This interview originally appeared on the Literary Magic blog of Lee Libro. Please visit her website when you get a chance. I have reproduced the interview here in its entirety.

 Lee Libro: Robb Skidmore, a writer of short stories and novellas, recently released his first novel. The Pursuit of Cool, a coming of age novel set in the 1980′s explores the pressures of that era through brilliant character development. I’m pleased to interview Robb here today to give you an inside look at his writing process and a behind-the-scenes view of this colorful novel.

LL: Tells us about yourself. Describe The Pursuit of Cool and tell us why you were compelled to write it.

RS: I started writing in college, scribbling things in journals. I’ve done a couple different things for a living and done freelance work but I have always thought of myself as a writer. I’ve been writing fiction in a serious and constant way since the mid 90s. I published some short stories starting in the late nineties. I knew early on writing fiction and attending workshops that I wanted to write The Pursuit of Cool. Once I started it took me awhile (about ten years) to complete it. It became this personal crusade. As a writer, a novel is kind of a love affair: there is beauty, hope, difficulty and heartbreak. In a way, The Pursuit of Cool is everything I learned about myself and America up until the age of 25. I think writing it was a way for me to understand my youth.

LL: Who will enjoy reading this book and why?

RS: People who like a strong narrative story with carefully crafted characters will like it. I think Gen X and Gen Y people will recognize all the pop culture references. I’m a big fan of music and movies and all the characters in the novel are influenced in this way as well. But there is a universality to the struggle and self-delusion of youth and I think just about anyone can relate to that. Adult readers of YA might also enjoy it since it is a coming-of-age story.

LL: Character development is key to a good story? Introduce us to the three main characters shown on the cover of The Pursuit of Cool.

RS: None of the characters translate directly, but the fellow on his knees would have to be the protagonist, Lance Rally. He’s a ragingly ambitious, pop culture obsessed, tragically romantic young man. He has big dreams and is a sponge to everything around him. He’s a guy that both men and women can relate to. He is desperately trying to understand the feminine other.

The woman on the left is probably Lynn Van Oster. She is a very driven, serious psychology student and a gifted dancer who dominates every dance floor. She’s the kind of girl who gets all the guys without really trying. But she is secretly very insecure.

The woman on the right is Veronica Boyer. She is a gothy feminist who is summa cum laude student. Kind of a wild child who is fond of ghost pink lipstick. She knows all the coolest bands, is always cutting edge and will rip your face off if you get her mad.

LL: Some of us are familiar with your short stories, such as “We Were Gods “ and your ebook novella, The Surfer. Tell us a little bit about the themes you usually include in your writing. Is The Pursuit of Cool an extension of any of these themes, or is it a departure?

RS: “We Were Gods” has a collective narrator and is about our tendency to separate ourselves from and demonize others. The Surfer is about the resilience of the human spirit under horrible circumstances, and the beauty and cruelty of nature. The Pursuit of Cool also has some intense externals that the protagonist is struggling against while an internal struggle takes place. Pop cultural notions, family obligation, academic pressure, and cultural expectations — all these pressures converge on Lance.

LL: Tell potential readers what you hope they will come away with after reading your novel, The Pursuit of Cool.

RS: I hope they will look at all the characters in a sympathetic way. I hope readers will question some of the choices they have made, or are making, and that they question if they are living an authentic life. It takes a lot of courage to do that. It takes courage just to figure it out. I also hope they will question just what “cool” actually is, and who invented this. I thought a lot about the 1980s and what was going on then while I wrote the novel, and I hope people relate it back to their own lives.

LL: Is there any one thing in particular that you’ve found helpful in your writing regimen? It could be a program, an app, a piece of advice from an old elementary school teacher, even a favorite chair.

RS: I always do a meditation before writing to clear my head. I write on a computer, but I like to write notes and outlines on a legal pad. I find it helpful to organize my thoughts and keep focus, and it’s easier to free associate on paper. The stack of notes for The Pursuit of Cool is several hundred pages. I have found that music can help writing because it frees something in my head and adds its own emotional nuance. I like to listen to jazz, specifically Miles Davis, or classical music, or New Age.

LL: What advice do you have for other writers looking to self-publish a novel?

