Interview with...MICHELE HARBER!

        Greetings, Fellow FanStorians! I have a wonderful member to introduce today. Many of you have known her for some time, but she’s a fly-under-the-radar kind of person, so I would be surprised if you knew her backstory. I guarantee, though, that you will find it as fascinating and charming as she, herself!

                                             Introducing….MICHELE HARBER!

       So, Ms. Harber! I have been so happily anticipating this interview! Thank you, times a million zillion, for saying ‘yes.’ 

        We’ve known each other quite a while now, having become acquainted – via a homonym contest, no less! - shortly after we joined FS in 2018. Since then, you’ve amassed many “Recognized” posts (131) and contest wins (52!!) with titles that include classics like: “Herpes of the Elbow,” “Ebenezer Scrooge and Cindy Lu Who” and “The Cellphone Ate My Child.” And who can forget the ATB entitled “Confessions of a Denture Wearer.” 

        But writing is not your only foray into the creative and performing arts. Please share this extensive list with our fellow members

        It’s not really that extensive. My first love, even before writing, had always been acting, and I’ve done three Off-Off-Broadway plays and a few dozen local shows. 

        I also spent two years recording books for the blind for the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI). 

        Most of my artistic interest is in the performing arts. My one and only claim to fame in the visual arts is that, while in grade school, I won an anti-shoplifting poster contest sponsored by the Queens, NY Borough President. 

        What I particularly love about your work here is how VARIED it is! You are definitely no one-trick pony. You became my favorite flash fiction writer early on, but you’re equally excellent at all forms of poetry.

        Do you have a favorite writing genre?

        While I enjoy writing short stories, I’ve always preferred writing poetry, which I’ve done since I was a child. I’m definitely a rhyming poet. I find having an infinite number of words at my disposal intimidating, while limiting the field to only the words or phrases that rhyme a particular word or phrase seems much more manageable. 

        I love writing for children, and have completed a number of children’s book manuscripts, some in verse, others in prose. I’ve actively been trying to get one published by an established publishing house, rather than attempting to self-publish. I’ve had no luck so far, but I refuse to give up. As they say about the lottery, “You’ve gotta be in it to win it.” 

        What do you like to read the most?

        I’m a voracious reader, and will read any type of book, although, with the exception of biographies, I greatly prefer fiction to non-fiction.

        Who are your favorite authors?

        While there are many authors whose books I read, my absolute favorites are the late, great Pat Conroy, who never wrote a book I didn’t consider a masterpiece, Tim Dorsey for his Serge Storm books, and Janet Evanovich for her Stephanie Plum series. 

        Heyyy! Pat Conroy is also my all-time favorite author, and I, too, have read every book he wrote and consider them all masterpieces. 

        I can’t fault your taste. 

At the risk of sounding obsequious, it seems as if your creativity never dries up. Would you agree with that? How do you choose which contests you’ll enter?

        I love to write story poems, so any contest that allows me to tell a story through poetry tops my list. Mainly, though, I’ll enter any contest that interests me at the moment. Shorter poems are more of a challenge to me, as they force me to condense my “story” to fewer lines or syllables, but I’ll often enter such contests just for the challenge. I’m always open to trying different poetry forms but, if I can’t figure out something fun or interesting to say within the parameters of a certain contest, I’ll just skip it. However, you’ll never find me avoiding a “Share a Story in a Poem” contest, or a romance contest (which is often a good vehicle for a story poem), or anything else that allows me to tell a complete story through poetry. 

        In prose, I prefer any contest in which I can exhibit my sense of humor. I made a name for myself in a creative writing class by turning vacation inconveniences into vacation horror stories. Every word I say in these stories is true but, as with any so-called “reality” TV show, how you manipulate those words can give the story a whole new meaning. Experiences that are annoying and frustrating when you go through them can become very humorous (to anyone else, at least) if you retell them properly, and I love to do that.  

        Hahaha. You have now described the schtick used by every Jewish comedian since time began!! 

        Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

        Okay, so we’ve now established: actress, writer, poet, humorist…but I’ve saved up my two favorite facets of your talents: you’re a masterful reviewer and an editor extraordinaire. In my opinion – and I’ve told you this countless times – you are the best I’ve ever known. Your editing chops are second to absolutely no one’s. 

        But let’s talk about reviewing first. What comprises a good FS review, in your opinion? And a good reviewer? How do you decide what pieces to review and when to suggest changes?

        The best reviews and reviewers don’t just say something is good or bad, they say why. I love a positive review, but it’s the most helpful to me if it tells me what the reviewer thought worked well. If I know that, i.e., metaphor or mid-line rhyme is striking a chord, I’ll make an effort to include them in more of my works. 

        Similarly, if something I’m doing doesn’t work, it helps to know what and why and, equally importantly, what I might do to correct it. “I hit a lot of bumps when reading this out loud” doesn’t help me if you don’t say where those bumps were, and what made them bumpy. 

