Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Neilson
Hi Tara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As any writer who tries the traditional route will tell you, the road to publication is nothing but obstacles. I sent out a hundred queries to literary agencies and was rejected or ignored by most of them. I finally managed to get an agent, but she was disillusioned by the business and when the book she was representing for me was accepted by a publisher, then orphaned when there was a change in ownership, she retired (i.e., rage quit) and I had to start all over again.
Meanwhile, there wasn’t a lot of money in the occasional articles and short stories I had accepted by various magazines. I built my own float house with funds I made by leaving to go do seasonal work in Alaskan towns and cities sometimes hundreds of miles away. Everything from being a cook on a bear hunting boat to a wilderness nanny to a hostess at a bed and breakfast to an assistant at an art gallery.
It was tough sledding at times as I struggle with fibromyalgia and was sometimes incapable of holding down a job. In addition, living in remote Alaska in a floathouse requires constant and time intensive labor which restricted the time I had for writing projects.
Then my life came full circle when the very same publisher that had originally accepted the agented book only to back out with a change of ownership, published my memoir, RAISED IN RUINS.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There wasn’t a lot of money so each of us kids had to make our own` way. I built my own float house with funds I made by leaving to go do seasonal work in towns and cities. Everything from being a cook on a bear hunting boat to a wilderness nanny to a hostess at a bed and breakfast to an assistant at an art gallery. It was tough sledding at times as I struggle with fibromyalgia.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve always loved writing, but it wasn’t until a famous Alaskan artist (Dot Bardarson) reached out to me after she read my memoir to ask me to write her own memoir that I discovered ghostwriting. As a research junky I absolutely love gathering information from my clients and from historical resources. I learn so much during every project! My best quality as a ghostwriter is that, like an actor transforming into a character, I’m somehow able to empathize so strongly with my client that I can write in their “voice.” They tell me they can’t tell what they wrote versus what I wrote.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was the girl everyone confided in, a listener who had a shoulder fit for crying on. Growing up in a large family made it easy for me to adapt to other people and their personalities and interests. I always tried to turn their tears into laughter. But my favorite thing was to go off by myself and try to merge myself with the flow of time. That is, when I wasn’t reading a book or writing. Despite always being accessible for anyone in trouble or emotional crisis, I was a loner, and someone who didn’t hesitate to dance to the music in my headphones wherever I happened to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alaskaforreal.com
- Twitter: @neilson_tara
- Other: https://amzn.to/2UQHxKs
