Author Interview: Travis Smith
"Amy Poehler is a national treasure and I address her with that due respect."
Our next author interview is with Travis Smith, who tells us how writing helped him discover his connection to creation, and how he plans to one day become best friends with Timothy Olyphant and Amy Poehler.
Travis, tell me about yourself.
Hi David. I’m Travis Smith from Ventura, California which is a wonderful small city. It’s larger than a normal conception of a “beach town” but it still has that vibe, and the people tend to be laid back and kind. It has a beautiful coastline, lots of great food and music, and a cool downtown area. It’s an amazing place to “hang your hat” as those who enjoy a folksier vernacular might say.
I’m an accountant by trade and work at the family firm that my dad started in the 80s. It’s not a field that I particularly enjoy but I love working with my pops who is a wonderful man, and I have great clients. Like so many of us, I work for the ability to have my life off the clock.
I’m ecstatically married to my favorite person in the world, my wife Veronica. We like to brag that it’s been “seventeen years and we still like each other.” I won’t go into details, but we’ve really been through the ringer together in some quite extraordinary ways and I can’t imagine a better partner to walk through all of it with. She is the best human.
Finally, to round out with my favorite things to do (writing aside, of course) I’m a pretty good to very good bowler depending on whose assessing. I love hiking and being in tree surrounded places where you can’t hear even the whisper of a car. I’m also a big enthusiast of music and television.
So when did your writing journey begin?
I always enjoyed writing when I was young and in school, turning assignments into quirky papers like an I-Search paper selecting the topic “What is an I-Search Paper” and leaning heavily on the Vonnegut novel Cat’s Cradle for sourcing. I enjoyed having the freedom to be a little weird and come at things a little differently.
The trouble for most of my life has been that I never really had any confidence. Functionally it felt like writing and other such interests were things that other people did, but not an option for me. I never examined the ‘why’ to get at the root of it. So here we are with my journey having only really begun in my mid-40s after a ton of therapy to expose me to those themes.
I’m honestly not sure if I would have even figured out that I loved writing in any sustainable way if not for my niece, Maddy. A couple of years ago she started nudging me towards writing a book because she thought it would be good for me and was curious about what I could produce.
I started writing a short story to make good on my word that I would try, and something took hold in me in a very powerful way. Now that short story is hopefully around six months away, knock on wood, from becoming my first novel and I’ve developed a daily habit that is incredibly important and special to me.
I’ll always be grateful to her for that.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Honestly, it never dawned on me until the book I am working on started getting its legs.
A couple months into the process, when the story found its way to one of the first big evolutions, I had this powerful “lightbulb revelation” that I was doing precisely what I wanted to do. I only wanted to get better and do it forever, even if no one else ever read a word.
I found the thrill of creation playing music with my friends in my late teens and through my twenties. A couple of those bands, If I Had A Hi-Fi and Waking up with Robots, made a couple of albums and EPs between them and being in the studio and watching the songs truly form and grow under a closely examined process was thrilling for me. As much as I love both playing and listening to music and I am still incredibly proud of what we made, it wasn’t my path.
Now with writing, I finally feel a connection to creation that I have wished for throughout my whole life. It feels like what I’m supposed to be doing. Whether it ever amounts to anything or not, I’m quite certain that I will always be doing this.
What are you working on right now?
I’ve currently got my hands really deeply into my novel which is tentatively called Trouble in God’s Fishbowl. It’s a coming-of-age dramedy with elements of supernatural/fantasy and a philosophical bent about three friends from an Al-Anon support group who are trying to move beyond the traumas in their respective pasts and presents, but are being maneuvered and manipulated by a god for some elusive larger purpose.
I’m someone who has always had an interest in psychology and philosophy and it’s been downright exhilarating to be able to explore the topics using these characters who I have really grown to love as the vehicles.
Additionally, I’m trying to gain a voice for poetry which I have been enjoying immensely. I’m just starting out and the results have predictably been a mixed bag, but I have written a couple of pieces that I hope will be the beginnings a collection at some point in time.
I have a lot of work to do before I can consider those feet under me, but I’m looking forward to further finding them.
And what's been your biggest challenge as a writer?
There have been many, but the two at the top of that list are time and feedback. The time issue, while being a very substantial roadblock, is pretty straight forward and universal for non-professionals though so I’ll stop at just a mention.
The issue I find more complicated is finding feedback without overburdening my friends and family. My book is such a huge part of my life and I become almost desperate to share its progress with the people I love. At the same time there are powerful, anxious feelings about whether things are “working” or not and I’ll sometimes want advice and/or assurance.
It can swirl into a strange, overwhelming feeling at times, and you don’t want to find yourself pressuring the people around you into doing homework reading assignments on your behalf. It’s selfish and ultimately frustrating for everyone. So, it all gets a little lonely and that strange energy along with the questions and fears keep building and nagging.
That being said, my wife and sister help me how and when they can and I’m learning to keep faith in my instincts. I’ve also benefitted from learning a lot about myself in working through that anxiety. Both of which are both solid silver linings.
Which online platforms help support your journey?
In truth you’ve been very helpful to me, David. WIPpitch has been very good for me. I have enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the writers who are members and support each other.
It’s also really motivating because I see what people are accomplishing which turns into great fuel to move me. I hope more people find their way to it and it grows. It’s a cool thing you’re building over there.
You also helped me find my way to Substack. I’m just starting and trying to figure out who I am in relation to that type of format, but having something external to myself that I want to produce for has already proved to be great for inspiration and growth.
It’s a lot of fun and I feel a good fire in my belly to keep up the page. I don’t have an audience, but I believe it is very useful to be able to treat it as if I do.
If you have interest in my writing please check out my Substack here.
Do you have any big plans for the future?
Oh, you know. Very reasonable stuff.
Finish the book which becomes wildly successful despite being panned by critics as “recklessly unnecessary.” Huge TV miniseries deal. Somehow it evolves into a rock opera combining the talents of Fiona Apple and Tom Waits. I, due to my unquenchable thirst for self-loathing, obviously develop a massive coke habit that risks ruining everything, but I kick it just in time for salvation. My wife and I then become best friends with Timothy Olyphant and National Treasure Amy Poehler.* We have these wonderful dinner parties and laugh. Oh, how we laugh…
Then book two resets the process, but it forces me into seclusion in the woods. The beard I grow is quite unattractive.
Seriously though, I want to have my book completed by mid-next year. It would be great to see this done sooner, but given the reality of my time constraints and lack of experience I am trying to create a timetable that shows me kindness.
I will also be keeping content cycling on my Substack page in order to gain more experience and to become disciplined in meeting short term goals along with developing myself in the areas of poetry, essays, and other smaller scale pieces.
On the way out, I really want to thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself and for all of the help that you have given me in the short time that I’ve corresponded with you. The way you support writers, even entirely unknown newbies like myself is a mark of wonderful character. I’m very grateful to you for everything that you do.
*Amy Poehler is a national treasure and I address her with that due respect.
A quick note because you asked separately about the name Waking Up With Robots:
Waking Up With Robots is a very curious name and there is a story there. The band was given homework to return to the next practice with at least one name to propose.
Adam Romney, our bassist and all around amazing human being, arrived with a story about an incredibly intense dream he had in which he was being attacked by “killer robots.” It left him with an otherwise source-less anxiety that he carried with him most of the following day.
That not so uncommon feeling is Waking up with Robots in our canon. It’s also quite searchable on Spotify and other like outlets which ended up being fortuitous so many years in the future while our album lives online.
Thanks, David. That was a lot of fun.
Man, brevity is not my thing, is it? Whooo-boy. Ha!
Cheers, and thanks again.