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Tim O'Byrne |
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Tim’s 18Q |
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The Eighteen Questions |
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18Q |
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Bibliography |
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1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you? It chose me, in 1992 my wife suggested I write a book about working cow dogs, so I did and that was the start.
2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.) Tim O’Byrne was born in Zweibrucken, Germany, the son of a career Air Force man stationed overseas. His father retired in Calgary, Alberta in 1975, and Tim took up cowboying after graduating high school two years later. During the next 17 years he rode for large-scale commercial cattle ranches in Nevada, Alberta and British Columbia, eventually holding positions as Chapperon foreman at Douglas Lake Ranch and cowboss of the Gang Ranch. To round out his experience in the feedlot, he spent time as Homelot foreman at Van Raay Farms in Alberta, an 85,000 head cattle feeding operation.
O’Byrne and his wife Christine launched Calico Beef Consulting in 1994. Their consulting business focuses on cattle handling, facility design, transportation of livestock, animal welfare policy and agricultural law.
He has been published over 150 times in popular magazines such as Western Horseman and Canadian Cattleman and has authored two books on the lifestyle of working cowboys. His latest book, the award-winning Cowboys and Buckaroos, Trade Secrets of a North American Icon, is published through the Western Horseman book series.
O’Byrne is the editor of Working Ranch magazine. He and Christine live in Henderson , Nevada . Their son, Mark, is a United States Marine.
3. When did you 'know' you were a writer? When I was writing for some major magazines and letters to the editor kept coming in from readers who liked my work.
4. How would you describe your style of writing? Colorful, thought provoking, many-layered, often irreverent, sprinkled with self-deprecating humor.
5. What is your writing process? Wait until the inspiration creates a great deal of energy and pressure, then release it in a non-stop writing blitz.
6. What was your path to publication? I submitted my first manuscript, Cowboys and Dog Tales, to several publishers. A-listers passed, and number 13 on the B-list picked it up and told me they'd need to rewrite it with somebody else, said it wasn't "colorful" enough. I said, "to heck with that, you want color, I can do that," and I rewrote it myself (of course I credit my wife Christine for her superb contribution to inspiring and pre-editing all my manuscripts and editorials).
7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea? Avoid it altogether. I'd rather have 6% of a worldwide professional marketing campaign with no headaches, than 100% of trying to sell, sell, sell out my garage or basement (or car trunk).
8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer? The power of connecting a small idea or concept you may have, with a reader who totally identifies with that concept, its like they have been waiting for someone to write it out for them, and they are grateful.
9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity? I tried to force myself to become inspired, and that didn't work. Instead, I just allow my natural inquisitive nature to follow the path, like a river, it will lead me to the right place, right time, and help me to ask the right questions.
10. What is your proudest writer moment? I had two, actually, becoming editor of Working Ranch magazine, and winning an American Horse Publications award with my book Cowboys and Buckaroos (the only award given to a book in the Western Horseman series in 4 decades).
11. What's the best advice you were given about writing? My wife, who is an artist, told me to "paint a picture with words, take me there, I want to smell it, hear it, feel it and taste it. Don't hold back."
12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment? I wrote an editorial and quoted a piece of legislation that I read and understood to be approved, and a reader wrote in and informed me that it was NOT approved yet, and that I should be more conscientious when I do my research. I published her letter and a "oops, sorry about that" comment from me below it.
13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer? It's been pretty smooth, I don't self-publish, so I just take what they offer and go with it.
14. What is your writer life philosophy? Let it all unfold before you. Time means nothing, if it's worth writing about, it will come to you.
15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun? I want to take up sailing. I like to explore the desert, play drums, and travel.
16. Who do you like to read? Right now I'm reading Mark Twain's Roughing It, and Vegas, One Cop's Journey by Kim Thomas.
17. What’s your advice for new writers? Don't be disappointed with any paycheck or royalty deal. Anytime someone pulls out a dollar and gives it to you for something you love to do, it's a good day.
18. What are you currently working on? A book about the life lessons I learned while working on the big cattle ranches, how one thing influences the next. The message to the reader is how they can improve their own ability to make life and business decisions when they start to consider the ripple effects of their actions. |