        That’s a really good point. 

        I currently get a lot of positive feedback on the smooth flow of my poems. That’s because wonderful people like Jim Wile and the amazing and sorely missed Nancy E. Davis took me by the metaphoric hand and taught me about meter and iambs, and that matching the syllable count isn’t enough if I haven’t matched which syllables get stressed and which don’t. I’m a much better poet because of reviewers who had the courage to say, “I enjoyed much of your poem, but these particular points didn’t work, and here’s how to fix them.” 

        You’ve passed that wisdom along to me, too, on many a poem, and it’s helped me enormously. 

        Thank you. I’m glad I was able to help. 

        Regarding what I choose to review, after having been burned by a couple of people for giving honest three- or four-star reviews, with appropriate explanations and suggestions, I made up my mind to only review works that I felt were worthy of five or six stars. It wasn’t worth arguing with people I was trying to help. 

        Ohh, do I ever hear THAT lament from fellow members constantly! 

        You can’t help someone who isn’t open to help, or who thinks their work is perfect as is.

        I also prefer to review works whose topics interest me. I don’t want to unintentionally give a less than enthusiastic review because the subject matter bored me, even if the writing were worthwhile. 

        The depth of my review will be affected by the writer’s end goal for the piece. If someone is writing just for pleasure, therapy or any other personal reason, I’ll discuss, perhaps, the piece’s imagery, cadence, rhyme or mood. If someone is looking to publish, I’ll add a full-on proofreading, correcting any grammatical error or typo I come across. For someone like you or Pam Lonsdale, who is truly open to it, I’ll give a “proofreading on steroids” review, where I’ll go as far as proper comma placement. 

        I always appreciate that level of assistance from someone of your caliber. It’s like having Albert Einstein offer to help me solve a math problem.  

        Thanks, but I have better hair than Einstein. 

        Well, yes, but his moustache is thicker. 

        This is the absolute truth, Michele, no hyperbole or kowtowing whatsoever: I credit you with why my writing has improved so markedly since our debut here in 2018. Whatever you tell me to change, I CHANGE!! I have never even once found your instincts – and training – to be anything except one hundred percent spot on. 

        So please share with us the backstory of how you acquired your skills and experience – and don’t leave out that vignette I love of how you worked your proofreading magic at the interview. That one still makes me grin with awe.

        You have no idea how much I want to say, “It all started in a little 5,000-watt radio station in Fresno,” but I’m not sure how many readers would pick up on the Ted Baxter/”Mary Tyler Moore Show” reference. 

        Hahaha. Yeah, there’s a lot of young blood on here now; I think you’d be taking a risk with that! 

        Oh well. It actually all started at Hofstra University, where I was a Communications major and took a journalism course taught by an editor for the New York newspaper “Newsday.” Aside from teaching us how to write a news story, he taught us how to edit. Way back in the old days (the early 80’s), people didn’t have computers on everything from their desk to their phone to their wrist. We actually had to edit on, dare I say, paper, and do so with recognizable (to editors and proofreaders) marks that, to anyone else, resemble hieroglyphics. What might look like a story of the hunter coming home after the hunt is really saying, “Put that in uppercase, that in lowercase, and leave a space between the words.” I’d always been good at recalling what I learned in school, so I fell back on everything I’d picked up in grammar classes, and certain rules of grammar I’d learned studying Spanish from third grade through college. Eventually, both the professor and I discovered I had a knack for proofreading. He even suggested I apply for an internship at “Newsday,” but my heart was still in acting at the time, so I didn’t pursue it. 

        Ultimately, I didn’t wind up pursuing acting either, because I wanted to have enough money to do things like eat and afford clothing. I wound up applying for “regular” jobs in creative fields like advertising and public relations. Every job interview included a proofreading test. While many people might be able to find the errors, I was one of the few who could indicate them using the proper symbols, so I aced every one of these tests. 

        And the cherry-on-top story now, please? 

        I was interviewing for a non-profit and, not surprisingly, had to take a proofreading test. The person administering the test came back to say, “I’ve been issuing this test for many years, and you found an error even I wasn’t aware of.” He didn’t say what it was, but I have no doubt it was where I closed the space between two words down from two spaces to one. I just seem to have an eye for minor details like that. 

        In the end, I got a job as the Assistant to the CEO of a major public relations firm. The firm put out a monthly hard copy newsletter that had to go to my boss for approval. I decided to save her some trouble and proof it before I passed it on to her. She was happy with the job I’d done, alerted the people putting the newsletter together, and I was asked to be the newsletter’s official proofreader.  

        WOWWWWW!! 

        I also proofed and edited everything my boss needed to send out in her name, and word spread, so people from various departments would come to me to proof proposals and other important documents that were going to clients. I thus became the company’s unofficial official proofreader. 

        One day, a vice president from the company’s largest client said he was writing a book, and asked if my boss knew a good proofreader. She immediately recommended me, and that became my first paid proofing and editing job. 

