Awesome Gang Interview

An updated version of an interview that first appeared on Awesome Gang...

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer, composer and pianist, as well as being a father of five and grandfather of twelve (with a thirteenth due later this year). Though born in Melbourne, Australia, I’ve lived in Dunedin, New Zealand, most of my life.
I’ve written for as long as I can remember, but only really began to be serious about it in the early 90s, when I took a course that encouraged me to write articles for magazines and newspapers. As a result I had a number of articles published, went on to write a column for a local newspaper for five years, and have been blogging incessantly ever since.
I’ve written three children’s fantasies (for Middle Grade readers) and a nonfiction book based on blog posts I wrote when I was struggling with prostate issues back in 2009.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book one to be published is The Disenchanted Wizard, and it was intended to be the third book in a series of children’s fantasies under the general title of Grimhilderness. In fact it's turned out to be a standalone, with little connection to the previous two books. I'm currently writing a fourth children's fantasy, which is actually going to be number three in the series.
In 2012 I co-wrote the script of a musical called Grimhilda!, and composed the music. Young audience members who attended the show asked: When is the sequel coming out?
So I turned Grimhilda! into a book, and then that was followed by another…and then another.
The original story of Grimhilda had begun way back in the 70s. So it was an idea with a long gestation!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not a single one that I can think of!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Among many other things, I’ve always been interested in fantasies. I read the Narnia stories way back, and Tolkien, of course (though I found when I read it again a few years ago that it was pretty hard going!) Diana Wynne-Jones’ stories intrigue me: her imagination is huge. I like stories that start out in the ordinary and take off into fantasy, and that’s what my books do. I’ve recently discovered Nate Wilson’s books. He has more imagination than he knows what to do with, I think!

What are you working on now?
As I mentioned above, I’m working on another book in the Grimhilderness series. It's taking some time to complete, as writing is only one of the things I do. I've spent a lot of time working out the plot, writing endless notes and early drafts. I have to get to know the characters and elements of the plot before I can sit down to produce a final draft. It involves a lot of writing, but it’s worth it. Even if I don’t think so at the time (!)

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This has been a process of discovery; I’m finding there are all sorts of sites and options that weren’t available when I started writing.
Most successfully, over the last several months, I've been advertising on Amazon Marketing Services. This has produced more sales than I've had any other way. 

I also use Twitter a lot, am involved in a very helpful Facebook Indie publishers page and two groups run by Brian Meeks - who focuses on the AMS ads. 

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be satisfied with the first thing you write. Be willing to be critiqued to within an inch of your life. You’ll hate it, but it’s good for you in the long run. I’ve read a number of books since the big ebook revolution and some of them are desperately in need of a firm hand, but plainly haven’t had it. Let someone else in on the book, otherwise – unless you’re a genius – you won’t be putting out your best work.
And keep on writing…

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can cut any piece of writing in half without losing what’s best about it. Most of us write too much.

What are you reading now?
Just finished reading The Experiment of Professor Polgas by Sarah Brownlee. Another very imaginative writer. She produces several big scenes in her book and has some strong characters.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Amongst all the other bits and pieces, I’m now close to writing a proper first draft of the new Grimhilderness book. But that will be fitted in with playing for the rehearsals of a production of The Mikado, and for young singers in Competitions next month...and so on.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, because it’s a book that’s not only taught me about the Christian faith, but its words have got me through some dark nights. I’ve memorized a number of passages in it, so even if I lost it, I guess I’d still have some of it in my head. I’d take one of Dickens’ best books, such as Pickwick Papers, or Great Expectations. One of the books by Dale Ralph Davis. He’s one of the most accessible commentators on the Christian faith that I know. And perhaps The Last Battle by C S Lewis. Even though it takes a bit of time to get going, it has the greatest ending of any of the Narnia stories.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mike Crowl Website
Mike Crowl Amazon Profile
Mike Crowl Author Profile on Smashwords

Mike Crowl’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Circus Quirkus

Yesterday I went to the Circus Quirkus with my daughter, my grandson and one of his friends - courtesy of free tickets from Rotary, who apparently sponsor the shows throughout New Zealand.  Good on them!

