Damian McNicholl's Blog

Publishing Likes and Dislikes

2020-10-05T15:50:00.002-05:00

After having novels published, I thought I'd share some of my 'loves' and 'dislikes' on the journey in hopes it will help others about to be published or wanting to get published and/or entertain those interested in the process. LOVES: Amazing high after your agent informs you a publisher wants to publish your book. Working with your agent on the contract. Meeting the people at your publisher over lunch to talk about the novel and exchanging ideas. Makes all the hours spent alone in your writing space worthwhile. Although now with COVID 19 around, that doesn't happen as much likely. But it will come back. Working with editors. Seeing your novel’s jacket for the first time—that sure is a blood-rush moment—and the publisher actually listening and acting upon some of your suggestions to improve various drafts. (I must point out this was unusual and not all authors get such an experience as some publishers don’t do this.) Seeing the final typeset version of your manuscripts on the computer. Working with the publisher’s marketing people to discuss promotion ideas, etc. Great brain stimulation DISLIKES (and fears): Approaching peers for endorsements (blurbs) because I feel like a beggar and many decline or don’t bother to respond. (That’s not a complaint, just an observation.) There are many reasons why an author won’t blurb: too busy and have their own pressing deadlines; story doesn’t interest them; they get asked by hundreds of people; don’t want to blurb it for personal or professional reasons. Don’t take it personally or you’ll become bitter. Accept and move on. It’s part of the process. And celebrate when you get a great endorsement from a writer who gave his or her time to read your work and tendered the blurb. Make a commitment to do the same and be open to writers if you become well enough known and your opinion is sought. As authors nowadays have to get involved contacting influential book clubs and other important review sites to ask them to read your book or select it as one of their picks, etc—again, one feels like a beggar. View it as just another cog in the publishing machine. Often the response will be ‘no’ or there will be no response, which can disappoint and even hurt. That’s a normal emotion but don’t take it personally. Remember there are hundreds of books released every year and, while your book is your new baby, to them it is just another novel or memoir, etc. The terror when a pre-pub review has been published and you begin reading it. (You will also experience it on the book’s publication as, hopefully, you will get ink in newspapers and magazines, etc.) Whether it is a good or bad review, treat them the same and don’t take it personally. Try not to over celebrate if good and not get despondent or want to cut your wrists if it’s bad. Remember that reviews are subjective. Move on. I said, Move on. And if you’re really sensitive, don’t read reviews—good or bad. Same goes for Amazon reader reviews. And remember there will be trolls on the internet. Do not comment on reviews about your work that you don't on Amazon or Goodreads. As oxygen gives life to the body, responses give life to trolls.

Narrowing life

2017-04-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

Went shopping in New Orleans to help advise a senior friend buy a new computer and printer at Best Buy. He and his partner who celebrated his 92nd birthday have been having serious health problems including heart failure. Given he's not as sophisticated computer user, I suggested he buy a three-year contract for piece of mind. "I don't believe I have three years," he said. "A two year contract will do." He said it with such certainty and acceptance, I was incredibly moved. It made me think about the end of life amid the flippant buzz of commerce taking place in the store. The fact is he and his life partner of 62 years are down to two years or so of life. There is no more five or ten-year plan. A day will come when the sun rises and we are no longer on the planet breathing its air. We will no longer exist. Everything we have done begins to move into the dusty past. Our money and wealth gets distributed to offspring and friends whom we imagine will handle it with the care we did. It doesn't matter. Regardless of one's personal or religious beliefs, that should be enough to encourage us to live good and productive lives full of love and regard for one another.

Smart phones and addiction

2017-04-10T13:44:00.000-05:00

Anybody watch 60 minutes last night. Thought-provoking segment from a former Google ethicist who left Google because he was unhappy with the way it and other social media companies like Facebook, Snapchat, etc are creating apps to create addictive behaviors in users. The Apps appeal to the lowest past of our brainstem where we feel anxiety, fear and other base emotions. It's geared at making users crave 'likes, etc' and they are even holding back on various User feedback and sending them in small bursts so the user gets an artificial high and keeps using the social media app, etc in an insatiable need for more and more. Research is showing that psychologically developed app programs to stimulate happiness and highs can create addition. Parents scoff at his warnings and compare it to them being nonstop on the phone in the 70s. The ethicist says it is NOT the same because at social media companies employ thousands of engineers working to stimulate the emotions that result in addiction. In the seventies, the phone companies did not employ engineers to target and monitor user responses, etc. When asked to comment, Apple, Google, Facebook, etc decline and refused to sanction Apps aimed at reducing one's appetite for artificial highs. The worse offender apparently is Snapchat aimed at young people and it's making them anxious, depressed and pressured. He says the industry needs to reform or there could be dire consequences psychologically for users in the longterm.