RS: Go for it. Now is a great time to get work out there to pick up readers and build a following. I do think it’s a good idea to blog for awhile and get on some social networks before you put something out. I am convinced this is the best time ever to be a writer. With technology, the ability to directly connect to readers has never been easier for writers. Blogging, social media, ebooks, publishing on demand – these are powerful tools that writers now have on their side.

LL: What have you published? What else have you written? Do you have any unpublished manuscripts laying hidden in your desk drawer?

RS: I have published short stories in New Orleans Review, New Millennium Writings, South Carolina Review, Oasis, and Twelve Stories. I have also written a novella about a high school science student who is sucked into being a scam artist. I’m debating if I want to expand it and make it a novel or clean it up and publish it as a novella.

LL: Can we look forward to more novels by Robb Skidmore?

RS: Yes, absolutely. I am excited about writing more novels! I have a sequel to The Pursuit of Cool in mind. It involves the character Ian LaCoss during the 90s. Also, I have half-written a treatment for a futuristic series of novels I would like to write. It’s about the way technology is challenging human beings as never before. To me, the most exciting thing about being a writer is that on any day I might get an idea that might turn out to be the next thing I devote years to writing.

The initial reviews have been good, which is a relief. I want to thank all of you who subscribe to my blog or who follow me on a social network. I have learned a lot from you in the last two years, and you guys have made my journey worthwhile.

Well, the day has come for my novel to spread its wings and fly. And that is a joyous day indeed! So, you may find The Pursuit of Cool on Amazon in both Amazon Kindle ebook and Amazon paperback, and on Barnes & Noble in Nook ebook. Thanks for reading, and if you enjoy it please consider giving a review on Amazon. Positive reviews will help with sales, and they will be really appreciated by this author.

I will be offering exclusives and giveaways from the page, so even if you already are Friends with me on Facebook, be sure to hit the Like button on my Facebook Author Page so that you don’t miss out on anything.  :)

The official launch date is now set for April 17, 2012. So get ready!

Here’s what I have been up to lately. My focus has been on various tasks related to release of my novel, The Pursuit of Cool, and getting ready for The Launch.

First, I had the great fortune to find graphic artist and book cover designer Lee Libro. I described an initial concept to her and she used her considerable creative skills to come up with a cover I am excited about. Lee uses a “team approach” to designing covers which welcomes client input. I recommend her as versatile, talented, and highly professional. As an artist myself, I am particular about visuals and the cover is everything I hoped it would be. I will be releasing the cover closer to my launch date. To release it now might produce an unbearable desire to read. I won’t torture you that way.

I finished approving the final copy edits on my 420 page manuscript. Really glad I hired a pro because I had no idea how many tiny things needed cleaning up. My copy editor, Marcia Trahan, is another person I must recommend. She is meticulous and highly professional, as well as a good editor-in-general.

I am doing more stuff on Photoshop, which might be my favorite app. Some of it is related to launching my novel, and some of it is TMiK art. TMiK Press now has an official logo, also thanks to Lee Libro.

As far as the The Replacements lyrics I was hoping to include in Part III, chapter 15 of my novel, I have made no progress with Paul Westerberg’s manager, nor his publishing company in getting a copyright license to include lyrics from the song “Sixteen Blue.” Where are you Paul Westerberg? Do you not hear my anguished cries? Do you not realize how I worshipped your music and how the youthful angst in your music so perfectly matches the angst of the novel’s protagonist, Lance Rally? Unless there is an 11th hour reprieve (maybe if we all believe with all our might…), you will only be able to read the lyrics here:

Drive yourself right up the wall

no one hears and no one calls

it’s a boring state

it’s a useless wait, I know

It has been on my to do list forever, and I have finally joined the Independent Author Network (#IAN1). I know some of you guys at IAN and I look forward to getting to know everyone else. I look forward to spreading the Indie spirit. I noticed the USA Today report that of the 150 top selling authors of 2011, 15 were indie writers. This will only increase as the indie/ebook revolution grows and matures. The rising tide lifts all boats!

