TBR: Welcome to TBR, Pete. Will
you share a little bit about yourself?
Pete: I’m a husband, a father of 2 (3 yr old boy and 14
month old daughter) and live in the suburbs of Chicago. I love the extreme
seasons that Chicago offers and am currently loving the six inches of snow
outside. I earned a B.A. in English at the University of Iowa, but my career is
in pharmaceutical advertising—go figure. My first book was published in August
of 2012, called DADspirations: The 1st
100 Days of Fatherhood. I don’t consider myself an expert
in parenthood by any means. I make the same number of mistakes as every other
parent and don’t have any fancy combination of letters after his name. I do
believe that anyone can be an inspired dad as long as he wants to put the time,
effort and heart into becoming one.
TBR: Tell us about DADspirations:
The 1st 100 Days of Fatherhood
and where it's available.
Pete: In DADspirations: The 1st 100 Days of Fatherhood, I
compiled the ultimate set of inspirations for the expecting and new father.
This fast-reading, humorous book includes an actionable checklist of essential
ideas to help dads to become the best father they can be.
My ideas,
illustrated with photographs, showcase 35 tips to help make new dad’s first 100
days as impactful as possible. These ideas, identified as DADspirations,
include:
- Send your loving wife to the spa,
which secures for you an afternoon of introducing Bob Ross or Kung Fu to
your baby.
- Develop a baby birth time capsule, which
captures all of the precious moments from a day you're likely to forget.
- Build a toy box, which
gives you the perfect excuse to spend an entire day alone in the
garage with power tools and beer.
- Organize a girls' night out for your wife, which allows her
to bond with her “besties”,
while you get to enjoy a Star Wars movie marathon.
DADspirations are the
cornerstone of inspired parenting and meant to motivate and encourage
soon-to-be and new fathers in a practical, creative and fun way.
TBR: Please tantalize us with a
story blurb or excerpt.
Pete: Dedicate a song to your newborn “…pick out a
song that can be played at some of her special lifetime moments, such as her
baptism, a road trip to Grandma’s, and her wedding day. Unless you want to
permanently damage her psyche, that rules out some classics, such as “Welcome
to the Jungle” and “Thunderstruck,” but it leaves the door open for some
lighter favorites from U2 or Jason Mraz. Whatever the song, have fun with it.
When she’s old enough to appreciate it, give her a handmade frame containing
the songs lyrics as a gift. Or, when she’s old enough to know that it’s not
cool to DADSPIRATIONS 67 hang with you, but still young enough to want to,
spend a Friday night with her, eating popcorn, drinking milkshakes and
conducting a song-a-thon, seeing how many times you can play it over and over
until one of you turns it off. No matter what you do to further the bond, plan
on playing it often enough for her to give you a wink later on in life when it
randomly plays overhead while you two are getting a coffee at Starbucks (or
whatever replaces coffee as the “it” thing to drink in 2032).”
TBR: What inspired you to write
about the theme?
Pete: While raising my son, I discovered
inspiration and creativity, which I never knew I had. Upon learning my
wife was expecting baby number two, a flood of exciting ideas filled my head,
including writing a book. The writing started as a way of keeping track of
these cool ideas I wanted to do for my daughter, building on a lot of the fun
things I did for her older brother. As I put my thoughts to paper, the words
began to come to life and form more of a narrative than just a checklist of
awesome things I was planning for my baby girl. Besides, being a dad is
one of the greatest things you can do in your life and soon enough, I realized
I had this kickass strategy on how to inspire dads in their first 100 days of
fatherhood. This is the only parenting book of its kind which focuses on the
importance of the first few months of fatherhood providing practical and
creative ideas that are illustrated with pictures. This book urges Dads to bond
with their newborn from the get go and can also help them achieve
"Rockstar Dad" status. I sent my wife to a day spa two months after
our daughter was born and she still romantically reminds of how much she loved
it, wink wink.
TBR: How do you develop your
characters?
Pete: Naturally. I procreated two of them and
married the other.
TBR: Any tips or tricks for world
building you’d care to share?
