Yeah, that's him on the left. John Owens.
I call him Bubba.
Bubba and I first met in 1985 - holy crap that's more than two lifetimes ago! He and I were both employed at the same company here in Ottawa, working for Rod Bryden back in Rod's high tech days. John was in charge of "communications" and "public relations". I believe he came to the organization from the United Way, and before that he worked as a high school teacher in the Bahamas, where legend says he got that shirt he's wearing in the picture. After working in high tech (when high tech was COOL in Ottawa), he went to work for Rod Bryden at the Ottawa Senators (back when hockey was COOL in Ottawa and the Senators used to win a game or two).
It's all a blur after that because there's a rumour around that Bubba moved to la Belle Province and I lost contact with him for a couple of years. Fast forward to a couple of months ago when a mutual acquaintance asked me if I knew that John was back in town and that he'd written a book. I was on THAT like white on rice.
I thought if John Owens had written a book, that means HE would have a traditional publisher (did I mention he's a fabulous writer) because his writing is amazing. Ah, taberWHIT, and zut alors, it turned out that Bubba was in the same situation as I.....no traditional publisher and he was going the self-publishing route. I was on THAT like Joan Rivers and a free facelift!
John's road to publishing had been similar to mine - frustrating to say the least. But I was glad to find out that having a published author as a friend who is also a famous journalist didn't help either (read about it on John's blog http://www.johnowens.ca/) - LOL! Turns out John decided to try a company I had been looking at as well (iUniverse) and his experience with them had been okay. So, I signed up with them too (read all about it on my blog.....).
Fast forward to last Friday. I arrived home to find Bubba's book ON THE RAILS had arrived from Amazon and on Sunday and Monday I read through all 600 and some odd pages. I found it mesmerizing, I loved the characters, I was fascinated by the time period, and couldn't put it down.
John had agreed with me a while ago that after I read his book, he would do a blog interview with me about ON THE RAILS. So, here it is.....read on:
Question: Your adult working career has included teaching English to high school students, corporate communications/PR work for large public companies and a professional hockey team franchise, and writer. Which of these has given you the most personal satisfaction?
Answer: I don’t want to sound like a friggin’ politician here, but most of the jobs I’ve held have given me a lot of pleasure – but for different reasons. Teaching poor kids in the Bahamas and working for the United Way both made me feel like I was doing something worthwhile. Being with the Ottawa Senators for the team’s first five years was a blast – fairly shitty hockey but a great bunch of people who busted their collective ass to make the franchise work. But, after writing for months in a row – even if I had a terrible day when nothing worked – I would always say to myself: “This is what I should be doing.”
Question: Where did the idea for On The Rails germinate?
Answer: My father was (and still is) a great storyteller. He’s almost 90 now and he lived through much of what Michael experiences – from riding the rails to logging camps, to short order cooking to Northern service with the RCMP. He told those stories with such humour and liveliness that they struck me in a way I hadn’t heard before. I figured there had to be a book in that.
Question: The old adage "write what you know" always comes to my mind when reading an author's first novel. How much of On The Rails is based on your own experiences and your own views/knowledge of Canadian locales? (And yeah, we know you're old but we also know you weren't alive during the Depression and the start of WWII.)
Answer: There are particular events or scenes which I experienced (skating, “borrowing” my father’s truck, the sideshow, working in a catalogue department among many others) and then adapted them to Depression-era Canada. Geographically, I have to confess that I’ve never been to central BC, northern New Brunswick, the Arctic, or Regina. Bless the Internet for images and info.
Question: As a writer, I've found it hard not to imbue my main characters with at least a tiny bit of me. I also get a secret thrill having my characters do or say things that I've always wanted to do or say, but didn't have the guts. Which character in On The Rails is most like you?
Answer: A small part of me is Michael but as a kindred character I’d have to say Dick Williams, the apple farmer in BC. He leads the kind of graceful, self-contained life which I much admire. But there are probably 20 characters who say or do stuff which I somehow believe.
Question: From the time you typed "George Shymchuk's axes were always sharp" to the point where you took your fingers off the keyboard and said, "DONE", how long did it take you to write the book (excluding the yucky parts of editing and proofreading)?
Answer: It’s actually hard to give an accurate answer because, throughout the novel writing period, I also had to make money in my business. There was a pretty intense stretch between 2003 and 2005 where I mainly worked on the book and I did a major revision in 2008 that took about six months.
Question: There is so much in this book that resonated with me (but most of that's fodder for another blog interview). Here's an example: "He felt the guilt of one human who knows he feels less than another about the same thing. He felt the powerlessness to change it within him, the rigid inability to force himself to lift up his caring to the apparent level around him." I actually had a WOW moment when I read those lines, and realized that finally, someone had put into words something I've known for a long time but was unable to articulate. Did you have a WOW moment when you wrote those lines?
Answer: Like you, I’ve guiltily felt that for a long time but I made myself write it to capture Michael’s isolation in everything from severing his family ties to his reaction to war in Europe.
Question: Inarguably, the main plot of On The Rails is male-dominated, and not a lot of women rode the rails during the Depression, but we couldn't ignore the fact that the women's characters in your book are peripheral. This is not a feminist dig in the least, we're just curious if this was a conscious decision on your part or is that just the way the "cookie crumbled", so to speak?
Answer: You’re right: mainly, it was historical circumstance, both on the rails and in the RCMP which is about 80% of the book. For some reason or other, though, I’ve always had a problem with male writers attempting to write from a female perspective (and vice versa!). It always strikes me like a parlour trick. It’s clever and all, but it’s still a trick. Idiotically perhaps, I don’t know why they try it.
