You want to know about me?!
"(Before my 30s) no one ever taught me about setting
goals, thinking positively or believing
in myself. I later learned that believing you can do something is half the
battle."
Since we began producing books in 1994, I
have had a bio on our website about my author/husband, J. Robert Whittle and his interesting life, but
now (for some curious reason) people seem to want to know about me!
Perhaps it's because they have come to realize that Robert can't possibly do
all this alone ... yes, I am the hub of the wheel which has made our publishing
company so successful. Just saying that is difficult because I am by nature
a modest person who has never felt that comfortable in the limelight
although I have been tossed into it many times in my life. Today, I'm not only publisher, editor, webmaster, and
author, but marketing director, wife, mother, grandmother, and who knows
what else ... so let's see, what else can I tell you about myself.
My first love since I was a teen has been books and music ...
especially singing, and that in itself is quite amazing because we rarely
listened to music in our house. However, as a
17-year-old with my mother's quiet encouragement, I moved my hobby of singing
(to records of musicals and Barbra Streisand) from my bedroom out into the public to Job's Daughters'
(a teen girls' group affiliated with the Masons) activities singing
both at meetings and public events.
As the years went by and I married and had two children, I
participated in choirs in Duncan and Victoria, did a bit of musical theatre
(sadly, I was a terrible actress) and often sang solo at various events. I
loved it (I suppose it was a way to express myself which had been previously
difficult.) Taking
voice lessons
as a young adult, for many years I drove my young family crazy when I
rehearsed my new love ... grand opera and the classics! Today I rarely sing
(due to allergies and lack of time) except in the car (alone) when I can escape from my busy home office. However, the
stories of some of the latest 'finds' in opera give me reason to sing again and
Paul Potts
(the new male cinderella story of opera)
comes to mind. I think this may get me singing once again ... at least with UTube accompaniment!
I also love to read, or did when
I had time. Thankfully, in G8 my homeroom was the library and that's where my
new love began reading all of the Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames Series. Later, James Mitchener and Victoria Holt were
my adult favourites,
but today it's J. Robert Whittle and I am no doubt his very best fan,
although many would dispute that!! I read them over and over and over again as
his editor, being more than partly (I say modestly since we've now won awards!) responsible for their
success. I still pick up his books and can't
help but marvel at what the two of us have produced as a team! We're
thrilled by the response of the public who often claim these are the best books
they've ever read ... what a magnificent compliment.
I am a perfect example of how life can take
over on it's own accord and guide you to a wonderful new beginning.
After my first marriage crumbled and I returned
to Victoria, BC to start a new life with my daughter as a single parent, I met
Robert and my new beginning began slowly happening. Years later when he began to
write (see his bio for how
that came about) I was so taken by his newfound talent, I decided I was going to
publish one of his books and introduce my husband to the reading public. The
fact that first book (Lizzie
: Lethal Innocence) became a Canadian bestselling novel through the support
of mainly local readers was a miracle.
We have had an
amazing journey and because of this I
re-discovered how much I loved writing. Thus, in the past 7 years, I seem to
have become a book editor and publisher, webmistress and marketing director,
for a small but successful independent publishing company located in Victoria,
BC.
Our company, Whitlands Publishing, now has 10 books to it's credit, several audio books (Lizzie, my
Moonbeam Series
and in 2005, an autobiography containing Robert's life stories
which I directed and produced (Laughing Through Life). Yes, I wear many hats in our organization and not
one bit of it was planned, at least not for the first few years!!
I was born
in Victoria, BC in 1945, but the important part is really the fact that I
was the daughter of an Air Force couple who had met during the middle of WW2. Mom and Dad met on the
Canadian Prairies where they were part of the
British Commonwealth Training Plan. There's more on my story in my photo albums, but
sadly partway through her pregnancy Mom became a young war widow expecting a child,
a common fate to many women as a result of the war.
She
returned to Victoria where I was raised during the day by my grandparents
while Mom went to work to support us all. She was one feisty lady and
looking back now I realize I
learned a lot about family values and responsibility from her although she
did it in her quiet manner so no one really noticed at the time - you didn't
notice these things as a kid in those days. Nothing
was ever talked about, to my knowledge, but I guess in those days you kind of
pick it up by osmosis. I gained a step-father when I was seven and
within a few years had siblings (Rick and Deb) and Mom kept me busy with
after-school activities which apparently gave me lots of confidence (in
public) in those days. I did a bit of
public speaking and became a performing singer as a 16-year-old (mentioned above).
I married and had two wonderful kids (James and
Christine) and by 1977, I found myself a single parent with virtually no
skills trying to
make ends meet as I juggled work, kids and sanity. How life can turn around!
Starting at the bottom as an
inexperienced receptionist/secretary at the age of 35, I found work in legal and
government offices, then a funeral home (now that was a life altering
experience but the staff were wonderful).
Over the next ten years, I was also a realtor and a live-in homecare
worker. Yes, I did a lot of things in the 70s and especially in the 80s
when jobs were hard to come by and being at the bottom of the totem pole was
first to lose my job when hard-times hit. But two very special (positive)
events happened around 1980 ... I
found myself faced with the opportunity to get trained on a word-processor
(precursor to the computer) and I met Robert. By 1985 we were a couple and since
then we
have managed to pool our
experience to form a successful and respected business partnership.
