortstop, with more ideas per square meter than anyone else in the department–they just tumble out.'”

The class participants had a chance to draft some sketches, mainly of their protagonists and antagonists. It was a great opportunity for them to get some writing down and an opportunity for me to contribute to the Hugo House, a vital part of Seattle’s writing community. Here’s a comment from one of the students:

I just wanted to reach out and thank you for today’s class. I didn’t get very much written, but that’s the fickleness of inspiration. What’s more important is that the foundation was laid and I walked away with concrete, applicable tools with which to harness the abstractness of thought.

And I did get a little written: “His smile was wicked. His eyes flickered with intention. And yet he had a forgettable figure: thinning, limp brown hair; pale elbows that broke into hives from too much sun; hazel eyes that turned grey under the Seattle sky; thick, brown-rimmed glasses; and a slightly discernible belly. All of which hinted at his potential to settle.” Your class got me thinking of how to recycle the cloud of ideas that I’ve been juggling (trying to write a screenplay) into other works so that the “voices” that do not fit in my screenplay will be satisfied to find themselves heard!

I already have a trip planned to Switzerland this spring but would love to hear of other travel writing opportunities. What is the best way to stay aware of the offerings?

Thanks!

Rebecca

Independent Book Store Elliott Bay Book Company Navigates the New World of Publishing

Rick SimonsonEbooks. Kindles. Nooks. Ipads. Wave after wave of change rocks the publishing industry as tech titans Apple, Google, and Amazon carve lucrative new businesses from the digital world.

Amid the turmoil, many traditional book stores are closing or declining (witness the recent implosion of Borders), while others like Seattle’s celebrated Elliott Bay Book Company find ways to survive and thrive. How has Seattle’s iconic independent book store succeeded where others have failed?

It did not come easily. Despite its iconic status as one of the best independent book stores in the country, Elliott Bay was losing money in its former location in Pioneer Square, forcing a move in 2010 to try to revive it. Finding a new location in the bustling Capitol Hill neighborhood and using new media like Facebook and Twitter proved critical to turning things around.

“The new move has felt good,” says head book buyer Rick Simonson, who spoke to The Writer’s Workshop writing class. “But we’re still learning our way. It’s a volatile climate with ebooks and everything else. Will people read both ebooks and paper books? What will they read as ebooks? What as traditional books? We still don’t know what people are going to do.”

As the store finds its way in the new publishing world, they draw even larger audiences to the store’s signature reading series. Formerly, they would draw five to six people; now they draw 15 to 20. Well-known authors pack the store to standing room only. With some 500 author readings a year, the store continues to bring in customers.

Independent book stories like Elliott Bay are critical to the literary and intellectual life of the Seattle as well as that of the nation. David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars, for example, gained national traction in part from the early boost the book received from Elliott Bay. Similarly, first-time authors often develop their audiences through independent bookstores, even if they later gain national attention.

For all these reasons, it’s heartening to see Elliott Bay thriving amid all the transformations in the publishing industry. their reading series continues to be one of the best in the country, a great, free introduction to the riches of the literary world.

For more on Elliott Bay Book Company and other great stories, please look for the next issue of www.thewritersworklshopreview.net, which will be out shortly.