Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Dave and I are based in Creston, BC (Canada) and operate BrummetMedia.ca where we offer many different services, products and – of course – our books. As writers, we specialize in non-fiction writing: 2 books of poetry, 2 books on living “green”, 2 books offering writer advice, 1 cookbook (coming up). BrummetMedia.ca
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book is Rhythm and Rhyme which is a collaborated conglomeration of our poetry 🙂 Dave is an accomplished musician and has written many songs, but never considered himself a poet… until his poetry gained attention. Today you can find his poems along with mine in this collection.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a tenacious, ambitious, dedicated writer that once I get my teeth into something I have a hard time letting go, turning the topic off from conversations or from my cycling mind. Typically, I am gathering the information and writing the draft manuscript, doing first edits – then Dave puts his magic touch to it doing the rewrites where necessary, proofing and formatting and editing and graphics and all that jazz. He catches all my glitches and makes the work shine. We both work at marketing.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
There have been far too many to list here… and I’m a voracious reader. Sometimes I’m intimidated by all the amazing works already out there and wonder how I can fit in, stand out, offer something substantial… and this comes out in our published work… I make a huge effort to be different, highly organized, say something useful and not waste words.
What are you working on now?
I just finished the final edits to our cookbook manuscript. This started out with a collection of over 300 recipes and we have refined it down to around 250. It will be called ‘From One Small Garden – Celebrating BC’s Garden Harvests’… I think. (ha ha) As the title implies, it encourages gardening and local produce markets – it educates via nutritional and historic information, tips for running an efficient kitchen, how to save energy and water and reduce food waste. The last chapter offers natural pest control, organic cleaners, and a few “beauty” recipes via ingredients found in the kitchen and a few essential oils. This book is also a way to celebrate people we’ve known that are no longer with us… as some of their recipes are included.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love doing interviews on blogs like yours, which enables me to reach a new audience and networking contacts. I’m pretty passionate about networking and managing the Brummet’s Conscious Blog gives me plenty of promotion opportunities. We have also had wonderful success with distributing bookmarks to hotels, tourist spots, music and book stores, gift shops, colleges and libraries. We have also utilized public bulletin boards where ever we travel and took out an ad in a popular regional newsletter. All our promotional and marketing efforts point to either our website or our blog – which leads to everything we do and have to offer.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be tenacious and don’t make anyone work for anything. Be prepared, have plenty to offer, have drafts written for various types of communications that you can tweak and target specific contacts, be polite, offer more than what you are asking, promote every event/interview, etc and be sure to followup with any comments or communications… also, be sure to thank people every chance you get.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be patient with the process; be patient with yourself.
What are you reading now?
Garden catalogues lol They are coming in the mail en masse now and I devour the pages with glee.
What’s next for you as a writer?
We are currently working on the cookbook design, formatting, images, cover design and all that fun stuff and then we have all those heavy new-book release activities to face so I’m not taking on much right now. However I do have a garden manuscript in rough draft and piles of notes for it, and I do intend on pursuing it. It began with my mother (master gardener/composter/market gardener/small farmer) who read everything she could get her hands on and tried out all kinds of experiments. I learned from her success and now that I’m 50, and have had my own successes that I’ve been recording over the years, I’m ready to compile all of this into one source if information.
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?
Shibumi (Trevianian), Startide Rising (David Brin), On Stranger Tides (Tim Powers), Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean Auel).
Author Websites and Profiles
Lillian and Dave Brummet Website
Lillian and Dave Brummet Amazon Profile
Lillian and Dave Brummet Author Profile on Smashwords
Lillian and Dave Brummet’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Thank you so much for including me in the series of interviews you offer here. I’m honoured and will spread the word on our blog and social media outlets.
In appreciation,
Lillian
The cookbook sounds wonderful! Congratulations on releasing the poetry book as well. I love it when authors write across multiple genres.
Thank you Ari Shaffer ! I’m so glad you enjoyed the interview and the kind comments about our 2 poetry books and the upcoming cookbook. I’m so excited to be working on this latest project.