Those that dance . . .

I was just responding to a post on a writer's loop and caught sight of my sig line. I'd forgotten that I'd included a quote from the comedian George Carlin.

Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the
music.

It sums up my 2007. I've been dancing away only to be surprised to find that others considered me insane - or variations on that theme. It's quite a shock!

The other day I caught a little bit of the Ellen DeGeneres show and saw her do a bit on "what if there were no mirrors"? So what does that have to do with dancing and insanity?

When I see myself in the mirror of other people's perceptions, I'm always a little surprised - whether their perceptions are good or bad. And it leads to wondering how much to heart should I (or anybody) take those reflections? Particularly when it comes to me as a writer.

2007 wasn't a banner year in my writing life. I left a long-time critique group over disagreements about "the best" approach to writing. Angry words were served up on all sides and friendships ruined. In hindsight I can see that the whole thing was really more about control than about writing.

I regret losing the friendships but not leaving the critique group because in leaving I discovered that I'd been acting like a chamelon - twisting myself into knots trying to please everyone while at the same time trying to stay true to the stories that are in me. The approval of my writing buddies was taking on more importance than my writing. The personal dissonance took a heavy toll.

2008 will be better. Hope springs eternal, and so we writers plunge ahead. We will continue to struggle with the dichotomy of wanting/needing approval and staying true to our stories, the stories in our heads and hearts. But this year I think I'm a little wiser and stronger in knowing where the line between the two needs to be drawn.

Kindle - start a fire

Today, Amazon.com launched its newest innovation – a wireless reading device called the Kindle. As I write this, Charlie Rose is interviewing Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com about Kindle and Amazon in general. Bezos’ story is worth studying because his ability to take ideas that make sense from both the consumers’ and company’s viewpoint is what makes him so successful. Win-win.

As an author, the Kindle is exciting news. When epublishing first came on the scene, a part of the debate revolved around a reading device that would be acceptable to book lovers. You know the die-hard book lovers that enjoy the experience of curling up with a good book. Bezos gets this. He says:

I also relax into the author’s words, stories, and ideas. The physical book is so elegant that the artifact itself disappears into the background. The paper, glue, ink, and stitching that make up the book vanish, and what remains is the author’s world.

He gets it! The reason other ebook reading devices haven’t succeeded is because they got in the way of the experience of losing yourself in the author’s world.

Amazon has signed on all the major publishers, according to Bezos, to sell books electronically through Amazon. 88,000 books, newspapers and magazines are available for download. The device can hold the equivalent of 200 books and Amazon offers free storage. So you can keep a virtual private library on Amazon. The device includes a resident dictionary and free access to Wikipedia as well as the ability to highlight and write margin notes. And you have the ability to browse the store and download the first chapter of books for free so you can get a good feel for a particular author before committing yourself and your money.

Can you tell I’m excited! As a writer, just think about the possibilities. Rose and Bezos discussed serialization of books – having books published in serial format as the author writes them. You’d be able to incorporate reader feedback into the manuscript as you went along. Obviously there are benefits for the publishers as well or they wouldn’t be on board with this. One of them could be lower production costs that might open the door to publishers accepting more manuscripts.

The drawback? One is cost. The device costs almost $400 and books are $10 a piece. (But it does appear that you can download from sources other than Amazon – like Project Gutenberg which has 100,000 titles with 20,000 of them free.) If you purchase books frequently, the device can pay for itself within a year or two. Kindle might be a great option for those with money but what about those folks that rely on the library for their reading pleasure. For residents of my city, a library card is free. I rely on the library to introduce me to authors I haven’t read before and to help me keep up with all the new titles coming out.

It’ll be interesting to see what changes this brings to the publishing world and we writers struggling to get our foot in the door.

Pushing on

I've been getting pep-talk emails in my inbox from Nano celebs and gurus. The message is push through the doubts and time stealers. A message that hit home today.

Today I'm in mom-mode. Even though your kids reach adulthood (mine is early 30's), you still worry about them. So I started this morning sitting in the recliner brooding on my child's problems while watching Bear Grylls tell me how to survive if I'm ever stranded in Northern Australia - something I expect will probably happen in the next week or so. Not.

