The Write Words

This is me. Sitting down to write. The words, they flow like water from a fountain. Delicate drops dance upon the pages and arrange themselves into sentences. Time passes with the words flowing and then, a book! It is done. Some time after that, the book is on sale and readers are blown away by the perfection of my prose and I am showered with accolades and gobs of money.

Ah, the life of a writer. So easy! So profitable.

So....not.


It's more like this.

This is me. Sitting down to write.

Oh god. Why, oh, why didn't the magic elves of writing fix my POS while I was sleeping? You mean I have to fix it myself????

I delete the word very from a sentence. Two paragraphs later, I insert the word pretty. Then I delete six paragraphs and, hey! I think I'm hungry. Toast. I need toast. Every writer needs toast from time-to-time.

In the kitchen.

What kind of toast should I make? Wow, the sink is full of dirty dishes. I CANNOT enjoy my toast, let alone write, knowing the sink is full of all the knives. NO WORRIES! I use a spoon to spread butter on my toast.

I'm reminded of the time, in a past day job, when I got an email from someone saying, "I always read your emails. You're so funny!"

I love fan mail.

Son: Mom? Are you cooking dinner tonight?
Me: No.

Back at the computer.

I think I made the wrong kind of toast.

For the next fifteen minutes, I stare out the window as I follow a plot point through the mental maze of my mind. (It's a scary place.)  If I do THAT, then later, THIS will happen, and then I will have to delete most of my brilliant chapter five. But yes! It's so much better if I do that other thing!

SQUIRREL!!!

I write, and it's like pulling teeth. Shut up, internal editor. I don't need you telling me that sucks. I'm doing my DRAFT! Go away.

Three more paragraphs deleted.

Did they use that word in 1817? I better look that up. Google Books. Oh, wow. That looks like a book I should download for my reference library. Seven downloads later, I still don't know if that word was used in 1817, but I have SEVEN AWESOME period books for the research library.

Oh, hey! I wonder if I have any important emails? (Nope) I should check facebook because I've made a solemn vow to do better at facebook. Oh look! A new LIKE! And a comment about the cute picture I posted of my dog. Which reminds me, I should go play with her.

Outside.

While I'm throwing sticks for the dog, I realize I've started my book in the wrong place. My current chapter 15 needs to be chapter 1. WHY, WHY WHY!!!! could I not have had that revelation when I was at the computer?

The dog isn't tired. At all. But I am because, actually, though she loves when I throw sticks for her, she's not all that hot on bringing them back so I'm constantly running down the slope to fetch the stick she wouldn't bring back.

Back at the computer. 

I spend the next four hours rearranging all my chapters and at the end, somehow I'm 500 words over my minimum word count. WOOT!!

Shameless Promotion Section

Using a method remarkably like the one above, I have indeed, completed a book. My Darkest Passion. It's on sale now. My website has a collection of places you can buy the book.


Addison O’Henry has no idea magic is real or that the fragile peace between the magekind—humans who can use magic—and demons is about to shatter. All that changes the day she’s abducted by one of the magekind. After a ritual murder goes horribly wrong, Addison ends up with demon-sourced magic that nearly kills her. But for the intervention of demon Harsh Marit, she might not have survived. Though Harsh does what he can to help her return to what used to be normal, they both know her life will never be the same.

With corrupt mages threatening them both, her honor requires her to help Harsh and the demon warlord he serves. If that means accepting her power and the high rank it confers on her, so be it. Now her once distant relationship with Harsh turns hot and immediate as the two of them explore the dark passion of a forbidden relationship.

Sunday Book Review

The Glass Wives 

by Amy Sue Nathan

 

reviewed by 

Barbara Claypole White

On her popular blog, Women’s Fiction Writers, Amy Sue Nathan often asks other writers to define women’s fiction. I have a new answer, "The Glass Wives."

The premise of this novel is intriguing: when Evie’s ex-husband dies in a car accident, she must create a new normal for her ten-year-old twins that may or may not include their baby half-brother and Nicole, the woman who destroyed her marriage. Add two devoted girlfriends with their own opinions concerning Evie’s future, and The Glass Wives is a wonderful story about the shifting boundaries of female friendship. 

Nothing is predictable; nothing is black or white.

When Nicole suggests sharing living expenses—and Evie’s home—Evie has to decide what is best for her children and what makes a family. As she lets go of her old life, and decides whom to trust, the normal foundations of home and hearth dissolve.