John Hemingway's Opinion

2017-03-02T14:36:00.001-05:00

I know some of you wonder why my new historical novel deals with bullfighting because today, as opposed to the 1950s when the story takes place, it's seen as a cruel bloodsport and politically incorrect. I understand and respect these sentiments, but does that mean such an historical subject should not be examined today? Especially since the book is inspired by Patricia McCormick, America's first female bullfighter, although not based on her life. The work is so much more than a story about fighting the bulls. It's the story of mid-century feminism and how a young woman defies societal expectations and sets out against all odds to prove herself the equal of any man. As I had to do much, much research, I was terrified when the novel was sent to John Hemingway for his opinion. Given his name and familial connections to the world of the bulls, I was terrified he'd find my research woefully inadequate and decline to tender his view. I am thrilled he did not. Here is Mr. Hemingway's opinion: The Moment of Truth is the best book I've read on bullfighting in a long time. Damian McNicholl tells this story with consummate ease and compelling imagery. A book for aficionados and for those who want to feel what it's like to be a woman competing in the very masculine world of corrida." John Hemingway, writer, journalist and aficionado

The Oscars as Petri dish?

2017-02-27T11:01:00.002-05:00

Despite the rather exciting Price Waterhouse Best Picture screwup, I found last night's event was a petri dish ripe for analysis of human behavior. It did not hold up well regards human behavior and empathy. When Jimmy Kimmel had the bus load of unsuspecting tourists enter the theater, I was astonished by the reactions and behavior. The majority brandished their cell phones and started making insta-movies as opposed to living their lives in the moment and enjoying an unprecedented opportunity to meet and greet movie stars whom they obviously adore and perhaps even dream of meeting as fellow human beings. Their one and only chance was given up to capturing the moment as digital bits to share on Facebook and Twitter, etc. I learned something last night. We have rapidly losing the ability to connect face-to-face. Technology is rendering us courser and we've sold our souls to the machines. We embrace the fake at the expense of the real. And as the great bard said, 'All the world's a stage.' A great big unrelenting stage.

Washington's Relentless Pursuit of his Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

2017-02-24T12:06:00.001-05:00

Just listened to a fascinating interview on NPR's Radio Times with Marty Moss Coane. Erica Armstrong Dunbar talked about her book, Never Caught:The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Though George Washington did change his mind about slavery and freed his slaves after his death, his wife did not. She owned more slaves than Washington and her attitude was quite different to her husband. She liked light-colored slaves to serve in her home as she deemed them more intelligent. Nor did she or Washington wish to deprive themselves of luxury during their lives by liberating their slaves. Ona Judge was a remarkable woman who ran away to freedom after learning she was to be 'gifted' to Martha's granddaughter. The interview made me think how superficially many of us think about slavery. Imagine spending your whole life spent as the property of another human being. Your whole life. Imagine this every day. Imagine the silent despair. How horrid. Washington was a brilliant man but in this issue he was wrong. One can't excuse him because of the times in which he lived. John and Abigail Adams found slavery abhorrent and spoke out. Washington signed the Fugitive Slave Act requiring Northern States to return runaway slaves to their masters.

2017-02-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

I got a wonderful unexpected Valentine's Gift about my new novel. Here's what she said about it: Damian McNicholl’s stunning novel unflinchingly tracks the journey of following one’s dream and all the triumphs and setbacks that are a part of making that dream a reality –especially when the dreamer is a young woman determined to enter an all-male world. With a vibrant cast of characters and evocative prose, McNicholl brings the world of 1950s Mexico and the rarified circle of bullfighters to glorious life. By turns exhilarating and heartbreaking, The Moment of Truth is a story that goes in unexpected directions and is as memorable as it is unfailingly honest. --Sarah-Jane Stratford, bestselling author of Radio Girls I am absolutely thrilled.

NatGeo documentary Gender Revolution

2017-02-07T10:42:00.002-05:00

I watched Katie Couric's two-hour documentary Gender Revolution on NatGeo last night. It was highly informative, discussing among other matters the difference between one's gender and sexuality which are often erroneously conflated. I came away understanding the issues a lot better. If everyone watched such programs, there wouldn't be blanket hysteria and ignorance about bathroom issues such as takes place in the heartland and bible-belt areas.

