by Brigitte Whiting
Our featured authors are Glenda Walker-Hobbs (Glennis Hobbs) and Harry Hobbs, a husband-wife team who live in the mining city of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada. Glennis is a retired librarian technician, has published eight books of poetry, and writes short stories and vignettes. Harry is a retired librarian, has published two books, short stories and poems in various anthologies, co-authored a book on Flin Flon with Glenda, edited a book of children's poetry, and was chosen to be a participant in the Royal Bank Emerging Artists program. They have co-facilitated WVU poetry courses.
Q&A with Glennis Hobbs
Recently published book? Shadows to Sunlight: One Woman’s Journey, a book that deals with her lifelong struggle with weight issues.
“Glenda is a woman and writer who, in order to encourage other women, has had the courage to open her heart to put on paper her suffering pursuing one of life’s greatest challenges in life: losing weight. Her pen helped her find a way to let all women who have struggled with weight every day of their lives know that they are not alone.”
What was the timeframe for writing this book? The poetry resulted when I worked with a life coach. The book took about two years to complete.
What/who inspired you to begin your writing journey? In 1973, I was involved in a car accident. I was looking for something to do while my then fiancé was at his Toastmasters meetings. He suggested I try a creative writing course with Dr. Maara Haas. I was hooked the first night and never looked back.
Where do you find your ideas? I’m inspired by words, be it from books I’ve read, sermons, television documentaries, lectures, or scraps of conversation; by different kinds of music; and from looking at photos or paintings. I am cat-mom to four spoiled cats and they provide a lot of ideas. I live in the Precambrian Shield and this results in landscape poems. I also read a lot of royalty biographies and I like to put myself in their places and write persona poems.
And sometimes your Muse bashes you on the head. I do keep a notebook in my purse but I have grabbed the nearest piece of paper and have been known to write on church bulletins, cheques and paper plates.
How do you write? I sometimes write in a scribbler or on lined paper. I prefer writing on my computer. I usually start typing and let the words flow. If I’m doing prose, I jot down ideas and go from there.
Where do you write? Any places that inspire you? I prefer writing at home in my living room. I am lucky in that I can block out my surroundings and write on a plane or in waiting rooms. I wrote much of my first novel while waiting after allergy shots at the Clinic. One of my favourite places is the NORVA (Northern Visual Arts Centre) where I like to wander around and look at the landscape paintings.
Favorite part of writing? Least favorite? My favorite part of writing is the actual creation of a work. My least favorite is the slog of revising prose.
What keeps you writing? Sometimes it’s the challenge of trying new ideas. Sometimes it’s proving to myself that I can accomplish something such as trying a writing prompt. Mostly it’s the satisfaction that comes with creation.
Which do you find the hardest, the first sentence or the last? When it’s prose, the last sentence is the hardest. If it’s poetry, the middle part of the poem is the most difficult.
What were your 1 or 2 biggest learning experiences or surprises throughout the publishing journey? I published my books through a colleague who started her own publishing press. I chose this route because I wanted to retain more control over my books. The biggest lesson I learned was to proof, reproof and proof again. If you are going to use photographs, make sure they are of high quality. Try to think that you have thirty seconds to hook a potential reader and make your book the best it can be.
What is the best advice you heard on writing? One is that writing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. The other is to never show your early drafts to nonwriters because they don’t realize the work that goes into writing.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors? You’ll never be a writer unless you write. Find yourself a writing partner or group. Be open to constructive suggestions. If you have a session of writer’s block, don’t give up, but try a different genre of writing. And read, read, read.
What are you working on now? I’m working on poetry books on the themes of cats, and persona poems of royal women. I’m also trying a kind of poetical biography in persona format based on the life of L. M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables). I also have two novels in progress, one of which deals with weight issues.
