Chatting with Garry, Part II: How He Almost Killed Neil Young
If you missed yesterday’s post, I’ve been chatting with my retired cop/coroner buddy, Garry Rodgers. Today, you’ll hear about all Garry’s shenanigans, including how he almost killed Neil Young and how his possessed kitchen was out to get him. Haha. Hard to explain. Just read the Q&A.
Sue: You chose indie publishing over traditional. So, how do you decide where to publish?
Garry: I was exclusive on Amazon, but my much more successful indie friends said I was leaving a lot on the table by not “going wide” with Kobo, Nook, Apple, Google, and other outlets. That’s now in progress. From the Shadows and the rest of the “based on true crime” series will be available on other eBook platforms and I’ll soon convert my other work.
Speaking of true crime, Sue, what’s happening with Pretty Evil New England?
Sue: Last I heard Pretty Evil New England was on the copy editor’s desk. The book releases September 1st, so it’s still a bit of a wait. Globe Pequot was planning a New England-wide book tour to coincide with the launch.
As a Connecticut publisher (next to New York, if you’re not familiar with Connecticut), once the pandemic hit, they had to temporarily close in accordance with the stay at home order. Books, apparently, aren’t considered essential, even though most of us would be lost without them. Don’t even get me started. 😉
But I digress.
What’s happening at your blog, DyingWords? Some writers believe blogging is a waste of time, but I don’t agree. If it weren’t for Murder Blog, I would’ve missed out on some amazing opportunities. Plus, I might never have met friends like you. Where do you stand on the “To blog or not to blog” issue?
Garry: Blogging is the best writing move I ever made. I started DyingWords six years ago, and I’ve met more people and found more opportunities than I could have possibly imagined. Like you, for instance. I promote myself as a retired homicide cop and forensic coroner (never said I was any good at either) and I use the tagline “Provoking Thoughts on Life, Death and Writing”. There are about 400 posts now on DyingWords, ranging from author interviews to analyzing high-profile cases like JonBenet Ramsey, Natalie Wood, Princess Diana, Elvis, and even notorious killers like the Boston Strangler, Jack The Ripper, and Charles Manson. Posts go live every second Saturday morning at 8 am Pacific, 11 am Eastern.
Sue: It’s been a while since you released a novel. Is there a reason for the delay? Don’t mean to put you on the spot. Just curious.
Garry: No worries. There is, actually. My daughter developed her own writing agency, and I’ve been doing web content for her. What I thought would be a few months to help get her up and running ran on to two years. I’ve written hundreds of web pieces on topics from malignant mesothelioma to managing menopause, but it’s not as much fun as it sounds. In the meantime, I wrote the historical non-fiction piece Sundance — Why Custer Really Lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which was a rabbit hole of research. Then I cranked out From The Shadows in the past little while.
Sue: Loved Sundance — Why Custer Really Lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn! How you included the psychology behind Custer and Sitting Bull’s actions kept me glued to the pages.
How long does it usually take you to write a novel?
Garry: Checks journal Believe it or not, From The Shadows took 22 working days to write 51,543 words on the main draft. If my calculator’s right, that averages 2,343 words per day. My best word count (not necessarily my best work) was 5,720 words in one day. My worst, well, I don’t wanna say…
Sue: So, basically, you’re human, with good days and bad days. None of us like to talk about the bad days. 😉 What’s your writing process look like?
Garry: Goes like this. I need to get in the right place and headspace to do creative writing, so I have a spot in the nearby university library that I freeload at. I go there when the doors open at 8 am and I give ’er until I’m done. I don’t set a specific word count. Rather, I always try to complete entire chapters, and I let the word count fall where it may.
Before I start a manuscript, I layout the chapters/scenes on a timeline, so I have the whole thing framed with a decent idea of what each “block” must do to further the story. Then I just fill it in with exposition and dialogue.
Sue: Fascinating. I love hearing about writers’ process. We’re all so different in how we approach a blank page. What about your editing process?
Garry: What’s editing? 😉 Seriously, that’s huge. Seems to me we collaborated on an editing guide (Note from Sue: Larry Brooks also added his input to How To Self-Edit Deadly Crime Thrillers). If I can pass on two things I’ve learned from experience, it’s covers and proper editing are invaluable for the book’s success. That’s assuming the story is marketable to start with.
I write as I go… just let it flow… and then I do next-day rough editing. I’m an early riser, so I give the previous day’s work a once-over before I go on to write new content. I don’t worry about getting it polished right away. That comes later, but a next-day review keeps me in the story.
