Mary Collins was recently awarded the Grand Prize for Nonfiction from the Indie Book Awards for her book American Idle.  Below, she describes her inspiration for writing the book, her journey finding a publisher, and the reasons she chose to embrace a small press.

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I am often skeptical of writing contests but I must admit that I started my most recent book, American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture, because an essay I did about the culture of sitting for the Health section of the Washington Post won Best Essay of the Year from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), which convinced me a cultural take on the health crisis (rather than purely medical) could work.

I came to write American Idle as well as the essay on sitting because I had a horrible bicycle accident that took away my previously active life as an athlete. I could not sit for more than a few minutes; I dragged my left leg when I walked. Back surgery (and a lot of swimming and PT over many years) helped me recoup about 80 percent of what I lost, but the impact of being forced into a sedentary life—and all the resulting consequences, including depression, a huge decline in my social life and work life—made me want to explore why the majority of Americans choose such a life.

So I set off across the country to talk to factory workers, poor Hispanic women with diabetic children, health care specialists, even the director of the Olympic Center. Along the way I came to believe that the right to move in healthy ways through our landscape is a civic right, which is currently denied a huge portion of the population. Most people do not CHOOSE their unhealthy sedentary lifestyle—as I had supposed—they get boxed into it because of lack of time, unsafe public spaces in their neighborhoods and more.

As a writer with plenty of experience under my belt, I thought it would be easy to sell American Idle, which reads like a memoir but includes plenty of fresh health science. But I quickly learned that the big publishers really dislike blended books—does this belong on the Health shelf or the Cultural shelf, editors would ask? My agent and I did not have a clear answer, which killed my chances. I did find the trade divisions of university presses like Rutgers and Oxford University Press, very eager, but they also take forever (as much as two years to get through outside readers) and often charge way too much.

So I embraced a small press (Capital Books in Washington, DC) and found out a few weeks ago that American Idle won the Grand Prize for Nonfiction from the Indie Book Awards, which just validates in my eyes my decision to go small, quick, low cost (cover price under $20) and with a blended approach. If your product is good, it will get recognized.

You can find out more about my book and my own background at www.marycollinswriter.net. You can order the book at Amazon or contact Jean Westcott at Jean.westcott@booksintl.com directly.

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Introduction: Amy and I attended the writing program at Johns Hopkins together when we were both struggling fiction writers. I too knew Ellen—hip hip hooray to her success. It can happen to you, too. (See my endnote.) Now here’s Amy:

“Thanks to Herta for inviting me to do a guest blog. These days the value of persistence is on my mind. Two of my classmates—one from ten years ago and the other from seven years ago—have recently achieved phenomenal success. I just found out the Ellen Bryson, who was a classmate of mine in the Johns Hopkins University program, sold her wonderful novel for a six-figure advance. It’s called The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno, and it’s a love story about the “freaks” in PT Barnum’s turn-of-the-century sideshow. Believe me—you’re going to find it unforgettable! I remember the story well from our workshops a decade ago. Ellen hung in there and over ten years later, hit a well-deserved jackpot. (EllenBryson.com)

Likewise, my friend from the Sewanee Writers Conference (2003), Ann Weisgarber, had the novel she had been working on for almost ten years published in 2009 by Macmillan UK. The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is a moving account of black ranchers struggling to survive in the badlands of South Dakota in the early 1900s. This wonderful novel was short-listed for the UK’s prestigious orange prize and has since been picked up by a US publisher. I think it would make a perfect movie and wouldn’t be surprised at all to see it on the screen soon. (AnnWeisegarber.com)

The point is: both of these extremely talented writers persisted with their fabulous novels, and they finally got them published. They kept revising and revising and then championed their work until they both received the recognition they so well deserved. They are an inspiration to me to dig out my own novel and revise it until I get it right, and then champion it with passion. At the end of the day, it’s a simple lesson. Work hard to get it right, and then don’t give up because the publishing world is a fickle place. You can suffer a million “no’s,” but all you need is that one “yes” to get things going.

Tying into this is the need to stay motivated and engaged. Diving into a novel means immersing yourself in another world. It’s wonderful to get into that zone, but often hard to get there and stay there in our busy to-do-list world. This requires getting enough alone time to get your head back into the dreamline of your story. When I was deep into fiction writing, I’d go for long walks or bike rides in which I thought about nothing but my story. I was transported. Getting into this daydream-like trance requires building yourself the time and space. No one is going to give this to you. You have to take it.

Once a breeze came along and blew away my things-to-do list from my kitchen counter. And guess what? I didn’t miss any of it. Didn’t remember what was on it. None of those chores mattered. But I do miss writing. I do miss my stories. Those matter. I need that breeze again to waft through my brain and set me free. I need to find the strength to do things like turn off the TV, walk away from the computer, and stop being practical. Then I have faith that the quiet and the stories will return.

