Editing Tom Robbins (section)

==Writing career==
In 1966, Robbins was contacted by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]'s [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] editor, Luthor Nichols. Nichols asked Robbins about writing a book on Northwest art. Instead Robbins told Nichols he wanted to write a novel and pitched the idea of what was to become ''[[Another Roadside Attraction]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|pages=230–232|edition=First}}</ref> In 1967, Robbins moved to [[South Bend, Washington]], where he wrote his first novel. In 1970, Robbins moved to [[La Conner, Washington]], and it was at his home on Second Street that he subsequently authored nine books (although, in the late 1990s, he spent two years living on the [[Swinomish]] [[Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation of Washington|Indian reservation]]).
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Robbins regularly published articles and essays in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine,<ref>{{cite web|title=TOM ROBBINS, writing in Esquire magazine about a C...|url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rzn20g00|work=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library|publisher=The Regents of the University of California|access-date=April 27, 2013|year=2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2016 |title=U-MAGAZINE - You Gotta Have Soul - by Tom Robbins by Tom Robbins {{!}} UNIVERSAL METROPOLIS |url=https://www.universalmetropolis.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=915 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133205/https://www.universalmetropolis.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=915 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2016 |title=Esquire Magazine June 1996: My Favorite Things - Vollmann, William; Pynchon, Thomas; Robbins, Tom; Robbins, Harold; et. al. |url=http://www.opcit.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3796 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223215/http://www.opcit.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3796 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and also contributed to ''[[Playboy]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2016 |title=LA Times Magazine October 2005: Zen-like wisdom from Tom Robbins|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-11-et-book11-story.html|access-date=March 9, 2022 |website=www.latimes.com}}</ref> and ''[[GQ]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2005 |title=Tom Robbins' bold imagination soars in 'Wild Ducks' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/10/14/tom-robbins-bold-imagination-soars-in-wild-ducks/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025225744/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-10-14/features/0510140089_1_wild-ducks-flying-backward-short-writings-tom-robbins |archive-date=October 25, 2015 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |url-status=live |website=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref>

Robbins's 1982 contract with editor Alan Rinzler<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Tom Robbins |url=https://alanrinzler.com/book/tom-robbins/ |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website=alanrinzler.com}}</ref> stipulated that he would accompany Robbins on three holiday trips to resorts Robbins would choose where he could discuss the work-in-progress novel. Rinzler later discovered it was ''[[Jitterbug Perfume]]''.<ref name=":0" /> He later wrote this on the topic of editing for Robbins:

<blockquote>Tom would read out loud from his work in progress, and I would comment. Just a few pages at a time. He was a real southern gentleman, and welcomed intellectual discourse about his theme, characters, and intentions, from the inside. He took the process of conception, research, trial and error, moving things around, changing voices and pitch very seriously, wrote slowly and carefully, revised constantly, developing, refining and evolving this novel over the course of about two years.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Michael Dare described Robbins's writing style: "When he starts a novel, it works like this. First he writes a sentence. Then he rewrites it again and again, examining each word, making sure of its perfection, finely honing each phrase until it reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite. Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes an entire day is devoted to one sentence, which gets marked on and expanded upon in every possible direction until he is satisfied. Then, and only then, does he add a period".<ref>{{cite web|title=Emulsional Problems: How to Write Like Tom Robbins|url=http://www.dareland.com/emulsionalproblems/robbins.htm|work=Dareland|publisher=Michael Dare|access-date=August 15, 2012|author=Michael Dare|year=2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730190435/http://www.dareland.com/emulsionalproblems/robbins.htm|archive-date=July 30, 2012}}</ref> When Robbins was asked to explain his "gift" for storytelling in 2002, he replied:

<blockquote>I'm descended from a long line of preachers and policemen. Now, it's common knowledge that cops are congenital liars, and evangelists spend their lives telling fantastic tales in such a way as to convince otherwise rational people that they're factual. So, I guess I come by my narrative inclinations naturally.<ref>{{Cite news |title=THE GREEN MAN: TOM ROBBINS |language=en-US |work=High Times |url=https://hightimes.com/read/green-man-tom-robbins |access-date=2022-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306124912/https://hightimes.com/read/green-man-tom-robbins |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

Over the course of his writing career, Robbins delivered readings on four continents, in addition to performances he gave at festivals from [[Seattle]] to [[San Miguel de Allende]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 23, 2008 |title=San Miguel Authors' Sala in San Miguel de Allende |url=http://www.sanmiguelauthors.com/augusttomrobbins.html |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723120927/http://www.sanmiguelauthors.com/augusttomrobbins.html |archive-date=July 23, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Robbins also read at [[Bumbershoot]] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2, 2014 |title=Bumbershoot - Day 2 - Arsenal, The Head and the Heart, Tom Robbins |url=https://www.northwestmusicscene.net/bumbershoot-day-2-arsenal-head-heart-tom-robbins/ |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website=NorthWest Music Scene |language=en-US}}</ref>