Volcano Writers Publish a Book Together
Bryan Furer, seated, is surrounded by members of the Volcano Writers Group in the garden of Ira Ono’s Volcano Garden Arts and Café, the meeting place of the writers group. Standing, from left to right, are: Rick Frazier, Kathy "Kat" Gaiser-Licht, AwaHoshi, Anela Scott, Pamela O’Shaughnessy, Vitus The Mad, Taressa Watson, Chris Corley and Janet Carpenter. Bryan, Rick, Kathy, Pamela, Vitus and Janet participated in the group’s first group book publishing project, as did Lehua Wells and Donald Bingle who could not attend the recent gathering in the garden in person. AwaHoshi, Anela, Taressa and Chris are new members of the Volcano Writers Group who look forward to being able to participate in the group’s next book project.
In the summer of 2019, Bryan Furer, a member of the board of directors of Hawaii Writers Guild representing Volcano, who also founded the Volcano Writers Group, talked to a few members about the possibility of publishing a book together. Response was tentative at first, but the more they talked about it, the more the members “got serious about it.”
To get the project going, they came up with a formula to divide up the space. They allocated 10,000 words to each writer, figuring that, if six or eight writers delivered approximately that much copy, they’d have a book. In the end, eight writers made the commitment and, eventually, they did have a book: Out of our Minds: Voices from the Mist. It includes original stories, poetry and essays from the eight authors.
To get the project going, they came up with a formula to divide up the space. They allocated 10,000 words to each writer, figuring that, if six or eight writers delivered approximately that much copy, they’d have a book. In the end, eight writers made the commitment and, eventually, they did have a book: Out of our Minds: Voices from the Mist. It includes original stories, poetry and essays from the eight authors.
The finished product
As the writing progressed, the group met regularly to share their work-in-progress. They set up a deadline which came and went, but when the second deadline came, the copy was finally in.
They also divided up key jobs. Furer took on the job of designing the cover. Lehua Wells, Janet Carpenter and Pamela O’Shaughnessy shared the proof-reading, and Rick Frazier assembled a master copy of all the work submitted for both the Kindle version and the paperback version.
Besides those already mentioned, writers whose work is in the anthology include Vitus the Mad, Kathy Gaiser-Licht and Donald Bingle.
The group self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. It turned out to be “a learning experience.” The book initially carried a publication date of January 2020. The group planned a big inaugural reading, and then COVID-19 hit and “everything shut down.”
The delay proved fortuitous, however, in that it gave the group time to make corrections that were needed because of miscommunications with Amazon. “Edits and changes took longer than we anticipated,” Furer recalled. “Mercury must have been in retrograde. We went through the process maybe three times before we got it right.”
A corrected printing was published around August 2020. The group is hoping to reschedule a reading around Halloween 2021, a good match with some of the content, which leans toward the supernatural and the spooky.
The writers hasten to proclaim the diversity of their writing, however, and assure readers that: “We are confident that there is something in this anthology for nearly everyone to enjoy…” As further proof of their assertion of diversity, they point to the fact that they are planning a new book. Their second book may be called Out of Our Minds: Laughter from the Mist.
The Volcano Writers Group is growing and the next anthology may well include the work of new writers as well as those who participated in the original book project. Stay tuned!
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They also divided up key jobs. Furer took on the job of designing the cover. Lehua Wells, Janet Carpenter and Pamela O’Shaughnessy shared the proof-reading, and Rick Frazier assembled a master copy of all the work submitted for both the Kindle version and the paperback version.
Besides those already mentioned, writers whose work is in the anthology include Vitus the Mad, Kathy Gaiser-Licht and Donald Bingle.
The group self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. It turned out to be “a learning experience.” The book initially carried a publication date of January 2020. The group planned a big inaugural reading, and then COVID-19 hit and “everything shut down.”
The delay proved fortuitous, however, in that it gave the group time to make corrections that were needed because of miscommunications with Amazon. “Edits and changes took longer than we anticipated,” Furer recalled. “Mercury must have been in retrograde. We went through the process maybe three times before we got it right.”
A corrected printing was published around August 2020. The group is hoping to reschedule a reading around Halloween 2021, a good match with some of the content, which leans toward the supernatural and the spooky.
The writers hasten to proclaim the diversity of their writing, however, and assure readers that: “We are confident that there is something in this anthology for nearly everyone to enjoy…” As further proof of their assertion of diversity, they point to the fact that they are planning a new book. Their second book may be called Out of Our Minds: Laughter from the Mist.
The Volcano Writers Group is growing and the next anthology may well include the work of new writers as well as those who participated in the original book project. Stay tuned!
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The Inside Story
On a recent sunny June day, members of the Volcano Writers Group who had participated in the group’s first collective book publishing project sat down in front of a computer on the terrace of Ira Ono’s Garden Arts and Café in Volcano, Hawaii. Backed by a lush green lawn, tulip trees and other tropical plantings, one-by-one, the writers talked to Member News via Zoom about their experience of becoming the collective publishers of Out of Our Minds: Voices from the Mist and what that experience meant to them. Here are some of the highlights they shared:
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Janet Carpenter
 Janet Carpenter
MN: Had you ever done anything like this before?