A slightly unusual circus in that it was performed in a theatre rather than a tent, but that didn't stop them being a very entertaining group.  There were only ten or eleven performers all up, including the ringmaster, so there was a lot of work for all the cast to do.  The three 'blokes' from Melbourne who did tumbling and acrobatics and slapstick were definitely among the crowd favourites because of their humour as much as anything - certainly humour adds significantly to the entertainment value of circus acts - but they were a very sharp group with great timing, energy and muscle.

Equally the clowning done on the tightrope at the end - by both the woman and the man - raised the bar considerably in what would have otherwise been a straightforward routine.  One or two of the other acts might have benefited from more involvement with the clowning side of the circus.  As we discovered from the two kids we had with us, something that is plainly difficult to an adult (even if it's made to look easy) doesn't necessarily grab children.  The performers may be risking life and limb, but the kids are very blase these days about such feats, because of television, I guess.

Fortunately, this Circus Quirkus group has at least six men who can clown well, and who consequently engage the audience effectively.  A couple of the women also did some clowning, though that wasn't the main aspect of their acts. There's something about clowning that involves, it brings the audience and performer together in a way that serious performance doesn't tend to do so well. 

Oddly, the production chose to put a solo act on as the last one before the interval - a contortionist who finished up her act by shooting an arrow at a balloon.  She held the bow in one foot and the arrow in the other, all the time balancing on one hand on an area only the size of her hand, and being twisted over the top of herself somehow.  Unfortunately she missed the balloon twice - that's the sort of thing you can get away with in a humorous act: in a serious act where it's obvious what she's aiming to do, not doing it is quite a let down (and not just for the audience).  She was a marvellous contortionist, there's no doubt; she had wonderful balance, and considerable grace.  But something was amiss with the bow and arrow part of the act, which was a pity. 

No doubt she'll get it right in other centres.  I'd recommend this circus greatly. 

The photo at the top is of last year's group; only some of them are in the current tour.

Fraser's Gully

I've lived in Dunedin, New Zealand, for around 55 years of my life. I was in Melbourne for the first three years, moved to Dunedin, stayed here for my childhood and adolescence. Had some very brief stints in Wellington and Auckland while I worked for the NZ Opera Company, moved back to Dunedin, went overseas to the UK for six years, came back with my newly-married wife, lived here totally until 2007 when I spent another five and a half months in the UK, and have been here since.

In all that time I have never once walked up the track through Fraser's Gully - in spite of the fact that I've passed the entrance to it hundreds of times, and have even dropped children off there for football or softball or something in the past.

I said to my wife this afternoon we needed to go for a walk and she was agreeable (she has to keep her reputation up now that she's appeared as the poster girl for Green Prescription in the latest Sport Otago magazine). It was intended as a bit of a fat burner walk, and proved to be that and more.

We wound up walking up Fraser's Gully, right from Kaikorai Valley Rd at the bottom to Dalziel Rd at the top - and then to cap it we walked around down to Taieri Rd, visited my son and his family for a bit and walked back to the car in KV Rd. Quite a bit of a jaunt.

Fraser's Gully turns out to be a delight. I've included a couple of photos here - which I took on the cellphone so the quality may not be high - but I could have photographed a heap more. The track is accompanied by a stream running downhill (naturally) on the left as you climb, and there are small waterfalls and lots of rocks and all the stuff that goes with a normal stream. The track itself is steep in places, although it wasn't as much as I thought it might be - and certainly no worse than climbing Brockville Rd, which runs parallel to it some blocks further south. Fraser's Gully track comes out in Dalziel Rd, which runs along the top of Brockville.

The walk certainly cleared the brains, which had become pretty foggy over the weekend, and helped get our muscles moving. We might not have done it if we'd thought about how far we were going to go, but we did!