My launch will offer ebook and paperpack versions of The Pursuit of Cool (can’t wait until you see the full spread cover of the paperback edition!) I am in the process of getting PDF’s to my print publisher. Then I will send paperback Advanced Review Copies to reviewers and select readers. Reviewers and bloggers are welcome to contact me if you are interested in The Pursuit of Cool. I must give them some time to read, so launch will probably be next month. More then…

The story originally was much longer and more complex. The long version was narrated by a boy who suffered from a severe stutter. Also, a dwarf lived in the suburb. This bearded little man, named Harley Peoples, was mysterious and feared, but ultimately a heroic character (a big scene involved his diminutive barbecue skills as witnessed through a divider fence). Sounds pretty awesome, right? But they had to go, they just didn’t work with the true heart of the story (the stutter kid lives on in a sequel). Stories sort of write themselves, or at least, with each revision it is important to clear your expectations and old notions and consider: In its present form, what is this story really about? What is the core? Is all directed at that core?

Good art has a lot to do with editing, taking things away. Once I chopped the extraneous characters the story in its most potent form emerged.  So check out and enjoy WE WERE GODS.

Music has been incredibly important in my life. A huge source of joy. It showed me how to deal with the world, showed me a path, and gave me some answers. My novel, The Pursuit of Cool, has a protagonist named Lance Rally who has a similar relationship with music.

Every young man in America goes through a sports car phase. It’s required. And because they are broke and foolish, they buy aging sports cars with problematic engines, but with decent paint jobs and enough remaining animal luster to impress girls.

I was at a music venue in Atlanta called The Masquerade the week before an unknown band named Nirvana was to play there. I was there to see a band called The Grinning Plowman. They were mediocre. I picked up a flyer and said to myself: Nirvana? Who the hell is Nirvana?

The first time I saw “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on MTV, I thought: This is new, this is great, this will change things.

I was obsessed with listening to Nevermind for about six months. My favorite song on Nevermind is “In Bloom.” I can never get enough of that crunchy guitar hook. I like the musical changes from soft to loud, and the way Kurt’s vocals change from subdued to screaming. I also like that the lyrics refer to and gently make fun of their pre Dave Grohl drummer.

My sports car phase involved a used 1985 Toyota Supra (An extremely temperamental and expensive vehicle to operate; it chewed new tires bald in 20,000 miles). It’s a kind of badass Japanese Trans Am: V-6 overhead engine, sunroof, and a sport muffler that made the car unnecessarily loud. Clutch fluid was forever leaking onto the driver side floor mat, and this corrosive liquid dissolved the heels of an entire generation of my footwear. It never occurred to me fix the leak. I just kept pouring more Dot 3 fluid into the cylinder.

My first real job I hated with more vehemence and dread and loathing than you could imagine. I had a portable CD player hooked up in my Supra and every afternoon when I left work I cranked up “In Bloom” and shouted the lyrics while I ripped off my tie.

As a kid, Kurt Cobain was a Beatles fan. His idea with Nirvana was to take catchy melodic Beatles-style pop and give it heavy metal chords. I have an abstract writing goal. I always aspire to write short stories and novels like they are Beatles songs, meaning I want them to satisfy both the heart and mind. Beatles songs always have this combination. I want my fiction to be accessible and enjoyable, but leave something in your head.

At this job, in lieu of doing the work I was supposed to do, I wrote short stories on a secret file on my computer, feeling panic when people stepped into my office. The first short story I published was one of these stories.

I remember when I heard Kurt Cobain had died. I had just pulled my Supra into a parking spot in front of my apartment, listening to 99X, the “alternative” radio station in Atlanta. The DJ said they had a special announcement. Kurt Cobain had been found dead of an apparent suicide. Something dropped inside me. I sat in the car awhile, and shed a few tears. This was partly thinking about Kurt: as a human being, he didn’t make it. And also about his music, which I associated with irreverent youthful energy, with wild, carefree joy. I knew this music would forever be associated much differently.

Enjoy.

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Dear Lady OF My Dreams,

I know you lead a busy life. How do I know this? Because there is no other explanation for your lack of reply. But I suspect you are also shy and likely intimidated by myself.  That is completely understandable. You see me sporting cutting edge casual clothing in the J. Crew catalog and you think…that lifestyle, that fashion bravado, that kind of media profile is probably unattainable for me (and it is, but you can kinda have it via myself!) I’m busy too. So I get it. My god, between the shoot for the Fall catalog, the Winter shoot, the Spring shoot, and then, the one which escapes my mind… I mean, my life is constant insanity. Inner tubing at Steamboat Springs, clambakes on Martha’s Vineyard. It’s like touring with Ozzy freaking Osbourne, while wearing wool herringbone trousers and garment-dyed cotton poplin shirts (and as a theoretical aside, what a nightmare to keep this ensemble stain free if Ozzy and his road crew were vomitting Wild Turkey around me. Jeez!)

