Interview With Author Preston Lewis
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author of 60 books, including traditional westerns, historical novels, young adult books, and nonfiction works as well as numerous articles and short stories. I have been honored with three Spur Awards from Western Writers of America and eleven Will Rogers Medallion Awards, including seven gold medallions.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, co-authored with my wife Harriet Kocher Lewis, is Pintsized Pioneers at Play: Homemade Frontier Fun and Danger. It is the sequel to our Spur Award-winning YA book Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time. The original Pintsized Pioneers was inspired by watching TikTok posts about Millennials and Gen Z’ers complaining about having to go to work or follow work rules by their employers. I was raised with a strong work ethic and wanted to demonstrate how easy kids today have it, compared to all the chores children did on the frontier. Research into their chores also revealed what children and teens did for entertainment on the frontier and led to Pintsized Pioneers at Play, our latest book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writing in and of itself is an unusual habit. Nothing in particular comes to mind out of the ordinary other than I drink Diet Mountain Dew to keep me going.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a youngster, these authors were particularly influential. First was Mark Twain, who could tell a story with depth and humor. Second was J. Frank Dobie, whose accounts and folk tales of early cowboys first fascinated me about the Old West and its history. The third was Ernie Pyle, the nation’s most beloved World War II correspondent. He wrote with humility and compassion and showed me you could make a living as a journalist, so I went into journalism and newspapers, which provided a solid foundation for writing books. As an adult, the fiction authors that were influential were Elmer Kelton, Loren Estleman, Douglas C. Jones, and Jeanne Williams. Nonfiction authors I’ve enjoyed included Daniel Boorstin, Stephen Ambrose, Walter Lord, Cornelius Ryan, Robert M. Utley, Elliott West and Frederick Nolan.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a YA novel on the famous bucking horse Steamboat, and I’m trying my hand at some screenplays based on my previous novels. I’m also developing a character for a new comic western series.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m better at writing than self-promotion or marketing, so I use Blue Cottage Agency for marketing. The BCA team has done a wonderful job in promoting my works and setting up a professional website at prestonlewisauthor.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’ll pass along advice given to me by three journalists or authors. First, my primary journalism professor at Baylor University, David McHam, told me early in my writing career that “Good writing is good editing.” This freed me of the burden of getting it all right on the first draft. Usually I go through three drafts. The first is just to get something down on the screen. The second draft tries to clear up plot and character inconsistencies while doing a heavy edit. The third draft is to polish the manuscript and make it shine. Second came a solid piece of advice from the greatest Western Writer of all time, Elmer Kelton. His advice to all new writers was “don’t quit your day-job.” The third piece of advice came from Jeanne Williams, the author I consider my fiction-writing mentor, who told me “perseverance trumps talent so stick with it.”
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As above, “perseverance trumps talent so stick with it.”
What are you reading now?
Unimaginable: What Our World Would Be Like without Christianity by Jeremiah Johnston; A Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg—The Aftermath of a Battle by Gregory A. Coco; and Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion by Elliott West.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Trying my hand at screenplays and starting another comic western series in the vein of my eight comic westerns in The Memoirs of H.H. Lomax series.
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?
The Bible; The Americans Trilogy by Daniel Boorstin; The Longhorns by J. Frank Dobie; and Brave Men by Ernie Pyle.
Author Websites and Profiles
Preston Lewis’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.