About Muscle Marys

2017-02-02T14:14:00.000-05:00

Taking a cue from the heroine of my new novel, I decided to lift some free weights today instead of cardio as I always do at the gym, albeit her gym amounted to a pair of pitted dumbbells supplied by her 'Maestro' in a 1950's testosterone soaked dive at a Mexican bullring and my Y is 'new millennium' sleek and shiny. Despite running an hour three times weekly on the elliptical, I was astonished by how weak my muscles felt. I really struggled to do what had been so easy a year ago. Tomorrow I'll be in pain. But one thing I did notice as I looked around the gym--usually I have my head stuck in my kindle on the elliptical catching up with query-reading. My middle-aged body is in damned good nick after I discounted the young and not so young Muscle Mary's walking round with their tattooed biceps and a third of the 30 and 40 somethings.

Profile of Justice at Work

2017-01-30T08:00:00.003-05:00

A former prosecutor become judge who's determined to administer true justice.

Nice little Irish home for sale

2017-01-29T11:43:00.001-05:00

Anyone want to buy the Guinness's principal home.

Listening-A dying art?

2017-01-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

Since the election, I've made a decision to listen to a great cross-section of news shows and read different news sources. One TV show I'm now enjoying getting information from is Michael Smercornish The Michael Smerconish Program on CNN. He presents both sides and assumes his audience is intelligent. He said something very true this morning. He said we all need to listen to other opinions other than the ones we support. To only listen to those whose opinions are the same as ours is Pavlovian.

Carnival Princess Cruises Cover Up on High Seas

2016-12-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

Here is a reason why we need government oversight and a strong Environmental Protection Agency instead of the erroneous agenda of Trump and the GOP to weaken and dismantle government watchdogs. For eight years, Carnival's Princess cruises have been dumping hazardous pollutants into the oceans. They illegally altered the plumbing in their ships to send oil, etc into grey water tanks that include shower and bath water that can be legally discharged into the ocean. They did so to save costs. And when caught, they said they are sorry for their mistake. It was fraud not mistake.

The Seamus Heaney Center, Bellaghy, Northern Ireland

2016-11-22T09:43:00.004-05:00

I grew up in Northern Ireland and now I'm giving all lovers of poetry, especially lovers of Seamus Heaney's poetry, a superb reason to visit the town of Bellaghy in County Derry, NI where he grew up if you're planning to visit Ireland. My connection to Bellaghy is that it's the town where I learned to ride a horse--unbeknownst to my father. As a 16-year-old high school student, I worked for Dad one summer when he had a contract to do road construction in Bellaghy and I used to sneak off and take lessons from a girl I'd befriended who practiced gymkhana at her home farm. All went well until Dad came back early from a meeting in Belfast (he'd warned me to show the men a good example by working hard) and caught them, including hsi foreman, watching me jumping on a gray mare very proudly. I got fired until Mum intervened but lost a day's wages as punishment. As an aside, my youngest brother was lucky enough to have been taught by the poet's wife while at primary school, though of course he was far too young to appreciate her connection to the poet. Behold the Seamus Heaney Centre

2016-11-12T11:33:00.002-05:00

The wisdom of author Robert D. Putnam set forth in his book Bowling Alone has never been truer. I read it years ago for a novel I was doing research for a novel I was writing and was astonished. He predicted that intolerance and hate would rise because of our growing disinterest in getting involved in civil institutions, local government, etc. We're too busy on our cell phones and other distracting toys to get involved. Until that changes, nothing will change. https://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Collapse-American-Community/dp/0743203046/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478967724&sr=1-1&keywords=bowling+alone

Sexism and the different generations.

2016-11-05T08:22:00.002-05:00

Pretty depressing reading. Donald Trump's rampant sexism is pervasive in every generation--babyboomers, Generation X, Millenials, and Harvard and other colleges are not immune. At least Harvard takes swift action. Will the electorate?

The Rut is on

2016-10-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

The bucks are going crazy around the property this morning. They're chasing one another through the woods and clearings. Dried leaves are crackling and being kicked into the air. Antlers are getting caught in briars as they thunder through thickets. One massive buck, the oldest and most senior, is limping as they've probably all ganged up on him. I don't think he'll make it during the looming hunting season. Younger bucks with puny antlers are trying to get in on the act but are ignored. Yes, the rut is on and it's fantastic to watch.

