I have three books, FROM THUNDER TO BREAKFAST, WIDOWHOOD HAPPENS and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT CAVE CREEK (IT'S THE PEOPLE). Please read the questionaire and let's talk. If I'm not here momentarily, please leave your questions and comments and I'll get back to you. Thanks.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALIZE THAT YOU WANTED TO WRITE FOR A PUBLICATION?
I suppose it was when I enrolled in several writing courses in college — Magazine Article Writing and Creative Writing. The spark was there, but would I be good enough?
WHEN WRITING A BOOK HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON THE THEME, GENRE OR TOPIC?
Well, I am usually grabbed by a thought and it won't' let go. I wrote FROM THUNDER TO BREAKFAST because I felt strongly that Southwesterner Hube Yates' personality and character should be preserved for future generations — people who came after him, but weren't fortunate enough to know him.
— — — — —
I had to be persuaded to write WIDOWHOOD HAPPENS by a friend who had lost her husband. This book can do a lot — if you will let it. It was written primarily to help married people smooth the way for the inevitable — the death of a spouse. It became more than that.
It may help the already widowed to sort out their own feelings about their widowhood experiences by comparing them to the sharing, real-life characters in the book.
Friends and relatives of the bereaved can benefit too. They should put some deep thought into what they say to the surviving spouse. Usually, the widow or widower is simply going through the motions at a funeral or memorial service. Many comments from well-wishers should have been left unsaid. No one wants to hear, “Well, you’re young. You’ll get married again.” Another bad choice is, “You had six years together.” This was said to a pregnant young mother of two. It’s insane. There is sometimes criticism from relatives who take over and act as though the survivor has no brain, and has to be told everything to do. Not necessarily so.
Author Gene K. Garrison listened as widowed people told her about their own personal experiences. Not everyone has the same reactions. They live in different circumstances, wealthy versus poor, for instance. They have different personalities, and were married to spouses who also had their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are young, some middle-aged, and others old. We, as readers, see their predicaments with money, plumbing, moving, self-blame, and friends and relatives who are both helpful and a hindrance. Funerals and memorial services are also discussed. The only list in the book is a very important one given by the attorney.
In between the poignant personal stories are interviews Garrison held with professionals and heads of organizations that deal with the problems of widowhood. A psychologist, lawyer, medical doctor, protestant minister, Catholic priest, therapeutic weekend designed to untangle the morass of guilt, a social club, a group that prepares widowed and divorced people who have been out of the work force for many years to sharpen their skills and bolster their self-confidence.
There are examples of what can happen all through the book, without the author giving any advice, except for two important pieces of information directed at friends and relatives: Listen and Don’t judge.
One chapter is titled What have You Done to Prepare for Widowhood? Try asking your friends that sometime.
After the shock of the question, the answers will surprise you. Ask yourself that too.
At a book signing a man asked, “Can people get through widowhood without the help of your book?” Of course they can. For eons past, people have muddled through, taken to their beds, cruised the oceans blue, escaped reality with drugs, leaned on those who offered to help them, and finally pulled themselves together in order to get on with their lives. Make it easier on yourself by finding out the options, discovering the pitfalls.
Widowhood Happens is not all doom and gloom. There is aid and comfort in the community. There’s the possibility of freedom — freedom to start something new, to meet new friends, to do volunteer work — involvement in anything you want. It’s a new life. It’s different, and that doesn’t mean it has to be miserable. It’s up to the survivors. Some will grasp the new life with enthusiasm. Others will accept the brutal truth. Life is a challenge.
If we had the foresight, we planned for this eventuality. It’s a surprise ending. Find out more about what others experienced and how they were helped.
Strangely enough, Widowhood Happens is, for the most part, an easy, interesting read. It is not classified as religious. It’s simply human.
_ _ _ _ _
Then it was back to the old-timers for THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CAVE CREEK (IT’S THE PEOPLE). I interviewed cowboys, prospectors, sheriffs and strong women. I like that little book. Arizona’s Official
Historian and head of the Scottsdale Community College’s Southwestern Studies Department wrote an excellent review. He liked it too. Here is his review:
Cave Creek is a one-of-a-kind town. In a Valley whose cities are becoming more homogenous with each passing year Cave Creek has retained its unique character. In time it too may become more like Scottsdale, Carefree, Tempe, Mesa, and the other cities down below, but if and when that time comes the old stories will keep the memories alive.
My earliest memories of the town are of the mid-1940s. My uncle and aunt, Russell and Jeffie Talbott, owned the Golden Reef Mine north of town. Later, my brother Dan opened an equine veterinary practice in the area. Soon after my parents retired and joined him and his wife Mary. I spent many hours traveling around with Dan on his calls to the ranches north of town and many more sitting on a bar stool at Harold and Ruth Gavigan’s Cave Creek Corral. It was here I met many of the people in Gene Garrison’s book, including George Mileham, Jim Hardy, and Logue Morris. There were others too, with colorful names like O. K. Charlie, and Leadpipe.
Cave Creek is home to folks with wide interests. Geoffrey Platts was a desert preservationist who gave his life to save a friend in a flash flood and Catherine Jones was a colorful pistol-packin’ deputy sheriff who once shot a piece of the ear off a troublesome bootlegger.
