VALE – Rick Steber still distinctly remembers a particular life insight.
Steber was working as the senior administrative assistant for then Portland Mayor Terry Schrunk in the late 1960s.
“我以为我想从政. Once I got in there I thought, you know, I don’t want to do this,” said Steber.
Yet it was a quote that made the native of Bonanza, Oregon, confirm his decision to take a new path.
The quote: “Every time an older person dies, it is like a library burning down.”
“我在东区长大. Every time I came back home, I’d find out more and more from these old-timers. I liked listening to the old-timers spin stories. I just decided to dedicate my life to saving as many of those stories as I could,他说.
事实证明这是一个不错的选择.
Now Steber is a successful writer with more than 50 books with sales of more than two million copies. He’s a well-known western writer and has and has won several literary awards, including the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western novel. Five of his books have been optioned by movie production companies.
在11月, Steber将在Malheur县, 在Vale和Ontario停留, where he will share stories and poems from his books.
Steber will be at the Vale Senior Center, on 周四, 11月. 9、上午11:30.m. to speak at the Malheur Country Historical Society’s annual meeting. 门票是20美元，包括午餐. For more information on tickets, call 541-519-0420 or 541-519-0855.
Steber will then be at the Treasure Valley College Weese Building that night in room 110 at 7:30 p.m. 门票是10美元.
11月星期五. 10, Steber will speak during a luncheon session at the Oregon State University Extension Office in Ontario from 12:10 p.m. 到12:50分.m. There is no cost for the Extension office luncheon. Steber will wrap up his Malheur County tour at the Ontario Community Library, Friday, 11月. 他将从下午五点半开始发表演讲.m. 到晚上7点.m. 他还会签名售书.
斯特伯说话直截了当, 开玩笑, and said his best advice for aspiring writers is to get “all the education you can.”
“Then forget most of it and do what your passion is,他说.
他的第二条建议是?
“永不放弃，”他说.
Steber的写作过程很漫长.
“一般来说，我一整年都在研究. I generally write a draft on a book about the time the snow comes on the ground and until it leaves,他说.
然而，他说，这只是第一步.
然后真正的工作才开始. I will rewrite a book probably 50 times,他说.
Steber said he is represented by an agent but does most of his publishing in-house in Prineville, 他住的地方.
“I will do the first edition (of a book) exactly the way I want and then my agent will sell it back East. They consider me a mid-list writer, which means they don’t pour any money into advertising,他说.
Steber’s books cast a wide net in terms of describing the human condition as it relates to the West. He’s written books about the Pendleton Round-Up, 牧场主与政府不和, a cowboy coming to terms with his errant lifestyle, and the impact of the changing West on Native Americans.
Crafting a novel can be hard work but there is always an element of fun to his work, he said.
“I struggle with finding the voice for whatever book I write, for that particular story. What is the funnest part of writing is when all the research is done and then the challenge of putting it on paper. That, to me, is the fun part, making it as compelling as I can,他说.
Steber said he realized early in his career that “if you are going to be a writer you have to love it first.”
“And you’re not going to get rich,他说.
仍然, Steber’s writing is more than just modestly successful, but when he started out he realized that “I needed to have so much coming in each month.”
So, he penned a newspaper column, dubbed “Oregon Country.” The column, he said, was at one time published in 54 newspapers across Oregon.
Steber said his visit to Malheur County will be as informal as possible.
“Ever since college I’ve tried to stay away from anything that is a lecture,他说.
To find out more about Steber, go online to http://www.ricksteberauthor.com/index.php
消息提示? 请联系记者帕特·考德威尔 (电子邮件保护)
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