But then those messages from the Nano celebs and gurus started floating around in my head. Write! Write! Write!

Then I had a light blub moment - I can worry and write at the same time!

The protagonist of my Nano novel is a mom and she worries about her kids. Add that to the fact that I find it cathartic to weave bits of my life into my stories. It's part of that "write what you know" advice we always get. Making the story both universal and specific. By drawing on our personal experiences we can give our characters real emotions.

So two lessons learned for today - unless it's something completely disabling (like two broken arms) don't give into the tempation to let personal problems steal time from writing. And use what you're experiencing or have experienced to breathe life into the characters.

Nanowrimo!!

We're on day 3 of NaNo and I'm at 2,715 words - most of them written today.

I'm a "plotter" (versus a "pantser" - someone who writes by the seat of their pants without doing a lot of plotting). Typically I do several things to get to know my characters - character g/m/c grid, back story and 'interviews', etc as well as a pretty extensive outline. I've found that when I think about my plot points and what needs to happen in order to get the characters to that plot point, writing is easier. It keeps me focused. I also tend to edit as I go along - rather than just putting down a word, I'll stop and look in the word finder or other reference book or jump on the Internet to verify a piece of information. I find this easier than cranking out the story and then going back to clean it up. Just feels more efficient and better to me.

But to each his own.

At any rate, the goal of Nano is to write 50,000 words in a month. I'm finding that in order to crank out the words I'm writing scenes that I'll put together later - next month - rather than my usual approach of starting at the beginning and working my way through the end.

We'll see how this works out. At first I felt disoriented but seeing the word count crank up got me inspired so I'm ready to keep going.

Go Nano!

NRW Conference and Stephanie Bond

On Saturday I attended a conference hosted by Nebraska Romance Writers (Lincoln, Nebraska). Great bunch of folks! I just recently joined and this was my RWA PROLoop. My new best friend, Jeanne Kern (half the writing team of Jeanne Bruce, author of TRIPS AND WHALES AND PUPPY DOG TALES) even posed for a picture with me!

Stephanie Bond was the featured speaker and gave a refreshingly honest assessment of the business of writing. I loved it - probably because far to often I'm in the minority when it comes to discussing writing as a business. To my mind (saturated with years in marketing) a manuscript is a product and agents/editors are one of the target markets. Basic marketing and business management principles apply. My muse likes to keep one eye on the "bottom line".

My favorite "take aways" were her tips on writing clean. Her writing process includes outlining the story (yeah! a fellow plotter!) and editing as she goes along. All of which has helped her manuscripts go through the pipeline faster (because they require much less editing) and has helped her become a "go to" person for her editor when another author drops the ball by missing a deadline.

I loved what she had to say about branding yourself, too. Imagine, being able to articulate your brand and be so confident of that brand that you have the confidence to turn down projects that don't feel right to you.

And get this for a great marketing strategy -- Stephanie has a deal with Amazon.com to sell her articles as part of their Amazon Shorts offerings - a set of articles (she said usually three or four to a set) goes for $0.49.

It was great to hang out with fellow writers. There's nothing like walking into a room and instantly knowing everyone else there has people inside their heads that talk to them.

So, anyway, now I'm all fired up for Nanowrimo! Like my published friends Kim Louise and *lizzie star say - don't look down!

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month. There's a web site run by The Office of Letters and Light (whoever they are) where you can sign up and join writers from all over the world in trying to reach a writing goal of 50,000 words in the month of November. The website helps you keep track of the number of words you're writing, shows you how many words others have written and provides all kinds of forums so you can hang out with other writers.

This is my first year. Already I'm hooked into a forum of other writers from Nebraska discussing getting together before the big 11/1 kick off. And I've got several writers from my RWA Chapter - Heartland Writers Group - on my buddy list.

There's nothing quite like the energy generated by a bunch of writers gathered in one place.

Poll Results So Far Give Food For Thought

Sorry - I slipped in to quasi-journalist mode there for a moment when I came up with the title of this post. But it does describe what I've learned so far from the results of my "book buying behavior" poll.

