{"id":2455,"date":"2010-10-30T16:56:05","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T20:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=2455"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:41:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:41:45","slug":"james-tobin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/james-tobin\/","title":{"rendered":"James Tobin, historical author, on how and why he writes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n
\nThis post continues an occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. <\/em>
\nPreviously we\u2019ve heard from Jim Ottaviani<\/a>, Lara Zielin,<\/a> Bruce DeSilva<\/a> and Jennifer Worick<\/a>.<\/em>
\nToday\u2019s Q&A features a baker’s dozen questions with Jim Tobin<\/a>, a newspaper reporter turned author and college professor.
\n<\/em>\n<\/div>\n

From the announcement of Miami University granting him tenure in 2009<\/a>:<\/p>\n

James Tobin, associate professor of journalism, has been granted tenure. Tobin is a specialist in the areas of literary journalism and narrative history. After a semester as the Weipking Visiting Professor, he joined the Miami faculty in fall 2006. He is currently at work on a book about Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s experience of disability, for which he was granted a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in 2008. Tobin\u2019s first book, Ernie Pyle\u2019s War: America\u2019s Eyewitness to World War II<\/em> (Free Press, 1997), won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. In 2003, Tobin edited and provided commentary for Reporting America at War: An Oral History<\/em> (Hyperion), the companion volume to a two-part PBS television documentary on war correspondents in the 20th century.
\nTobin\u2019s most recent book is To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight<\/em> (Free Press, 2003), which Publisher\u2019s Weekly called a \u201cdetailed yet truly exciting tale\u2026extraordinarily well-written and deeply nuanced\u2026stunningly effective in presenting the intertwining lives of the brothers and an amazing cast of friends and competitors\u2026.\u201d Tobin is also the author of Great Projects: The Epic Story of the Building of America from the Taming of the Mississippi to the Invention of the Internet<\/em> (Free Press, 2001), a companion book to a four-part PBS documentary series by the filmmaker Stephen Ives.
\nAfter earning bachelor\u2019s and doctoral degrees in history at the University of Michigan, Tobin was a reporter at The Detroit News for 12 years, where his work was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Editor’s note: yes, of course there’s a Michigan connection. You aren’t surprised, are you?)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What have you written?
\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
\nI’ve written three books in the genre called “popular history,” with the “popular” being more hopeful than statistical: “Ernie Pyle’s War<\/a>,” a biography (1997); “Great Projects<\/a>,” a coffee-table companion to a PBS series (2001); and “To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight<\/a>,” which is about the brothers and their largely unknown rivals. (2003).<\/p>\n
\nI’ve also collaborated on two children’s picture books — one that’s been published, “Sue MacDonald Had a Book<\/a>” (2009) and another that’s in the works. These were done with a great syndicated cartoonist, Dave Coverly<\/a>, creator of the cartoon panel “Speed Bump<\/a>,” who lives here in Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n
\nI’m working on a book about Franklin Roosevelt and polio. It’s late.<\/p>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you wish you\u2019d written?<\/strong><\/div>\n
\nThe most recent thing in this large category is Adam Hochschild’s book about genocide in the Congo, “King Leopold’s Ghost<\/a>,” a deeply serious and sad book, but a great piece of narrative writing, too.<\/p>\n
\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Who or what inspires you?<\/strong><\/div>\n
\nI get inspired by really good writing, nonfiction and fiction, and by pieces by or interviews with good writers who talk about how they write, and how hard it is, and how they do good writing by dint of hard work instead of native genius. I also get inspired by the need to make money.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you answer when someone asks you, \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This is trickier since I started teaching. I used to be slightly embarrassed to say, “I’m a newspaper reporter” — shame on me for being embarrassed — then extremely proud to be able to say: “I’m a freelance writer.”<\/div>\n
Now I have to go on and on after saying, “Well….I do a couple different things.” Each is problematic.<\/div>\n
– Me:\u00a0“I teach journalism.”<\/em> Response: [wry smile] “Oh, God…what are you telling<\/span> those poor kids?” <\/em><\/div>\n