A short time after we met, a psychic told me that we would have a
successful business together.
We searched for this business for years and
then in 1994, Robert needed something to do while recovering from surgery
and surprised us all by discovering he could write and loved it! We had no idea where
this was going to lead us and, admittedly, we might not have begun if we had
realized then that we would pour our heart and soul into it for years to
come! Initially we hoped it would make us a lot of money so we worked very hard
at it. Years later, we realized that book competition is so fierce that our
labour of love was merely meant to give others reading pleasure. Our bestsellers
and awards became our reward, but the best would be the approval of our readers
and fans.
When I decided to publish that first historical novel in 1998, Robert did not
believe he was a good writer, however, soon after publishing that first book,
the accolades began.
It would take a while for him to believe he had a talent for writing - only
a few months after people began reading his first published novel at Christmas! There's a lot more on this story of
how Robert's rotten leg and surgery started this process on his
bio page.
We soon found ourselves eating, sleeping and breathing books. We were
having so much fun working our butts off it hardly felt like work but our
friends and family thought us crazy and our social life almost disappeared. People
loved Robert's historical novels and the huge amount of support we receive from
his readers have driven us both to work even harder to keep them happy! You could almost
say we work 24/7, something our friends and family have found hard to relate to
as none
have their own business. It's a good thing Robert is supposed to be
retired, for this pace would not be possible if we had normal lives.
Today, my most favourite job is editing and/or co-writing one of Robert's novels
but as I mentioned earlier, that is only one phase of my writing. Back a few
years ago when he presented me with an idea for a children's fairy story he had
written for our grandchildren, I turned it into an unusual chapter
book suitable for even pre-readers! Thus, the Moonbeam Series was born.
The first book in the
Moonbeam Series was published
by photocopier for
Christmas 2000 as
an experiment at Christmas craft shows, but it was so popular we printed
3,000 copies professionally in the new year and we are now in our 3rd
printing. This series was not only written for our grandchildren but we put
them in the stories, too, adding lots of old-fashioned lessons of life. Book One features
our grandchildren, Courtney and Michael, and Book
Two, published in 2004, features our (then) youngest grandchild, Shayla, who became an instrumental part of
the business even as a six-year-old and later recorded her part on the audio
book going with me to a recording studio at the age of nine.
Back in 2003, I professionally recorded an audio book of Leprechaun Magic which was a heap of
fun. I received many lovely comments from parents who told me how much
their kids loved to listen to the story and my parrot voice (and many young teens
who still loved to listen to it)! So naturally we
needed an audio for Book Two as well!
By early 2004, I managed to encourage (read: blackmail) my 9-year-old
granddaughter, Shayla, a delightful young lady, to work alongside me (via email and phone
in northern Canada)
to write/edit and finally publish
3 On A
Moonbeam. Shayla is the main character in this book ... following
Paddy O'Reilly, the moonriding leprechaun and his parrot-friend, Jake, of course!
That
summer while summering from Yellowknife with us,
Shayla and I went into a sound studio and cut the audio
tracks for Grandma's second audio book.
Thus began my very own real writing adventure and now,
although I once thought I'd like to write more for kids, I've decided I must
get Robert's books out there first and then who knows! Then came 2007 when
Robert gave me a byline and we published our first collaboration since
Leprechaun Magic. I set out to turn this delightful book Robert wrote for
fun into something new and different and it appears I have succeeded. Since
it first appeared on August 1/07,
Whispers Across Time
has received rave reviews from fans and proven to be a good choice with
reader's who are curious enough to experience our books for the first time.
So is all this hard work worth it, you ask? For us, yes.
Our lives have become an interesting challenge which we would never
have dreamed up in a million years - nor would we have thought ourselves
capable of it.
I think Robert always believed he was capable of achieving anything he
tackled as that's his nature and he's been a success since the age of
six when he started his first business. But writing was not one of those things,
previous to 1994. Me ... well, I never had that luxury. No one ever taught
me about
thinking positively, believing in myself or setting goals and at long last
with Robert's confidence building attitude, I have
discovered how wrong a person can be about themselves. Believing you can
do something is half the battle.
We love it ... especially when we meet such wonderful people from
near and far as we travel the market and show scene. We discovered many
years ago we were able to work together and it certainly gives us something
to talk about! Besides, we
have to do something and if any of our books become a movie it will help my pension plan
immensely!!! However, if you are considering following our example be warned
that the hours can be long and the pay is poor. Don't quit your day job!
So enough of me, thanks for bearing with my long-winded dissertation, now why don't you
visit www.jrobertwhittle.com and see what our
books are all about. You can also
read more of our story at Robert's Bio.
Thanks for reading.
Joyce Sandilands
P.S. If you are a writer or are thinking of writing or self-publishing, you might be wondering what advice I
could have for YOU! Check out my
writer's page
and our long and informative reference page of
links.