I've run into writers who would love to have their writing pursuits supported by their immediate family members. Do you have any suggestions for them? Harry and I don’t compete, as a rule, I think because we have both carved out our own separate niches in writing. Harry is mostly a prose writer and is into fiction, family history, sermons and vignettes. Poetry is my main genre. However, since I’m working on my Creative Writing Certificate, I’ve been working with more prose.
I have to admit that my family is not literary. My mom was interested but just in reading. My dad would read my work, but was more interested when there was mention of me in the local weekly “Crossroads This Week” and it said “Glennis, daughter of Bill Walker of Birtle.” He then clipped the article to his bulletin board and showed it to visitors. My niece and nephew are more interested in our writing. They are supportive but don’t critique. The most supportive relative is a former journalist who once drove 1500 miles to a reading in my hometown. When Harry and I read in Saskatoon, she and her husband round up her family and attend.
One rule teachers have drummed in is not to show your writing to your family. One exception to this is my eleven-year-old nephew, Xavier, who chose a poem I had written and did a presentation to his class.
Harry and I also co-facilitated Poetry111 and Poetry113, co-wrote the lessons, worked out a way of dividing students, and discussed students’ posts over coffee.
Do you have any suggestions on how to remain a couple while also being writers? We work on separate floors and don’t share computers. Find a writing schedule that works for you and your spouse. We work with our various strengths. Harry makes a good chairperson and is good at organizing and delegating. I am better at “secretarial” work and working behind the scenes.
We don’t compete mainly because we work in different genres. For many, it is not necessarily a good idea to enter the same competition. Be sure you want your spouse to give you feedback and make sure you feel comfortable doing this.
If your spouse happens to get something published, be sure to brag about him or her.
Most of all, respect each other’s differences and uniqueness and be a supportive partner.
How can people connect with you?
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Q&A with Harry Hobbs
Most recently published book: Circle of Roots
What was the timeframe for writing this book? Ten years. I’m a slow worker. But the longest part of this seemed to be in the revision part and editing, including having a couple of independent editors read the book, waiting for feedback, and making more changes.
What/who inspired you to begin your writing journey? I have been interested in writing since childhood. I’d go to a Saturday matinee and see a cowboy picture. Afterward, a very derivative story would emerge. I also ran my own newspaper, a neighborhood kind of gossip column, when I was 12 years old. I had an active imagination and a good memory. I would interview my neighbors who would tell me the wildest stories, which I accepted as gospel, remembered them, and they appeared verbatim in the next issue. Later on, I took creative writing classes as something to do and was inspired by my teachers into believing I really had the potential to write.
Where do you find your ideas? Ideas come to me from a variety of places. I can really get going on a story that just pops into my head from nowhere. Both my novels started as small ideas that seemed to take a direction of their own. One creative writing teacher told me that I think in novels. I’ve also done the notebook thing and written down dreams. The Flin Flon Writers Guild, of which we are members, assigns monthly words and prompts. While using these is optional, I usually find something in them that triggers a response and keeps me writing.
How do you write? It depends. When I am working on a longer piece like a novel, I like to let the words flow as much as possible. I often find that the story takes on a life of its own and grows as ideas for new characters and conflicts come into my mind. I do write a timeline for a novel so all the characters fit together. Mind you, I write multi-generational books that span many decades.
I use the keyboard for all my writing. I did write stuff longhand at one point but too often I discovered I couldn’t read my own writing! It almost seemed like a duplication of work to have to retype everything.
Where do you write? Any places that inspire you? I like sitting in my den at my keyboard. It is a familiar place with little to distract me except when a cat walks across the keyboard. Sometimes if I get in a rut, I like to go for a walk (in the decent weather). We have a Boardwalk along a beautiful lake. When I get outside and taste the fresh air and smell the aroma of the leaves in early to mid-summer, it helps me flesh out my characters and how they are thinking and feeling about their circumstances. Mind you, I do use a lot of local settings in my works of fiction.
What is your favorite part of writing? Least favorite? The creative surge that happens when I’m into a fresh story is what I love the most. Not as fond of editing and revising.