But what I loved most about the story is the way expectations fall apart to reform in gloriously unexpected ways. All Evie’s relationships are tested and stretched as characters surprise each other and the reader. Several times throughout the novel, the actions of others—past and present—force Evie to reassess her core values and put aside personal judgment. As her friend Beth says, “No one is just a collection of her mistakes.”

A devoted mother and friend, Evie is a wonderful heroine, and we cheer her on as she journeys through the practical and emotional repercussions of death. Even when she’s schlepping about the house in her terry robe, nibbling on leftover rugelach and worrying about finances, Evie doesn’t wallow in self-pity. I loved her ability to stand up for her kids and for herself, and to not be intimidated by the opinions of others. Her brutal honesty is refreshing. For example, when she reveals a devastating truth to Nicole, Nicole comments, “You’re lying to hurt me.” Evie’s response is, “No, I’m telling the truth to hurt you.”

I highly recommend this beautifully written debut. I laughed, I held my breath, my heart raced, and I cried. Isn’t that what good women’s fiction does to us?

For more information on Amy Sue Nathan and the story behind the story of The Glass Wives, please visit amysuenathan.com 

____________________________________________________

Barbara Claypole White is the author of The Unfinished Garden, a love story about grief, OCD, and dirt (Harlequin MIRA, August 2012). 

* finalist, 2013 Golden Quill Contest

* finalist, 2013 Write Touch Readers' Award Contest

* finalist, 2013 New England Readers' Choice Beanpot Award

Create Your Own Summer Reading Program

by Malena Lott

With just days left of the school year, I find myself getting giddy at the prospect of more time to read. My TBR pile is beginning to look like it belongs to a hoarder and no one can see the number of books I've bought on my Kindle app just waiting for a long, lazy stretch to escape.

While my kids turn their noses up at the summer reading programs hosted by the libraries, I've decided to create my own: one book a week, all summer long. I don't need an incentive like a free ice cream cone when I've read 5 or a cute pair of shoes when I hit 20, but why not? Science shows incentives works. What else works? Free books.

So today I'd like to offer up FREE digital arcs of my summer releases TWIN FALLS, my first young adult paranormal novel about a secret colony of messenger angels in Texas, and my fifth women's fiction novel, FAMILY CHARMS, about three sisters who get invited on a trip around the world to see where their mother has been the last twenty years.

But I do have something for those young and young-at-heart readers, too. Treasure Quest: A Short Story by Cara Brookins is free in the Kindle store through Saturday, May 18th. It's currently #8 in children's action adventure. Cara is a talented author from Arkansas and I got to meet her in person at the Oklahoma Writer's Federation conference in Norman two weeks ago. Her Timeshifters series, beginning with MARK OF THE CENTIPEDE, is the most imaginative story I've read in a long time.

For we really avid readers we may always have more books than time to read them, but I say that cure is called Summer.

What's your own summer reading program? Have you set personal reading goals for yourself? Share your plan in comments along with your email address if you'd like an early review copy of FAMILY CHARMS or TWIN FALLS.

A few books on my own summer reading list:
Finishing the fabulous FAREWELL DOROTHY PARKER by Ellen Meister
THE GLASS WIVES by Amy Sue Nathan
RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE by Brenda Janowitz

Happy summer reading, friends!

Giving Your Fellow Writers the Right Words and Some Good Deeds by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga

“To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.” – Sophocles

A few weeks ago a writer asked me for some advice. Her debut novel is coming out this summer and she’s understandably full of anxiety and extremely busy in preparing for this big event in her life, something for which she’s worked long and hard. She’s been showing up at her fellow writers’ readings and book events and giving support and promoting them online, but this can be time consuming. “I’m worried that I just don’t have enough time to do this even though I think it’s important to be supportive. Do you think this is something that should be a priority?” she asked. I said yes; it’s all about give and take and offering support. It’s shouldn’t be “tit for tat” but hopefully these authors will support her in the future when her book comes out: everyone can help each other. It’s all good. She should do as much as she can, especially at such a pivotal time in her writing life.

I’ve found that networking and being supportive—both online and in-person—is a good thing to do and I’ve gained many lasting relationships with writers because of it. But you can’t expect that someone will always return the favor. Six years ago, when my debut novel was just months away from coming out, I went to a reading at a big box bookstore for another debut novelist. I’ll call her Ms. Author. Ms. Author lived locally and I’d heard about her book, which was in a similar genre to mine, but I didn’t know her personally. I wanted to meet her and see how her reading would go—maybe I could learn something and support a fellow debut novelist along the way. So I went to her event on a Sunday afternoon in a crowded part of town where it was a hassle to park. And I found that the bookstore had stuck her in a corner where no one would have noticed a reading going on. Two of her friends showed up—and me. Three people. That was it.

