Emily P. W. Murphy

First story of the new year

2012-01-04T23:58:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to get to attend a Bethlehem Writers Group meeting in person. What was once a commonplace 2-3 times a month activity is now a rare treat since I've moved away from my dear writers group.

For the last few meetings I've been virtually attending the meetings via Skype because the 7 hour round trip from Maryland is impractical in the middle of the week, but this week I wanted to be sure to attend in person.

You see, the experience of going to a BWG meeting is something that cannot truly be replicated via a computer. Skype is better than nothing but...it's not the same. This week I didn't want to miss any aspect of the meeting because I was workshopping a short story that is particularly dear to me.

I've been working on this story since June. It's written in a voice that is new to me, from a perspective that I can only imagine, but I like it. I am lucky enough to have friends who were willing to look at my story and fill in the gaps where my imagination was in error, but I had not yet shown it to my group. Because this story is so different for me, I didn't want to show it to the BWG until I was sure it was as good as I could make it. I wanted to hear their impressions on the story, and not their objections to any silly errors or inconsistency of voice on my part.

So, after seven months and a 3.5 hour drive, I finally showed my dear story to the writers group.

And they liked it.

It's amazing how much that means to me even after years with this group.

Of course, they had comments and questions and points for revision, but I feel good about my story right now.

I'm sorry to live so far from the BWG, but feel very grateful that I can still be an active member.

Wanna be my coauthor?

2011-11-10T23:01:00.012-05:00

While my husband and I were busy moving from Pennsylvania to Maryland, other members of the Bethlehem Writers Group were busy as well. Bernadette DeCourcey and Jerome W. McFadden spearheaded efforts of the Bethlehem Writers Group LLC to start a new literary magazine, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. On another front, the BWG also decided to put out a second anthology, tentatively entitled Seasonal Pursuits: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales.

Most recently, these two exciting ventures came together to form a third, possibly even more exciting venture, the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award. Fellow writers, were you aware of this opportunity? Fellow readers, do the writers in your life know about it?

First prize of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award is $200 and the possibility of being published in Seasonal Pursuits. The only other way to get into the anthology is to join the Bethlehem Writers Group, work endless hours peer-editing members' submissions, work more endless hours putting the anthology together, and write a submission that meets the exacting approval of the BWG editors. Oh how I wish I could just enter the contest.

But you can. Well, so long as you don't live with a member of the Bethlehem Writers Group, so most of you can. I'm hoping to get into the anthology, and I can't wait to find out who wins the contest. Perhaps you and I could be coauthors!

You can find the nitty gritty details at http://www.bwgwritersroundtable.com/ but here's a quick summary:

First place = $200 + print publication

Second place = $100 + publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable

Third place = $50 + publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable

Deadline = January 31, 2012

Celebrity Judge = Jonathan Maberry

Genres = Fiction and/or Memoir

Wordcount = 2,000 words or fewer

So, that's it, get writing everyone, I wish you all the very best of luck.

Happy writing, future coauthor!

NaNoWriMo and Nails

2011-11-07T16:47:00.002-05:00

Well, it's Monday and the 7th day of NaNoWriMo, which means everyone should have 11,669 words under their belts by midnight. How many do you have? I have roughly 6,000. I'm not sure I've ever been this far behind this early in NaNoWriMo before. But then, I've never been quite this far behind in life at this point in November before.

I didn't get any words in over the weekend, in spite of the added hour to write. Instead, my husband and I spent the weekend unpacking from our most recent move. Did I mention that we moved? We're in Maryland now. This was our fifth move in 4 years, and I've had about enough. We actually moved at the end of September, but October was insane with travel including a trip to the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, Texas, and a trip up to Massachusetts to attend my cousin's wedding. So, this was the first weekend my husband and I actually had time to stay home and open some of the boxes piled around us.

As I peeled tape off of cardboard and removed labels from empty plastic bins, I noticed something. My nails still look pretty good. Now, fellow writers will appreciate how difficult it is to keep a manicure looking nice when your life revolves around your computer keyboard, and anyone who has moved will attest to the unlikelihood that nail polish will withstand the double assaults of tape and cardboard, and yet I repeat, they still look good.

I'm not one to get regular manicures by any means. In fact, this is probably the fourth or fifth I've ever gotten. The first was the day before my wedding and required a touch up by the time I was through the rehearsal dinner. Even when I'm not moving, I'm hard enough on my nails to make a manicure an unwise investment. I'll get a pedicure once or twice during the year, but that's more for the pampering than for the polish. Plus, I don't type with my toes… although that would be a good way to increase my word count. Maybe next year.

I decided to spring for a manicure for two reasons. First, the aforementioned cousin's wedding, second, my fingernails have been through the ringer after spending months packing, and now, unpacking boxes. I opted for a French manicure because it's not something I can do for myself, so in my mind that makes it more worthy of the expense.

When I told the nail technician what I wanted, she suggested I try nail shellac instead of polish. The cost was only minimally more, but she claimed the manicure would last two weeks longer. I figured two weeks was a significant increase over an hour, so I went for it. That was October 29th, and, 8 days, 6,000 words, and untold boxes later, my nails still look good. Significantly better than they would be an hour after a manicure with polish.

Still, I won't become a regular at the nail salon. While nail shellac certainly has a lot of value for longevity, I'm concerned that the shellac needs to set using a UV lamp similar to a mini tanning bed (a fact I did not know until I was halfway through the process). A quick internet search confirmed that getting regular manicures with this process probably isn't healthy for your cuticles and fingertips. I'm not sure how bad the process is for a person as a whole, but since I rely on my fingertips for my job, I'd rather not take the chance of doing it regularly.

Still, for my highly irregular manicure (every couple of years or so) it might be a good solution.

(By the way, if you like my little writing raisin, be sure to check out Writertopia to get your own!)

November already?

2011-11-01T16:19:00.003-04:00

Where has the time gone? Am I alone in my utter astonishment that it November already? Part of me thinks the latest it could possibly be right now is September, and that's just because it's too cold outside to be August.

Well, since the calendar seems quite insistent that it is now November, I can't let the moment pass without a quick shout out to NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. This will be my sixth year participating in NaNoWriMo, but this is the least prepared I've ever felt in November. Since the rules prohibit working on an established story, and I'm deep into the editorial phase of my current projects, I have absolutely NO idea what I'm writing this month. So, I'm just going to put my fingers to the keys and see where my muse takes me. Either that, or I'll succumb to all of the "everything else" that is demanding my attention.

But no, let's focus on the positive. Wonderful stories can come out of the ramblings of the NaNoCrazed mind. Right?

Which reminds me. Even if you're not writing great prose, the key to completing the NaNoWriMo challenge is to increase that word count. From here on out, NaNoWriMo will no longer be something I can't do, rather National Novel Writing Month will be something I can not do. See? More words.

But I did say "let's think positively," didn't I? Or rather, "Did I not say let us think positively?"

