On Reading with Robin

JAN: I met Robin Kall about five years ago at a book conference. I was researching A Confidential Source, and because I had a talk radio host as a major character, I needed to learn how talk radio stations worked. Robin helped me get inside WHJJ in Providence and introduced me to some of its radio stars. Within a year, she had her very own radio show – devoted to books. Reading With Robin airs on WHJJ (920a.m.) from 7 to 8 a.m. Saturday mornings, and can be heard via podcast on her website. ttp://http://www.readingwithrobin.com/.

I was Robin's very first guest, but since then she’s hosted everyone from Jodi Picoult to Alice Hoffman to David Baldacci.

JRW: Tell us about how you got into talk radio.

Robin: I was the least likely person to even listen to anything on the AM dial. But it was at a point in my life when I was working from home and desperately bored. When I first tuned into Imus in the morning show, it was on one of the local FM rock stations. I soon became “Robin from Providence.” Once addicted, I wanted more and more, which as addicts will tell you, is the way it works. Then I found the John DePetro show, which was local Rhode Island show on WHJJ, and became a frequent caller to John’s show.

JRW: How did you go from caller to host?

Robin: I began going into the studio – invited of course – and started writing for the show. Then I did some fill in work, as host, which was much harder than I thought. About a year later, I pitched an idea – about a show devoted to reading books. And they liked the idea.

JRW: Tell us about the Reading With Robin program. What were your goals for the program?

Robin: The goal is to bring wonderful authors to my audience – to share the books that should not be missed and to have a lot of fun chatting about the writing process – and anything else that comes into my head. One long term goal, which I just realized, was to finally have podcasts of the show added to my website. Now people can tune in whenever it’s convenient for them – and without any nasty commercial interruption.

JRW: Any goals not yet realized?

Robin: My major long term goal is to write my own novel. I prefer to think rather than do the actual writing, though. This interview has been more than I’ve written in a while.

JRW. Long before you had your own radio show, you had a love of books. What fostered that love?

Robin: My mother. She was such a lover of books and whenever she had free time, which wasn’t often, we could find her reading a novel. She would always have a book on her nightstand and I would note how often the titles would change. After she passed away, I took one of her book collections, which I keep in my library. I keep them in the same order she left them on our family bookshelves and love looking up at the spines.

JRW: What’s your best advice for authors trying to get publicity on a radio show?

Robin: Send an email to the producer of the show that includes a short bio and some info about the book and why it might work on a specific radio show you are interested in. Follow up once, but if they are not interested, being a pest/nudge is not going to be helpful. Sometimes it’s just timing (nothing personal).

JRW: Any special traits that make an author a better guest?

Robin: Even if the book isn’t particularly funny, I appreciate it when the author has a good sense of humor and isn’t taking it all too seriously. I like to have a good time on the show, and be able to go off topic – as I’m doing here.

JRW: What’s your favorite question of authors?

Robin: If it’s as hard as it seems to get a book published and should the rest of us even bother trying. I love hearing the stories about the road to publishing, the rejections, the doubts, and the drama.

JRW: What are the perks of having your own show about reading??

Robin: the biggest perk is getting to talk to these incredible authors. Henry Winkler was a guest last summer and if that wasn’t cool, I don’t know what is. Meeting Judy Blume, who was the author of my favorite all time children's book, was another real treat for me.

Another perk is that I get to use the microphone to help raise money for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk each year. It’s something I have been passionate about for many, many years.

JWR: What are the burdens of your show?? How many books do you read a week, and how many books are stacked up in your living room?

Robin: Burdens? There are no burdens. When there are burdens I will stop doing the show. For me, it’s a passion and I love preparing each week for it. I usually read 1-2 books a week. I have too many books to count in every room in the house. I buy books, they are sent to me, I get them at conferences, but I never borrow books. Ever. I don’t want to have to remember to give them back.

And now, the Jungle Red Writers Quiz:Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple?

ROBIN: HUH???

JRW: Sex or Violence?

ROBIN: NOT SO BIG ON VIOLENCE ALTHOUGH AM A BIG FAN OF ALL THINGS MAFIA AND FOR SOME REASON THAT VIOLENCE DOESN’T BOTHER ME….GO FIGURE!
SEX IN BOOKS AND MOVIES IS GOOD. I’VE READ MUCH BETTER SEX SCENES THAN ALMOST ANTYHING I’VE SEEN IN THE MOVIES. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A WELL WRITTEN SEX SCENE!

JRW: Chocolate or Pizza?
ROBIN: CAN’T I CHOOSE BOTH??

JRW: Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan?
ROBIN: NOT SURE WHO DANIEL CRAIG IS AND I DO KNOW PIERCE BROSNAN SO I’LL GO (ANYWHERE!) WITH HIM….EVEN AFTER WATCHING THE MOVIE VERSION OF MAMA MIA (MAMA MIA!!!!)

JRW: Katherine or Audrey Hepburn?
ROBIN: OH,NO…THIS IS TOUGHER THAN THE PIZZA/CHOCOLATE QUESTION. I DO LOVE THEM BOTH!! IF I REALLY HAD TO CHOOSE….I THINK I’LL PICK CHOCOLATE AND CHOOSE BOTH HEPBURNS! WE HAVE EXTENSIVE COLLECTIONS OF BOTH HEPBURNS AND THERE IS NOTHING LIKE WATCHING THEM WITH A TRAY OF TRUFFLES!!

