Episode 87 of the Kobo Writing Life podcast features a keynote address from one of When Words Collide’s 2016 Guest of Honour, Eve Silver. Eve is a national bestselling author of books for adults and teens, has won the Ontario Library Association’s “Forest of Reading White Pine Award” and has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines.
Eve is introduced by Randy McCharles, When Words Collide Chair, and who happens to also be a successful author.
In her keynote talk from When Words Collide, Eve talks about:
- Writing her first book at the age of 9
- The first form-letter rejection she received at that same age, which crushed her “little writer’s heart”
- A short story she wrote at the age of 16 for a high school assignment which led to a teacher calling out her talent
- The next teacher she encountered who wasn’t as fond of the fiction Eve was writing for her homework assignments and how that represented the second time her “little writer’s heart” was crushed
- The first romance novel she wrote, which was a historical romance novel
- Advice from her parents that writers don’t make any money, which led to her university degree in science
- Her supportive husband who recognized that her heart was never in science, but in writing
- The writing course she took, which re-ignited the spark in her “littler writer’s heart”
- The manuscript that shall remained buried in her back-yard
- The fact that if you are a writer, you write, no matter how many times your “little writer’s heart” is crushed
- The regular process of submission, rejection, submission, rejection that Eve persisted through
- An important look at the sixteen editors from seven different publishing houses she has worked with (and how most of them had originally rejected her in her early attempts) – but she persisted
- The fact that writing and publishing is a business and the importance of not holding grudges
- The post-apocalyptic trans-Siberian trucker romance novel that she originally couldn’t sell, but which did eventually sell and went on to receive a stared review in Publishers Weekly and was chosen as Library Journal’s best genre fiction for that year
- Doing what you have to do in order to keep writing – because writers write and authors sacrifice
- The challenge of getting rid of the “doubt weasel” that can sit on a writer’s shoulder
- The fact that writing isn’t just what you do, but it’s who you are
A selection of Dark Gothic and Urban Fantasy titles by Eve Silver. Click here to see her books on Kobo
Inspired by Eve’s talk, Mark is reminded of one of his favorite quotes about writing from Hugh Prather (“If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write.”) then shares a few thoughts on the concept of what can happen to the “little writer heart” with all the types of rejection (either from publishers or from lack of sales), as well as a reminder about the important theme in Eve’s message, that writers write, no matter what.
The quote from Hugh Prather on the wall near Mark’s writing space
Links of Interest:
When Words Collide Facebook Group
Randy McCharles’ Books on Kobo
Listen to Julie E. Czerneda’s keynote talk from When Words Collide (Episode 79)
Eve Silver writes for both adults and teens. She has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines. Eve’s work won the OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award (2015), was shortlisted for the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy (2014), and was both an American Bookseller’s Association Best Book for Children and a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens (2013). She has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Quill and Quire, two RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, Library Journal’s Best Genre Fiction Award, and she was nominated for the Romance Writers of America® RITA® Award. Eve lives with her husband, two sons, an energetic Airedale terrier and an exuberant border collie/shepherd. And a snake called Ragnar.
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