I plan on leaving the poll open for quite a while and see what happens.

The poll results so far show a fairly even split between "read the back cover blurb" and "read a few pages". Kerry Blaisdell noted that she tends "to read a few pages, to get a feel for the author and the story" and then wondered if that's what editors and agents do too.

That got me thinking. I've always put agents and editors in a different target market than ordinary people buying books. But maybe they're really not two separate target markets.

I'm coming to see that they're all readers. What grabs an agent or editor about the story is likely to be the same thing that grabs the bookstore customer.

I don't know why this is such a revelation to me but it's given me a whole new appreciation of the importance of the synopsis and having "hooks" in your story.

Misconceptions about Romance Novels

Say the words “romance novel” and waaaay too many people think of “bodice ripper” book covers and stories about damsels in distress waiting for the white knight to come and rescue them. It’s unfortunate that the early days of the Harlequin romance novel created the stereotype that still persists today.

In reality, the romance genre has been around forever. Think Romeo and Juliet, written in 1595 and based on an Italian tale translated in 1562. A classic love story albeit without the happily ever after ending.

Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in 1813. It’s considered one of the first romantic comedies in the history of the novel. This popular story has been made into movies no fewer than four times starting in 1940. It’s also been made into three TV serials. There’s also a Broadway musical version of the story. The popular movie Bridget Jones’ Diary is a loose adaptation of the novel with Mark Darcy modeled after Austen’s Mr. Darcy.

Today’s romance novels feature strong women – think Stephanie Plum in the wildly popular Janet Evanovich series, or the heroines in the novels of romance mainstay Nora Roberts. A romance is really just a story that contains a central love story with the “plot centered around two individuals struggling to make the relationship work” and has an emotionally satisfying ending. Many novels – I’d venture to say most – contain romantic elements. Even the novels by renowned western writer Louis L’Amour contain romance.

And the romance doesn’t have to be between a man and a woman. Diana Gabaldon follows up her popular Outlander series with a series about Lord John Grey in which his undying love for Jamie Fraser (the hero in the Outlander series) underlies any other romantic relationship Grey attempts. In case you didn’t get it, Lord John is gay and his homosexual lifestyle adds a sense of danger to the Outlander and Lord John series both set in the 1700s.

All the “eeeewwwww, romance novels” attitudes are contradicted by the numbers. Romance sells! Of those who read books last year, one in five read romance novels. With the exception of religious/inspirational, romance outsold every other category in 2006. That’s more than westerns, mysteries, sci-fi, etc. Romance fiction generated $1.37 billion in sales in 2006. (2007 numbers aren’t in yet but they will, no doubt, show similar results.)

Who reads romance? Just about everybody – even men. According to a poll conducted by Corona Research (a market research firm in Denver), in 2002 seven percent of romance readers were men. In 2006, that number jumped to 22 percent. Forty-two percent have a bachelor degree or higher. Geographically, in the US readership is split fairly evenly between Southern, Midwestern and Western states.

People are reading romance and not even recognizing that it is romance. One of my friends commented the other day that she never reads romance yet one of her favorite authors is Barbara Taylor Bradford, arguably the number one best seller of women’s fiction over the last 30 years. “Women’s fiction” is just another way of saying it’s a novel with strong romantic elements, which puts the work under the romance umbrella.

So how do we put these misconceptions to rest?

When I hear the “eeewww, romance” reaction, I like to ask people to name their favorite books and then note which ones are really romances or contain romantic elements. I get a lot of “oh, I didn’t think of that” reactions.

That tells me that, bottom line, overcoming the stereotypes means focusing on stories that are so well written with well developed plots and compelling, three dimensional characters that the non-romance reader won’t automatically slot the book into their mental “bodice ripper” category. If quality writing and compelling stories hook the reader, maybe they’ll forget all about the “eeewww” factor.

Book Buying Behavior

At lunch the other day my colleagues and I were talking about books. (Most of the people I work with are avid readers.) The conversation turned to what prompts them to pick up a book when they're browsing in the book store (or library).

