Follow Your Dreams Interview with... My Dad!

Let me tell you a little bit about my Dad, Rick Higginson. In addition to bearing half the responsibility for bringing me into this world, he's probably about 90% responsible for the fact that I'm a writer (my Mom was in charge of my schooling, but Dad eventually took over my vocabulary and creative writing assignments, and he surely gave me a genetic predisposition towards story telling). While I have put my fiction writing on the back burner to focus on my dream of being a professional dancer, my Dad has fully embraced his inner author and is self-publishing his Christian science fiction stories. It's not easy to be a niche author, so I'm very proud of him for writing the stories he wants to tell for the audience that wants to read them. If you'd like to learn more about him, visit his blog, Pod Tales and Ponderings.

By the way, I wanted to run this LAST week in honor of Father's Day, but I've been so caught up in troupe costume madness that I didn't e-mail him until that Saturday. So Happy Belated Father's Day, Dad! Thank you for taking the time to share your dream with my readers! And now, on with the interview!

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your dream.

I'm Rick Higginson, and I'm pursuing my dream of being a writer.

 

When did you decide to follow your dream? What pushed you to do it? 

 

I've wanted to follow it since I was a teen, but I think what really shifted me from the "someday" mode to the "get with it" mode was the options that are now available to writers, that we did not have thirty years ago. The "push," if you will, was simply that drive that comes from the characters becoming real to me.

 

There's a lot of debate in the writing community about traditional publishing versus self-publishing versus ebooks. What made you choose self-publishing? 

 

One of the determining factors was that "Cardan's Pod" had first run as a serialized novel on Collector Times. As such, the only way I would ever get a traditional publisher to consider it, is if it were already selling enough copies to make good business sense to them to pick it up. Few traditional publishers will even consider something that has been "previously published," regardless of the previous format. Self-publishing allowed me to get the book finalized and into print, and to start building a readership.

You recently had a Kickstarter to fund the editing and printing of your second novel, Marta's Pod. Would you recommend crowd-sourcing to other aspiring authors?

 

It is definitely a viable option to cover the various expenses of taking a manuscript from the revision stage to the finalized, published product. The costs of the various steps needed can add up to quite a sum (editing alone for "Marta's Pod" is going to be about $950, and it is worth every penny), and many new authors just don't have the extra money lying around. Crowd-sourcing allows for family, friends, and even complete strangers, to partner with the author in getting the book into print.

What was the hardest part of following your dream?

 

Accepting that very few writers actually make a living at it. This is the kind of dream one must pursue out of love for the art, and not out of a promise of a lucrative career. Some writers make very good money, but like most arts, those that do are a very small minority.

When you told people about your dream, what sort of reaction did you get? Did that affect your decision to do it anyway?

 

The reaction when I was young was very much the above information. What really affected my decision to postpone pursuing the dream, was meeting author Richard Armour back in High School. He advised a group of us aspiring young writers to keep the day job, and write for the love of writing. He commented about how the pressures of the deadlines and the need for a paycheck can quickly destroy our love of the art, until it becomes just another job.

Was there a point where you wanted to just give up? If so, what inspired you to keep going?

 

There was a long stretch where I all but resigned myself to the idea that writing was just a pipe dream. I think what kept me going is the same thing that keeps many fiction writers going - my characters just wouldn't go away. I've heard some writers complain about "writer's block," but honestly, I think I have the opposite problem. I don't seem to be able to block my characters out.

You wrote one book when I was very young, and then started writing again when I was an adult. I don't remember you really writing during my childhood -- what inspired you to start writing again?

 

Actually, there were several times during those years when I made some false starts on several stories, and just never got very far with them. The original idea for "Cardan's Pod" actually dates back to about 1993, and it wasn't long after that I knew the basics of how the story would begin and how I wanted it to end, but there was just a gap there I couldn't quite fill. It wasn't until about 2004 that the "keystone" scene occurred to me, and then I couldn't write it fast enough. That was what it took to kickstart my writing again.

Your work has some religious themes to it and you were recently invited to participate on some panels at the upcoming Faith Writers conference in Portland Oregon. Would you like to tell my readers a bit about the conference?

 

Well, since this is my first time at the Conference, I only have a general idea what to expect. However, the Faithwriters Conferences are geared towards encouraging Christian writers, and offering them workshops on different aspects of both the art side and the business side of writing. Since, so far, I'm much better at writing books than I am at being a salesman, I'm looking forward to the workshops on marketing aspects.

Any parting words of advice for those who are hesitating to follow their dreams?

I love this quote from John Barrymore. "A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." If we pursue our dreams, and they don't work out the way we'd hoped, then at least we gave it a shot. If we just assume it won't work out, though, we're going to reach the end of our lives steeped in regret and wondering, "what if?" We don't always have to abandon a steady job to pursue a dream. We may have to be creative to find ways to integrate our dreams into the everyday realities and responsibilities we live with, but life is too short to just accept defeat without ever facing the challenge.

Happy Hostess

I've been busy playing hostess for my wonderful mother-in-law this week, so I've been lax in my blogging duties. However, I have been keeping busy as a dancer. On Monday we went to Ren Faire and I danced at the drum jam at the end of the day. On Tuesday I went to class. On Wednesday I took my MIL to Fonda's beginner tribal class, which consisted of the two of us and my Mom, so much fun! Then tonight I performed a solo at the Open Stage and then we went to Plush to see the RAW Artists show, which Jolie was dancing in.

It's good to be able to keep up with my classes and performances while having a guest -- it helps that my MIL is incredibly supportive of my dancing. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to spend a week sharing my house with someone who disapproved of what I do!

Anyway, time for sleep and lots of it.

Quiet Mood

I haven't really been in a networking/blogging sort of mood lately, honestly. I suppose I haven't really had any profound insights to share lately, and sometimes it feels like I'm just speaking into a void anyway. So here's a quick recap of the past few days:

Classes: Anaya classes on Thursday, went well, worked on some moves I already knew fairly well but could use the practice on. Really struggled with staying focused though, because my husband got home from a biz trip while I was at class and I wanted to be home with him instead of dancing. Anyway, on Saturday I tried out Jolie's community class, along with my friend Jen who was visiting from Tempe. We had a good time, got to do a mini-choreo that focused on various 8 shapes.

Shopping: Hey, it's gem show season! I went out shopping! I failed to find more tribal hair sticks, which made me sad. I did get a new belt and a long tassel made of smaller tassels, and another strand of coins, because I can never have too many coins. Also I bought a basket, because tribal girls carry their stuff in baskets and it was green! And two pairs of pants which can be worn for class or solos or fun, and they're also green. I even found a cool cover up and guess what? IT'S GREEN!

Solo: Working on a new solo to perform at the Open Dance on the 23rd. I may do Lovely Creature instead, but it's good to have something new to work on.

Family: My brother is now a performer, too! He's been doing fire spinning for a few years, and working as a fire safety for our local fire troupe, Elemental Artistry. He recently decided that it was time to try his hand at performing and on Friday he had his debut, doing rope dart. It was pretty badass and he didn't light his beard or the audience on fire. I'm such a proud big sister!

Go Mom!

Just got back from Fonda's intermediate tribal class, and I had a pleasant surprise when I got there -- my Mom had taken the beginner class! Go Mom!

Class was fun, we did some drills and learned a couple new moves and practiced dancing and even had a few minutes of free-style solo dancing to get people used to the idea of solos. Of course, some of us were already more than comfortable with that ;)