Interview With Author Rich Nelson
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have self-published one previous book – With Fresh Eyes – a collection of columns from my two-year stint (2018-2020) at the Norton/Lakeshore Examiner newspaper, which serves West Michigan. I have recently contributed essays to the American Humanist Association and the “Damfinos” (the Buster Keaton International Fan Club) online magazine. By the way, my hometown – Muskegon, Michigan – hosts the Damfinos every October for their annual convention, celebrating Keaton’s great film career. He got his start in vaudeville, with his family act “The 3 Keatons.” Buster considered Muskegon his hometown, as his family, along with many vaudevillians, spent their summers here in Muskegon during the early 1900s – a welcomed break from traveling the country performing their vaudeville acts. I am a retired college instructor and social worker, and writing has blossomed since my retirement seven years ago. I also dabble in photography, kayak Michigan rivers, and spend time on the nearby beaches of Lake Michigan on leisurely summer afternoons. Favorite travel destinations over the years have included New York, London, and Paris. From my travels, I have run the Chicago and New York City marathons, backpacked the Grand Canyon, and parasailed and snorkeled on Maui.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This Tender Man – My Father’s Story. Only after my father’s death in 1993 did I learn of my father’s near-fatal bout with malaria, stationed with the Army on the Pacific island of New Guinea during WWII. I reached out to the surviving members of his company and found out about his journey into war and the conditions the soldiers faced – the malarial mosquitoes, the relentless rains, the nearly impenetrable jungles, and the heat and humidity. My father, like so many other soldiers thrown into war, revealed little about his tour of duty. Along the way, I discovered more about his family (his parents emigrated from Sweden, settling in Muskegon in the early 1900s), his boyhood, his coming of age during the Great Depression, and his war years. Researching and writing this book was a therapeutic journey for me, coming to terms with an amiable yet tentative relationship with my father.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing out of the ordinary. I do need to force myself from time to time to sit down in front of the computer to write, particularly on days that beckon me outside.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Recently, I have returned to books that I read in my youth, gaining new perspective and appreciation of great writing. John Steinbeck has been such an inspiration. This year, I came back to Travels with Charley, The Pearl, and The Grapes of Wrath. I also have gone back to some Hemingway and John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird remains an enduring influence.
What are you working on now?
Several short essays on various topics. I don’t have another book in me right at the moment.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Since the focus of my book is Dad’s service in WWII and his fight with malaria, several WWII websites and the WWII Museum in New Orleans are good sources of information and promotional ideas.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. Read. Repeat.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t remember the source of this quote, but I have it on my desk: “Writing can simply be about incorporating the mundane, the daily existence, and the commonality of man (and woman) into a story that can resonate with the many.”
What are you reading now?
Re-reading Bewilderment by Richard Powers, a 2021 novel about a widowed astrobiologist father raising his brilliant yet troubled 9-year-old son. A masterfully written work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory. Bewilderment is my favorite book of recent past.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Again, short essays on various topics. And, coming up with an idea for another book.
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?
To Kill A Mockingbird
Grapes of Wrath
A collection of stories by Shirley Jackson
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