How Jim Landwehr Got Published + Video: Library Love + Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bKmdGi98yHTSe70pLcbyf?si=8c6ad023a1804b80

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Writing a book is one thing (info on my novels here), and promoting your work is a whole ‘nother beast. Practicing talking in front of audiences can help. Back when I was a member of Toastmasters, an organization where people learn public speaking and leadership, my 7th speech trumpeted the wonderfulness of U.S. public libraries. It fulfilled a project called, ‘Research Your Topic.’ Worse than public speaking, I fear memorizing things. With this exercise, I discovered how props help loosen me up and step me through the parts of a speech…

It’s a good thing that life happens whether you’re published or not, and not for the obvious ‘being above ground’ reason. I did lots of other things before I started writing novels and blogging.  Interspersed among numerous forgettable jobs, from car rental agent to hotel receptionist to ear piercer, I started as a print, radio, and TV journalist. The more experiences a writer can add to their tool box, the better. That includes learning to address groups, mastering bass guitar chords, pruning tomato plants, or anything else…

Today’s guest, Jim Landwehr, who blogs and writes from Waukesha, Wisconsin, has published bunches of books, stories, and poems — all after he worked at another type of career for quite a while. He’s even the 2018-2019 poet laureate for the Village of Wales, Wisconsin. Check out his writing site for more on his writing. Here he shares his publishing journey…

How I  Got Published by Jim Landwehr

Hello, Happiness Between Tails followers! My name is Jim Landwehr, and I am happy to be a guest blogger on da-AL’s blog. I’m here to talk a bit about my writing journey and hopefully share some insights about what worked for me as well as my strategies, setbacks, etc. Before I get started here’s a little about me.

I am sixty-two and am semi-retired after working for 37 years in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for county government and the private sector. I’ll spare you the details of what GIS is all about but suffice it to say it’s like Google Maps at the local level.

From a publishing standpoint, I have four traditionally published full-length memoirs and, within the next month or so, Kelsay Books will launch my sixth poetry collection. I’ve had dozens of poems, stories, and articles published in various literary journals. Feel free to check them out on my author website. One thing I frequently confess to people is my only regret about my writing is not having started it sooner. At sixty-two I am now playing catch-up.

The funny thing is I didn’t start writing seriously until 2005. I’d always loved to write, but never really knew what to do with it. I remember when I moved to Wisconsin in 1986, my friend took me to a bookstore and bought me a book titled, How to Write Nonfiction. He knew of my literary interests and wanted to show his support. I accepted the book but never really read it and frankly thought I’d never see the day that I’d write seriously, let alone have a published book. Well, here I am almost 40 years later, and I have four. Apparently, he had more confidence in my skills than I did.

Anyway, in 2005 I took a class at the City of Waukesha titled, Writing From Your Life. It was a class on writing memoir and I began with a few stories from some canoeing/camping trips I took with my brothers thirty years prior. I enjoyed the class immensely, but when it ended, I stopped writing again for another four years. Despite the fuse being lit, I was stifled by what to do with my gift. 

At the advice of the instructor of that class who I kept in touch with, I enrolled in a critique class at AllWriters Workplace and Workshop in downtown Waukesha. I remember walking into the classroom that first night thinking, I am so underqualified among this crowd. I probably shouldn’t even be here. By the end of the class, I walked out knowing it was exactly where I needed to be. While the other writers varied widely in genre, skill, and dedication, one thing was common; we were all there to support one another. Critiques were direct, honest, and encouraging. It was clear I was among my peers.

I remember reading my first piece to the class. It was a piece about the camping adventures and when I finished, my writing instructor, Kathie Giorgio said, “That was good but it was a little like you’d just sat down on a barstool and told me a story. What you need to do now is add layers to it. Add setting, dialog, and sensory elements.” That was probably the best advice I’d ever received from any teacher. It made absolute sense and sparked me to improve my skills and get better at the craft.

My intentions at the time were simply to document these stories of my travels in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and give them to my family someday. A few weeks into class, Kathie asked, “Have you ever considered putting these stories into a book?” I answered that I had not. “Well, you should. There’s a genre called memoir, and this would be a great fit for it.” I took her advice and 68,000+ words later I had my first manuscript titled, Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir.

After multiple editorial passes, I was ready for publication. I sent twenty query letters to agents and heard nothing. It was then that refocused my expectations and decided to go small press. Many of these small, independent presses are open to new authors and my goal was always to get published, not necessarily to make a million dollars, though that would be nice. Ha! I started Google searching small presses all over the country. My strategy was to submit it to twenty publishers and as rejections came in I would submit to keep the active number always at twenty.

Eleven rejections and six months later, Electio Publishing, a small press out of Texas, expressed an interest in publishing Dirty Shirt. I have to confess, there is nothing quite like the feeling of that first acceptance. I was over the moon. Within a year, I had my first book in my hands and was off and running.

Back in the classroom, I was already working on stories for my second memoir about the house I grew up in with my five siblings and our single-parent mother after the murder of my father in 1967. During the writing of both of these books, my writing instructor suggested I submit some of the stories within each manuscript to various magazines. By submitting them as standalone pieces and getting them published, it gave them what I call street cred. These pieces can then be referenced as “previously published” stories when the time comes to submit your full book manuscript. It gives legitimacy to the entire manuscript when some of the stories within have been recognized by other publications. The same held true for my poetry. Submit them to magazines, then use the accepted ones along with others to submit as part of a chapbook or full collection.

Well, at the risk of wearing out my welcome as a first-time guest blogger on da-AL’s blog, I should probably close this post out. As I wrote this, I realized how much I’ve learned over the eleven years I’ve been writing and how much I love sharing it with others. Maybe I’ll be invited back to post again sometime.

I fully recognize I’m nowhere close to the caliber of most of my literary heroes. But, like them, I write because I have to write. It’s my passion and nothing makes me happier than getting feedback from a reader saying I evoked an emotional response from my writing. It fuels me and keeps me at the keyboard. And as I said before, my only regret is not having started writing seriously at a younger age. 

That said, it’s back to work! Times’s a wasting. Thanks for reading.

How many careers have you had?