I firmly believe that good modern dialogue should contain plenty of contractions, but in November, all bets are off. Not only will I advise against "don’t," "can't," and "I'll," I will also humbly suggest the use of such anachronisms as "let us" and "of the clock" (three words when o'clock gets us only one). Characters from the south will suddenly switch from "y'all" to "you all,"or better yet, "all of you all." Hey, what else is the editing process for but removing such awful and disgraceful turns of phrase?

Another writing rule I will gladly relinquish in November is the prohibition against adverbs. Instead of "I'm confused" a character ought to say "I am completely, utterly, and horribly confused."

"That" is another word that comes out in November. Rather than "We all know we should avoid contractions," I will gladly proclaim, "We all know THAT we should all avoid contractions." It's not pretty (or it is not that pretty) but it does increase that word count.

Now, good writers are cringing to hear such advice (and would probably be even more upset to know that my mother-in-law becomes my mother in law during November) but not all good writing practices need to go out the window. For example, it should be noted that beats require far more words than tags. Rather than, "Eloise said," I humbly suggest, "Eloise slammed her saddle shoe clad foot down on the ceramic tile floor, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stuck her lower lip out in a pout." See? Far more words. Oh, and it tells us a bit more about the character. That's important too I guess.

Also, were you aware that a properly typeset ellipsis (...) contains spaces between the three dots? ". . ." is three words with many word count programs while "..." is only one. What better time than NaNoWriMo to start typing correctly?

In the long run, none of this will make up for having absolutely NO idea what one should write this November, so I definitely have some brain storming to do. Still, in the meantime, as I type whatever random gibberish that comes to mind, at least I will be making those audaciously, horribly . . . umm . . . whatever . . . words count!

What tips, tricks, and strategies do you have that will help you through NaNoWriMo? I'd love to hear them all.

For more information about National Novel Writing Month, please visit www.nanowrimo.org.

Writing and Reviews

2011-04-21T12:56:00.002-04:00

My husband emailed me a very interesting article this morning from Freakonomics. You can read the whole article here, but basically it says that when people read online reviews, they are more likely to purchase the product if the review is well written.

On first glance, this seems to make sense. I mean, I'm more likely to take a review seriously if it seems considered and well thought out. But, what I wouldn't have expected was that people are more likely to purchase the product even if those well-written reviews are negative. Essentially, the article suggests, the content of the review is less important than the quality of the review.

I have trouble believing this. I would have thought that if I encountered a product with well-written negative reviews, I would probably not purchase the product. After all, it would seem the reviewer gave the product careful consideration and then took the time to warn me against it. Furthermore, I can imagine encountering the same product with poorly-written negative reviews and thinking that the reviewers were too upset to write well, and thus perhaps were too hasty in their judgment of the product. In such a case, I can imagine purchasing the product, and hoping for the best.

This study seems to indicate the opposite, that I would purchase the product that someone spent time and thought to advise me against, but that I would not purchase the product that the angry, impulsive person reviewed.

Why do you suppose this is the case?

This study got me thinking, if you wanted to write a negative review of a product, might it be more effective to do so with poor grammar and spelling? After all, by writing a "good" negative review, you might actually be increasing the product's sales.

At the end of the article, we learn that Zappos actually went through its reviews and corrected for spelling and grammar in an effort to increase product sales. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm a fan of Zappos, and I'm a fan of good writing, but it seems somehow inappropriate for a company to go in and change the reviews of its own products.

Incidentally the very next email I received was from Zappos... asking me to post a review.

What do you think? What kind of review makes you want to buy a product? Do you think it's acceptable for a company to change your review, even if they're just fixing your spelling and grammar?

Getting the Write Stuff

2011-03-28T14:44:00.004-04:00

This past weekend was a big one for members of the Bethlehem Writers Group because six of us decided to attend the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group's "Write Stuff Conference."

The Write Stuff conference is hosted annually by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (GLVWG), but despite the fact that it was held in my backyard, so to speak, never before had I attended. Ralph Hieb, whose short story "Walter and Stella" also appears in A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, used to be president of GLVWG and has attended every conference for the past decade. He managed to convince me to go, even though I still thought my manuscript needed a bit of polishing. Ralph was so persuasive that he also convinced BWG members Jo Ann Schaffer, Carol L. Wright, Ann Decker, and Sally W. Paradysz to attend.

Since this would be my first writers conference, the nerves set in early and by the time the conference rolled around I was sleep-deprived and just wishing for it all to be over. In retrospect it seems silly that I was afraid of such a wonderful experience, but I suppose the unknown is always a bit intimidating. In any case, I drew some comfort from the strength of the BWG members around me.

The conference spanned two days. Friday night we attended a panel on how to pitch to an agent. Now, pitching to an agent was one of the things I felt especially nervous about, so I figured the session would be good preparation for the day ahead. The agents on the panel assured us that they very rarely killed and ate the poor authors who came to pitch to them, which I found to be extremely comforting.

After the pitch panel, there was a mixer for conference attendees. It would have been easy to huddle in the comfortable bubble of my BWG friends, but I noticed Sally had a very contemplative expression on her face. I asked her why, and she told me she was considering approaching one of the agents and making her pitch.

What a concept! I was hit with two simultaneous emotions. First, I felt a sense of inspiration--of course Sally should go pitch to an agent. She has an amazing story to tell, and who wouldn't want to hear about it? Second, I felt a little jealous. Why couldn't I go pitch my story as well?

If you're paying attention, you know the answer. As soon as I realized I would regret not talking to the agents at the mixer, I knew I had to ignore my nerves and go pitch my story. Gulp.

Sally and I went together--strength in numbers after all. First, she spoke to the agent I was going to meet with on Saturday. I didn't want to take up any of that agent's time because I knew there was a whole room full of authors who weren't lucky enough to get an appointment on Saturday, so I just introduced myself to her, and then introduced her to Sally. As I stood by my friend's side, she made an amazing pitch for her manuscript, and the agent requested to read it!

When Sally had the agent's business card safely tucked away, we moved on to an agent neither of us would get to meet on Saturday. We each pitched our stories, and the agent requested pages from each of us. And we each walked away with all of our limbs intact, even though the poor agents apparently hadn't yet had dinner.

You'd think the success at the mixer would have done away with my nerves about pitching my story on Saturday, but it didn't. My appointment wasn't until the afternoon, so as the day progressed, I felt the butterflies in my stomach grow from pygmy blues to birdwings. Finally my appointed time approached, and I went to the lobby to wait for my turn. It was at this point that I truly appreciated the caring nature of the writers around me. I must have been rather pale because two authors who had just finished their meetings, sat with me as I waited. They reassured me that the meeting would go wonderfully, and their kindness kept me breathing through those last few moments of waiting.

Finally, it was time to go in and meet the agent. I walked into the quiet, even peaceful, room where the agents and authors met, and made it the whole way across the open floor without fainting, or knocking anything over, or otherwise making a fool of myself. I sat across the table from the agent, took a deep breath, and smiled.