Once I hit “The End”, I hide the manuscript away for a week or a month. It’s amazing how time away lets you see things you’ve missed. I self-edit on the screen and with printouts, but I’m a big believer in software. I first use Grammarly to line-edit, then fine-tune with AutoCrit. Once I think it’s in the best shape possible, I ship it to a human proofreader who catches the smallest details.
Sue: You’re so right. Independent editing is a critical part of a book’s success.
Garry: Whether you’re indie or going after the traditional publishing market, the final product has to be as perfect as you can possibly make it. Paying for external services can often make authors cringe. I know it takes a lot of book sales to recoup the funds for covers and editing, but this is the cost of doing business. A serious writer can’t afford NOT to invest in editing and having their cover done by a pro. It’s like someone who defends themselves in court has a fool for a client.
Sue: Now for the fun stuff.
You’ve done some questionable outlandish downright insane crazy stunts over the years. I never know when another hilarious email will grace my inbox, complete with visual aids, but I always look forward to them. Name three peculiar “incidents” that you’ve been involved in.
Garry: Only three? Sue, it’s hard to shortlist. Number one: I won a mechanical bull riding competition. Number two: I’ve been struck by lightning. Number three: I was recently bitten by a venomous spider.
Sue: You can’t just rattle off a list like that with no explanation. C’mon, spill the juicy details.
Garry: More bravado than brains with the bull. It was at Teslin, Yukon, in Canada’s far north during their winter carnival. I was “nominated” by our team to win the buckle, and I was so shit-scared to get bucked off onto the frozen ground that I stayed on the bull for 8 secs all the way up to level 8. My ass, thighs, and crotch were purplish-black for two weeks.
Lightning… hmm… yes. I was outside during a storm when a bolt hit the house and energized the metal gutter system. I was leaning against a downpipe and the amps passed through my arm, into my torso, and shot out my foot. I’ve never been cattle-prodded or Tasered, but I imagine those things are duck soup compared to getting zapped by Zeus.
Sue: Wow. You do know you’re more likely to be hit by lightning a second time, right? They say once lightning finds you, you become a beacon of sorts.
I remember the spider bite story. Bob and I still crack up over it. But please tell it again.
Garry: Vancouver Island is Canada’s west-coast mecca and we capitalized on that near-perfect paradise 32 years ago. What we didn’t bargain for was a possessed kitchen.
Our kitchen is our home’s heart. We spend most of our waking time in our kitchen, despite having a second bedroom/home office and a plant-filled sunroom with a harbor view. There’s something about our kitchen and the table I hand-made nearly 40 years ago that should be safe, but something’s gone horribly wrong.
It started this spring. I’m glued to my laptop most of the time and I like to write at the kitchen table. I research, draft, proof and ship articles as well as draft my books in the kitchen, and it used to be good. That changed this spring when our kitchen became possessed.
It started with doing the dishes in the kitchen sink. Rita was on evening shift—she supervises a grocery store—and I was cleaning up. Slice. It’s hard to feel a serious laceration when your hand is in warm and dirty dishwater, but a snapped long-stemmed wine glass opened up my stinkin’ finger.
That should’ve had medical attention but, being a man, I waited till infection set in. So, a few evenings later, with a gauze-wrapped digit and Rita at work, I nodded off at the kitchen table. I went down hard and bounced the back of my head off a wood kitchen chair and opened up my scalp as if a little man with an ax came running through the door and whacked me.
Again, I should have had stitches but didn’t. I’m not a wuss when it comes to pain, but a sliced finger and lacerated scalp made codeine attractive—so I indulged. That wasn’t a good idea.
A few days later, Rita was on evenings and came home to find me groggily asleep at the kitchen table. The dear didn’t wake me. Rather, she reclined in her chair and turned on the news while I keeled over and hit the floor.
I cracked my neck and had the wickedest whiplash ever encountered, and it took three weeks to start mobility which is just coming back today. I couldn’t turn my neck to look at the kitchen sink—it required full shoulder rotation. I’m still a stiff-stick today.
Our kitchen possessor wasn’t finished. No, whatever demon from a hell-layer segment that surfaced from the kitchen drain still wanted its way with me, and it used my dear wife Rita to do it. Sympathetically, she bought an exotic succulent to sit on the kitchen table to cheer me up while I typed away and recovered. It’s supposed to be a succulent air purifier or a shamanic talisman or some hoodoo thing.
The friggin’ plant imported a brown recluse spider that nailed me in the right elbow. My arm swelled like a horny baboon’s **bleep**, and I was in serious pain, along with my hand, neck, and back-of-the-head from what went down earlier. I’ve spent the last three weeks detoxifying from poison worse than a rattlesnake’s venom, and trying to massage mangled muscles.