After she read I introduced myself and we exchanged e-mail addresses (this was before Facebook and Twitter). She thanked me for coming and of course I bought her book and had her sign it. We exchanged an email or two afterwards, but she didn’t respond when my book came out and I never saw her at any of my book events, some of which could have used a few more attendees! A couple of years later when we both had second books out, Ms. Author and I were put on the same reading event for a big book festival in our area. I read before her and she was in the audience. Did she remember me? Did she recall that day when I first met her? After the event ended it was crowded. When I tried to catch her glance to make contact, nothing happened. She was obviously not looking to connect with me or else had forgotten who I was.

Well, no big deal. I certainly didn’t lose any sleep over this and I hadn’t thought of her for several years. But the other day I received an email from her. She has a new novel coming out next year. She apologized for sending an impersonal mass email and then pasted in the announcement of her book that appeared on Publisher’s Marketplace. The next paragraph of the email explained how important online buzz and word of mouth is to the success of a book. She said she’s “doing her part” by writing a blog post on a site that gets a million visitors a month. She informed us that she’s finally getting on social media and wants us to accept her Facebook friend request when it comes in. She promised to send out further emails to us so we can spread the word for her. She gave us suggestions: asking our local library branch to carry her book, coming out to her local readings, “liking” the book on Facebook, posting reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. She said she’d continue to send out emails over the coming year with further suggestions on how we could help her. Then she said she hoped we’d enjoy the book.

A very practical strategy. She was doing all the things you’re supposed to. But what was missing? The right words. Something also about helping fellow authors, or collaborating on promotion, or offering a guest blog post, or putting together panels at book events to draw attention to others’ books, etc. Instead this email’s theme seemed to be what you can do for me.

Another author friend told me how much she appreciated when I came to her reading at a local independent bookstore a few years ago. “You didn’t know me,” she said. “But you came anyway and bought my book.”

“Yes,” I replied. “It’s all about support and networking. It’s not that I expect anything out of it, but it does seem to be the right thing to do.”

Girlfriends, what do you think? What are your experiences with being supportive and receiving support from your fellow authors?

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga is the author of the novels, "Midori by Moonlight" and "Love in Translation" (both published by St. Martin's Press), and the e-book novels, "Falling Uphill" and "His Wife and Daughters," and e-book short story, “The Girl in the Tapestry.” She's also the author of the nonfiction e-book, "Marriage in Translation: Foreign Wife, Japanese Husband."  Wendy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of San Francisco and teaches for Stanford University's Online Writer's Studio Novel Certificate Program. She also does private manuscript consulting for novels and memoirs. Follow her on Twitter at @Wendy_Tokunaga, friend her on Facebook and visit her website at: www.WendyTokunaga.com

99 CENTS & A CONTEST!

 

I am running a 99cent promo for my book, STAND BY YOUR HITMAN, from the Bombay Family of Assassins Greatest Hits Series May 13-May 19!  If you tweet or facebook this info - you'll be entered in to win a $100 gift card to the etailer of your choice - Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com or iTunes!  You can sign up for the contest here:

 Contest: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/56b4950/

 And as we say in Illinois - enter early and enter often!  Okay, so it's 'vote early and vote often' - a lovely nod to our state's vast history of crooked politics...but you get the idea!

Another cool thing is that there's a group of us who have written books based on reality tv!  Three of us, Stacy Juba, Gemma Halliday, and MOI are all having 99cent sales this week!

We couldn’t have planned this better if we tried! While teaming up with our author colleagues on the #Books4RealityTVFans promotion, the three of us discovered that all three of us have reality-TV themed mystery novels on sale for 99 cents each this week into next week. Regular price ranges from $2.99 to $4.99. Love mysteries? Love reality TV? Then grab these books for 99 cents while you can.

Hollywood Confessions (Hollywood Headlines) by Gemma Halliday – When the producer of the trashiest reality shows on TV winds up murdered, a celebrity gossip reporter convinces her editor that the story has her name written all over it.
 

Sink or Swim by Stacy Juba – After starring on a hit game show set aboard a Tall Ship, personal trainer Cassidy Novak discovers that she has attracted a stalker. Can she trust Zach Gallagher, the gorgeous newspaper photographer assigned to follow her for a local series? As things heat up with the stalker and with Zach, soon Cassidy will need to call SOS for real.
Visit us on Facebook to read and comment on our excerpts. The excerpts will be featured on our Facebook pages as follows:
May 13: Excerpt of Hollywood Confessions
May 14: Excerpt of Stand By Your Hit Man
May 15: Excerpt of Sink or Swim

So that's 3 great books for $3 total!  Summer Reading Serendipidy!