        My boss later wrote her own book, which was picked up by St. Martin’s Publishing Group, and she asked me to do the final proof and edit before it went to the publisher. 

        That’s so amazing and impressive! It truly is. 

        When I was let go after 27 years, rather than take another office job, I decided to freelance. I put out a few feelers on FanStory and, I’m happy to say, when you decided to publish “Lessons in the Key of Life,” you became my first FanStory paying client. I guess those “proofreading on steroids” reviews I’d given you previously paid off after all. 

        Yes. Best decision I ever made. I’d used three other editors prior to you – only because I didn’t know you yet – and I never felt confident that their/my finished product was perfect. But once you came on board, I knew I was in the best possible hands. I felt confident that I could put my book “out into the world” and be completely proud of it because it was at its highest possible level of achievement. 

        Okay, now I’m blushing.  

        You were then kind enough to recommend me to others on the site, which I really appreciate. I’ve gotten two more freelance jobs as a result.   

        I’d recommend you to anyone who’s ever in the market for the best editor on the planet. I would also bet I’m not alone in that regard. 

        Actually, I did get another non-FanStory recommendation. I used to volunteer as a helper during my co-op board elections, and would, with no fee, help the co-op board president with her speeches and bio. As it turns out, her daughter is the head of a marketing firm with a very original approach, and decided to write a book about it, which was picked up by Hachette Publishing. When she was looking for an external editor, before the final manuscript went to print, her mother recommended me, and that became my largest freelance job to date. It seems the mother is writing her own book, about her experiences escaping from the Holocaust as a child, and she’s already let me know she’d like me to proof and edit it once she’s finished. Word of mouth is such a great thing! 

        Well, especially when you are as good at something as you are, Michele. Word of mouth when people DON’T like a person’s abilities can be catastrophic. I’m so happy this opportunity came your way! 

        Thank you! 

        Freelancing sounds like a great fit for you. Do you have a particular type of assignment that you especially prefer? Is there any type you’d reject? 

        I’m so much happier now that I’m freelancing, and not working on a corporate time schedule, and I truly enjoy proofing and editing. While I’ll proof and edit nearly anything (I draw the line at porn), I most enjoy fiction, since, as I’d mentioned earlier, I generally prefer reading fiction. I find some technical works a bit dull, but there’s something interesting in everything if you look hard enough. The marketing book, for instance, offered several examples of how and why certain commercials were made, and what made them successful or unsuccessful, and that part was very interesting. 

        Alright, Michele. Now, you know I always “go here,” so here we go: Please compose a Dodoitsu – a Japanese poem with four lines and the following syllable count: 7-7-7-5 – about how FS parallels nature.[I had to include the ‘parallels nature’ part because I wanted to make Gypsy, the facilitator of the FS Japanese Poetry Club I’m in, see that this grasshoppuh has learned well from her! I know that drawing parallels to nature is the integral ingredient for this poetic form.] And before you start squawking here, Harber, just remember you have only yourself to blame for this. if you weren’t so damn talented and creative [and fun], I’d have made this challenge much easier… 

        I accept the challenge! Here goes: 

        Both FanStory and nature 

        house endless variety. 

        Ev’ry snowflake is unique, 

        as is each poem. 

        [Yes, “poem” has two syllables. I looked it up.] 

        HAHAHAHA. You never cease to amuse me at least once a day, and usually far more. 

        What advice can you give to the members who’ve just joined our ranks here on FS?

1. Enjoy yourself. Use this site however you want it, whether it’s to write for the pleasure of writing, to improve your writing skills, as therapy, or as a prelude to trying to get published. There’s no right or wrong. Just use it however will let you get the most out of it. 
2. Don’t worry if your work doesn’t get noticed immediately. Mine didn’t either. Just keep writing, keep posting, keep entering contests. Eventually, your time will come. 
3. Don’t be afraid to seek or accept advice. That doesn’t mean you have to accept every suggestion offered, but take each suggestion seriously and use the ones that fit your vision. 

        These are great. 

        How about some ideas for how to improve the site?

        I’d really love to see rankings, from “Featured” to “Recognized” to “All Time Best” to simply where one sits on the overall list, be based more on quality and less on quantity. Not that there aren’t some very talented writers and expert pieces on these lists, but that seems to be a pleasant outcome, not what got the works where they are in the first place.

        Any parting thoughts? 

        My parting words, besides “Thank you for considering me worthy of an interview,” are that I’m grateful for all the friendships I’ve made through FanStory, and all the advice and encouragement I’ve received. 

        You get what you give in this world, Michele, and you are always generous with both advice and encouragement, yourself. I’m glad that it’s come back to you and enriched your time here on the site. 

        You are absolutely delightful in every way. Even more than your humor, I love your pluck and your authenticity and appreciate your having taken the time to do this interview. A million thank-you’s again for the fun and insights you have provided here today.