One said she goes solely by the back cover blurb. That impressed upon me how important that short paragraph is in getting the essence of the story across. It also made me realize the similarity between grabbing a reader with that blurb and grabbing an editor or agent with "the pitch".

One said that she goes solely by the cover. Ouch! That's one that authors can't always control. Even when an author submits their cover ideas, there's no guarantee that the publisher's marketing department is going to listen. So do you trust a graphic designer in the marketing department to be able to translate the essence of your story correctly? I guess this is one area where a strong relationship with your editor and an assertive agent will come into play.

A friend of mine looks at how much dialogue there is. She won't buy a book that has more than one page without any dialogue.

What prompts you to pick up a book? Take the poll (click on the link at the right side of your screen) and let me know. I'll share the results.

Happy?? Endings

Nineteen Minutes is one of the most riveting, heart wrenching books I've read in a long time.

According to amazon.com:

Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, Picoult offers reads a glimpse of what would cause a 17-year-old to wake up one day, load his backpack with four guns, and kill nine students and one teacher in the span of nineteen minutes.

But. (And it's a BIG but) Picoult adds a romance between two major characters that really detracts from the emotional intensity of the story. It's almost as if someone told her to throw some romance in there to soften it up.

Too bad. The effort to achieve the requisite "happily ever after" ending falls flat. The relationship between the judge and the detective feels contrived. Slapped on as an afterthought. And it makes the judge character appear shallow and heartless. Picoult misses an opportunity to end this powerful novel in a powerful way.

As one of my book club buddies said, "The romance muddies the waters."

One of the "rules" in the romance genre is that the story must have a happy ending. Sure. I expect that from a romance.

Nineteen Minutes is a far cry from a romance. In fact, anyone who's experienced being bullied at school will relate to Peter, the 17 year-old shooter, as he struggles through life never quite fitting in, never quite living up to expectations. And never really knowing why.

I especially appreciated the way Picoult was able to show the story through Peter's eyes. My book club buddy insists that Nineteen Minutes should be required reading for every high school student. I think it should be required reading for every parent. A lesson in why it is so important to take the time to appreciate the uniqueness of our children. To learn who they are and give them the room (and security and encouragement) to be just who they are rather than trying to press them into some mold.

The story also touched me because my teenage grandson has Asperberger's a variant of austistic spectrum disorder. It's characterized by social isolation and eccentric behavior in childhood. We've had first hand experience with how cruel people at school - students, teachers and administrators - can be when they're dealing with someone who doesn't "fit in". But that's another post for another day.

Mary Castillo's Five Things One Needs To Be A Writer

There's an uplifting post over on The Writing Playground. Mary Castillo writing about the five things one needs to be a writer.

The five qualities that I've seen in authors are: generosity, discipline, patience, joy and writing.

Check it out. Castillo gives a great perspective that's so different from the usual "butt in chair" or "Know the market" perspective.

Beauty In The Sky

My house is near a small bird habitat area overseen by the Audubon Society right next to a golf course and a plant nursery. In the fall, Canadian geese migrating south over eastern Nebraska use the area as a resting place at night. This time of year I can hear them every day calling to each other.

The other day at sunset, just as a bank of clouds moved in from the east, I was stopped at a red light near my house and saw a flock of geese flying really low. Against the backdrop of clouds, the setting sun made them appear to be made of silver. The beauty of it awed me.

When I glanced around at my fellow drivers stopped at the light, I was even more impressed. Everyone, and I mean every one, was staring into the sky watching this spectacular sight. Some people even rolled down their windows and put their heads out to get a better look.

Expressions of wonder and amazement on the faces of busy adults at a red light = priceless.

Nature has a way of putting things into perspective.

Fellow Writer Cheering Section

A few days ago I wrote about professional jealousy. (Boy, what a negative post that was!) That kind of drag-you-down-and-kick-you attitude is in the minority. Thankfully.

