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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 10

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Miss Matisse: You’re currently writing a piece about Money, Power, Greed, Sex and Revenge…high society has a new first family…in which, the character Jarrod Van Kliem returns from exile in London to reclaim control of the family business that was grabbed from him years ago, and he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants—even if it means destroying his own family in the process! This I find fascinating! Where did this idea stem from?

Digger Cartwright: I was always a fan of Falcon Crest, Dallas and Dynasty, the prime time soap operas back in the 1980s. I wanted to create a modern-day drama with everything that made those shows so great—money, high society, power, backstabbing, wheeling and dealing, revenge, sex. Gems & Jewels is a modern-day take on that with a family that is involved in the mining and jewelry industry. I actually started out with this as a teleplay years ago in hopes of making it a mini-series that led to an actual weekly series. That never worked out, so last year I decided to make this a series of books, starting with Gems & Jewels Book II: The Restoration. When I wrote the teleplay, I actually had planned out about five seasons of the show, so all the plots for Books II through V are already laid out for me. Now, it’s just a matter of putting them all in prose as opposed to script format. Of course, a lot has changed since I originally wrote these, so I’m having to make some significant changes to the plots and characters. In the end, I think this will turn out to be a very exciting series. I think the successful return of Dallas a year or so ago bodes well for Gems & Jewels. I think the fans are going to love this and really get into it.

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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 9

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Miss Matisse: You have thirteen years under your belt already! That’s pretty cool if I do say so myself, because that’s more than most authors can say that they have! What should readers expect to find when they pick up a Digger Cartwright book?

Digger Cartwright: Murder, mystery, intrigue, an engaging story with twists and turns when it comes to most of my books. Conversations on the Bench is the lone example at this point, since it’s motivational and was inspired by actual events. Regardless of what book you read, it’s going to be an interesting and unique storyline. There are going to be a lot of memorable characters. There are going to be a lot of descriptions of the people and the settings. I try to paint a picture so that you as a reader feel like you’re in the story. I want you to be able to see the people and places in your heads. Some of the books you won’t be able to put down. You’re going to want to keep reading to find out what happens. Others, you’re going to want to step back and think about it for a while. In any case, you’re going to get an engaging story and a quality piece of work. None of my books are going to be like the run-of-the-mill books being put out by mainstream authors today.

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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 8

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Miss Matisse: I will have to check out (Conversations on the Bench) for myself when I can find some extra time to sit down and read! It sounds very interesting… J How long have you been writing?

Digger Cartwright: Many years off and on. I guess I’ve really taken it seriously and been dedicated to writing since 2000. That’s when I sat down and wrote Murder at the Ocean Forest, and I’ve been writing ever since. I tried the traditional means of getting Murder at the Ocean Forest published until I finally decided to self-publish in about 2005.

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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 6

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Miss Matisse: This is ALL excellent information and advice you have given to our readers who may be interested in becoming an author, and I’m positive that they will take away a lot from it! Are you currently a published writer? If so, could you elaborate on this a bit…If not, have you ever thought about publishing your books?

Digger Cartwright: When I first started writing, I was one of these authors who had been brainwashed that you have to have an agent to get your book published and be successful. After several years of rejections, hundreds of letters that went unanswered, and getting nowhere, I decided to abandon that failed strategy and self-publish my books. It was probably one of the best decisions I could have made. Since then, I’ve had my team of marketing folks working on different strategies to get word out about each book, interact with the fans and readers, and gain more exposure for me and my work. It’s not easy, but it can work. The entire indie author space has really blossomed as a result of e-books and readers and the internet and social media. Now indie authors can reach just as many readers and potential fans as the traditional publishers. There are tons of marketing options and an abundance of resources for self-published authors. I look at it as another business venture, and I’m in the process of setting up the National Federation of Self-Published Author Entrepreneurs as a resource for indie authors who decide to go the self-published route.

http://missmatisse.com/diggercartwrightinterview/

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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 3

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Miss Matisse: Wow! I’m actually quite shocked at how you can remember everything from the titles of your books that you’ve written, all the way up to which stories have been the favorites amongst your fans, and why they’ve been favorites! Your quality of writing is phenomenal might I add…I’d say our readers are in for a definite treat! Do you have any degrees or formal training in writing?

Digger Cartwright: I do not. I had a lot of practice diagramming sentences in school when I was a kid, so it really helped with grammar and sentence structure. I always had a fondness for literature, so I took a good deal of literature classes in college and that required a good deal of writing. Aside from that, I’ve really just had to pick it up along the way. As I mentioned before, I was always a prolific reader, so I picked up a lot in terms of style and technique from other writers over the years.

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Miss Matisse Interview- With Published Author Digger Cartwright Question 2

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Miss Matisse: That is so interesting! I like the fact that you’ve read stories and have thought about how you could make them better, plus the fact that you really delve deep and get creative which I highly respect! Creativity is something that comes naturally to certain people and this is what leads me to my next question… What would you say has inspired/motivated you to do what you do in everyday life both personally and professionally?

Digger Cartwright: I want to do the best job I can at whatever I do. I really enjoy what I do in terms of business and writing, so perhaps it’s self gratification that motivates me along with a desire to give back to worthwhile causes and bring some entertainment to others’ lives. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done. I work hard to make each book I write something interesting and unique that the readers can enjoy.

Of course, some people like some of my books better than others. A lot of readers really dislike Murder at the Ocean Forest; they find it long and drawn out and difficult to read. It was done that way deliberately. Some readers like the fast pace of The Versailles Conspiracy. A lot of people don’t like the ending of The House of Dark Shadows. Surprisingly, most people like The Maywarings: A Game of Chance, in part I think because there aren’t many westerns anymore.