She asked about my writing, and suddenly the ten minutes had passed and I held in my hand the agent's business card with her request to see my full manuscript ringing in my ears! I thanked her, wished the next author good luck, and left the room.

Suddenly I was free to enjoy the remainder of the conference. Even better, I had the delightful experience of telling all of my BWG friends, and my new GLVWG friends about the meeting. I learned that not only had Sally gotten another request for her full manuscript from her agent meeting, but Carol had also gotten a request for pages from her agent. Later in the day I delighted as Jo Ann and Ann each won first place in the flash writing contest. (You can read their stories here) Ralph was a winner as well, he walked away with a door prize from the conference (a feat made more remarkable by the fact that in his decade of attendance, he never before won a door prize).

Tomorrow's BWG meeting will be a celebration. And, next year, I look forward to attending the Write Stuff conference with my friends, but without the butterflies.

Book signing

2011-03-09T12:01:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I went to a book signing. Not the "I sit behind a table and sign books" kind, but rather the "I sit in the audience and listen to one of my favorite authors talk about her craft" kind. Boy, was it fun!

I was thrilled when I found out Jennifer Chiaverini would be signing books at Chester County Book & Music Company. I planned my week around going to the event, packed up all my hardcovers, and went down to West Chester.

It's been a long time since I've gone to a book signing, so I had forgotten how it feels. I felt giddy with excitement as I waited for Jennifer to arrive. I realized I had this mental image of her waiting in some sort of "green room" enjoying light refreshments and waiting for the curtain to rise so she could come onstage. Of course, there was no curtain, and no stage, and I knew from my own signings that the likelihood of light refreshments was slim. When I go to a signing, there isn't even a staging area. Generally I walk into the store/library/venue, greet the bookseller/librarian/event coordinator and go straight to the location of the signing. If my experiences are any judge, Jennifer would not be reclining in a special "pre-signing area." At best, she might be waiting in the staff break room.

As it turns out, she was sitting in traffic on the PA Turnpike.

She had a great crowd (by my standards, at least) and although everyone was excited for her to arrive, no one was disgruntled that she was late. In fact, one woman who learned about the signing only 20 minutes before it started was thrilled that Jennifer was running behind. My only concern came from the fact that I had multiple books for her to sign.

Jennifer is one of the authors whose writing has inspired me to collect hardcovers of their work. It started when I purchased a paperback copy of The Quilter's Apprentice and loved it. I knew I wanted to purchase her second book, Round Robin and found that it would be more economical for me to purchase the hardcover compilation of books 1-3 rather than purchasing paperback copies of books 2 and 3 separately. So I did. Books 4-6 likewise came bound together in a single hardcover, so when I finished Cross Country Quilters I purchased the second compilation and read The Runaway Quilt, The Quilter's Legacy, and The Master Quilter. When I finished book 6, I asked about books 7-9 and found that they were only available individually.

At that point I could have switched over to paperback books, but by then I was totally hooked. So, one by one, I picked up the remaining books in the series, all in hardcover.

So, yesterday I attended Jennifer's signing with my 13 hardcover books. When Jennifer arrived she was far more poised than I think I would have been after sitting in crazy traffic. She took the podium, read from her newest book, The Union Quilters, and took questions. I have to say, Jennifer Chiaverini is extremely likeable. Like her characters, Jennifer was friendly, intelligent, funny, and honest, even when she thought her honesty might upset her fans (apparently there is great controversy on the issue of a "quilter's code" in the Underground Railroad).

When the questions ended and the signing began, I joined the line of readers waiting for an autograph. I wasn't sure how Jennifer, or the kind people at Chester County Books would react to a request for so many signatures, but to everyone's credit, no one batted an eye... not even the people behind me in line. In fact, since I brought my copies of The Aloha Quilt, and The Quilter's Holiday with me, Jennifer even gave me the pins she designed to promote those books.

In all, it was a delightful evening, and one that I'll remember for a while. And the best part? Well, that must have been when Jennifer announced she'll have another book out in November. The Wedding Quilt. I can't wait to find out who's getting married... I have a guess, but it seems I'll have to read more to find out!

So, when was the last time you felt giddy to attend a book signing? Which authors would you drive an hour to see? What was your best book signing experience?

Free books

2011-02-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about free books and what they mean for authors. Specifically, I've been wondering what the lack or presence of DRM (Digital Rights Management) does for e-books, and whether the unregulated sharing of e-books will spell doom to authors.

As a reader, I'm a big fan of e-books. I've moved enough times to appreciate how light they are, and how very easy to store. Obviously, my e-reader is not about to replace my bookshelves full of beloved hardcovers, but I see a real possibility that e-books will replace my collection of mass market books. After all, mass market books are, in my opinion, good in two ways: they're affordable, and they're portable. Electronic books are also affordable and much more portable.

Since I got my e-reader just over a year ago, I have actually purchased more hardcover books with the expectation that clearing my mass markets off of my shelves (and replacing them with digital copies) will leave more space for the books I really love. Now, mind you, I haven't actually gotten rid of a single book in that year+ but one of these days... Well, let's face it, I've always been better at accumulating books than getting rid of them. In my ideal world, hardcover books would come with a free digital copy, in the same way that some Blu-ray discs do... but I digress.

As an author, I worry that ebooks are entirely too easy to pirate, especially without DRM protection. DRM protection is what prevents you from reading a kindle file on your nook, or vice verse, and purports to prevent readers from copying their e-books and distributing them to the world for free.

However, even books with DRM are vulnerable to piracy. After all, there are computer experts around the world who jump at the opportunity to do things other people say they "can't," and who can blame them? The fact is that a sufficiently motivated technology expert will eventually be able to strip DRM from any file, if they can't already.

Which leaves me wondering if the advent of e-books is also the end of authors getting paid for their work. Obviously, I hope it isn't.

Still, there are a couple of authors who have given me hope: Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman.

Cory Doctorow, a journalist and sci-fi author, decided back in 2003 to make all of his books available for free as e-books. He releases his books under a Creative Commons license agreement which gives the reader the right to share and adapt the e-book provided he or she do so in a noncommercial fashion, release any adaptations under the same Creative Commons agreement, and give credit where credit is due by attributing the original work to the author.

Doctorow explains his decision in a Forbes article here. Essentially, Doctorow encourages his readers to download and share his e-books, with only one request, that, if they like the book, they, "buy it or donate a copy to a worthy, cash-strapped institution." Since his books have consistently outperformed his publisher's sales expectations, there is reason to believe that, at least in his case, free e-books actually stimulate sales.

Neil Gaiman has not gone to the same extremes, though he has released some of his books for free for a limited period of time. Gaiman, a sci-fi/fantasy author is a patron of the Open Rights Group which is a group in the UK that works to protect digital rights. Last year they interviewed him, and recently a clip from that interview went viral. Gaiman also posted a blog entry on the issue here. In the interview Gaiman made a particularly interesting point. He points out (I'm paraphrasing, watch the video for his exact wording) that if you think about your favorite authors, the ones who have published multiple books, and think about how you got your first book by that author, chances are you got it for free.

