IndieView with Chris Meyer, author of Four Months … and a Lifetime

I struggled with the truth, honestly, of telling all the dirty details of the parents, who are also my friends. At times, I felt too close to what I was writing.

Chris Meyer – 1 September 2021

The Back Flap

Four Months…And A Lifetime is the touching true story of a father who coached his son’s basketball team from kindergarten through eighth grade, a remarkable nine-year journey with the same boys. Their final march to the eighth-grade season Championship is interspersed with the author’s own journey of falling in love with basketball in early-seventies New York, filled with anecdotes of Dr. J, sneaking into Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, and playing pickup in Larry Bird’s home state of Indiana. Four Months… And A Lifetime is not only a love story about a father and his son, but of a coach who strived to teach his team the greatest game of basketball and, hopefully, life lessons.

About the book

What is the book about?

The book is about a father coaching his son and his friends from kindergarten until their final year together in eighth grade. That final season’s march toward the Championship is interspersed with the authors own story of falling in love with the game of basketball in the 70s and 80s in suburban New York.

When did you start writing the book?

I began writing the book in October of 2019.

How long did it take you to write it?

I took eight months to write and re-write

Where did you get the idea from?

I got the idea from being profoundly grateful for the life I was able to live with my son and his friends and the realization that our journey together (as Coach and players) was coming to an end.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I struggled with the truth, honestly, of telling all the dirty details of the parents, who are also my friends. At times, I felt too close to what I was writing. Ultimately, I wanted to share the truth, or at least my perspective of the truth.

What came easily?

Honestly, writing the book came very easily because I wrote as I lived each day of our final season together. It kind of wrote itself as we were living it. In addition, the parts of me falling in love with basketball were a happy recollection of my childhood and what my own personal journey with basketball was.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

My characters are entirely real, but names have been changed to avoid controversy.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

Hemingway for his short simple prose.  Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson because they didn’t care.

Do you have a target reader?

Fathers and their sons, coaches, sports parents, and lovers of basketball.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

Why write this story? I need that question answered in my own head first. Then, what are the macro themes and the subtext? What am I trying to say by writing this story and is there a universal commonality to what I am writing, a thread of identifiability to what I am trying to say; will anyone care?  Do I care if anyone cares?

Then, I like to outline the story in its entirety. I want to see my visual map with one liners that I will later elucidate on. I also need to understand all the characters, what their motivations are, what their arcs will be, and why they are relevant to the story.

Lastly, I get it out on paper/computer. And then the real work starts in the massaging of the manifold rewrites.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

Extensive outlining for me. I care very little about chapter headings, but I do like nuggets of prose, one liners, photos, whatever general ideas I’d like to discuss, relevant tangents that, while they add little to the through-line, may further explain a character or theme.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

Both. But when I personally have finished, I hire multiple editors. Multiple, not one.  I like various points of views on what I am trying to say. Their input makes the story better and I can choose whether to agree with them or not.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Always a “professional.” I am writer.  I am not an editor. I like hiring line, story, copy editors, and proofreaders. A writer becomes too close to their work. Fresh eyes give it perspective.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Never. I need complete silence to write.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I submitted my first book to agents. I will never again.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

Now I only self-publish because I want to write exactly what I want and get it immediately into the marketplace. The process of submitting to agents and waiting was it for me.  As a writer who came to writing as a second career/hobby, I need to get my work out into the public domain. Self-publishing is very gratifying that way.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

Cover is always professionally done.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

Agent/publicist and I decide together. This is the dirty secret in my mind.  A writer thinks writing the book is the be all, end all, and unfortunately, that is where and when the real work begins. A writer must decide why they write. Is it to complete one book? Become a career? Or what? The “why” I write is very important. If you want to write multiple books, an author site, social media, a publicist… are all vital pieces of the writer’s life. And it can be maddening, because you can spend so much time on the ancillary things and making everything perfect, that there becomes no time to write. Very tough balancing test.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Go for it. So easy to get it done and you own it. If people like it, they will buy.

About You

Where did you grow up?

Westchester County, New York

Where do you live now?

Northern California

What would you like readers to know about you?

I build tech platforms for a living.

What are you working on now?

An epic, thought-provoking book about life.

End of Interview:

For more from Chris Meyer visit his website, follow him on Twitter, and be sure to like his page on Facebook.

Get your copy of Four Months … and a Lifetime from Amazon US or Amazon UK.