Featured Interview With Doug Shidell
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Writing is a full contact sport for me. It leaves me dazed and bewildered. I’ve left the house wide open, driven off without my wallet (and driver’s license), and arrived at a destination without knowing how I got there after an intense session of writing. My antidote is the outdoors. I love bicycling, kayaking, hiking and cross country skiing.
The two interests feed into each other. I may take a three week self contained bicycle tour, in which I ride all day then curl up in my tent after dark to write an extensive post about the day’s experience. Before retirement, I would ride my bike to my day job and later spend a lunch hour speaking about bicycle commuting to employees of a Fortune 500 company. I’ve written for nine hours non-stop and made up for it with a long bike ride the next day.
I need both activities in my life. They balance each other. A lifetime totally dedicated to intellectual pursuits would leave me sluggish and unhealthy while a life built solely around exercise and the outdoors would dull bore me to death.
Beyond that, I’m pretty boring.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At age nineteen I wanted to write a book. I’m not sure why, but I was sure that no one would want to read a book by a nineteen year old, so I needed a hook. I had been bicycling as an adult for a year and in the enthusiasm of youth figured I was something of an expert, so I set out to write a bicycle touring guide. I used the maps and tour descriptions to sell the book, but added touring stories to satisfy my creative needs.
Sometimes the brashness of youth pays off, if the payoff you’re looking for is freedom, exploration and creativity, not income. That book, co-authored with Phil Van Valkenberg, lead to hundreds of low paying freelance opportunities, five more bicycle touring guides, dozens of bicycle maps and a career in the world of bicycling. The career paid the bills. Income from the books, maps and freelance opportunities fed my cycling habit and eventually allowed me to ratchet back my “career” to three days per week.
Those three days were spent in a cubicle. It was a good job, but I lived for the other four days when I could write, create maps, give talks and explore endlessly. My world expanded from the cubicle to the metro area of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, then further afield across the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin and a bicycle tour that eventually crossed the breadth of the United States.
Wherever I went, and whatever I did, I felt compelled to write about it: opinion pieces, touring stories, interviews and observations. Some of the pieces elicited kudos, others derision, many a mix of both.
I never developed the tough skin of a hardened journalist. I winced and groaned when the response was negative and my stomach churned when I submitted a piece likely to generate backlash. The best protection was to reread the story multiple times before submitting it. Did it convey my real thoughts? Was it clearly written? Did I use the right words? If I could honestly say “yes,” then there was nothing more to do. I submitted the piece and waited for publication.
Like so many journalists, I felt that I had at least one novel in me. And like so many journalists, I had a wealth of experience to draw from. I’d interviewed folks from many walks of life, observed with a focused eye and a developing story line, lived an itinerant life for too many years and worked at the craft of writing.
I could tell a story, but could I write a novel? The biggest challenge, and the most enjoyable revelation, was that a novelist can lie. As a journalist, I worked hard to get an accurate story down on paper. As a novelist, I had to work hard to break those bonds of accuracy. Sure, I had to keep the story, down to minute details, believable, but beyond that I could lie, cheat, fib, fabricate, revise, prevaricate. Call it what you wish.
Sometimes those fabrications revealed a truth that ran so deep it shook me to the core. I’d stop, take a few deep breaths, wipe my eyes and walk away to regain my composure. I don’t expect the same impact on readers, because the act of writing can mine a deep vein that reading can only acknowledge.
Whether fiction or journalism, the same criteria applies to a story. Did it convey my real thoughts? Was it clearly written? Did I use the right words? I checked those boxes with “On His Own Terms” and published the story.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I enjoy reading biographies and Ron Chernow, author of Alexander Hamilton, is my favorite biographer. I also love reading good, long form journalism in which a writer goes into depth about a subject. Almost any subject can be interesting if researched and written well.
Recently I’ve read three novels by Paulette Jiles and a couple of books by John Steinbeck. I seem to float around among genres, but don’t spend time in pulp fiction, thrillers or mysteries.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“On His Own Terms” has been bouncing around in my head for at least 30 years. At first I thought it would be a big picture look at bicycling and how it can lead down so many different paths. Not just riding, but the history of bicycling, its impact on society, especially during the Victorian era, the characters who populate that history, insights about politics, international relationships, that sort of thing. That idea died an ignoble death and the world is better for it.
Then it segued into an autobiography, a short lived fantasy, no one was hurt.
In the end the characters took over. They made it clear they knew who they were and how they would handle any situation, if I would just get out of the way. I threw situations at them and they handled them on their own terms, but a sharp eyed editor wasn’t impressed. With the MS Word equivalent of a red sharpie plus pithy comments and a summary letter, he suggested that I throw out the last third of the book and rewrite the first two thirds. The rest was OK. Three more readers who believed in tough love made additional demands.
The book finally made it to print, only to be panned by a couple of friends who were also schooled in the value of tough love. No option but to pull the book down and rework it.
I’d like to say that the novel is ready for the big tent now, but I’ve learned that verdict isn’t mine to make. Readers will decide, and I’ll have to handle the situation on my own terms.
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