Are you still with that guy with the poufy hair? Have you trained him to take regular showers yet? Just curious. Talk about flaky, writers are the drawstring cargo pants of human beings. Wow, talk about a mistake on your part…

Perhaps you require some academic bona fides (like that scribbler probably has).  I can report I have either applied to or attended many leading academic institutions, and my studies, were they to have been fully completed, and perhaps they have, would involve several notable degrees. Maybe you have branded me with a hot curling iron of judgment: the empty headed model stereotype is my cross to bear. Ending this perception is the next step of the civil rights movement, and I am ready to march over bridges and carry placards and whatnot.

Let me tell you, you need Einstein level social smarts to negotiate my world or Mandy in the toboggan jeans will cut you off at the knees and kick you in the crotch as soon as the lens cap comes off. Do not think a clambake shoot is for dummies. The stakes are high because it’s a real clambake going down, with all of its social treachery! Real clams, real canoodling, real inappropriate boasting, real excessive drinking, real backstabbing, and real feigned interest in other people’s boring stories. All under the ruthless eye of a camera. You cannot phone in clambake bonhomie. A rascally snowshoe romp can’t be fabricated. Don’t even try faking the marshmallow snuggling. And don’t think J. Crew hasn’t flunked out legions of faker models who were not up to the task!

It also takes genius level dedication to stay humble amidst the hoopla and media circus which is my life. When you are constantly being photographed by very smart and powerful people, it can so easily go to your head.

So… I’m sure I will hear from you real soon. I’m waiting. There is only so long I can wait between takes.

–J. Crew Dude

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(months later)

Dear Lady of My Dreams,

Obviously, you have an acute shortage of paper, envelopes and stamps in your area. Phone lines must be dead also. That’s just fine with me. I heard it through the grapevine you’re engaged to that guy. Is there also a shortage of guys in your area?

The only reason I am writing now is that I thought you might want to know about Lorrine. Gosh I’m nervous, but here it goes…I’m engaged too! Nothing at all to do with your engagement. Pure coincidence. Lorrine and I were doing the Fall J. Crew shoot on Cape Cod and a little something besides photos developed. We were barefoot, sliding down a dune. I was sporting a summer check cotton shirt and relaxed fit aqua chinos. She was wearing a lightweight rib tee and jersey knit pants and we came racing down the dune and our shirt tails took air perfectly. When you achieve photographic perfection on a first take, it can mean only one thing: pure love.

Lorrine and I are so often in this position, our foreheads gently touching, that we are developing zits. Is that love or what? It’s like our love physically manifests as a tractor beam and rivets our heads together into a powerful seam, as though they’ve been super glued together. Then we share our thoughts directly, without talking, which is something not even David Copperfield can do. Are you jealous?

She’s got lots of great qualities you don’t have. Is your complexion going green? I can’t get enough of her scent. It drives me nuts. Whoops… actually that’s me I’m smelling. And it’s a turn on. This whole woman-in-the-foreground thing can be taken too far. I’m feeling a bit backgroundy here, like Mount Rushmore. With some spectacles I could pass for Teddy Roosevelt.

OK, Sebastian the photographer, Mr. Second Banana no like. I’m basically a supportive chair in this one. I’m like a haunted pirate cave back here. And apparently I’ve been shrunken by cannibals. Do I even get paid for this one? But whatever, the point is I’m really really just insanely in love with Lorrine.

And the super keen thing is she likes collecting insects too! She grills up the best dang sausage in the whole world. My life is basically perfect. Every night Lorrine and I watch the Blooper video show on TBS and laugh our faces off.

Oh dammit to hell, my tears betray me. Enough of this farce! Lorrine is engaged to a realtor and won’t return my calls. In fact, she owes me $500. Damn her lies about repayment! This was a pathetic attempt at getting your attention and provoking jealousy. For god sakes rethink being engaged to a man who has an entire drawer devoted to old concert t-shirts. It’s not hygenic! And frankly, writers are anti-social. Know why you will never find them canoodling at clambakes? They are incapable of such things. Sad, but true. They would rather be alone and write about imaginary people at clambakes — troubled, unhappy people who are not photogenic. Ugly people with ugly problems who would stab each other with knives rather than snuggle.