I write more about this topic of “entering the dream” and jump starting your imagination in my nonfiction book Daydreams at Work (Capital Books 2009). You can read more about it or order it from www.DaydreamsAtWork.com. My blog on PsychologyToday.com also has more on the creative and motivational aspect of daydreaming. Check it out at www.PsychologyToday.com/blog/the-power-daydreaming

If you want to talk further about anything, please feel free to contact me via the following sites:
www.Facebook.com Daydreams at Work fan page
www.Twitter.com/AmyFries
www.LinkedIn.com/in/AmyFries”

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Footnote: I’d like to echo what she says. Recently I spent 12 days in remote Mexico. No TV, no “bummer” news, few distractions other than walks on the beach, hiking, kayaking, watching the sun sink into the ocean. It put me in the mindset of my novel in progress; ideas came to me; I worked diligently with breaks as those mentioned.

While I know that everyone can’t just pick up and visit far off places to write, you can do as Amy says. I too go bike riding and walking for inspiration. For some reason, taking a shower, singing and just plain “letting go,” is often where I receive opening lines, mid-chapter lines, last lines, etc. The muse visits! I also encourage you to file in the back of your mind whatever problem areas you are having, and I guarantee you that the answer will arrive when you least expect it. At least that’s what happens to me. The mind has a way of sorting through and resolving problems.

We’d love to hear how you get inspiration, persist, and the success you’ve had.

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I’m pleased to introduce the first of what I hope will be an on-going series of guest writers on the blog: Tim Wendel! Tim is the author of eight amazing books, the newest one, High Heat, recently published and now available on Amazon. His guest article, below!

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by Tim Wendel

I knew I was about to make the call that every editor dreads. “Hello, sir, I’d like to change the working outline.”

A few months before, I’d signed a contract with Da Capo Press for my eighth book, High Heat. While my publishing credits include narrative nonfiction and novels. I knew some editors found me difficult to categorize. That makes some of them nervous. And, now, I was about to make life complicated for my latest editor, Jonathan Crowe.

Only after signing did I discover that High Heat was Jonathan’s first deal at Da Capo. He was a young man on the rise and I didn’t want to derail anything. Still, I couldn’t get it out of my head that we were going about this new book all wrong.

I was on the road, watching a Durham Bulls ballgame. The team and the movie Bull Durham are major threads in the new book. That was expected. Where I was about to rock the boat was how High Heat was basically put together.

The proposal called for 12 chapters. A building chronology that moved through baseball history, including such legendary names as Walter Johnson, Nolan Ryan and Steve Dalkowski, who the Nuke LaLoosh character in Bull Durham was based upon. All of them were blessed with a rocket arms — a talent seemingly handed down from the gods above.

I believe all of us are born with a gift. Part of living a life is bringing that gift to the world. Even though none of us will ever throw 100-plus miles per hour, we can learn a thing or two by what such baseball notables went through. How some of them turned their gift into a blessing, while others were forever cursed.

In a way, that’s the path for any book. At least it is with me. Can we take that vision that’s in our head and really make it come alive on the page?

That’s why I knew I had to call my new editor and give him the bad news: I was messing with the outline – big-time.

My new idea was to structure High Heat around the basic phases of a pitching motion: Windup, Pivot, Stride, Arm Acceleration, Release and Follow-Through. It’s the same motion that anybody learns as a kid and it’s duplicated every night during the season in the big leagues.

As I dialed Jonathan’s number, I wondered if this could make or break our budding relationship. I need an editor to be in my corner when I’m lost in the tall grass. Gary Brozek, who edited my first novel,  Castro’s Curveball, worked with me to pull together the past and present narratives in that tale. Bronwen Latimer at National Geographic walked me through how to do a coffee-table book chocked full of great photos, which became Far From Home.

“Jonathan, I’d like to change the outline,” I said.

There was a pause at the other end of the line. I listened for any profanity but none was audible.

“What are you thinking, Tim?” my editor replied, and I told him about the phases of the pitching motion. I did so as I gazed out on that beautiful diamond of a park in Durham, trying to make it sound like the most logical thing in the world.

At the end of my spiel, there was another long pause. I knew I’d complicated things. But to Jonathan’s credit, he not only listened, he began to understand.

“OK,” he said, “I think I see where you’re going with this.”

That evening, back in my hotel room, I began to write High Heat again. This time it had plenty of momentum and the final draft was on Jonathan’s desk seven months later.

High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time comes out this month. Library Journal gave it a “Highly Recommended” label and the book has blurbs from Ken Burns and David Maraniss. It also has the full support of my editor.

Tim Wendel is the author of eight books. He teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University. For more information, log on to www.timwendel.com or HighHeatWendel.blogspot.com.

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