What keeps you writing? I guess there is always a story I want to tell. It is a way of getting stuff off my chest. Putting it down on paper becomes a form of release. I always believe that there is something in my own experiences I can share with others and perhaps help them even if it is only seeing a situation in a different light. None of us are alone when it comes to human experiences.
Which do you find the hardest, the first sentence or the last? That is a good question. From the amount of revision I do, it would likely be the first sentence. I have re-written my openings many times to gain the maximum impact. I’m mindful of the saying that if you don’t grab the reader in the first two or three paragraphs, they won’t read any more.
What were your 1 or 2 biggest learning experiences or surprises throughout the publishing journey? I guess I could say my publishing experience has been of a hybrid variety. I’ve dealt with a very small publishing house that sadly is no longer in business. Upfront I had to pay the printing costs and a fee for editing and layout. They did all the rest, including marketing, let me choose my cover pictures, etc. The printing is contracted out to someone of my choice. Once the initial costs are paid, all the money has returned to me. I guess I’ve learned printers make mistakes even when you send a copy of the book on a disk. I’ve had readers find errors that shouldn’t have been there and were not in the galley proofs. Also, a surprise was readers’ reactions. Some details didn’t seem that important at the time of writing but a reader could challenge you on them. I’ve learned to be philosophical and say the important thing is they read the book.
What is the best advice you heard on writing? Whether you are writing about ancient Rome or a futuristic novel, it has to ring true with the hearts of your readers or it isn’t going to work. You must work through the feelings and emotions of all your major characters.
I guess to write your guts out. What comes from your innermost feelings is what is important.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors? I’ve found taking courses to learn the mechanics or the structure of the kind of writing you are doing is useful. Writing styles have changed and if you are serious about getting published, you must know what is out there. If you want to write in a particular genre, read lots in that area. Show your work only to people you trust and don’t let anyone ever tell you your work is no good or you can’t write. Join a writers group where you can get constructive feedback.
Above all, be true to yourself. Your individual experiences impact who you are. We all view the world a little differently. If you can make that emotional contact, you will succeed.
What are you working on now? I am working on short memoir pieces based on incidents from my life. I have thirty some pieces written. They are short enough that they could be published as separate works or maybe put into a book at some time although I have no plans to do this at present.
I've run into writers who would love to have their writing pursuits supported by their immediate family members. Do you have any suggestions for them? Sometimes getting support from immediate family members can be tough especially if they aren’t writers. They may read something you wrote and say “very good,” but you feel they would say exactly the same thing if you gave them a first draft that you thought was terrible.
Unless family members are writers, probably don't expect objective criticism from them. Sometimes dealing with family members when you are emotionally involved can be tricky. We are more sensitive to criticism from them than we are to neutral people. Before sharing work with a family member, ask yourself exactly what it is you hope to gain from sharing your work. Sometimes family members wonder if what you write is based on them. That can be either in a positive or negative way. You have to be true to yourself and your work and not be disturbed if they are convinced you are writing about them and suggest changes that don’t fit in with what you are saying in your book.
Writing can sometimes become a competitive business. Do you have any suggestions on how to remain a couple while also being writers? I think we are both fortunate that we, by and large, write in different genres. Glennis focuses mostly on poetry while I work on fiction and creative non-fiction. I appreciate her feedback as a fellow writer. We actually successfully corroborated on a book but wrote entirely different sections so we were non-competitive. When I read her poems, I react more as a reader than a critic because I know she gets excellent feedback from members of her WVU poetry group. We work as a team, not as individuals, and definitely would not do something overly competitive, like both enter the same contest. We support each other's strengths and learn and grow from each other. Perhaps we are blessed by having been co-facilitators of courses at WVU and learned how to support each other. Both of us often reviewed students' posts on the board and wrote one response based on a joint consensus.
How can people connect with you?
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.