And, at least in my case, he's right. I borrowed my first Connie Willis book from my mother-in-law, my first Jasper Fforde from my mother, my first Gwen Bristow from the library (and my second, third, fourth and fifth since her books were out of print and it took me a while to track down good copies to buy.) If you extend the concept of "free books" to used bookstores (from which authors get no royalties), I got my first Jennifer Chiaverini for "free" too. Even my first set of the Chronicles of Narnia was a Christmas gift from my uncle.

And yet, when you look at my shelves full of hardcovers, those are the authors you'll see. In many cases a single free book led me to purchase multiple hardcovers. (In the case of The Chronicles of Narnia I now have two complete hardcover sets since it took me so long to find a set that was numbered in the "right" order.)

Of course, there are exceptions to that trend. I have purchased books on a whim, or on the recommendation of booksellers. I can even think of one that I purchased just based on the Publisher's Weekly review, but perhaps these are the exceptions that prove the rule.

In Gaiman's case, he found that when he gave away a digital copy of one book, it led to increased sales of all of his books... and when the promotion ended, sales returned to normal.

Of course, in the case of a prolific author like Gaiman, giving away a single book may be like giving away a single potato chip... it's a gift that will make the recipient come back for more. For those of us with fewer titles to our name, giving away one book might be akin to giving away the entire bag.

There is so much more to this issue, not the least of which is the impact e-books are having on bookstores. It's a complicated issue, and one that I doubt we will fully understand for a few years. In the meantime, all I can do is hope that the future holds a sustainable market for authors, and that readers continue to support the writers they enjoy.

I know I will.

What about you? How do you feel about e-books, DRM, and the potential of piracy? Who are your favorite authors, and how did you first encounter their work?

Short blog for the long weekend

2011-02-17T18:28:00.003-05:00

Remember that feeling on the last day of school? Remember stepping off of the school bus and knowing you didn't have to worry about classes for three whole blissful months? Remember the weight lifting from your shoulders as you absorbed the fact that your grades were in and there was nothing left for you to do about them?

Just savor that memory for a moment, soak it in. Pretty nice, isn't it?

Well, let me tell you, if you like that feeling, do not become a writer.

When your career is built around taking things out of your brain and putting them on paper, it's literally impossible to get away. Even if you take a day, or a week, "off" from work, your writing is there, pestering you in the back of your mind. "Does that plot twist make sense?" "Do I introduce that character too early?" "How should I wrap up that chapter?" It goes with you everywhere. Forget homework, writing is everywherework.

Not that I'm complaining. There are lots of jobs that are just as all encompassing, and I can't imagine one that's better than writing. Still, sometimes I miss that feeling.

My husband has the other kind of job--the kind that you literally can't bring home with you. Sure, he doesn't get that same carefree summer vacation feeling that we got as kids, but at least when he gets a long weekend, like this weekend, he actually gets time away from work.

I'll take some time off this weekend too, of course, but every moment that I'm not working, I'll know that I should be.

Our long weekend plans include a trip to (sniff sniff) Borders. This will definitely be a bittersweet visit because our Borders is one of the hundreds of stores that will soon close. Now, since it is up in Whitehall, Borders was never someplace we visited regularly (that area is far too congested for my taste), but it's always sad to see a bookstore close, regardless of size and/or location.

This Borders was good enough to host the Bethlehem Writers Group for two book signing events--one in 2009, one in 2010--and, alas, I was unable to attend either one. (One of the benefits, and curses, of having multiple authors in a book is the fact that there are often concurrent signings at different locations.)

Looks like my opportunity to sign at Borders, at least the one in Whitehall, has passed, and I'm sorry for it. Still, we'll drop by sometime this weekend to say farewell.

And then I'll go back to writing.

Happy long weekend, everyone!

New love

2011-02-15T23:51:00.004-05:00

Ah, new love. That blissful getting-to-know-you haze of a new relationship. That time when your relationship is nothing but potential, when you wonder if you've truly found "the one." Okay, I just celebrated my 11th Valentine's Day with my husband (for most of them we were not yet married), but that doesn't mean I don't remember that feeling... and I'm pretty sure that's what the BWG is feeling right now for Reeves Library.

Reeves, like many crushes, probably doesn't return our feelings, but Reeves treats us well, which is just what we need after the brutal dumping we received from the dreaded ex. We just had our second date... er... meeting at Reeves, and so far we're very, very happy. Reeves offers all sorts of amenities that our ex did not... tables... plentiful chairs... lots and lots of electric outlets... I mean, it might be a bit early to pronounce Reeves as "perfect" but perhaps we should talk about bringing it home to meet our parents.

Of course, as is the case with any break-up, we had to make some new friends to fill the void left by mutual acquaintances who chose "Team Ex." In the case of this particular new relationship, those "friends" are obviously of a more corporate nature. For example, looking around the table (a table, can you believe it?) I noticed the logos on the coffee cups have changed, but change is good, especially when that change means leaving an ex who never really loved you in the first place.

In all seriousness, there is something so right about a writers group meeting at a library. It's wonderful to be able to read our stories without worrying about customers trying to get to the shelves behind us, or randomly stopping to listen to our unpolished drafts. And, in the current "Indie vs. Big Box Store" climate, it's much more politically correct to meet in Switzerland. As writers, we want to be able to promote ALL bookstores, and it's a lot easier to do so when we don't call one "home."

Of course, the BWG's relationship with Reeves is a college relationship, and it will be interesting to see what summer brings. When the library's hours change, will we be able to maintain a long distance relationship through those hot months?

But, right now, who cares? There's snow on the ground, and yesterday's roses are still bright and fragrant. Why spoil the early days of a relationship by worrying about The Future.

So, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go write Reeves name in my notebook a few times.

What's in a name?

2011-02-14T17:18:00.002-05:00

When I was young, I was lucky enough to get to see Billy Joel when he toured college campuses for "An Evening of Questions, Answers...and a Little Music." During this--do I call it a performance?-- audience members had the opportunity to go to a microphone and ask Billy Joel one question. I, being a rather shy child, didn't dare go up to the microphone, but I loved listening to the questions people asked... and, of course, the music.

There was one question that stuck with me in particular, and it wasn't "Will You Marry Me." (Incidentally, in answer to that question, Billy Joel took out a pair of binoculars to see who it was that asked, but then made some comment about being "over" his supermodel phase.) Instead, the question that stuck with me was when someone asked him which he wrote first, the music, or the lyrics. Turns out he writes the music first because, as he put it, when he writes the lyrics first the music turns out like this: and he played a few bars of "We Didn't Start the Fire."

This moment was playing over in my head today as I try to affix a title to my work in progress. Often I have a title in mind when I begin a story, but sometimes, as is the case here, I write the story without a title. This poses a problem for me because I am really bad at naming things. Whether it be stories, characters, or cats, I agonize over names for far longer than should be necessary. (Xander was nameless for several days when we first adopted him).

