Meet the Author: Robin Bower

ROBIN’S TOP WRITING TIP: Keep writing, keep persisting at everything to do with the craft. Practise, join writers’ groups, associations, network, submit to publications and enter competitions. Travel as much as you can (but not cruises), meet the locals, experience the colour and the everyday. Listen to language everywhere you can and note it down – trains, buses, family gatherings, work, school – everywhere. Keep honing your craft but start something new often. Have several projects on the go at the same time. Read your favourite genres and authors. Then read outside your genre. Keep submitting, keep writing, self-publish eBooks while you’re working on the next great novel. Build it and they will come…

This week it was my pleasure to meet Robin Bower, a writer and accredited editor with more than 20 years publishing experience in Australia and overseas. In Melbourne she edited educational books and wrote freelance articles. She was managing editor and publisher of a magazine in Hong Kong, where she reported on the diamond industry for Asia and Europe. Robin taught Writing, Editing and Publishing at Curtin University, Perth in 2011. She has had almost 50 articles published in publications based in Hong Kong, Perth and Melbourne, and was awarded her Master of Creative Writing from the University of Canberra in 2011. Beyond Home is her first novel. Her second novel, set in Perth and Afghanistan, will be available in 2015. For more information, see www.robinbower.com.au

AUTHOR INSIGHT

Why do you write? It’s a real release for my creativity that I constantly yearn for. Ever since I was young, I’ve wanted to be a published author. It’s taken a while! I’m in my own little world when I’m writing and I love telling stories that I’ve created from nothing. I love to write because I want my voice heard about important issues (or issues I deem important); I want people to read my writing and feel moved by it in some way.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer? I’m also an editor and a publishing professional and have done manuscript assessing. I would probably help others to publish so be a publisher, designer, or an artist.

What was your toughest obstacle to becoming published? I’ve just released my first novel on Amazon Kindle. I have found that just getting through the process of writing, editing, development, rewriting, assessments, sending out to readers, rewriting and finishing with a final that I’m happy with is the hardest thing. So the whole process is time consuming and hard! It’s also a matter of confidence in what I’ve written – a confidence that grows with everything I publish. I have to let go of the critical self.

What’s the best aspect of your writing life? Having people read my work, love it and tell me about it. I also love the research that goes with writing a fictional piece. Absolutely everything must be researched so that I can bring authenticity to my characters and situations. This is an engrossing part of the whole process.

—the worst? When I have limited time to research, write, edit, rewrite, publish and promote my writing. I have to be strict about scheduling or life will just get in the way!

What would you do differently if you were starting out now as a writer? I would find myself a part-time job in a writing environment, dedicate myself to finishing my novel to a deadline and get the process done much more quickly. I wouldn’t be so harsh on myself or wait to get industry approval.

What do you wish you’d been told before you set out to become an author? It takes five years to write a book. I finished my first book, Beyond Home, in 2008 after a five-year process. I’ve released it in 2014. In the meantime, I wrote my second book which is currently in the market for a publisher. That book also took five years so it’s a useful benchmark to have in the back of my mind. In retrospect, perhaps it’s better not to know and just do it!

What’s the best advice you were ever given? Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em think. Just keep writing.

BOOK BYTE

Beyond Home

Robin Bower

On her father’s death, Eve Robinson discovers a diary that reveals his life was a lie. He has not just been a public servant in Australia, but has a mysterious past in Burma far from Australian shores. Why did he lie to her? What really happened to her mother? Eve embarks on a journey to Burma to discover who her father was. On the way, she becomes involved in a kidnapping, political intrigue, corruption and murder. She forges an unlikely bond with a charismatic Burmese soldier who will do anything to become the leader. What starts as an accident turns into a crusade as Eve tries to rediscover the father she thought she knew.

Where to buy Beyond Home

Get the Kindle version for Australia here

Get the Kindle version for the US here

Get the paperback here

Check out Robin’s Amazon author page here and her website here.