Meet the authors of Eat Well, Move Well, Live Well: 52 Ways to Feel Better in a Week, now available in your favorite bookstore.
1. How did you two meet?
Roland: We first met online, on a fitness forum. We later connected via email and Skype, and then a few years later met in person at The Fitness Summit. It was love at first sight for me, and we hung out a lot that weekend. She didn’t know it was on purpose, but I deliberately missed my flight home to hang out with her for one more day.
Galina: What struck me was that Roland was as nice and open to communication in person as he was online. You rarely meet people whose online and in person presence matches. It was an instant friendship, like we had known each other forever!
2. How did you discover a shared passion for fitness?
Roland: We hung out in the same places, online. I liked what she had to say and how she said it. I also saw a picture of her this one time, and she looked pretty fitnessy.
Galina: I had always been passionate about health and helping others, I think I wrote my first diet plan when I was 16. At the time I met Roland I owned a personal training business and was blogging actively, ready for the next step. I had a book idea already and it was easy to channel our drive for health and fitness into our first project.
3. What’s it like to write books together? How does that process work for you?
Roland: Each book is a different process. Our first book was fully outlined over lots of coffee, then we divided and conquered the chapters, then traded to edit each other’s work. Our latest book has fifty-two simple but powerful lessons. We brainstormed a long list and then fought over who got to write what.
Galina: Like the life of any project, when we have a new idea, it’s like falling in love again. There is a moment of being swept away, when the idea owns you and shapes you.I love those first few weeks and months. The middle part is like climbing uphill. Roland and I have very different working styles. He needs a lot of peace, I need a lot of communication to be productive. He is methodical, I work sporadically in large chunks of text letting the work guide me. He guides the work. The best part is reading each other’s work for the first time, editing and commenting. There are a lot of new ideas that get born in the process and a mutual support you cannot get when you write by yourself. Once the final edit comes around, there are love and hate days, and once the print is done, we celebrate, then on to the next idea. We don’t take breaks between projects.
4. What’s a typical day like in the Denzel household?
Roland: I’m always writing something, and I usually get up early to write over coffee, then it’s off to work for me. We each meet with clients during the day, and squeeze in as much walking as we can here and there. After work, I often walk to Galina’s studio so we can walk home together. It’s a great time to talk about our writing, projects, and plans. …and what’s for dinner.
Galina: We both work regular jobs – Roland in the corporate world, and I am in the studio with my students an average of 10 hours every day. With lives that full, most days are structured the same, with early wake up, writing before work, walks after work and getting the occasional exercise session together. We cook together, which gives us a chance to unwind and do something creative – I take care of the veggies, he makes the meats. Weekends are the most intense writing time and also a chance to immerse in nature, so we lead hikes for our students or head off for long walks at the beach. I enjoy creating new recipes, taking pictures and blogging on the weekends.
5. Why did you want to publish with Propriometrics Press?
Roland: Their health focus is based not on being perfect, but one positively changing one’s lifestyle, and developing better habits over time. We don’t need more books on quick fixes that won’t stick. We need lasting change.
Galina: It’s hard to find a publisher that gets your message. I feel like that’s key in order for the work to reach the readers in the way the author meant it. PP works in a small niche that many people are on the cusp of discovering – that it’s your long term daily behaviors which shape who you are, not the occasional extreme program, diet or exercise plan. We share many of our values with other books published by PP and that is key for us.
6. What surprises you most about being authors?
Roland: How hard it is to write short. Our first few books were single topics, so we could afford to go deep on a subject. Our latest is 52 health topics. You really have to get to each point, and fast. I can ramble and tell stories when I write, but luckily Galina knows how to nip that in the bud when I do.
Galina: That no matter what your idea is, there is a message that wants to get out and you are its lips, eyes and ears. There is a creative genius moment, where you are possessed by your content and it won’t leave you alone until you get it out. There is an urgency in writing which I did not realize existed before I started blogging and writing longer content.
7. What is the best part of the life you’ve chosen?
Roland: Getting an email out of the blue from someone we’ve helped. There’s no better feeling.
Galina: Daily growth. There is always something new on the horizon. An ability to align my values and my purpose with the most mundane details of my day. Many people don’t get to have a job which is also their calling, I do, and I consider myself very fortunate.
Look for Eat Well, Move Well, Live Well in your favorite store, today!
[…] time and then finally sending off to press our forthcoming book Eat Well, Move Well, Live Well, by Roland and Galina Denzel. And amid all that proofing and editing and designing has been so much excitement about this book. […]