In this case, I have spent the afternoon going through dozens of titles, trying to find the right one for this project. I still haven't settled on the answer. Sigh.

On another note, one project of mine that does have a title, my recent short story Felicity and Fortune. is available to read for free here. I would say this was my Valentine's Day gift to you, but you might think otherwise when I ask you to vote for said story here. Top prize in the contest is inclusion in the anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It so this is a contest I'd really like to win. In order for my story to reach the editors, it must survive the first test in the competition, public opinion. Voting will be open until February 28th, and only the top ten stories will go on to the next phase and the chance to be included in the anthology.

Felicity and Fortune is the story of young Laura Charles who must decide whether to marry the highly unsuitable Mr. George Bingley, or please her parents by marrying nobility. Those familiar with Jane Austen's work will surely know by the story's end exactly how these characters are related to some whom we both love and despise. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

What to do after the All Clear

2011-02-11T12:17:00.003-05:00

I know, I've been away for a while. You can blame Connie Willis. I just finished All Clear, but for the last week any moment that I haven't been reading, I've had that wistful "I wish I were reading that book right now" feeling that you get when you're really invested in a story. This isn't to say that I've been reading all week-- I'm a slow reader but the book's not that long-- rather, when I found myself debating whether to blog or just curl up and read, reading won out. My apologies.

But, I finished All Clear last night, and that leaves me with the sad, nostalgic feeling you get when you finish one of those great books that haunt you in the hours you're not reading them. It's a feeling like the end of vacation when you say goodbye to all your new friends and know you'll never have quite the same relationship with them again. Of course, I'll reread All Clear-- Connie Willis' books are so intricate that they're well worth rereading-- but it just won't be the same as the first time I take their journey with them, not knowing the outcome.

This feeling leaves me in a bit of a quandary, however. What should I read next? I have a wealth of books "to read" (as you can tell from my Goodreads shelf), but the choice of which to select is not obvious. I want something that's good-- obviously-- but something sufficiently different from the book I just finished. I will not, for example, pick up either of the "new-to-me" Connie Willis books I have waiting on my shelf, because I would hate for them to get mixed up in my mind with All Clear. Each of Connie Willis' stories deserves its own distinct place in my brain, and until I've gotten over the mourning process of having finished All Clear, I won't pick up more Willis.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a couple of books by Sophie Kinsella that I've been looking forward to. Anyone who has read both Willis and Kinsella will understand that they are very different authors. Each lady writes delightful and enjoyable fiction, but I turn to Kinsella when I want to give my brain a break, and to Willis when I want to give my brain a work out. It's like the difference between potato chips and red wine-- both are delicious, but they're very very different from each other.

My first experience reading Kinsella was when I picked up Shopaholic Ties the Knot while I was planning my wedding. It was the perfect escapist read for that moment in my life-- if you're planning a wedding and you haven't read it, I insist you run out to your nearest bookstore and get a copy. These days, I love reading Kinsella when I go to the beach. I tend to collect her books during the year and keep them reserved for vacation. Every time I see them, it reminds me of sitting by the ocean, listening to the waves, and enjoying the time off. Ahhh, isn't that nice?

But, I doubt that Sleeping Arrangements or Can You Keep a Secret are quite the right tone for the middle of February... especially when I have so much work to do during the day. No, I'll save those for the carefree days of summer.

I could pick up Jasper Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer, or The Fourth Bear which are calling to me from my bookshelf, but I fear that they might be a bit too similar to All Clear. Certainly, the three books must be very different in content, but I feel that both Fforde and Willis tend to plunge the reader into a new and complicated world, and leave them to sink or learn the rules. It's a wonderful experience, and one I don't want in any way diminished by reading two books like that in a row.

I'm certainly not going to read Gwen Bristow's Tomorrow is Forever just yet. I think it might be my last "new" Bristow book, so I'm saving it for a special occasion.

I guess I'm leaning toward Jennifer Chiaverini's The Quilter's Kitchen. It has a few things going for it. First, the world of the Elm Creek Quilters is well established in my mind, so it's not going to have the same feel as picking up another Willis or Fforde. Second, it's a hardcover book, which means I won't read it at the beach. Third, Chiaverini is still writing in this series, so I don't have to worry about squandering one of her books. Fourth, I've already "read" the book that comes before it, and the book that comes after it in the series on audio, so reading this one will mean I'm no longer missing any pieces of the puzzle. Finally, I think it might just be the perfect balm for my melancholy All Clear mourning.

What about you? What are you reading these days? What do you do when you finish a book you loved so much it became a preoccupation?

In case you're interested, here's a link to my Goodreads review of All Clear... it should come as no surprise to you that I give it five stars:

All Clear by Connie Willis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Writing and Knitting

2011-02-03T16:20:00.001-05:00

I just read an enjoyable interview of author Jessie Crockett found here in which she compares writing to knitting. As a writer and knitter, I love the comparison! I'm sure I'm not alone. Many writers are knitters, and vice verse.

Both knitting and writing are creative processes that people can do strictly for themselves. Many people knit or write for their own amusement, not worrying about how the end product will look to other people. However, both are far more fulfilling when you do them for others.

When you bring other people into the equation, suddenly you have to be a lot more attentive to the process of creation. If I'm just knitting to keep my hands busy, a dropped stitch here, or a loose end there, doesn't really matter. If, however, I'm knitting a scarf for my grandmother a dropped stitch means I have to get out the crochet hook and fix the problem before it gets worse.

Writing is exactly the same. When I'm writing an early draft (especially in November) I know no one else is going to see what I write... at least not in its current form. I drop stitches all over, write notes to myself, use words I know aren't perfect... in short, it's a mess. But then, when it comes time to revise, I have to go back and edit my writing, tuck in the loose ends, and pick up all those dropped stitches.

Sure, it's more work to write or knit for others, but in the end, I get to enjoy both the process of creation, and the knowledge that someone else will enjoy what I created.

Winter weather

2011-01-31T16:54:00.003-05:00

I like the winter. You won't find many people willing to say so after such a snowy January, but I'm one of them.

I'm not a skier, nor do I participate in any other sports that you'd see in the winter Olympics, but still, I like winter.

And snow.

But, not ice.

I, like many others in the northeast, have been keeping an eye on the impending "winter weather." My hope has been that the temperature will drop enough that we'll get an enormous amount of snow instead of the drizzly snow-melting, ice-encrusting sleet that is on the forecast. This storm is particularly ill timed because tomorrow the Bethlehem Writers Group is supposed to have its first meeting at its new home. Seems we might have to postpone the party.

If I had my way, winter would be cold and snowy, and the temperature would stay below freezing day and night until it suddenly went above freezing and stayed there. In spring. Perhaps giant hair dryers would come out and dry the streets for us as well.

Seems unlikely, doesn't it?

Oh well. Since it seems my hopes for an ice-free storm--or giant hair dryers-- aren't going to happen, I'll just hope that you and I and everyone we care about gets to stay home, and stay warm, and stay safe. And, if we're really lucky, we can curl up by the window, with hot cocoa and a good book, and watch it snow.