Arlene foster, Northern Ireland's monster

2016-10-29T07:41:00.002-05:00

I am incensed and bewildered. This is the same kind of shit the minority population have been putting up with from the DUP under the guise of religion for generations and it is no loner acceptable. Why could't the Church of Ireland (Anglicans) be the largest Protestant group in the province? If they were today, Catholics and Protestants would be governing in unity. The DUP's ranks are filled with nothing but a bunch of paranoids who adopted the belief and religious system of Southern state evangelicals in the US. Their divinity degrees come from Bob Jones and other third-rate US universities, etc. The United States government must refuse Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster permission to enter the US when permission is caught to enter. She is a white Mugabe. She is a bigot and supports hate. Her position against LGBT rights is untenable and her speech is full of vengeance because they dare to seek equality. This woman is quite simply a monster and must be replaced with someone who is enlightened and human.

Brexit and London's financial world response

2016-10-28T10:31:00.000-05:00

Court of first instance in Northern Ireland rejects attempt to overturn Brexit vote. Undoubtedly the case will arrive at the UK Supreme Court. But much more interesting is that The City (UK's financial capital in same way Wall St is in US) reports many financial corporations are exploring a move to mainland Europe. This makes sense as the large trading blocs are not interested in individual treaties with standalone countries in todays complex word. Another ominous sign for UK economy is the large uptick in UK corporations approaching the Republic of Ireland governmental authorities inquiring about relocation. The pound is now only worth $1.21. Fascinating times.

The enigmatic giraffe

2016-10-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

For years, I've wanted to see a detailed nature program about the giraffe. These enigmatic creatures always seemed to draw the short straw among the larger beasts. They've always been in the background of Nature programs, munching on leaves or spreading their sinewy legs to drink at a lake.Last night PBS's Nature ended the drought when they ran a program about an Australian, Dr. Julian Fennessy, who's spent the past twenty years studying and living among the regal creatures. He wanted to be a stockbroker but decided against it when his father died when Julian was 16 and he decided making money wasn't the be-all-and-end-all of life's meaning. He and his wife have dedicated their lives to working in Namibia with giraffes. And their two kids love it. Through his research, it's now known that there are different sub-species of giraffe including the rare Nubian. Moreover, there are only 94,000 giraffes left in the wild as man is encroaching into their habitat. Here's a link too his foundation.

Congrats to HachetteUK's Tim Hely Hutchinson

2016-10-26T10:40:00.002-05:00

Kudos and Congrats to Tim Hely Hutchinson, CEO of HachetteUK Need more people like him in corporate world. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/tim-hely-hutchinson-listed-among-2016s-leading-100-lgbt-executives-416981

2016-10-26T10:24:00.001-05:00

Just listened to Lincoln Caplan, visiting law lecturer at Yale law school, talk about the future of the Supreme Court under Clinton or Trump presidency on Marty Moss Coane's Radio Times show on NPR. The current Robert's court is overwhelmingly favorable to corporations and moneyed interests. Something most of us know and dislike. Since Citizen's United case was decided, money is regarded by SCOTUS as free speech. Interestingly, Caplan states there should be a Constitutional Amendment to restrict SCOTUS appointments to 18 years, not life. I agree fully with that. No SCOTUS Justice should have a life time appointment. It's just wrong as well as undemocratic, given SCOTUS is political.

Interview with Sarah-Jane Stratford

2016-10-25T08:43:00.003-05:00

I'm returning to guesting occasional interviews with authors.
I'm delighted to introduce Sarah-Jane Stratford who's written the novel Radio Girls about a powerful woman, Hilda Matheson, who helped establish BBC Radio in London.

Thanks for coming on the blog to answer a few questions, Sarah-Jane.

Thank you for inviting me.

RADIO GIRLS is set in London in the late 1920s and early 30s and explores Britain’s venerable BBC. As an American writer, what interested you in exploring something so quintessentially British?

I’m pretty attached to Britain, having gotten a Masters degree from York and grown up watching a lot of British comedy and reading British literature. I’m a history buff, and like my fictional character, Maisie, I like to be where history has lived a long time. But what whetted my appetite for this story was Hilda Matheson, whose own interests and influence are universal.

Also, good stories are good stories, no matter where they come from. I’m always drawn to stories of fearless women breaking down boundaries and seeking to create something, to speak their true voice. Ultimately this is a women’s story and a human story and where it took place was secondary to the draw of the characters and the story.

