Wedded to the book
Today, April 27, is International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day. It also happens to be my husband, Mark Funk’s 71st birthday. To celebrate, I made him write my newsletter. Here’s his take on what it’s like to be married to me during the novel-creation process.
By Mark Funk
My wife, author of the new novel Shade of Wings, wrote her story from the perspective of crows. I write this blog from the perspective of a spouse.
For the last eight years, we’ve walked our dog, bounced ideas, and lent each other a depth of support that only couples can give. I’ve became deeply involved in her project.
Almost every day we leave our north Seattle home carrying kibble and peanuts for the crow families that frequent our neighborhood, its streets, its parks and trees. These smart birds quickly recognized us as friends — two humans and Mars, our pit-chow mix. They descend in pairs, in threes and fours, sometimes as many as twenty, to scarf up the peanuts we scatter.
The neighborhood crows helped inspire the crows in Pam’s novel: the brooding protagonist, Duncan, his sisters Sky and Cloud, and three fledglings, including a runt named Worm. Watching the crows was like a corvid textbook: What would they do to announce themselves this morning? How long would they hop along beside us as we walked up the street?
As I became more invested in her story, we’d argue about things. Should she change the crow names? Yes, several times. Should she mention her favorite Star Trek captain, Kathryn Janeway, who once saved Voyager and its crew from a “macro” virus much larger than the West Nile virus in her novel? Yes, says I. No, says Pam.
Inevitably we braced ourselves with our opposite personalities. Pam is an introvert. I am not. Pam can be anxious. Me, not so much.
PAM: I haven’t heard back yet from NAME OF AUTHOR, BETA READER, AGENT, EDITOR.
ME: When did you email them?
PAM: Monday
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. She’d allow at least three weeks for people who had to read the book.
Pam hates the business and promotional duties of authorship. They depress me too. The worst of times? Waiting for those first pre-publication reviews, from “trades” like Kirkus to the Gen Z reviewers on NetGalley.
PAM: I got my Kirkus review!
MARK: And?
PAM: I’m afraid to open the email.
Or, in the case of a NetGalley review . . .
PAM: Oh my God, she loved it! How do I share an Instagram post?
ME: I don’t know. I’m not on Instagram. But congratulations. Why are you so surprised?
Shade of Wings is Pam’s second book. Much has changed in publishing since 2018, the year of Pam’s first novel, The Leaving Year. My own office is close enough to my wife’s workspace that I get to listen in on the weekly Zoom calls of She Writes Press authors, Class of 2026 and beyond. My two cents: Yes to audio books! And damn those Anthropic thieves who pirated books, including Pam’s first, to train its AI!
My role in this relationship is a combination of prodder/promoter/supporter. When Pam’s wasting precious hours watching animal videos, I remind her we have a limited time to reach out to folks, which is something I very much like to do. Every conversation or text is a chance to remind the world that the launch of Shade of Wings is . . . Thursday, June 4, 7 p.m., at Third Place Books Ravenna!
On our daily walks, I helped her clear her head after days, weeks, months — years — of researching and writing about crows and their families. I learned much about these remarkable birds, so much so that I came to watch the evening sky for their return to their roost. Thousands of them.
My belief? Each one of those crows has a story. I wish they’d tell my why more than 20,000 of them abandoned their roost near the University of Washington-Bothell campus for a far less prestigious address several miles southeast . . .
Cheaper rent, perhaps?