B&N Dumped the BWG

2011-01-26T12:41:00.001-05:00

Long before I was a member, the Bethlehem Writers Group was just a writers group. The group was actually started by Barnes and Noble, presumably in an effort to bring in customers. You know the sort of group, the ones advertised in the bookstore's newsletter. The ones that meet for a few months and eventually disband. For one reason or another, this was not our fate.

Over the years the group grew and shrank. Members came and went. I joined.

Eventually we had a strong group of core writers meeting on a regular basis and decided to give ourselves a name and compile a collection of Christmas stories, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, which brought more members to the group.

And, through it all, we met at Barnes and Noble. This was a source of some awkwardness when Indie bookstores asked us where we met, but, since our roots were in Barnes and Noble, there wasn't much to be done. So, we continued meeting at B&N, buying coffee and recommending books to each other.

Until yesterday, when B&N dumped us. Without warning. By email. Ouch.

It seems the store where we met is doing away with their meeting space. Effective immediately.

So, the Bethlehem Writers Group is looking for a new home. But we'll keep meeting. And drinking coffee. And recommending books. Just not there.

Manuscripts and movies

2011-01-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

With my household still suffering the aftershocks of our move, it's inevitable that things are in hiding. On my best day I have a tendency to get distracted and put things down without paying attention to where they're going, but in an unorganized apartment, it's harder to figure out what I did with them.

My husband compares me to an old school video game character. I'm not sure which game he's talking about because he either didn't say or I forgot, but apparently there was a character who went around its two-dimensional digital world only able to hold one thing at a time. If the character needed to carry a key, for example, it could not carry a weapon at the same time. He made this observation when we were packing up our old place. Repeatedly I carried packaging tape around looking for scissors, then returned with the scissors but no tape.

As we unpack, I'm a bit more useful because all I really need to keep track of is the box cutter, and I've only lost that a handful of times... and we have two, so he usually knows where his is. Anyway, I'm not saying it's my fault, but some of our freshly unpacked belongings end up in pretty random places. I have a whole list of things that I know I've seen recently, but have no idea where. Good thing our apartment is pretty small.

For the most part, this isn't a problem. We know where our computers, phones, and cats are, so beyond that what more do we need? Well, as a writer, there's one more thing I need-- my manuscript! It and my best research books took to hiding sometime during the move and refused to resurface. I looked for them... everywhere... twice. No luck.

No problem, I've had a lot of other writing projects lately, a short story deadline and some editing work, so it wasn't an emergency, just a concern. But then I finished the editing, and drafted my short story, so what next?

Well, in the absence of the materials I needed to work, I went to a movie. I saw The King's Speech, which I highly recommend. Aside from being a really great movie in its own right, it also included Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Collins, Dumbledore, Bellatrix, and Captain Barbossa. (What? Those aren't their real names?) Seriously though, I recommend the movie. I do seem to be on a rather historical kick at the moment with Celia Garth, The Lost Quilter, and Blackout, so The King's Speech fit right in.

I would have spent this morning looking for my books (again) but I felt I really ought to attend the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (GLVWG) meeting since I intend to join the group when I register for their The Write Stuff conference. I've known about GLVWG in theory for a while since Ralph Hieb is a past president of the organization. He's been telling us BWG members to join for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I might have joined a year ago if I'd felt ready to attend their conference, but coming off of the first season of A Christmas Sampler signings, I just didn't feel ready for the adventure.

This year I am though, so I figured going to a GLVWG meeting was a good first step. I was right. The meeting was a great opportunity to put faces to the names Ralph has been telling us about for all these months, and network with other writers. I'll definitely be going back.

The best part? When I got home my husband had a surprise for me: my manuscript AND my research books!

Isn't he great?

Guess I'd better get back to work on it, huh?

What's your sign?

2011-01-19T20:08:00.000-05:00

So, chances are you're aware of the recent changes going on in the stars. To be fair, I suppose the change was in the orientation of the Earth, but why quibble over details?

I am far from informed on matters of astrology. I know my sign, and those of my loved ones, but beyond that, I am fairly clueless. And now, with the recent changes, I don't even know that much.

I've done enough research to be thoroughly confused. Are there 12 signs or 13? Does the change apply to newborns alone, or to everyone? Have astrologers been compensating for the shift and giving us horoscopes for our old signs or our new ones? If there are only 13 signs, why is it that Scorpio gets only one week out of the year? Most importantly, what IS my sign?

I think that last question is the one that bothers me the most. Not that I felt that being a Taurus was something that ruled my life, but at the same time I did feel a certain affinity for it. Adjusting to being an Aries will take some time, and, what's to guarantee that someone won't just go and change it again?

For now am I a Taurus or an Aries? Was I once a Taurus but am now an Aries, or was I an Aries all along and just reading the wrong horoscopes? Am I persistent, patient, loyal and dependable, or am I independent, optimistic, enthusiastic, and courageous? Can one be both dependable and independent? I think so. As far as the negative traits go, I think I'd rather be moody than lazy, but I know at times I can be both stubborn and impatient. For now, I'm just confused.

Is there a sign for that?

So many books...

2011-01-10T00:22:00.001-05:00

Read any good books lately? I have. Lots of them!

After finishing Gwen Bristow's Celia Garth, I picked up Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis (it was, after all, nearly Christmas). Now I've finally gotten to Blackout which I wanted to read back in December, but couldn't find.

But, as I mentioned before, I took a bunch of road trips recently and what better way to spend a long drive than listening to an audio book? While driving, I listened to all of The Winding Ways Quilt and half of The Lost Quilter, both by Jennifer Chiaverini. I'll have to finish The Lost Quilter at home while I unpack boxes because listening to it on short drives means I'll spend too much time sitting in parking lots not wanting to turn off the car. Unless I can find the time to actually quilt, which is the very best way to listen to one of Chiaverini's books, if you ask me.

This means that my upcoming reading list will inevitably include The Quilter's Kitchen which comes between The Winding Ways Quilt and The Lost Quilter but was not available in audio. And, of course, when I finish Blackout I'll go on to All Clear which is the second part of the story. I'm also looking forward to Jasper Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer, which I got for Christmas, and his upcoming book One of our Thursdays is Missing but I'll have to wait for March 8th for that.

Add to all those the shelves of books that I've spent the last few weeks unpacking. Looks like I'd better get reading.

What have you been reading lately? What do you wish you were reading right now?

Welcome to 2011

2011-01-09T23:10:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to check in with you since New Year's Day, but this is actually the first chance I have had to do so. Time has been flying these past many weeks. Well, months actually. Judging by what my friends have said, I'm not the only one to think so. That's rather comforting.

Lately, I've been incredibly busy. In addition to signing books, unpacking boxes, and celebrating the holidays, I've been traveling to visit family and friends. I attended a funeral in the final days of 2010, and met a friend's baby in the first days of 2011. Obviously there have been ups and downs these past few weeks.

