Interview with Robert Fate- author of Baby Shark and Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues
Well folks, this is my interview with the
charming Robert Fate. It is short you say? There is a good reason
for that. When it comes to promoting his books, Mr. Fate is one
of the hardest working authors. So he has done many interviews
and each one
is better than the next. So our advice is to Google "Robert Fate" and
check out some of the other great interviews out there. You will find
out 2 important facts:
1. Robert Fate is a really funny guy.
2. He has a turtle named Pharrell
But to add to the info, and so I did not
feel left out, I decided to ask Mr. Fate two questions:
If you could get anyone in
the world (dead or alive) to read
your book who would it be and why?
Well, Barb, that is a really scary question and
here’s why.
Let’s say I admire a living writer and would very much like the
approval of
that writer. You know, nothing major. Just an ataboy would do the
trick.
Ataboy, Bob. Go get ’em would do nicely. But, what if the writer I
admire
didn’t think I deserved an ataboy? Hello – that’s not
pretty. See what I mean?
So, what am I left with facing a question like yours? I can take a
chance that
the admired writer never learns that I want to know his/her opinion of
my book
and give you a name. Or… I could name a deceased relative that loved
me, but
thought I was a bit of a scatterbrain and now I am a published author…
you get
the picture. That would work—an honest answer, an equally weighted
choice. What
to do? And there are rumors that writers are insecure. You know my
mother told
me that my father said once that if I drowned to look for me upstream.
I was
the last of six children and kind of a surprise to a mother forty-five
and a
father fifty-five. They may have spoiled me—in fact, I’m sure they did.
I lost
my dad to cancer when I was sixteen. So maybe he might be the right guy
to whom
to hand a copy of Baby Shark. Yeah, I’m liking this direction. This one
is for
you, Dad.
What is the one question no one has asked you in an
interview that you wish they would?
Do you ever read your own books?
You know how actors are always asked if they watch their own
films? The answer is – sure, I read my own novels and it’s painful.
Because
what I see are the changes that I would make if I could. I can’t speak
for all
writers, but I’ll bet most would agree that a book is never finished.
There’s
always something. When I’m writing
the book and after it’s written, I read it aloud. My wife will come to
the door
and ask me what I’m ranting about. I’m talking to Bob, I say. I call
myself Bob
when I’m talking to myself. You’re frightening Pharrell, she says.
Which
reminds me – do you or any of your readers know where I can get
earplugs for a
turtle? So, yes. I read my own books and I read them aloud. Another
reason I am
driven to read my own books is that after reading a review, good or
bad, I have
a tendency to ask myself if the reviewer is talking about my book. What
did the
reviewer mean by that? Is that really the underlying motif of my book?
That
sort of thing.
Thanks, Barb. It’s always a pleasure to face
a grilling by
you.
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