What made you decide to use an actual female BBC producer to explore the work ethos, bigotry and foibles of the period?
This whole venture would not have happened had I not stumbled upon Hilda Matheson’s name when I was doing research on women in journalism. So there you go, another reason to conduct regular research. Hilda was one of those gifts a writer always hopes to come across but you don’t expect to actually find. Of course, I could have invented her – that is what fiction is meant to do, I realize – but I love writing historical fiction that is grounded in real history. It’s a nice way to bring my two obsessions together. Or possibly it’s my means of assuaging my guilt about never completing my PhD. In any case, there I was, reading about Hilda, mouth hanging open, being more and more astonished that such a woman existed and was mine for the taking. The comedian Sandi Toksvig had cited Hilda in an article on women who ought to be more known and I was determined that was going to happen.

Right up to their last scene together, Maisie and she addressed each other by their last names even though they’d worked for some time together. Was that intentional?
What I love about this observation is that in fact it feels that way, but it’s not the case – they still address each other as “Miss Matheson” and “Miss Musgrave,” which would be standard for the times and women of two different ages who weren’t related. But I’m delighted that the mutual respect and friendship comes through, even with the formality. In fact, there’s only one instance where Hilda uses Maisie’s first name and it’s a moment of high emotion, a rare moment when Hilda forgets herself because she’s overwhelmed. And what’s overwhelmed her is the information that the Equal Franchise Act is being passed, guaranteeing universal suffrage. This was one of my favorite sequences to write, because there was a lot of history to think about. So many women who had worked for this and never got to see it – never even got to see the suffrage granted to a select group of women in 1918. Hilda, a staunch progressive, must have savored this moment. It was exhilarating to write her emotion here and, hopefully, convey the weight of the history behind it.

I’ve read you’re keen to see an historical blue plaque erected at her former home to acknowledge her life and work. How’s that going?
We shall see! “Onwards and upwards,” as I have Hilda say. She only finally got her own Wikipedia page! And it doesn’t mention Radio Girls, not that I noticed (*cough*). I’m really hoping that as people get to know about her, they’ll only want to know more. Because really, how could it be otherwise? She was extraordinary – and revolutionary.

Beanie’s a thoroughly aristocratic English character who’s clever, witty and great fun. One can easily see she was a bit of a rebel at her school. But she realizes she must put duty to family before her work? How did you set about developing her so beautifully as a memorable secondary character?
Thank you! She certainly was a fun character to write. I love characters who have no filter and just speak their mind. And while I always want minor characters to be fully realized themselves, it was particularly paramount in this story that all the women be in full voice. I wanted to represent someone like Beanie, who would be in a way more radical than some of the other women in going out to work, because while her comforts were greater, she still had a great many conflicts to contend with and her class privilege in many ways curtailed her personal freedom.

You lived for a time in London? How did that help your research affect the novel’s voice?
I’m generally of the mind that you don’t have to visit a place to set a work there because again, so long as you are writing truthfully about humans, you’re being authentic. Obviously, it depends, but I never think it’s wholly necessary. That said, having spent time in London and especially walking down Hilda’s street and through the BBC’s original home definitely helped me step into Maisie’s shoes and, hopefully, make her wanderings that much more real. Beyond the physical space, though, it was the research into the programming and day-to-day life of the BBC and the people who comprised it that really brought the book to life. I was extremely fortunate in that Hilda was a prolific letter writer and wrote to Vita Sackville-West constantly during their 2-year relationship (who says long-distance relationships don’t have advantages?) and that the letters are housed in the Bienecke Library at Yale, so I was able to access them with ease and get a strong sense of Hilda’s voice and inner life. Mostly, though, it was thinking about the characters and their world that made it all real.

What inspired you to become a writer?
Hm. Insanity?

What’s next for you?
I’m in that myopic stage of feeling my way into my next book. Also, I’m available for work. At quite reasonable rates. Sometimes just for food.

You can find out more about Sarah-Jane here

Interview with Sarah-Jane Stratford

2016-10-25T08:43:00.001-05:00

Thanks for coming on the blog to answer a few questions, Sarah-Jane.

Thank you for inviting me.

What inspired you to become a writer?
Hm. Insanity?

What’s next for you?
I’m in that myopic stage of feeling my way into my next book. Also, I’m available for work. At quite reasonable rates. Sometimes just for food.

You can find out more about Sarah-Jane here

Constructing a new website

2016-10-20T15:55:00.001-05:00

Busy developing a website and finding it exhausting and difficult. However, surprisingly satisfying when I manage to do things and see it in 'Preview mode.'