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| A Year Of Questions |
 So why put this non-fiction book in our pampering section? The answer is that this very thoughtful book will encourage you to take time out from your busy life and just ponder. Whether it's noticing how your cat's fur changes colour on his belly or wondering why you are compelled to check your emails every ten minutes, that's up to you. What this book does is encourage you to think more deeply about what you do, why you do it and indeed, whether you do want to do it at all. And if that's not pampering yourself, what is! We caught up with author Fiona Robyn and asked her a few questions. Tell us a little about yourself, who you are, what you do etc. I divide my time betewen my therapy private practice and my writing, and live in Hampshire where I'm currently learning how to grow vegetables. What prompted you to write A Year Of Questions? I'd written a blog at www.creative-living.blogspot.com for a few years and last year the individual pieces of writing asked to be joined together into a manuscript, so that's what I did. Why, when most people are looking at authors/gurus etc for answers are you concentrating on questions? I look to writers and teachers for answers too! Life would be much easier if someone would tell me what to do. But if it were as simple as someone telling us the answers, wouldn't we have found them ourselves by now? Advice and expertise is often appropriate - I wouldn't decide whether my own appendix needed taking out - but when it comes to the quality of my relationships and what I think is important in life, I can't see how anyone else could answer these ones for me. I'm not saying it's not helpful to talk with other people, but I don't expect them to know more about my issues than me, even when I haven't got a clue myself. A good question helps me to start really investigating what's going on for me - have I really explored my options? Why do I feel such resistance to doing that? This feels like a process to me rather than a 'problem and solution' situation. It's hard to put into words! What sort of person would most benefit from this book? Anyone who is interested in living well, and who is willing to be curious about themselves. You base the book around seasons, what's your favourite season? I do love the sun on my face, and flowers and sweet home-grown tomatoes, but I also love the 'start again' feeling of Spring, the cosy-inside/crisp-and-white-outside of Winter and the gorgeous reds and browns and smoky bonfires of Autumn. How long did it take to write and what was your writing routine? This book was quicker than my novels as the bulk of it had been written over previous years on my blog. I always write in the mornings, before I get distracted by Facebook or doing my accounts or stroking the cat. The writing is very rich - which fiction authors do you enjoy reading? And would you say they've influenced you? My favourite fiction writers actually write in quite an 'ordinary' way - Raymond Carver is my favourite, and I also like Richard Ford, John Irving, E. Annie Proulx... but I read all sorts, including a lot of poetry (which is as rich as you can get) and non-fiction by people like Annie Dillard. I'd say that everything I've ever read has influenced me. I've not tried to emulate anyone as a conscious choice, but maybe it's inevitable that our favourite writers seep into us more than the others. And what about so called gurus and self help authors, which of them do you rate? I don't read many of the well-known ones. I'm reading a lot of Buddhist stuff at the moment, and Pema Chodron has been very helpful to me. Although it's not intended as self-help, Annie Dillard has also been helpful, and poetry. I use lots of self-help-for-writers books - Julia Cameron, Natalie Goldberg, Anne Lammott, Brenda Ueland... Why did you self publish? The self-help market is a difficult one to get into and so I decided to produce and market 'A Year of Questions' myself. I'm very conscious of the reputation of self-publising, and so paid particular attention to the design of the book, the editing process etc. and I'm pleased with the results. Can you tell us a little about the process and how easy or difficult it was. As I used a designer there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing while we worked out how the process worked. There were some hiccups, but all in all it was pretty painless. There are plenty of help pages and forums if you get stuck, and unless you want to buy an ISBN and distribution the process is completely free. I'll definitely use www.lulu.com again - I'm bringing out my first poetry collection later on in the year. You concentrate a lot on writing, do you think your writing has improved by asking yourself the questions you do in your book? I hope so, but that's for my readers to decide! Read reviews and see an extract of Fiona Robyn's latest book, 'A Year of Questions: How to slow down and fall in love with life' here (link http://www.lulu.com/content/807043 ). Signed copies are available for £10.99 (incl. p&p) in the UK, and further afield by request - email fiona@fionarobyn.co.uk for more information |
| Posted: 17/09/2007 11:29:00 Last Updated: 17/09/2007 11:40:26 |
Chick Lit > Pampered Chicks :: A Year Of Questions