Question: You strike me as a beach bum type of guy who likes the warm weather and cold beers. Did you ever experience sledding or wilderness living like Michael and his other RCMP co-horts?
Answer: Again, I think my old man’s story telling abilities made those times and places seem real to me. Personally, I do everything I can to avoid the cold and spend my winters in hibernation, dreaming of Mexico. Coincidentally, however, I did spend a winter in an uninsulated cabin in 2003 when I first really ploughed into On the Rails. It was chilly and remote but absolutely nothing even close to the realities of the Canadian Arctic!
Question: When will be reading The Sixth String? Are you trying to find a traditional publisher for it or are you going the self-publish route again?
Answer: We’ll see. I’m revising some musical things in The Sixth String right now which I had dead wrong so I’m not quite done. I do first want to see if On the Rails will attract some attention and a publisher. But that’s like: I do intend to keep buying lottery tickets.
Question: What's next? Are you writing your next novel?
Answer: Sort of. I’m about 50,000 words into a Central American thing but I haven’t visited it for quite some time. It’s an odd book that might become a real one.
Answer: I don’t want to sound like a friggin’ politician here, but most of the jobs I’ve held have given me a lot of pleasure – but for different reasons. Teaching poor kids in the Bahamas and working for the United Way both made me feel like I was doing something worthwhile. Being with the Ottawa Senators for the team’s first five years was a blast – fairly shitty hockey but a great bunch of people who busted their collective ass to make the franchise work. But, after writing for months in a row – even if I had a terrible day when nothing worked – I would always say to myself: “This is what I should be doing.”
Question: Where did the idea for On The Rails germinate?
Answer: My father was (and still is) a great storyteller. He’s almost 90 now and he lived through much of what Michael experiences – from riding the rails to logging camps, to short order cooking to Northern service with the RCMP. He told those stories with such humour and liveliness that they struck me in a way I hadn’t heard before. I figured there had to be a book in that.
Question: The old adage "write what you know" always comes to my mind when reading an author's first novel. How much of On The Rails is based on your own experiences and your own views/knowledge of Canadian locales? (And yeah, we know you're old but we also know you weren't alive during the Depression and the start of WWII.)
Answer: There are particular events or scenes which I experienced (skating, “borrowing” my father’s truck, the sideshow, working in a catalogue department among many others) and then adapted them to Depression-era Canada. Geographically, I have to confess that I’ve never been to central BC, northern New Brunswick, the Arctic, or Regina. Bless the Internet for images and info.
Question: As a writer, I've found it hard not to imbue my main characters with at least a tiny bit of me. I also get a secret thrill having my characters do or say things that I've always wanted to do or say, but didn't have the guts. Which character in On The Rails is most like you?
Answer: A small part of me is Michael but as a kindred character I’d have to say Dick Williams, the apple farmer in BC. He leads the kind of graceful, self-contained life which I much admire. But there are probably 20 characters who say or do stuff which I somehow believe.
Question: From the time you typed "George Shymchuk's axes were always sharp" to the point where you took your fingers off the keyboard and said, "DONE", how long did it take you to write the book (excluding the yucky parts of editing and proofreading)?
Answer: It’s actually hard to give an accurate answer because, throughout the novel writing period, I also had to make money in my business. There was a pretty intense stretch between 2003 and 2005 where I mainly worked on the book and I did a major revision in 2008 that took about six months.
Question: There is so much in this book that resonated with me (but most of that's fodder for another blog interview). Here's an example: "He felt the guilt of one human who knows he feels less than another about the same thing. He felt the powerlessness to change it within him, the rigid inability to force himself to lift up his caring to the apparent level around him." I actually had a WOW moment when I read those lines, and realized that finally, someone had put into words something I've known for a long time but was unable to articulate. Did you have a WOW moment when you wrote those lines?
Answer: Like you, I’ve guiltily felt that for a long time but I made myself write it to capture Michael’s isolation in everything from severing his family ties to his reaction to war in Europe.
Question: Inarguably, the main plot of On The Rails is male-dominated, and not a lot of women rode the rails during the Depression, but we couldn't ignore the fact that the women's characters in your book are peripheral. This is not a feminist dig in the least, we're just curious if this was a conscious decision on your part or is that just the way the "cookie crumbled", so to speak?
Answer: You’re right: mainly, it was historical circumstance, both on the rails and in the RCMP which is about 80% of the book. For some reason or other, though, I’ve always had a problem with male writers attempting to write from a female perspective (and vice versa!). It always strikes me like a parlour trick. It’s clever and all, but it’s still a trick. Idiotically perhaps, I don’t know why they try it.
Question: You strike me as a beach bum type of guy who likes the warm weather and cold beers. Did you ever experience sledding or wilderness living like Michael and his other RCMP co-horts?
Answer: Again, I think my old man’s story telling abilities made those times and places seem real to me. Personally, I do everything I can to avoid the cold and spend my winters in hibernation, dreaming of Mexico. Coincidentally, however, I did spend a winter in an uninsulated cabin in 2003 when I first really ploughed into On the Rails. It was chilly and remote but absolutely nothing even close to the realities of the Canadian Arctic!
Question: When will be reading The Sixth String? Are you trying to find a traditional publisher for it or are you going the self-publish route again?
Answer: We’ll see. I’m revising some musical things in The Sixth String right now which I had dead wrong so I’m not quite done. I do first want to see if On the Rails will attract some attention and a publisher. But that’s like: I do intend to keep buying lottery tickets.
Question: What's next? Are you writing your next novel?
Answer: Sort of. I’m about 50,000 words into a Central American thing but I haven’t visited it for quite some time. It’s an odd book that might become a real one.
John's book On the Rails is available at http://www.amazon.ca/ or http://www.iuniverse.com/
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