Finding The Rights Words For My Debut Book Launch

Today is the last Monday I will be an unpublished author of a novel. And that's because on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, THE GLASS WIVES will be published by St. Martin's Griffin.

Even if I never publish another book (Boo! Hiss!) I will always be published. It can’t be erased, even when a book goes out of print or stops being on to-be-read lists (Boo! Hiss!).  This thing, this author-thing, it's predicated on finding the right words at the right time. But writing a book is different from being an author. In this day of social media and book publicity, authors are charged with finding the right words in 140 characters, blog posts, magazine essays, Facebook statuses, and Skype sessions. It’s more than writing a book, it’s the rewriting of a career, or even rewriting a life.

It's all about words yet I'm at a loss. Except to say WOW. And thank you.

Amy Sue Nathan lives and writes near Chicago where she hosts the popular blog, Women's Fiction Writers. She has published articles in Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and New York TimesOnline among many others.  Amy is the proud mom of a son and a daughter in college, and a willing servant to two rambunctious rescued dogs.  

You can find her at AmySueNathan.com, Women's Fiction Writers, Facebook, and Twitter. 

I THINK IN WORDS

Judith Arnold

When I was a teenager, I spent a summer living on a commune on Cape Breton Island. I lived in a tent. No plumbing. (I bathed in an icy stream—every day.) No electricity. (I had a flashlight.) No kitchen. (Our group built a fire pit for cooking and stored perishable foods in mesh bags in that icy stream.) No computer. (I had a portable manual typewriter.) The guy whose property we occupied wanted the land to be used as a summer community of artists, and when I told him I would write a novel while I was there, he invited me to join the group.

I did write a novel that summer—my very first. It was pretty bad. But I wrote it, and that alone made the experience invaluable to me.

            The other residents at the commune were an eclectic lot. We had a painter, a poet, some musicians and a lot of people who claimed they were interested in art but never created anything. As long as they took their turns cooking, fishing, weeding our garden or making runs into town—six miles away—to pick up mail and supplies, they were allowed to stay.

            One of the residents, Rich, had undergone extensive psychotherapy. I had never been in therapy, so I respected his superior wisdom when it came to matters of psychology.

            On a mild July afternoon, I found myself sitting with him on a bluff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The air was clear and sun-drenched, the grass we sat on was scattered with wild roses, and below us the water was a dark, rich blue. I was thinking about our trawl line in the gulf, wondering whether we’d snagged any fish for our dinner, when Rich abruptly said, “You know what your problem is?”

            I hadn’t been aware I had a problem, other than the usual woes about boyfriends, finances and the size of my butt. But Rich had been through therapy, so I figured he was an expert when it came to such matters. “What’s my problem?” I asked.

            “You think in words.”

            I frowned, unsure of what he meant.

            “You can’t just experience the world. You can’t become one with it. You have to translate everything into words first. You can’t look at this flower—” he gestured toward one of the wild roses sprouting from the soil in front of us “—without thinking: Pink. Stem. Scent. You can’t just look at the flower and comprehend it. You have to turn it into words first.”

            I considered his accusation and realized he was right. That was exactly the way my mind worked. I thought in words.

            I was devastated. How could I ever become one with a wild rose if I first turned that wild rose into a sentence? How could I know the things around me when a barrier of words stood between me and those things?

            I worried about Rich’s assessment of me for weeks. I worried about his assessment in words. My mind chattered with them: I can’t experience the world correctly. I have no immediacy. Everything has to be structured into language in my mind. I am a failure as a human being!

            But eventually the word no took hold of my brain. No, I was not a failure. No, there was nothing wrong with me. No, this was not a problem. It was simply who I was, who I’d always been. Who I was meant to be.

            I think in words. I use words to process what my senses present to me. If I am facing a dilemma, I mentally sort that dilemma into sentences so I can analyze it. If I’m upset with someone, I filter my distress into words that will help me deal with that person. If something wonderful happens, words spark and blaze and dance inside me like fireworks.

            I’m a writer. Of course I think in words! Rich might have been correct when he’d pointed this out to me, but he was wrong when he’d labeled it a problem. It is not a problem. It’s simply who I am.

Judith Arnold is the author of 87 novels, many of which she has reissued as ebooks. While she awaits the release of her new novel, The April Tree, she’s offering another of her books, the award-winning Father Found—the first book of her “Daddy School” series—for a special discount price of only 99 cents at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords and Kobo. You can visit her web site for information about all her releases.