Blog of the Week – Writer Unboxed

By Patrick Van Gorder

We’ve chosen Writer Unboxed as our second Blog of the Week. Writer Unboxed (www.writerunboxed.com) provides an illuminating and accessible glimpse of the struggles and successes of today’s professional writers. I talked with Kathleen Bolton, one of the sites founders, and the author of Confessions of a First Daughter, under the pen name Cassidy Calloway.

WritersNewsWeekly: What is the creative concept behind Writer Unboxed? What do you hope that it will contribute to the “blogosphere?” Is WU your creation, if so how did you conceive of it?

Kathleen Bolton: Fellow writer buddy, critique partner and now published author Therese Walsh and I started Writer Unboxed as a way to connect with other aspiring novelists and post empowering pieces on the crazy business of writing fiction. We also conduct interviews with novelists and industry professionals in the hopes that the information is of use to writers. We now have ten regular contributors and many guest bloggers post helpful articles about the industry. That's our mission statement: empower other writers to realize their dream, whatever that may be.

WNW: Writer Unboxed is something of an ensemble blog – what are the benefits and challenges of working as part of large team of accomplished writers? Does anyone work as an editor for WU, assigning pieces to other writers, or are your writers all self-directed?

KB: We brought on other contributors because we felt it was important to add other voices about the writer's experience other than just Therese and I, and what better way than to give published authors and publishing professionals a forum to talk about writing. The only direction we tell our contributors is that the post be inspiring or informative to writers -- other than that, they can write about whatever they want. Novel-writing is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and it helps aspiring authors to realize that published authors go through the same doubts, the same writer's blocks, and the same highs that they do.

WNW: You are a professional writer and mother with presumably a lot on your plate. You are also personally very active on WU. Is it sometimes difficult to find time and balance for all of your creative endeavors? How do you think that blogging helps or hurts other aspects of your writing?

KB: Life gets crazed at times, and I'm not gonna lie, blogging does take up a lot of time. Our interviews are a fair bit of work because we read the books of the authors we interview so we can delve into the guts of their creative process. We don't do a "one questionnaire fits all" interview. But it's worth it, especially now that both Therese and I are published. We've had a lot of support from our readers, and we love to cheer them on when they achieve their successes.

WNW: What are the benefits of blogging for aspiring and established writers in terms of being “discovered” or selling copies?

KB: Being online can increase an author's awareness to consumers who may be receptive to their work, that is one benefit. But it's not a magic bullet, either. Networking can help open a few doors, but I don't think blogging in and of itself helps anyone get "discovered". The only way you can get published is if you do the hard work of learning your craft and writing a really great book. There's no magic formula. If there was, everyone would be published.

WNW: What do you think the implications of this relatively new medium – the blog – for creative society as a whole, and the publishing industry in particular?

KB: The great thing about being online is that it closes the distance between us. We have readers from all over the world, and contributors from the U.K. and Australia. The distance between us is basically non-existent. If you have a computer and internet access, you can find the support and inspiration from your fellow writers who are also online.

WNW: Where do you see this technological revolution going? Is paper dead? Will we all have IPhones and Kindles in five years?

KB: Books are not dead for many of us. But the younger generation is definitely more comfortable with digital. If technology continues to get cheaper and more accessible, then yeah, it's possible books might disappear. But the desire for people to be told a good story will never go away. It's in the human DNA.

Kathleen Bolton's author page (under Cassidy Calloway)
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/35352/Cassidy_Calloway/index.aspx

Therese Walsh's website: http://theresewalsh.com/