Interview with Don Weeks/Jonathan Weeks, authors of 'Scarecrow on the Marsh'
For over thirty years, Don
Weeks was among the most popular radio personalities in the Capital District
region of New York State.
He received a Marconi Award for radio excellence in 2005 and was inducted into
to the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame four years
later. He had just completed a rough draft of Scarecrow on the Marsh
when he died of Merkle Cell Cancer in March of 2015. Author royalties from this
project will be donated to the WGY Christmas Wish Campaign, which benefits a
variety of charitable causes. Weeks worked tirelessly over the years to help
raise money for the campaign.
Jonathan
Weeks has published several books on the topic of baseball--four non-fiction
projects and one novel. His latest work, a mystery-thriller entitled Scarecrow
on the Marsh, is a posthumous collaboration with his father--former radio icon
Don Weeks, who passed away in 2015. Weeks finished the book in fulfillment of a
promise he made to his father before he died.
Visit Don at:
About the Book:
When
the mutilated body of renowned cosmetic surgeon Randall Landry turns up at a
secluded bayside marsh in the town of Sandwich,
Police Chief Thom Burrough's life is turned upside down. While investigating
the murder, he and Barnstable County
coroner Abby Rhodes will uncover a plot more sinister than anything they could
have imagined. On the outskirts of Chatham,
a group of terrorists has assembled to unleash destruction on Cape
Cod.
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Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more
about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?
Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?
My father, Don Weeks, came up
with the idea. For thirty years, he was among the most popular radio
personalities in the Capital Region of New York State. He won a Marconi Award
and was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Despite his
accomplishments, there was one bucket list item left unchecked at the time of
his retirement. He always wanted to publish a novel. He completed a rough draft
of Scarecrow on the Marsh before falling ill with Merkel Cell Cancer
around Christmas 2014. It’s a rare and progressive disease with only 1,500
cases being diagnosed in the U.S. every year. Within a few months, my father
was gone. As he lay dying, I promised him I would complete the novel for him
and try to find a publisher.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
The book was especially hard
for me because I was dealing with the loss of my father. I missed him terribly
and didn’t want to tamper with his work. But let’s face it—a rough draft is far
from perfect. And the edits I ended up making went far beyond simple spelling
and punctuation. At times I felt like I was betraying him. I tried very hard to
preserve every element of his story. I tried to channel his writing style. I
did a lot of fact-checking especially when it came to the setting. Scarecrow
on the Marsh is set on Cape Cod. My father had been there recently and was
intimately familiar with the place. I hadn’t been to the Cape in over fifteen
years and my memory was somewhat foggy.
Q: Who is your publisher and
how did you find them or did you self-publish?
I reached out to more than
thirty publishers before signing with All Things That Matter Press. They’re a
small, indie outfit with a print-on-demand format. I like the POD model. It
reduces publishing costs and increases author royalties. POD publishers are
more receptive to first time authors. Since it’s not a self-publishing
arrangement, there are absolutely no author fees.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
Scarecrow on the Marsh is not my first book. I had
previously published five books of my own—mostly non-fiction. But finishing my
Father’s novel was by far the most difficult project I have ever taken on. It
saddens me to think that my Father isn’t around to see his book in print. It
was one of his lifelong dreams.
Q: What other books (if any)
are you working on and when will they be published?
Before Scarecrow on the
Marsh, my publishing career was limited to sports writing. I have a baseball
book coming out next spring entitled Latino Stars in the Major Leagues.
I’m currently working on a fiction project that falls into the category of
alternative history. In the future, I’d like to write more fiction.
Q: What’s one fact about your book
that would surprise people?
It took over thirty years to
complete. My father wrote part of a rough draft in 1979 before the demands of
his radio job derailed the project. The original manuscript and notes were lost
at some point and never recovered. My Father was able to complete a “new”
version before he died. I worked on the book for six months before submitting
it to publishers.
Q: Finally, what message (if
any) are you trying to get across with your book?
The book itself doesn’t have
any specific message but the loss of my father has taught me something. If you
reach out to people with kindness and humor, you can live on in their hearts
and minds. This might sound cliché but it’s absolutely true.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
All author royalties for Scarecrow
on the Marsh will be donated to my father’s favorite charity—the Christmas
Wish Campaign. It’s sponsored by the radio station he worked at for thirty
years (810 WGY). The charity benefits sick and underprivileged children in
upstate New York.
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