\n<\/em><\/div>\n
– Me:\u00a0“…and I …. write books.” <\/em>Response: “Oh….would I know the titles?” <\/em>Me: “No.” <\/em><\/div>\n

\n<\/em><\/div>\n
– “….and I do freelance writing.” <\/em>Response: “Oh….like, for the New Yorker?” <\/em>Me: “No.”<\/em><\/div>\n
\n <\/em>All of these exchanges are preferable to the old response to saying: “I’m a newspaper reporter” — “Oh….like, do you have a column?”<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em>5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When do you most enjoy writing? What do you enjoy least?<\/strong><\/div>\n
I hate interviewing, especially calling people to ask for interviews. So I like practically any kind of writing that doesn’t require interviewing. But I guess this is like saying: “I like writing when I don’t have to take poison.”
\nSo a better answer is that I like writing when I really know what I want to say. The pain comes when I haven’t really figured out what I’m trying to do. <\/p>\n
\n
\n6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Describe your favorite writing environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI like writing at the far seat at the counter at Starbucks at Main and Liberty in Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n
\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you budget your time for the creative part of writing versus the business side \u2013 marketing, communicating with your agent or editor, tracking finances, etc.?<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n <\/strong>The cliche: Badly.<\/p>\n
\nBut I try to use David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system and I think it’s really great.<\/p>\n
\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you deal with writer\u2019s block?<\/strong><\/div>\n
Writer’s block, for me, is always the result of not really understanding the material I’m trying to write about. So I go back and try to figure it out.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>9. How do you deal with rejection?<\/strong>
\nI don’t think I’ve ever had a piece of writing rejected. No brag, just fact.
\nWell, come to think of it, that’s not true. The New Yorker rejected a story idea about the Wright brothers’ sister. I dealt with this by thinking, “Okay, fuck you, you East Coast snobs who wouldn’t know a good story based in the Midwest if you saw one.”
\nThe New York Times rejected an idea for a commemorative op-ed about Ernie Pyle on the anniversary of his death. I dealt with this by thinking:\u00a0“Okay, fuck you, you East Coast snobs who wouldn’t know a good story based in the Midwest if you saw one.”
\nAnd one of my favorite editors at the Detroit News rejected a historical feature I wrote in observance of the 50th anniversary of World War II. It was about the G.I.s’ frequent use of the word “fuck.”<\/p>\n

\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0 Do you outline a structure before you start writing or do you just let the story unfold?<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I outline a lot. Letting a story unfold is like a carpenter saying: “Okay, let’s just let this house unfold.” But I try to be alert to signals that I ought to change the outline as I go along.<\/div>\n
\n
\n\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
11.\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know immediately when you\u2019ve written something good?<\/strong><\/div>\n
\nYes.<\/p>\n
\n
12.\u00a0\u00a0 Did anything about your approach to writing change after you were first published?<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nIt got harder. A little success made me set the bar higher, which tensed me up. It still does.<\/p>\n
\n
13.\u00a0\u00a0 Why do you write?<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nIt’s wrapped up in my sense of self-worth, because my parents and my older brother and sister put a high value on books and words and language. And I absolutely love to read, so I just love taking part in the whole culture of reading and writing.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post continues an occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. Previously we\u2019ve heard from Jim Ottaviani, Lara Zielin, Bruce DeSilva and Jennifer Worick. Today\u2019s Q&A features a baker’s dozen questions with Jim Tobin, a newspaper reporter turned author and college professor. From the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[53,54],"tags":[222,839,840,952,1077,1078,1172,1373,1376,1397,1761,1769,2045,2597,2652,2818,2819,2820],"yoast_head":"\nJames Tobin, historical author, on how and why he writes - Newvine Growing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/james-tobin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Tobin, historical author, on how and why he writes - Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post continues an occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. 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