Ask the Author: Phil Bayly
Answered Questions (6)
Phil Bayly
I was asked this question recently by Prairies Book Review. It was worded like this, "If you could tell your younger writing-self anything, what would it be?" So here is how I answered her:
I doubt that I'd listen (much like my true younger self), but I'd say, "You should put your heart and soul into writing a novel and then burn it. Forget it, it's not good enough anyway. Then, write a second novel over long days and nights, and using all those hard-learned lessons. And do the same thing. Burn it."
That may seem harsh. But few of us begin by writing very good books. I wish I had followed that advise.
It is an amazing achievement just to write a novel (with 65,000 words or more) and I give anyone credit for doing so. But there is so much to learn. So, learn it from doing it. That's the only way to learn it. Write. Learn things about yourself as a writer. Learn things about your subject matter.
I doubt that I'd listen (much like my true younger self), but I'd say, "You should put your heart and soul into writing a novel and then burn it. Forget it, it's not good enough anyway. Then, write a second novel over long days and nights, and using all those hard-learned lessons. And do the same thing. Burn it."
That may seem harsh. But few of us begin by writing very good books. I wish I had followed that advise.
It is an amazing achievement just to write a novel (with 65,000 words or more) and I give anyone credit for doing so. But there is so much to learn. So, learn it from doing it. That's the only way to learn it. Write. Learn things about yourself as a writer. Learn things about your subject matter.
Phil Bayly
I'm currently (winter of '22) working on my next Murder on Skis Mystery. It will be released in the autumn of 2022. I really like it. I hope you will find it a fun read.
Phil Bayly
I'm currently working on book five in my Murder on Skis series. But, we're preparing to release book three this autumn, "Back Dirt: A Murder on Skis Mystery," so I'll focus on that. "Back Dirt" unfolds at a ski resort in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York (The first two MOS mysteries are told from Montana and Colorado). But "Back Dirt" also draws readers into the mysteries of archaeology and the historic warfare that is a part of the Adirondacks story. These are both subjects I covered as a television reporter, on more than one occasion. For every 90-second story I put on the news, there was often days of research that preceded it. If there is one common remark that I heard from the occasional visitor who was allowed to spend a day with me as our crew put together a story for the news, it was "Wow. All that goes into what we see on the news that night for a minute and a half?!" Yep, so many of my story ideas now going into books begin with notes I scribbled down in my Reporter's Notebook over the years.
Phil Bayly
Hi Vicki, Thanks for your interest. So, my first novel, "Murder on Skis," takes place in Montana. My second Murder on Skis novel, titled "Loving Lucy," unfolds in Colorado (All of my books have some footing in Colorado, as that's where JC Snow lives and works). My third Murder on Skis novel, titled "Back Dirt," comes out this fall, 2021 and involves the Adirondacks of Upstate New York. I like using ski resorts as a vehicle for a mystery that might otherwise have nothing to do with skiing. Ski resorts exist all over the world. The people are always dynamic but different, the back-story of each community is always different (There is always some true history in my books) and the reasons people do the things they do can wildly vary. Thanks!
Phil Bayly
Honestly, there's never a day that I don't want to write. As a journalist for over four decades, I loved to write the story after all my research was complete (Though in journalism, the story is never finished. Things keep changing. Whatever was, may be no longer). The pandemic was awful, but it was great for my writing. I finished my second book and completed two more! So, all that prevents me from writing today will be the other phase of being a struggling artist with a small but supportive publisher: informing readers that I exist. Readers seem to like my books, when they find them. And that's rewarding.
Phil Bayly
The hours! For the last fifteen years of my career in television journalism, I crawled out of bed at midnight and arrived at work to anchor the morning news that began at 5am (I liked to write my own material. So, I got there by 1am).
Sleep deprivation became a lifestyle.
In that respect, I'm much better off now.
I always knew that I'd write books. "Murder on Skis" sat on a shelf for twenty years. There wasn't time to be a good journalist and try to be a good novelist. I finally had to make a clean cut, walking away from a #1 rated television news show and a lot of friends at the end of 2017.
Sleep deprivation became a lifestyle.
In that respect, I'm much better off now.
I always knew that I'd write books. "Murder on Skis" sat on a shelf for twenty years. There wasn't time to be a good journalist and try to be a good novelist. I finally had to make a clean cut, walking away from a #1 rated television news show and a lot of friends at the end of 2017.
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