On the way back down Taieri Rd we passed the Fernhill Reserve. I haven't been in there since I was a teenager, when Brian Hellyer lived in a house there. He was a doctor who sang in several Dunedin Opera Company productions (and other shows) and I once visited this house which seemed to be hidden away in miles of bush - we went there at night!

Musical Ties

Just looking at a site where they've got a sale on silk ties and thinking that the designs on these aren't very interesting. Lots of diagonal lines or straight ties without any design at all.
I don't wear ties very often any more, but when I do I usually put on one of the ones with a musical theme. I bought a couple of these a few years back when we were in Melbourne (the ties were on sale at the Victoria Market) and since then, twice someone's brought me back a musical tie. So I have a bit of choice.
Do I wear the one with the choir singing at the top of their voices, or the one with the piano keys, or the one with the musical notes?
You can see the sort of thing I mean here.

Four quotes

Found these four quotes on Simon Carey Holt's blog. (He's a great fan of my birthplace, Melbourne).

• Zadie Smith
  "To speak personally, the very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life."
• Joan Didion
  "I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."
• Patrick Henry
  "The borders between reading and writing and living are fluid. I do not take time out from life to write, nor do I take time out from life to read. When I quote somebody, I'm not hiding. I'm introducing you to one of my conversation partners."
• Leander Kirk
  "To live with the Bible is more like living with a multi-generational, extended family than with a crotchety grandfather who keeps telling us of the good old days.

I've removed Simon's links from a couple of these names, as they no longer go anywhere - in the best tradition of the Internet!

Meeting in the one place

The worst thing about Auckland is that people keep moving there. People like Brent Read, the young tenor, or worse, my daughter and her two children. Worse still, it costs more to fly from Dunedin to Auckland than it does to fly from Dunedin to most Eastern Australian cities, cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Maybe it would be more economical for my daughter to meet us in Sydney, where we can find really cheap accommodation for all of us. Apparently you can even get serviced apartments in places like Bondi, Manly (those oh-so-familiar-beach-names) or overlooking the Darling Harbour. I think a serviced apartment might suit us all better than a cheap hotel (although apparently there are plenty of Sydney hotels that are super economical, especially in the off-season, and that provide extras - like breakfast), because then my grandchildren wouldn‘t be quite so constricted. Constricted is not a state of well-being they enjoy.
Of course there are Melbourne hotels and Brisbane hotels too, but I think Sydney would probably be the pick of the places for a Crowl family rendezvous. Maybe I could persuade all of the kids and their children to get together over there. Not!

You call this FUN?

Florida’s back in the news as far as my posts are concerned: this time in relation to Disneyland and other Orlando theme parks. I can’t say I’m a great fan of theme parks and their like, though Disneyland has to have a certain proprietory appeal merely because of its being so well-known. When my wife and I went to Melbourne a few years ago, we visited Luna Fun Park in St Kilda. Fun? I don’t see anything fun about having yourself whisked around at great speed, up and down and inside out. There was a rather nice roundabout there, with elderly decorations on it, but beyond this, we really didn’t much get involved. Both of us had an awful memory of going on some ride in the UK years ago, where we were sitting in saucer-shaped seats, spun around at speed at the same time as the whole ride was going around. We came off the thing feeling ill and unable to stand up straight.
Still, my personal preferences aside, many people do enjoy fun parks, and Orlando Fun Tickets site, where you can get Walt Disney World Tickets, is obviously the place to book if you’re going to go to Disneyland and its environs.
Disneyland also offers the rather awkwardly-named Magic Your Way tickets. These are basically tickets in which you can choose what you want to go on rather than leaving up to someone who’s decided that ride number fourteen isn’t as popular as it should be so let’s bung everyone on there. And they’ve structured the pricing so that you save more if you stay longer. They have a catchy little phrase: ‘the longer you play, the more you save,’ which to my ear is clunky rather than catchy. You expect it to run: ‘the longer you play, the more you stay,’ or something of that ilk, but no, some artisan with a tin ear thinks play and save have a natural ring to them.