JRW: First person or third?

ROBIN: GOOD QUESTION….ROBIN MUCH PREFERS READING BOOKS IN THE FIRST PERSON! (OR SO I’VE HEARD!!)

JRW: Prologue or no prologue?

ROBIN: CERTAINLY A TIME AND PLACE FOR PROLOGUE (AT THE BEGINNING?) BUT I PREFER TO DIVE RIGHT INTO THE STORY AND FIGURE OUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE COME FIRST FOR MYSELF!

JRW: Making dinner or making reservations?

ROBIN: A TRICK QUESTION!! WHILE MAKING RESERVATIONS WOULD BE THE OBVIOUS CHOICE FOR ME NOT SO AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME. WE HAVE BEEN UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR THE PAST ALMOST 5 MONTHS WITH A KITCHEN ADDITION AND FIRST FLOOR REWORKING SO I HAVE NOT HAD A WORKING KITCHEN SINCE MAY!! MAY I SAY THE NOVELTY HAS WORN OFF AND I SOMETIMES DREAM ABOUT THE FIRST THINGS I’LL PREPARE (OR EVEN WARM UP!)ONCE THE NEW KITCHEN IS UP AND RUNNING!

JRW: Tell us four things about yourself: Three true things and one lie; we'll guess which:

RED IS MY BEST COLOR

I WAS ENGAGED MY SENIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE

I HAVE NEVER EATEN TUNA FISH

I WATCH A TON OF TELEVISION

ON AUDIENCE

“When I write I aim in my mind not toward New York but a little east of Kansas.”
John Updike
“I don’t write for my friends or myself…I write for it for the pleasure of it.”
Eudora Welty
“I’ve always tried out material on my dogs first.”
John Steinbeck



HALLIE:
When I first started writing, I had no idea if what I was writing was any good at all. My sister Delia, whom I trust completely because she never sacrifices honesty for nice-ness, was the first person who asked me that awful question when I gave her an early essay: “And what exactly is the point you’re trying to make?” To which I said, uh, ah, well… because I didn’t really know. She was also the first person to say, “You’ve got talent.” Her saying it made me believe in myself. Is that pathetic or what?

So, who do you write for? Whom do you trust to read your work in progress?

RO:
Good questions. This is probably a little scary (especially if you're my editor) but I wrote Pushing Up Daisies for myself. The only platforms I thought about were in a shoebox in my closet. I thought I had a pretty good story to tell and wanted to see if I could tell it. And I did. And eventually two other people thought it was pretty good. So now I guess I'm writing for the three of us. Nobody reads my work in progress. After a third or fourth draft, I'll let my pal Kathy read it, and trust her to tell me if I've lost my mind. Are you volunteering?

HANK:
I'll read it! I'll read it! I can't believe you haven't let me read it yet, as a matter of fact.

When I was writing Prime Time, I would bring in my daily pages and make my husband (a lawyer) read them. He would dutifully read, dutifully laugh. Then then, after a few weeks, about chapter 5 or five, he said, Honey, is something going to happen soon? Yeah, I knew that was a problem. So he still reads, but I fear it's as much for reassurance that I'm not terrible or making some embarrassing legal mistake.

Still, now working on the revisions of book 2 and the proposal synopsis for book 3--at every page, at every word, I picture someone else reading what I wrote. Over my shoulder. Shrugging. Commenting the whole way. Huh, so what's original about that, one hovering 'reader' will say. Oh, that's kind of funny. Yeah, okay I like it. Whoa, unlikely, says another. Predictable. Hilarious. Tangential. The voices are constant. It's like writing with an imaginary but pushy critique group.

If I please the ghost readers, I'll try it on real people. But only when I'm completely finished. No one else reads it along the way.

JAN:
I think in the first draft, for the most part, I'm writing just to make it all work, to make it surprising, and to reveal the characters -- especially the brand new ones -- to myself. I have to figure out who everybody is, what they are after, and how they are going to collide.

On the second draft, I'm thinking a lot more about the reader and I'm looking for ways to make the writing sharper and richer, and the characters deeper. I've got a picture in my mind of the tired, fatigued eyes, reading my book in bed at the end of a long day, and I'm trying like hell to make them jump on to the next chapter -- despite the late hour.

As for who I trust to read my in progress? That's you Hallie. Barbara and Floyd, too. My writers group helps keep me from taking too many wrong turns, along the way. At the very end, I give it to a few trusted volunteers with fresh eyes, usually my cousin Laurie and my friend and fellow writer, Naomi Rand to read the novel as a whole. If I have time, I give it to Robin Kall, a Rhode Island buddy, to catch the Rhode Island mistakes.

HALLIE:
Yes, thank goodness for the writing group. But sometimes I wish I was the kind of writer who was so sure of herself that I could just write without showing it to anyone. That thing about writing being a solitary endeavour isn't really what it's like for many of us. I suppose if I didn't have them there would be little voices in my head, and then you never know where that takes you.