I'm a member of Romance Writers of America and qualify for PRO status within the organization. Basically it means that I'm actively seeking publication. There is a PRO email loop and I have to say that I've met some really nice people there. We commiserate with and encourage each other in a way that no one else can. Because, bottom line, no matter how supportive your family and non-writer friends are, they can't really understand.

One of the PROLoopers (affectionly referred to as Oat Cakes) said it best:

I try to comfort myself with all the wonderful positive phrases that I've clung to over the months and years of rejection. But for a day, I feel as if maybe I've got it all wrong and I'd probably be more successful selling origami...or oat cakes. But alas, both the optimist in me, along with my passion for writing, barrel their way through any realistic thinking in calling it quits, and insist I press on. . . . As rejections hit the mailbox and eventually the shredder, I remind myself: I am a writer and my stories must be told. To deny myself this joy is to deny my passion, my spirit, my yearning for something so sweet even a little taste now and again keeps me going.

We keep writing because to stop would be to die.

Good Rejections

Rejections are a fact of the writing life. They fall into two general categories: "sorry not for us" and "good rejection".

The "sorry not for us" kind are form letters. Usually a photo copy of an original that's been photo copied to death. Sometimes not even a good photo copy - fuzzy and misaligned on the page. The "sorry not for us" letters are often unsigned. And they leave writers scratching their heads trying to figure out why the story wasn't right. I have a stack of the "sorry" rejections.

The other kind - "good rejection" - is a personalized letter explaining why the story wasn't acceptable. The editor points out specific flaws that make the manuscript unpublishable and offers words of encouragement. Oftentimes the "good rejection" includes an offer to take a look at something else the writer has done. This kind of rejection gives the writer a boost. Makes them feel like it is worth going on in the writing life.

I got my first "good rejection" yesterday from Kimberley Young at Mills & Boon. (Read an interview with her at the review site wewriteromance.com) Is it silly to send a thank you to an editor for giving you a good rejection? I don't know, but I sure want to!

Her positive comments gave me encouragement and her specific feedback about the problems with the manuscript give me something I can sink my teeth into as I work on honing my skills.

Using Technology to Build Reader Loyalty

I was reminded today of how old I am when I mentioned that I could remember when computers didn’t have sound. Actually, I remember the first electronic word processor I had and how thrilled I was to be able to edit my manuscripts without having to re-type pages upon pages.

What brought all this to mind is Victoria Alexander’s e-book Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover from Harper Collins. The book includes video of the author talking “candidly about the plot's turning points and her vivid characters.”

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to hear Victoria Alexander speak, you know you’re in for a treat. She has a quick wit and well-honed sense of irony. The video portions promise to be entertaining! Victoria’s sense of humor shines through in her writing. The Effington’s are among my favorite characters.

Okay – enough of a plug for one of my favorite authors!

Using technology to give readers a sense of interacting with their favorite authors is, in my opinion, a great way to build that all-important reader loyalty. Alexander’s e-book is probably about 1/3 the length of one of her print books – just enough to give new readers a taste of her style. The e-book contains six video clips – enough to give Alexander fans a sample of what this author is like.

Including an excerpt of the next book at the end of the book that’s currently on the shelves has become a standard promotional practice. Harper Collins incorporates that strategy here too by including an excerpt of Secrets of a Proper Lady, which hits bookstore shelves the end of September.

I imagine Harper Collins did their market research before launching this new promotional strategy, and I expect we’ll see a lot more of it as other publishers follow suit. Readers like connecting with authors. Authors like connecting with readers. I’m glad to see established publishers thinking outside the box and coming up with innovative ways to help readers connect with their favorite authors.

So Many Books . . . So Little Time

I love a good book. Even better, I love writing a good book. Like many writers - published and unpublished - I started writing as a child. My creative urges took off in junior high. It's only been in the last few years that I really started to believe my dreams of being a writer could be a reality.

In her book The Artists Way, Julia Cameron talks about "shadow artists" - people that are really artists but don't believe in themselves as such. They take jobs in fields that let them hover on the edges of their artistic interests without having to acknowledge their inner artist. I used to be one of those shadow artists.

At any rate, my goal here is to share both my own work and that of others that grabs my attention.