J.C.: Never! I really wasn’t ever even published. That’s kind of why we decided to do an anthology, because the majority of us had never been published before. We were developing as writers and sharing some incredible, interesting, unique stories. I think maybe the strength of our group, and maybe why the anthology worked, is because we really respect each other and respect our differences and individual styles. It was a crazy train. I climbed on board; we took off; we were derailed a few times; we got back on track and we pulled into the station with a published book. And we’re going to do it again! It took a lot of effort to get here, but it was a labor of love – and it’s a good read! I’m looking forward to the next one. M.N.: Were there any particularly memorable moments for you? J.C.: I guess the memorable part was getting published. We were celebrating in January 2020, when it was first published…and then we started finding errors in the text! Our second printing came out in August 2020, and that printing is something I’m really proud of. 
Vitus The Mad
 Vitus The Mad
M.N.: Had you ever done anything like this before?
V.T: I had a short career in porn, but – no – nothing like this. I decided all of my poetry would die with me in a garage if I didn’t publish soon, and when I passed away, it would end up in the dump. So, I went through all of my notebooks for, like, 30 years, and compiled my poetry. I didn’t know anything about online publishing, but Rick Frazier was good at the online publishing thing. I also contributed some short stories, which, I have to admit, I tried because there were other writers around encouraging me. I hadn’t written short stories before. I have since been paid $25 for one of my poems, and I’m very happy about that, because I am now a “paid author.” I was happy to contribute to the anthology. We have a lot of interesting and good writers.
Pam O'Shaughnessy
 Pam O'Shaughnessy
Pam was one of the editors of the book. She is also one of the more experienced writers in the group. She and her sister Mary have published legal thrillers together under the combined pen name “Perri O’Shaughnessy”.
M.N.: So, you had done something like this before? P.O.: Writing a book together with seven other people is how it felt. It took us at least a year. It was a very exciting process. M.N.: Were there any particularly memorable moments for you? P.O.: I think the moment when we realized that it was actually going to be published – thanks, especially, to Rick Frazier, our technical expert. The first time that we sat down and read the manuscript and saw how it all came together, and that it was amusing, and bits of it were poignant, and some of it was kind of mystical. And there was quite a bit of Hawaiiana in there that was very interesting. I think that was my favorite moment: when I first saw the entire manuscript. M.N.: Are you in for the next book? P.O.: Absolutely! I’m so thrilled to be able to do my 10,000 words fresh this year. I’m so glad we’re meeting again here at this beautiful property, at Ira Ono’s Volcano Garden Arts and Café.
Donald Bingle
 Donald Bingle
M.N.: Don, I understand you used to own a home in Hilo as well as your home in Illinois. How did you get mixed up with the Volcano Writers Group?
D.B.: I was in a writers group for 15 years in Illinois, so when we got the house in Hawaii, it was easy just to get on Facebook and look up some local groups. I showed up at one of their meetings and everyone was very friendly and enthusiastic and welcoming. It was a nice group to join. M.N.: Are you going to participate in the next book now that you are back in Illinois fulltime? D.B.: Well, I don’t know about that. I feel a little like an intruder now that we no longer have a place on the Big Island, but I do keep in touch with the people from the group, and I wish them much success. M.N.: (At this point, Janet Carpenter interjected: “You have a place in our hearts, Don. You’re always welcome.) Bingle also indicated that, although he hadn’t helped with any of the technical aspects on the first book because the book was already underway when he joined the group, he would always be happy to help out if they needed his assistance. He praised Rick Frazier’s work, and added this view about the problem of submitters failing to comply with common standards set by publishers: D.B.: A lot of writers who submit to magazines and newsletter and anthologies look at the guidelines and roll their eyes. Sometimes the writers think the guidelines are arbitrary and they find them very frustrating. But, if you imagine yourself being an editor getting submissions, some of which comply with the guidelines and some of which don’t, suddenly you realize why editors only want to look at those that meet their formatting criteria. It’s a good thing to keep in mind when you are submitting. M.N.: Members take note! The submission period for our next issue of Latitudes will be coming up soon.
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Rick Frazier
 Rick Frazier
The motto on Rick Frazier’s tee shirt read: “My mind is like an internet browser – 19 tabs open, 3 of them are frozen and I have no idea where the music is coming from.” Everyone agreed, though, that, without Rick’s technical expertise, there would have been no book.
