Write a commentOswego entrepreneur Art Tirrell is a man of diverse dimensions and talents.
Not only did he establish a successful appliance and repair business, Tirrell's Appliance Co., that has been serving Oswego for close to 40 years, but he is a huge water enthusiast as well. He owns and runs a site dedicated to his love of water, LakeOntarioObserver.com, where he reports on events of interest to boaters and to others who appreciate the water as much as he does. He is also a life member of Oswego Yacht Club, a former USYRU Sportsman of the Year, a former U.S. Sailing Club Race Officer, an honorary member of the Oswego High School Sailing Club and a former one-design sailor with many years of competitive racing experience.
But, what some may not know is that Tirrell is also an accomplished writer with three published novels to his credit and a fourth close to completion.
He said the road to becoming a published novelist was long and not an easy one, but one that was worth the journey. For Tirrell, writing gives him an outlet for his true passion; being published is just icing on the cake.
Tirrell began seriously writing in 1996, completing his first novel in 2001.
"But I couldn't sell it," Tirrell said.
He said he had a wall in his office covered with rejection letters from agents he jokingly referred to as his "Wall of Shame."
Realizing that rejection is a standard part of the writing process, however, Tirrell did not give up trying to find an agent and get his book published.
He caught a break when a friend, Garth Stein, author of the New York Times best-seller, "The Art of Racing in the Rain," recommended Tirrell to an agent, who signed him.
"But she couldn't sell it," he said.
At that point, however, Tirrell said he had built up such a large network of publishers and authors that he was finally signed by a big name agent, who he said also failed to sell it.
"But he did talk with a small publisher in Toronto about the book and they bought it," he said. "And they did a beautiful job with it."
Kunati Book Publishers (Toronto-Miami) released his debut novel, "The Secret Ever Keeps,"in 2007, which received favorable reviews from Kirkus, ForeWord Magazine, The Historical Novel Review and others.
But, Tirrell said he soon learned that if a book is mid-list (not a best-seller), once published, the responsibility of selling the book falls to the the author.
"Even with a publisher, I still had to go out and sell myself in order to get stores to carry my book," he said.
So, armed with a list of 1,000 bookstores in the United States, Tirrell said he wrote letters and made phone calls, eventually selling about 1,000 copies.
Self-promotion, Tirrell said, although necessary was something he found extremely depressing.
"I was not good at it and did not do well with it," he admitted.
But Tirrell said his depression lifted when he realized that he honestly was not writing for the monetary reward.
"I write because it is a compulsion," Tirrell said passionately. "I just love writing."
His second novel, a baseball yarn, "The Vitamin Effect," published in 2010, and his most recent, "The Wind from Entouhonoron," published in 2012, are both Indie published.
"They have told me that it takes five books before people recognize the name and go out and buy the book," he said.
Tirrell is getting close to that mark, having nearly finished his fourth book, which currently has a working title of "New Messiah." The book, he said, is completely written, but is in about its 11th revision.
The journey
Born and raised in Syracuse until he was 17, Tirrell said he was never encouraged to write.
"My father was an electrical engineer," he said. "Anything that was not mathematical or scientific, like writing, was not good in his eyes."
To that end, Tirrell said he went off to William-Penn in Iowa to study biology, although he said he really had no interest in it. In his sophomore year, his father was killed in a boating accident, leading Tirrell to leave school and return home to help his mother.
"It really was just an excuse," Tirrell admitted. "My mom really did not need my help."
Ultimately, his knack for writing landed him a job with Dunn & Bradstreet, writing business bios, until he got drafted by the U.S. Army.
After his discharge, Tirrell got a job with First Trust in downtown Syracuse, working in the data processing department.
He recalled the first vacation he ever took, which started a chain of events that led him eventually to Oswego.
"I drove my new corvette to Atlantic City where I met a wonderful girl I still call my "Indian Princess," Tirrell recalled.
As a result, he impulsively gave his First Trust one week's notice and moved to Atlantic City.
"But, the romance didn't last long," he said with a laugh.
Neither did his time in Atlantic City as Tirrell decided to drive further south, winding up in Key West, Fla.
"In Key West, you either have to turn around and face what is following you or get on a boat," he said.
At that point, Tirrell decided it was time to turn around and return to Central New York.
He accepted a job as credit manager with W.T. Grants and in 1966, and came to Oswego for a short time to train. After moving around to different cities with the company and earning a few promotions, he returned to Oswego, working on the sales floor in the appliance department. He was then promoted to be the operations manager for the store, which encompassed doing the payroll, hiring and managing cost control, to name a few.
As it turned out, all of this experience armed Tirrell with what he needed to step out on his own.
"So I know I can sell and I know how a business operates," he said. "Essentially, I was ready to open my own store."
He said his original store, which he opened at the same location he is still in today, focused primarily on furniture.
Tirrell said it was after he took a refrigeration course at BOCES and learned repair from a local resident, Dave Schilling, that he moved into appliances.
"Dave was an incredible man," he said. "He taught me everything about repairing appliances, what to stock and how to price. Even though I was older than him, he was my mentor."
Tirrell said the best advice he ever got, he got from Schilling.
"He told me, 'you don't want to be the business, you want to own the business."
Today, Tirrell is semi-retired and Tirrell's Appliance is co-owned and operated by his daughter, Caylene, which leaves him time for his writing.
To this day, Tirrell gives a lot of credit for his launch into his writing career to local businessman, John Fitzgibbons.
"John is the kind of guy who practices random acts of kindness," Tirrell said. "He took to visiting me once a month or so to chat."
Tirrell said he was dabbling in writing at the time and Fitzgibbons was aware of his efforts.
"One day, Fitzgibbons came in and plopped down a flier from BOCES with an section circled which read, 'How to Write Fiction That Sells,'" he recounted.
After encouragement from Fitzgibbons, Tirrell signed up for the course, which was where he wrote the first scene for his second novel, "The Vitamin Effect.," which remained in the book.
"So, John is the guy who got me started," Tirrell affirmed, "and I never stopped."
To read excerpts from his books, go to arttirrell.com.
Locally, Tirrell's books may be purchased at the river's end bookstore, at Tirrell's Appliances and at the office of I Heart Corp. They may also be purchased through Amazon.com, through his website or they can also be downloaded to your Kindle or Nook.