Cave Creek has produced some of the West’s best cowboys. Anyone who’s ever chased a wild steer down one of those cactus-strewn, steep-sided canyons north of town can attest that anyone who cowboyed around Cave Creek could cowboy anywhere in the world. George Mileham was one of the best. Jim Hardy was one of the first to be born in the little town of Phoenix and he was still spry when Phoenix celebrated its 100th birthday. And some say Logue Morris was the inspiration for the great western song, “Man With the Big Hat.”
Gene has pulled these stories together into a wonderful book about the characters and places that made Cave Creek one of the state’s most colorful towns. It may change some in the future but the people have left an indelible mark on the area.
Marshall Trimble
Official Arizona State Historian
HAS AN EDITOR EVER ASKED YOU TO CHANGE A BOOK'S COURSE?
No, never.
WHERE CAN WE FIND OUT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BOOKS?
The first two I mentioned (FROM THUNDER TO BREAKFAST and WIDOWHOOD HAPPENS) were first published by traditional publishers, but after they went out of print I had them published by Xlibris.com. They can be ordered online, but I've found the easiest way is to call 1-888-795-4274.
The third book (THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CAVE CREEK (IT’S THE PEOPLE) can be ordered through www.lulu.com. Of course
all of them can be ordered through the large online bookstores, starting with www.amazon.com. And then there are your favorite bookstores. It helps them to have the IBSN numbers because chances are they are going to have order it from their distributors.
FROM THUNDER TO BREAKFAST — 1-4010-0376-1 (paperback); 1-4010-0377X (hardcover)
WIDOWHOOD HAPPENS — 1-4010-4637-1 (paperback): 1-4010-4638X (hardcover)
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT CAVE CREEK —978-1-4303-082-6 (paperback)
FOR YOU, WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF WRITING? THE EASIEST PART?
Marketing robs me of time. The easiest part is writing.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH EXCERPTS TO POST FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES?
Oh, I don't know. It's kind of a random thing. Sometimes I simply try being different. That's why I don't generally go for the usual genres.
YOUR LINKS?
www.authorsden.com/ggarrison
www.eons.com
www.whoswhogallery.com/artists
There must be more, but I can't think of them right now. Eons has a blog.
TELL US SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW.
Oh, Geez.
Hi LadyGene. I think I would try reading the last one since I lived in AZ for many years and I enjoy hearing stories about that part of the West.
Question: How did you go about publishing your first book? TIA Zochitl
I did it three ways. First, I published it myself, but I didn't want to be a publisher. After the magazine, Arizona Highways, published a very good review (they don't do reviews any more), a
highly respected publisher, Northland Press, put out the second edition. When it was in the out-of-print category I brought it back via POD. I would say I'm persistent. That's because I felt that people should become acquainted with Hube Yates, of From Thunder to Breakfast fame.
Gene K. Garrison
You've published through Xlibris and lulu. Could you tell us which one of them worked better for you? I know there are a lot of writers considering the self-publishing route for one reason or another.
Gene, I'm going to await your answer to Isobel, but maybe you can add to that something of your original route to "traditional publisher" you mentioned. How'd it find you or you it? Any clues on the who, how, what, where, and when...oh, and the "how much" of that side of the venture?
And, what do publishers and promoters say about folks who work when book tours is on the agenda?
By the way, I traveled through Cave Creek just two weeks ago on business (I market sail shades for construction and some residential projects). Striking place, especially to learn of its recent Wild West past.
Oh, I meant to add: I contributed a chapter to a book published by Lulu. I wasn't seeing this as the shortcut to riches, but neither was I expecting to pay $23 just to get a copy of the book. As I scan through Lulu, it does seem more of a racket, well, I guess I should say something softer, like, maybe, "a business preying on the hopeful" to quell the raging spirit of recognition, maybe of artistic fulfillment, in exchange for a hefty capital reward (says this McCain-ish capitalist). Is my suspicion misplaced of this and other "self-publishing"?
I'll reply to the above messages all in one fell swoop.
Isobel, I like Lulu better. With both of them you have to do your own marketing, but I have been frustrated with the other publisher.
Windmillduke, I got From Thunder to Breakfast published by a traditional publisher because of a fine review in Arizona Highways. When the editor asked how many books I had left of the ones I had published, I said, "Fifteen." My gosh, he he was anxious to get on with it. In the case of
my widowhood book, I answered an ad, sent in a query and it was accepted. It was California publisher who, after several years, decided that there was an easier way to make a living than
publishing.
I've never really done a book tour. I usually do one at a time. My favorite town is Cave Creek, Arizona, and I feel that I will be doing a tour there on October 18th and 19 — the Desert Foothills Library, Cave Creek Museum and Pages Bookstore. My husband and I lived there for 27 years. Now we live about a hundred miles up the road.
What a coincidence that you were recently in Cave Creek. Where did you learn of its Wild West past — Harold's, the museum, or did you just absorb it through the looks of the town?
Now back to Windmill: I don't regard Lulu as running a racket. That's the one I like. They do everything they say they will do, and there is instant messaging with people manning the phones during normal office hours who can answer any of your questions. You have to be careful in setting your own price. They tell you exactly how to do it, then at the end they make a recommendation. You still choose your own price. My 180-page There's Something About Cave Creek is $18 — and it contains historic black & white photos. I haven't had any problems with them.
Thanks for messaging, all of you.
Gene K. Garrison
