Books

Arriving at a Fixed Destination

Hank Stuever is all about fixed destinations.

His words from last evening’s New Mexico Press Women’s 60th anniversary Conference and Communications Awards Banquet have reached their fixed destination on this blog. I hope it’s a fitting destination.

Hank, an award-winning pop culture writer for the Washington Post’s Style section and a former newspaper reporter from Albuquerque noted that books, newspapers and movies at the theater are all fixed destinations and that these are “the things we are on the precipice of losing.”

He regaled the audience with stories from his early career in Albuquerque, fondly recalling chain link fences and cinder blocks. “I don’t know why I ever left,” he said drawing laughter from the audience.

But for him, “The more faded it gets the more beautiful it gets.”

He shared his love for storytelling and his need to share the stories of life, many of which are captured in his books, Off Ramp and Tinsel. “That’s the most important thing we do as media professionals – we tell one another’s stories,” he said.

And that’s the problem with new media, Hank says. “Now we’re too busy telling ‘my’ story.”

He recalled a time at a campground where he and a photographer stayed for three days. Some Europeans asked him in a broken accent, “Who it is you are all the time with cameras writing down things.”

It was an apt question for a man who has a need to observe and get it down on paper.

And while Hank might bemoan the loss of record stores, newspapers or going to the movies, he’s not writing off new media. “We’re undergoing a Renaissance,” he said. “And we need to stop taking the Renaissance so personally.”

His advice for the new media? Leave a fresco – “some really lovely painting, some really good work.”

What will your fresco be?

Writing about Virginia’s Horses Takes Patience

NFPW and VPW member Julie Campbell always has been a horse lover. So it was natural for her to write a book about the horse in Virginia.

She just didn’t realize how long it would take. She worked on the book full time while researching and writing on evenings, weekends and days off. “When you boil it down to time I spent just on the book, I’d guess it took about two years,” she said a few weeks before her book tour kicked off.

But then there was another year when it went through two rounds of anonymous reviews and subsequent revisions. She also had to find the illustrations and obtain their accompanying permissions. Tack on another year or so for production: copyediting, design, proofreading, indexing and printing.

The Horse in Virginia: An Illustrated History explores the history of horses in Virginia during four centuries, including how the horse fit into society at any given time.  The University of Virginia Press developed the concept and hired Julie to write it and find the illustrations. There are many books about different facets of Virginia horses – fox hunting, steeple chasing, thoroughbreds and racing – but there wasn’t one general history. Now there is.

Even an avid horse lover like Julie was surprised by some of her findings. “I learned that through the mid-19th century, many if not most horses in Virginia had a gait called ‘amble’ in addition to the usual walk, trot, canter, gallop,” Julie said. “It was smooth and easy to ride and very popular.”

“I also learned that Virginians are very interested in the remains of famous horses, like Traveller and Little Sorrel,” she said. “You can actually see some horse bones at Stonewall Jackson’s headquarters museum in Winchester; they belonged to the horse of a Confederate cavalryman, Turner Ashby. Both the man and horse were killed in battle during the Civil War.”

Want to know more? Ask your independent bookseller to order it for you from the University of Virginia Press. Julie will sign her book March 20 at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond and May 11 at the Library of Virginia in Richmond.

‘Made to Stick’ Will Stick with You

When I wrote that one of my goals was to read a professional book every other month, a fellow presswoman recommended Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

The messages within its “pages” definitely stuck with me. I say this because I slightly cheated when I read it – I didn’t actually read it; I listened to it as an audio CD in my car. The problem was there were so many useful ideas and I couldn’t (or at least I shouldn’t!) write while them down while I was driving.

So when I would arrive at a destination I would hurriedly scribble the sticky points that I wanted to remember. And it was easy to because the ideas stuck with me.

What are the principles to make a sticky idea successful? First, simplicity – it has to be simple but profound. There should be unexpectedness. It has to be concrete. Don’t forget credibility, emotions and stories.

The authors wrote about the military commander’s intent at the start of an engagement. I’m taking that to the office and turning it into a communication’s intent. Why are we writing the piece? If we don’t know, the ideas will never stick.

Another thought was to not bury the lead. I’ve had that drilled into my head since I first entered the world of journalism but we all need to be reminded of it. They refer to it as forced prioritization.

The book will change the way you communicate. It’s worth your time – whether you’re reading it or listening to it.

The authors now have a second book out, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard.

Jenkins Says Richmond Setting for Next Mystery

Sterling Glass  is appearing in her third novel by mystery writer Emyl Jenkins. But where the book will end up is anyone’s guess, especially Emyl’s.

“The fun thing about the writing is meeting the people that Sterling introduces me to,” Emyl says. “I don’t know where the book is going.”

Emyl shared plans for her next book, which will be set in Richmond while enjoying a leisurely lunch at a well-known Richmond restaurant. “I love Richmond,” she says. “I look forward to sharing the beauty, the uniqueness, the quirkiness of the city.”

She says that people are all the same – whether they live in San Francisco, Boston, Miami or Richmond. “Often it’s the environment, the geography, the heritage of a place that makes a person have individual traits,” Emyl says.

Some of her friends worry that they will end up in her books, but no need to fear. “I’m not writing about friends,” Emyl says. I’m writing about people from all over the country.”

No publication date has been set.

Writer’s Dinner Table Crowded with Characters

Mystery writer Emyl Jenkins won’t have much time in February for writing as she’ll be busy giving talks on the topic throughout Virginia, Alabama and Georgia.

“I need to clear the decks and just write,” she said.

Emyl, who has written Stealing with Style and The Big Steal, says her characters are so much fun, “It’s like having dinner with so many people.”

If she’s not writing or giving talks, then she’s busy managing her Facebook and Twitter accounts. Both allow her to secure speaking engagements and interact directly with her fans, but at a price. “When are we supposed to write?” she muses. “There’s just so much to keep up with.”

She’s also begun a blog for her publisher.

And what about reading and reflecting, which Emyl says also are important for the writer. She says that she can tell some writers don’t have time to do that. “I’m finding in some books that characters are wooden or shallow and that plots are thin or pushed,” she says. 

Publishers are pushing writers to churn out a book every 12 to 18 months. Writers also don’t have time to sit back and reflect, “to think about what their characters want to say,” Emyl says.

Despite the challenges, Emyl is hard at work on her next Sterling Glass novel. No publication date has been set but her dinner table has been crowded with all her characters.

 “I’m fortunate,” she says. “My publisher [Algonquin Books] gives me the time I need.”