Overwhelmingly, Conversations on the Bench has been most readers’ favorite. There’s something in that book that everyone can relate to.

At the end of the day, whether they love a particular book or hate it, they agree that it’s well written and reflective of my desire to produce quality books. I could turn out ten books a year that are all crap or marginal or I can produce one or two per year that are outstanding. To me quality is more important than quantity. It’s really satisfying that readers appreciate the hard work that goes into each of my books to paint a picture for the reader of the setting and the people. If I can bring a smile to someone’s face or help them escape from the reality of everyday life for a little while by getting lost in one of my books, I think I’ve done something special for them.

Perhaps more important than this is the ability to give back and help causes that are near and dear to my heart. When you’ve been fortunate in life to enjoy a degree of success, it’s always good to give back. I’m always trying to find ways to help charities and promote their work. If my business and writing enable me to make a contribution to a local no-kill shelter that saves a homeless animal and feeds it and cares for it until it finds a forever home, I’ve made a difference.

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As an author of several mystery novels, what motivated you to shift gears with your latest project and write an inspirational book? Interview by “With Five Questions”

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Actually, it wasn’t my idea to write my latest book, Conversations on the Bench. I was asked if I would be interested in writing a book about Sebastian, the central figure of this novel. What really motivated me to undertake the project was Sebastian himself and the story he had to tell. I only met him in person at a symposium hosted by the think tank that he had been instrumental in establishing. Over the next couple days I got to know him and his colleague, and I realized that he had a very fascinating perspective on life that was really the result of his own unique set of life experiences. The more I learned from my few conversations with Sebastian at that symposium and the more I subsequently learned from Robbie, the founder of the think tank, the more motivated I got about writing this inspirational book. It was clear to me that Sebastian’s story needed to be told. He had such a huge personality that you couldn’t help but like the guy, and I think everyone did. Everyone that I talked to had something good to say about Sebastian or had some story to tell about him and how he had impacted their life. He was always very positive and encouraging, and he was always there for his friends. He was just a remarkable individual and the more I got to hear his story, the more inspired I was. And ultimately, this entire project, Sebastian’s story, has really had a very big impact on my life, just as Sebastian himself had a big impact on the lives of people who knew him.

http://withfivequestions.blogspot.com/2013/05/meet-digger-cartwright-author.html

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What are the unique challenges of writing nonfiction compared with writing fiction? Interview by “With Five Questions”

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With fiction you can do just about anything. You can suspend reality, and the bigger the lie is, the more believable it is to some extent. With fiction, the writer is bound only by the bounds of his own imagination. It’s like an artist with a blank canvas. You start with nothing and slowly but deliberately fill the canvas and bring the picture to life.

Nonfiction is a little more restrictive. Nonfiction is sort of like paint-by-number. You’ve got a pre-established set of lines and you just have to paint inside the lines. You might get away with changing up the colors a little bit, but you’ve got to stay in the lines. Nonfiction is reality. You’re just re-telling what has already happened. Now, as an author you can take certain liberties and change up the scenery. Maybe you make it raining in a scene where it was a sunny day. Maybe the people involved don’t remember where a certain conversation that is being recounted took place, so you have to create a scene where there was not one. With a work of fiction, you get to create the people and everything about them. With nonfiction, you have to get to know the people you’re writing about and try to convey a factual representation of them as best you can.

With Conversations on the Bench, I was able to obtain the crux of the lessons and the conversations through interviews with one of the characters in the book. There may not have been a record of exactly when the conversation took place or who else may have been there or in what circumstance the conversation came up or exactly what was said in the conversation. So, as the author, going back to the artist example, I had a paint-by-number that had some missing lines. I had to create those missing lines, then fill in inside the lines with the right color and the right amount of that color. It was certainly a challenge for me going from fiction to a factually-based storyline. You’ve got to know the people you’re writing about pretty well. It took me time and a lot of telephone conversations to get the story from Robbie and get to the point where I felt comfortable that I knew him and Sebastian.

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How have you balanced your career in business with your interests in writing and publishing? Interview by “With Five Questions”

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It’s been difficult to balance the two. When I started writing, I did it as a hobby primarily. I did it because I just enjoyed it and wanted to tell some stories. It wasn’t really a priority for me. When I could find time, I sat down and wrote a little bit. But the more I wrote, the more I wanted to write even more. I wasn’t satisfied with having a book sitting incomplete, so I started to schedule more of my time for writing. I had to keep in mind that business was what made money. In the early days, writing only cost me money in terms of time, and writing at that point didn’t have much financial return. As I wrote more, I started to dedicate a little more time each day to writing until I finished a particular project. That’s really how I still do it. I don’t write full time. I still have business to tend to, but I really try to manage my time well. There’s always going to be sleepless nights when I’m working on a project or missed meetings or cancelled lunches, but I’ve come to accept that.

In the past few years, however, I’ve really started to focus more and more on writing as a business unto itself. I’ve chosen to go the independent, self-published route for a number of reasons that are neither here nor there, and that has really gotten me to examine and get deeply involved in the business aspect of being an independent, self-published author. I’ve really integrated the entire process from writing to marketing into my overall business structure and found some synergies there. I’ve adopted the perspective that as a writer I’m creating a product and it’s my company’s job to sell copies of my book. It’s been a very entrepreneurial endeavor in writing a book and bringing it to market. That’s one of the primary reasons that I’m working on setting up the National Federation of Self-Published Author Entrepreneurs as an outlet and resource for other self-published authors who are serious enough about writing to undertake it as an entrepreneurial business venture. If you’re a writer who is serious about your work, you can turn your writing endeavors into a business. Just like any entrepreneurial venture, it’s not necessarily easy, and it takes a lot of dedication and hard work. But if you dedicate yourself to it and have a passion for it, you can make self-publishing a successful enterprise.

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