M.N.: Explain how you got into the position of putting a book together from eight different people using different formats and how you got through it without losing your mind. R.F.: Well 20 years of hard time In Silicon Valley working in software and hardware engineering and as an engineering manager. And when I moved over here about 20 years ago, I went to work for Kilauea Military Camp as their IT support. I published my first series of nonfiction books in 2012 on Amazon, so I knew the process could work. And I knew what it took to get the eBook version up. You really have two completely different versions. One of the biggest issues in the Volcano Writers Group book was the different formats used by the writers. I found the best approach was to get a rich text file or a plain text file and then import the files into a template. By doing that I could get consistent fonts and formatting. The worst part was the editing process because you really had to look the text over carefully. People become blind to their own mistakes after reading it over so many times. That’s also true of editors who read the copy over more than two or three times. The trick is to get enough people to look at the same copy – print it out, have everyone red-line the same copy, and then put the changes into a master file. M.N.: Did the process wear you out? Are you going to be up for the next book? R.F.: It didn’t wear me out. It made me cognizant of what has to be done before the book gets put together. The book was assembled maybe four or five time and it could have been done at one pass if all of the edits had been taken care of at one time. The next time we’ll make sure that what we start with is good input. I’ve got some rewrites and material that’s already been published, so I’ll be putting those things together as my contribution.
Lehua Wells
 Lehua Wells
Lehua Wells couldn’t come to Ira Ono’s garden for the Zoom meeting,
but she participated in the meeting from home. She was one of the editors of the book, and Rick’s remarks about the editing process stirred up strong feelings in her. M.N. Lehua, tell us about your experience with this book. L.W.: I agree with everything that was just said. I’m the best proof reader I’ve ever known, but I agree with Rick’s statement that when it’s you who wrote it, you see what you expect to see, so it’s good to have someone else do the editing. Our main problem at first was working with multiple versions. I’d be fixing the errors on one and someone else would submit a copy they were looking at that didn’t have my changes. I finally started screaming – I’m the one who screamed. I said, we will NOT do this to him! We will use one version at any one time. We got totally screwed up using multiple copies. I’m never gong to allow that to happen again. M.N.: It sounds like you all learned from the experience and the next book should go more smoothly. Is that right? L.W.: Oh, yes! M.N.: Maybe the Volcano Writers Group can be the official publisher for all of us. L.W.: I think Rick would commit suicide!
Kathy "Kat" Gaiser-Licht
 Kathy Gaiser-Licht
Kathy Gaiser-Licht joined the group just in time to become part of the project.
MN: How long have you been with the Volcano Writers Group, Kathy KG-L: Since around May of 2018. MN: What did you think of this crazy project when you first heard about it? KG-L: I just thought the group was awesome when I heard them read their pieces. I used to be in a writing group on Kauai and got some feedback that wasn’t particularly helpful, so I put aside what I had been working on. When I attended the meeting of the Volcano Writers Group, I thought it might be a good incentive to me to pick up where I had left off. MN: Did you have any doubts whether the first book would end in success or not? Or were you confident that you and your colleagues would pull it off? KG-L: Oh yeah! I wasn’t part of the technical elements involved, but as far as what we were all contributing, I felt like everyone had something worthwhile to contribute. MN: Are you planning to contribute to the next book? KG-L: Well, I hope one of my pieces can go into the next book, but my pieces are not particularly funny. My pieces have become serious environmental statements. MN: Is there anything else you’d like to say about your experience with this group? KG-L: I feel like this is my tribe! It’s not always easy to find individuals you can connect with, that you trust, that you’re comfortable with. You know, when you’re writing, you’re often baring your soul. So, yes, it’s an important group for me. People really extend themselves to support each other outside of our meetings, and that’s important, too.
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Bryan Furer
Bryan Furer
- Bryan Furer was not just the organizer of the Volcano Writers Group and the instigator of the book project. He was one of the eight writers whose work appears in the book -- and he designed the book cover.
- Our interview with Bryan extended across two Zoom meetings as we prepared for the big Zoom meeting with everyone at Ira Ono’s Garden Arts and Café. Material included here is taken from each of those meetings.
- M.N.: What is your own writing background?
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When I was older, my Mom wrote a book and I helped her put it together before she died. After I moved to Hawaii, I wanted to go back to writing, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Then I realized I could turn my old film scripts into stories and books, so I did that for a while.
Now I’m working on my first novel, set on the Big Island, a detective mystery called Kona Coast Files: A Brush with Death. It will be the first in a series featuring a detective named Ronan Whitlock.
M.N.: You sit on the board of directors of the Hawaii Writers Guild and you’ve started the Volcano Writers Group. What’s the connection between the two?
B.F.: I was enthusiastic when the Guild formed. I used to drive all the way down to Waimea for writers group meetings at Tutu’s House. I learned a lot from the people who were in that writing group and those who formed the Guild. My experience in the Waimea group inspired me to form the Volcano Writers Group in 2016. Not everyone in the Tutu’s House Writers Group belongs to the Hawaii Writers Guild, and not everyone in the Volcano Writers Group belongs to the Hawaii Writers Guild, but some of us belong to both the writers group and to the Guild.
M.N.: Tell us how you feel about how your group book project has turned out.
B.F.: Well, it’s turned out very nice. Vitus looked at our Amazon account recently and we had a chunk of change come into our account – I believe it was mostly from Australia. We’re also exploring local venues for selling our book. It’s been a real success – and we’re going to do another book! The Volcano Writers Group is growing, so the next book will probably have the work of even more authors in it.
[A special thanks to Volcano Writers Group member Harvey Scott, who took the pictures in Ira Ono’s garden.]