Pete: Lots of nookie.
TBR: Did any music inspire your
book? Do you have a playlist?
Pete: One of my favorite artists is Jason Mraz. His music
inspired a DADspiration called Dedicate a Song to Your Daughter, when I chose
Anything You Want for my little girl. In fact, I was actually struggling a
little bit during the writing of my book when I started typing out lyrics to
Jason’s album (Beautiful Mess) that created the idea, so not only did it help
me get back into the flow of writing, but it sparked an idea. Ironically, my
wife and I saw Jason in concert when she was four months pregnant with my
son.
I always
listen to movie scores when I write. No words or lyrics, just random background
sounds and I have a playlist that put on repeat while I wear headphones. I’m
pretty good at zoning out, so I can write with friends at a loud coffee shop or
on the couch at home next to my wife. My current writing playlist includes:
- Aggressive Expansion by
Hans Zimmer from The Dark Knight
- My Name is Lincoln by
Steve Jablonsky from The Island
- Bumblee by Steve
Jablonsky from Transformers
- Time by Hans Zimmer
from Inception
- The Gael by Dougie
Maclean from Last of Mohicans
- The Mighty Rio Grande
by This Will Destroy You from Moneyball
- The Reunion by John
Williams from War Horse
TBR: Which of your characters would
you most/least like to invite to dinner, and why?
Pete: In 20 years, I would like to take my
daughter out and ask her what she thought of the book when she first read it
(assuming she will, haha) and what, if any, impact it had on her. For better…or
for worse +)
TBR: While creating your books, what
was one of the most surprising things you learned?
Pete: If you really love it, find the time to write and
schedule it. The longer you put it off, the harder it is to keep momentum.
Whether you take 10 minutes every other night at 8am or every Tuesday at 7am
for six months, establish that time, that place and stay committed to it. Good
things will happen as a result.
Don’t
worry about trying to write THE book. Just write. I spent my early 20s trying
to figure out how to write a movie that would earn me an Oscar nod. It was a
waste of energy to spend so much time trying to think of it and a lot of wasted
time writing. Had I just started writing, I’m sure the movie would have come to
me.
TBR: What's next for you?
Pete: I'm currently working on another
super fun and cool book for dads to read to their children. The book uniquely
combines two things that I love and cherish: watching movies and reading to my
children. My goal is for dads to stop reading Mother Goose to
their toddlers and, instead, begin a new literary generation of reading stories
from my upcoming book, DADspirations: Hijacking Hollywood for Fatherhood.
TBR: What’s the most challenging
aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Pete: Being married and the father of two
kids under the age of 3 has left little time for writing, especially since we
spend most of our spring, summer and fall weekends on a lake in Wisconsin and
during the week, I commute into Chicago from a suburb that is over an hour
away. Needless to say, as much as I love to write, it’s challenging to find the
time to do so. But, the most rewarding takeaway from this process has been the
connection I’ve established with my daughter. We’ve bonded early and often and
I’m excited to carry though a lot of the ideas for as long as she’ll let me.
TBR: What’s
the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Pete: A co-worker told me she bought the book just
so that her husband would send her to the spa for a day. And, he did. And, she
absolutely loved it. It was “the best 14
bucks (she) ever spent.”
TBR: Where can readers find you on
the web?
Pete: I try to be everywhere I can be, but
I have a day job that takes up a good 12 hours of my day. Leaving me an hour or
two with my kids and a couple of hours to do whatever, which includes hanging
with wife or trying to promote my book. Below is where you can find me lurking
or for more info about me, DADspirations, and the latest prizes and giveaways.
TBR: Is
there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Pete: If you could dedicate a song to your son or
daughter, what would it be and why?
TBR: Readers, Pete Densmore will
give away a signed, paperback copy of DADspirations: The 1st 100
Days of Fatherhood to one lucky commenter. He'll pick a winner on April 5th,
2013 and announce the winner here. Be sure to leave your email address so he
can contact you.
Thanks for visiting TBR, Pete. Best of luck to you!
