Aloha,
I flew over the pond to hang with Annalisa,
who’s been jolly good (wot wot) in letting me park the REVIVAL – The
Donald Braswell story Tour bus in her front yard. (The damage to the fence looks mainly
cosmetic, don’t you think?)Apart from the damage to her property, Annalisa wondered about how do you even start writing a memoir?
With the power of hindsight, it’s easy to see (at the beginning) I wouldn’t have been able to answer that question!
First thing I did know, in this case, was to get Donald on board. The poor man was naturally hesitant to commit, and I don’t blame him. I was a stranger on the phone with a weird Irish accent who wanted to write his life story for free. (I’m sure he was waiting for a punch line, or an offer to buy a really nice bridge in Brooklyn.)
I had tons of journalistic experience, written hundreds of articles, reports and stories, and I was passionate about REVIVAL from the get go. However, once the project was on, I totally worked on a wing and a paragraph until Donald and I had a full set of interviews recorded/written down.
My wonderful OCD could then see the “big picture.”
I later found a beginning (which took a long time) and “the end,” which allowed me to tighten things up. (Later, I added a lot more to the earlier part of the story, but beta readers said the story was slow-moving. I listened, cut 10,000 words (cried, went into the fetal position for a while), but the eventual finished manuscript was (and is) one that makes me very proud.
When I conceived the idea, I had no idea how REVIVAL would become a labor of love, and I’m so glad to announce my “baby” was born earlier this month!
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Thanks Annalisa for hosting me and Happy Friday everyone!
On Monday, I’ll be back stateside with Carrie Butler who looking for tips on interviewing guests.
Five years removed from his 1990 Juilliard graduation, Donald Braswell is set to be “the next Pavarotti.” Braswell’s successful career ends, however, not with a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall, but alone, lying in a dirty ditch.
Following the hit-and-run accident that steals his voice and future, the “Texas Tenor” struggles with depression and despair—until the night his daughter, Aria, is born. Understanding this new and immediate life change, Braswell fights to relearn how to speak, sing—and share this gift of second chances with others.
Working as a plasterer, a car salesman, and many jobs in-between, it takes thirteen years—and a musical miracle—for Braswell to battle back and sing on a professional stage. His dreams and ambitions collide with a tired and angry crowd when he auditions for America’s Got Talent. For his family, his faith and his entire future, can the Rocky Balboa of the operatic world find the courage and strength to win just one more fight?
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:Mark Koopmans is originally from Ireland. After working in Holland, Spain, France and England, he won his U.S. “Green Card” in 1994, and is an American by choice since 2003. Koopmans began his writing career with a feature for a regional magazine in California. Since then, he’s worked as a staff writer for newspapers in Florida and Texas. Koopmans is also a proficient blogger and is working on his next book, a novel. Koopmans lives in Virginia and is a married, stay-at-home dad to three active boys under the age of nine. He writes at night.
Mark blogs here and Tweets here.
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