But now the holidays have come to an end, as have the signings. No new babies are expected and I don't have any upcoming travel plans. Time to take a deep breath... and get back to the real work of writing, editing, and (if I need a break) unpacking.

So, at last I can say, welcome to 2011. Perhaps it is the events of the past couple of weeks, but I can't help but feel that this new year holds great promise. With a new year comes the potential of brighter days. 2011 is a story yet to be written. Like the baby I just met, it can become anything.

Pretty exciting.

Happy New Year, everyone!

An apology

2010-12-18T23:14:00.000-05:00

If you stopped by the booth near the exit of Christkindlmarkt today, you may have noticed little balls of blue lint rolling around. Unfortunately, the culprit was my sweater. I blush to admit it, but so it is.

You see, one of the casualties of moving has been my wardrobe. I've had a lot of "I know it's here somewhere" moments when getting dressed, so last night, I decided to set my outfit out before I went to bed. I had the perfect sweater in mind for today's signing, but I hadn't seen it since the move, so I started hunting around in boxes hoping to find it.

I didn't.

I did, however, find a blue chenille-like sweater that I have only worn a few times. It wasn't what I planned to wear, but it's a pretty sweater, so I figured it would work. An all-too-quiet voice in the back of my head murmured something like, "There's a reason you don't wear this sweater," but it was late, and I had a signing in the morning, so I dismissed it and went to bed.

This morning, I looked the sweater over carefully. It seemed in good condition. I tried it on. It fit well. I figured I was fine.

Until I got to Christkindlmarkt. First it was the lint on the table, then the lint on the books, then the lint on the floor. Oh, it's so embarrassing! Soon, I was noticing blue dust in the air around me. I felt like Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoons... surrounded in a cloud of blue. Oh, how I wish I knew where my other sweaters were.

And, it didn't stop! Even when I got home tonight, the sweater was still shedding. I left a trail of blue lint as I walked through the apartment, and the red coat I wore all day is now purple. Purple! Honestly, it's amazing there's any sweater left.

But, at least I finally remember why I don't wear it.

Sunday, I'll be signing at the Clinton Bookshop in Clinton New Jersey, but never fear, the blue sweater will be staying home. Permanently.

Things worth caring about...

2010-12-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, my friends, I have seriously, seriously lost my motivation to unpack this apartment. Seriously. (Now I feel a bit like Meridith Grey, but... seriously!)

You writers out there will appreciate the power of a deadline, and I had one. Note the past tense. You see, a friend of mine, cajoled/convinced/tricked me into hosting a cookie baking get together last weekend. It was a crazy idea, but it was also a deadline. My goal was clear, unpack the kitchen, find all the cookie baking supplies and wash them before the bakers arrived. As an added bonus, I challenged myself to find the sofa, and the dining room table so we would have places to put the cookies, and places to sit.

It was a crazy deadline, but I succeeded. When the bakers (only two) arrived on Saturday, the predesignated parts of the apartment were ready for them. And I have to say, I'm very proud of how well my cute little kitchen handled three women, and how nicely my cute little oven baked so many cookies.

But, there went my deadline. Poof. Up in smoke (though fortunately nothing else went up in smoke that day). Now, I have no fixed goal other than "unpack the apartment" which is kind of like the fixed goal "write a novel" it's too big to handle.

Now, I know what I have to do, set small manageable goals, accomplish a little at a time, not think about the big picture or how much I have left to do. I know this, but I'm having trouble making myself do it.

It doesn't help that every few days we discover something that didn't fare well through the months in storage. The most annoying discoveries of late are our DVD recorder and our printer both of which kinda work, but don't really work anymore. We're fortunate in that (so far) nothing of great sentimental value has turned up broken, but still, a writer needs a printer! (I said the same thing about our bookshelves... a little Gorilla Glue seems to have fixed those... think I can glue the printer? No?)

But none of that is really important. Not in the grand scheme of things. What is important is that Toys for Tots needs our help. I read in the paper that more than twice the usual number of kids are signed up for Toys for Tots this year. So many that despite cutting kids off at age 12 (they used to cut them off at age 16) the organization is doubtful that it will be able to provide gifts for all the kids who need them. How tragic!

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Toys for Tots. When my brother and I were young, our mom used to take us shopping for gifts for Toys for Tots. We'd each get a set amount of money and could allocate it any way we wanted. My brother always got something big and cool with lights and moving parts. His goal was to give one kid an AMAZING Christmas. I was more conservative, buying smaller gifts trying to give many kids a good Christmas. At the end of the shopping trip we'd put our bags in the Toys for Tots bin and imagine kids like us getting something special when they least expected it.

Fast forward to today, and the demand is so high that some kids will get nothing on Christmas morning. Ugh.

But, it's not too late to donate. If you have a spare dollar or two to donate to kids on Christmas, you can do so on the Toys for Tots website here. You can also check the website for drop off locations. Most of them have taken in their barrels at this point, but some are still collecting. I donated online, but I might just have to hunt down one of those remaining barrels too.

If toys aren't your penchant, there are a myriad of other ways in which you can help. You can donate blankets, or books, or food, or even blood. Regardless of what you donate, you'll be making someone's holiday a little better.

What are you favorite charities around Christmas, and the rest of the year?

Rewards, Distractions, and Favorite Authors

2010-12-02T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I wasn't sure it was possible, but in two days I managed to write 18,000 words in order to win this year's NaNoWriMo challenge. Phew! I think my poor computer doesn't know what hit it. The NaNoNovel probably feels the same way since it is likely impossible to write good prose that quickly. But I've come to the conclusion that this story needs to ripen a bit before I really write it, so just having that time to get to know it a little better was probably beneficial.

As soon as I finished my 50,000th word, I went into unpacking mode. Mostly because I was sick of navigating around piles of boxes, and couldn't find my blankets to just turn the whole mess into a fort.

May I just say, "Ugh!"

In short, unpacking is a pain. It's amazing how you can work so hard at something and have it look worse when you're done than it did when you started. I am trying to focus on the little victories, though. For example, I was able to find the vinegar when we needed it this evening, I now have two cabinets full of clean dishes, and the pantry now has food in it instead of cardboard. Little victories.

Still, it's easy to feel daunted when I still can't find things like, for example, Blackout by Connie Willis.

Connie Willis is, in my opinion, a brilliant author. She's often classified as a science fiction writer, but she, like Jasper Fforde, challenges conventional genre classifications. I love every one of her books that I have read, and thus she has reached "hardcover status" in my personal library. (As opposed to ebook status, or paperback status, hardcover status is reserved for books that are so wonderful that I know I'll want to have them absolutely forever.)

Anyway, I bought my hardcover copy of Blackout several months ago, but decided to wait to read it until I also had All Clear, which is, as I understand it, the continuation of Blackout. All Clear arrived shortly before NaNoWriMo, so I-- in a great feat of willpower-- decided to save both books as my reward for finishing my 50K.