I swear upon my positive Q score I will get you.

–J Crew Dude

In the nineties, when I had just started dating my wife, she went with some girlfriends to a bar in midtown called The Beer Mug. She met a tall guy who claimed in a friendly way to be a model. “Oh, I’m a model too,” she replied with a generous sarcasm. “No, really I am,” he said. He was  innocuous, so she continued talking to him, but still didn’t believe the model stuff. A week later, flipping through one of my J. Crew catalogues, she said,  “Oh my God. I just met that guy!” and realized he had been telling the truth.

That my wife had met an actual J. Crew person seemed to me a wonderful and meaningful coincidence. Studying him carousing with other models he seemed a cheeky fellow, vain, and mischievous. I was inspired to write a series of  imaginary letters from him to my wife (with cutouts of the actual J. Crew Dude) based on the premise that after briefly meeting my future wife, he becomes infatuated with her and deeply resentful of me.

The first letter is below. Enjoy.

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Dear Mystery Lady,

It’s me again. I have been thinking of you every second — your eye brows, your sturdy legs, your…and that whole thing you did claiming you were a model too, and doubting I was a model…Well, all kidding aside, I have a feeling you actually did realize, looking at me, that I was a model, and probably a highly paid one, but that sense of humor in a gal just drives me wild!

And, in fact, now you have proof of my profession, and the fact that I am part of (frankly, an integral factor) in a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s more than just selling clothes for J.Crew, it’s about lifestyle, it’s about image and magic and fantasy, and not everyone has the talent and innate appeal to create on camera… Oh boy, I got off track there. 

I understand there is “someone in your life.” That guy with the poofy hair, with the vague profession who has ideas about being a writer. And what is up with that? Off track again. Suffice it to say it seems kind of obvious you would be better served with a high profile professional like myself. When it comes to myself and J. Crew, I don’t want to use words like franchise, or indispensable, or reallyfuckingimportant, so I won’t. What I will say is that a fine lady like yourself deserves to be treated right– note I use the term “lady” because I noticed your refined choice of wine, rather than beer, and your crisp laundered socks. You deserve the spotlight on you. A close up shot, as it were.

I know a thing or two about beauty. And you’ve totally got it (don’t necessarily take that as my opinion of your chances of being a model too, however!). That’s why we need to be together. Frankly I can’t just be with anyone. Take Dena there, in the powder blue zip sweater. She’s got nice teeth, sure. Skin is good, et cetera. But, when we talk overall impact…the word that comes to mind is bland. There, I’ve said it. Bland. Sorry, Dena. Also, she’s a damn cheater at Scrabble.

Now, note the toboggan picture. Three hours of work. I kept telling Sebastian, my photographer: Nope! we gotta do it again. Because with the wrong body language it’s just a Stooges goofathon that sells zip. The context is FUN, and obviously the risk is connotations of some sort of sexual pile-on involving incestuous dry humping. And frankly, that is kinda gross. So it takes a real pro on top of the pyramid to give it innocent family abandon, to create that wholesome jovial spirit of the holidays…. That’s what sells sweaters!

OK, check out me and Ingemar. Do you want his sweater? Perhaps. Do you want to be him? No freaking
way. Not unless you like eating raw caribou meat or watching your dead toes fall off. Whereas with myself it goes beyond mere interest in the merino wool snowflake sweater: it’s about lifestyle, longing, expensive German automobiles, designer eyeglasses, magic trolls… it’s ultimately about happiness because I am clearly a happy, balanced human being who has achieved serenity with the help of a J. Crew sweater. That’s what I’m talking about! 

Reason #9 to be with me: lovability. The kids love me. They are attracted to me like lint to a belly button. Like this little jean jacket scamp on my shoulders. He smelled a bit like piss and cat food. Go figure. Frankly, this one I could do without because he stuck something sharp into my ear. Not professional, at all. I placed little man in the snow and had a word with his caretaker.  

I know, you’re probably overwhelmed at my letter. Take some breaths. So let’s get together soon. How about a shoot with just me and you?

–The J. Crew Dude