This all happened in our kitchen—within a five-foot radius of the sink. I’m not big on ghosts, demons, spooks & stuff, but I seriously think our kitchen’s possessed and I have no idea what’s coming next. 🙂
Fortunately, I survived. Can’t say the same for the spider.
Sue: Only you, Garry. Only you.
Garry: Did I mention I almost killed Neil Young?
Sue: The singer? Umm, no.
Garry: Yeah, that guy. I was barreling my truck up a tree-canopied road when Neil came flying over the hill crest on a bicycle. I violently swerved and just missed bug-squashing the rocker on my grille. It was close. Real close, I’ll tell ya.
Sue:
Garry: Then there was the time I accidentally set my grandmother on fire.
Sue: OMG, before I totally lose control of this interview, tell us where can we get From The Shadows?
Garry: The ‘Zon, of course. It’s a new release at Amazon.com and other Amazon international sites as well as on Kobo. So far, just the eBook is out. Workin’ on print and audible. Thanks for hosting me, Sue!
Sue: Anytime, my friend. You’re always welcome here.
Well, folks, see what I have to deal with? Hahaha. Kidding. 😉 Be sure to check out From The Shadows as well as Garry’s other books in this series, like Under The Ground and In The Attic. If you’re not familiar with his bi-monthly blog, Dying Words, you’re in for a real treat. I always look forward to his articles. Score two free ebooks (pictured below) for joining his community.
Garry Rodgers is a retired homicide detective and forensic coroner. Now, Garry is an investigative crime writer and successful indie author. He’s also the host of a popular blog at DyingWords.net. His newest based-on-true-crime eBook From The Shadows is just released on Amazon and other digital outlets.
Garry Rodgers lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia at Canada’s west coast, where he spends his off-time around the water. Connect with Garry on Twitter and Facebook.
18 Comments
MJ Payne
Aliens are interesting but can they be worse than humans? It’s just a thought. Great post Sue.
Sue Coletta
Haha. Probably not. 😉 Thanks, MJ! Stay safe. xo
sherry fundin
well…i guess that is telling you to STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN. LOL
sherry fundin recently posted…My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson @kellyclarkson #musicmonday
Sue Coletta
Hahaha. Wise advice, Sherry. 😉
Garry Rodgers
What’s the old saying, “If you can’t stand the heat…” In my case it should be, “If you can’t stand the cuts, falls, snaps, stings and bruises…” 🙂
Jillian
You two are so funny and engaging. I decided to become a crime thriller author because Sue and Gary. Thanks for the tips Gary with self-editing using Grammarly and Autocrit.
Sue Coletta
Aww, that’s the sweetest compliment ever, Jillian. May you have loads of success with your novels! xo
Garry Rodgers
Really nice to hear we can be a positive influence 🙂 I just saw your comment over on my blog, as well. Thanks so much for your support, Jillian!
ps – I use Grammarly Pro and subscribe to Autocrit, but you can get the basic Grammarly for free which is very decent – you can also test drive Autocrit for a week which is ample time to help edit one book. Grammarly excels at what it says – grammar/punctuation – whereas Autocrit dives deeper into things like POV, tenses, active/passive, etc.
Patricia La Vigne
Totally unbelievable–but I’ll take his word for those antics. Thanks for sharing those too funny stories. (“Funny” only after the fact.)
Sue Coletta
Agreed, Patricia. Probably not funny at the time, but hilarious now. 😉
Mary W Johnson
These folks are just awesome. Lovingly peculiar, but awesome.
Sue Coletta
Aww, thanks, Mary! We had a lot of fun with this Q&A.
Garry Rodgers
Thanks for all your support, Mary! Me & Sue are gonna get matching T-Shirts that say “I’m with Awesome” 🙂
Garry Rodgers
Hey Sue – Thanks for sharing the craziness. 🙂 I didn’t mention that I was once kidnapped by aliens…
Sue Coletta
That actually explains a lot. 😀
June Lorraine
Aliens? You’re right Sue it so on target. Good luck Garry, hope the flying sauce has seat belts as you are pretty accident prone.
June Lorraine recently posted…Melissa Yi – Author & ER Physician
Sue Coletta
Right, June? Everything kinda makes sense now. 😉
Garry Rodgers
The alien thing may or may not be fictional – Hey, did you ever read that blog post I wrote about Granger Taylor who built the flying saucer and then blew himself up with dynamite trying to make contact with aliens? Here’s the link: http://dyingwords.net/did-aliens-really-abduct-granger-taylor/