Well, 50,000 words later and what do you know? I can't find Blackout! I found All Clear after digging through about half a dozen boxes, but Blackout is nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, in the process of looking for Blackout I found Celia Garth (also in hardcover) by Gwen Bristow, which is another book I've been saving for a special occasion.

In a way, reading Celia Garth is more momentous than reading Blackout because Gwen Bristow stopped writing around the time of her death about thirty years ago. I read and loved her Plantation Trilogy as well as Jubilee Trail, and Calico Palace, but Celia Garth will be new for me. I'm almost sad to read it, but if Ms. Bristow's other books are any indication, Celia and I will have a long and happy friendship.

Now, the trick is to find the time to read. The next two weeks will be very busy because I have four, no wait, five book signings to attend. I'll be at Lion Around Books in Quakertown this Friday from 6:30 to 8pm, The Moravian Book Shop on Saturday from 1 to 3 pm, Christkindlmarkt in downtown Bethlehem on Thursday at 11am, somewhere in Emmaus (more details to come) on the 11th, and at the Clinton Book Shop in Clinton New Jersey on the 12th. Phew! I guess that's what happens when you contribute to a Christmas anthology.

And somewhere in there I have to bake cookies, wrap presents, and find a spot for my Christmas tree. (I know where it will go, right where that pile of boxes is!)

Oh, and read.

And make a new friend in Celia Garth.

And look for Blackout.

It may be crazy but...

2010-11-29T12:09:00.000-05:00

The challenge: To write 18,000 words in two days.

Possible? Yes.

Likely? Uncertain.

History:

1. This NaNoWriMo started out relatively sluggish for me. I managed to post my daily word count and stay ahead of the daily goal, but didn’t have any banner word count days.

2. Previous NaNoWriMos have been much easier to complete. (I credit this to better outlining and preparation for those years. After all, this is the first November in which I have moved in addition to NaNoWriMo.

3. In 2008 I finished 50,000 words in only ten days.

4. On occasion I have managed a 10,000 or more word day during NaNoWriMo.

Obstacles:

1. Work. Yes, NaNoWriMo is work in a sense, but I mean the kind of work that someone else values enough to pay you to do. I can’t drop that just because I’m behind on NaNoWriMo. I have finished today’s work, but some precious hours tomorrow will inevitably be eaten up by work.

2. Moving. Right now my apartment looks like someone is in the process of building a really cool fort. Or has a compulsion to hoard cardboard. Either way, there is a constant temptation to unpack and organize. Even if I resist the temptation, the piles of boxes make it harder to move around the apartment, so trips to the kitchen for food and bathroom breaks will necessarily take longer than they other would.

3. Writers group. Ah, the irony! But tomorrow I must attend a meeting of the Bethlehem Writers Group at 7 o’clock. These meetings generally go until 10, so that means I will use 3 hours of precious writing time right at the end of November 30^th.

Analysis: 18,000 words is a possibility, but I need a HUGE word count today to make it possible to finish tomorrow while still meeting my other obligations.

Wish me luck, I’ll check in later.

Home for the Holiday

2010-11-29T00:55:00.000-05:00

What. A. Week.

Or perhaps I should say, “What a fortnight.”

The last two weeks have been filled with travel, family, Thanksgiving, and a book signing at the Bethlehem Visitors Center. And, if that wasn’t enough, my husband and I also searched for, found, and moved into our new apartment.

The move is something we had been planning and working toward for several months (since my husband started working over an hour from home without traffic), but it still happened very quickly. In fact, two weeks ago today, we hadn’t even seen this apartment.

But we saw it, and we liked it, and we decided to move in before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, we were not planning on cooking our own Thanksgiving dinner because not only was our apartment full of boxes for the holiday, but I was also under the impression that our oven didn’t work.

I say, "Under the impression," because as it turns out a gas oven needs to be left on for a while before the flame ignites. Who knew? Meanwhile, I was afraid to leave the oven on for more than a few seconds without a flame because I thought it would fill the apartment with gas. This means that the reason the oven wasn't working was because I kept turning it off. I felt a little silly when the oven repair involved nothing more than turning on the oven, but, either way, I'm glad the apartment didn't explode.

Moving is an educational experience.

For example, we also learned the down side of purchasing bookcases for under $40. It seems that while the cases do a decent job of holding books, and they’re fairly easy to assemble, they don’t handle moving well. We started out with three identical bookcases, but one fell apart as we moved it, and another fell apart as we filled it with books, so now we’re down to one-- which isn’t going to cut it because my husband and I have A LOT of books. Go figure.

Anyway, it’s the end of the weekend, and the oven works, and the books are in piles around the broken bookshelf, and the apartment is full of boxes and… it’s November.

Which means it’s still NaNoWriMo.

And I am horribly horribly behind, because while these last two weeks were full of family, and moving, and friends, and boxes, and learning how to use my oven, they were not full of NaNoWriMo.

At just over 32,000 words, and with only two days to go, my chances of completing the challenge this year seem slim, but, you know what? I’m going to give it a shot. After all, can’t the boxes and books wait another two days?

Can’t they?

NaNoDolDrums

2010-11-11T01:15:00.000-05:00

NaNoWriMo this year has felt kind of draggy. I think it may have something to do with all of the traveling I've been doing recently. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I traveled from Portland to Pennsylvania on November first, which not only caused me to lose three hours, it also sort of threw me off my game. Either that, or the trip to Portland in the first place derailed me. Or perhaps the trip to Portland right after spending a week visiting my inlaws. Or perhaps all of the above.

In any case, today was the first day I felt truly back into my routine. My hour on the elliptical was energizing rather than exhausting, and I finally had a decent word count day on my NaNoNovel. Unfortunately, I'll be gone over the weekend, so I may lose some ground again. At least I'll be staying in the same timezone this time.

Feeling draggy during NaNoWriMo is kind of a new feeling for me. This is my fifth year doing NaNoWriMo and thus far I've won every year. My first year of NaNoWriMo I did it on the spur of the moment. I'd heard of NaNoWriMo for about a week before November 1st, and thought it sounded... well... kinda crazy! I mean, 50,000 words in 30 days sounds like A LOT, right? But I had a story idea I'd been kicking around for a few years, so I signed on to NaNoWriMo and figured I'd give it a shot.

Well, let me tell you, when you've kicked a story around in your head for enough years, it can come out pretty easily during NaNoWriMo. I reached 50K in a couple of weeks, so I challenged myself to actually finish the first draft of that story before the end of November. I succeeded, writing over 100,000 words by the end of the month. Now, that NaNoNovel kind of makes me cringe when I read it now, but I figure if I let it kick around in my head for a few more years, it will be ripe for editing.

Years two and three of my NaNoWriMo experience, I worked on the same novel. Yes, I know *gasp* *tisk* *oh the horror!* But the two NaNoWriMos combined with a March Madness writing challenge from the Bethlehem Writers Group helped me finish the manuscript I'm in the process of editing now. It was totally worth being a NaNoRebel for my third NaNoYear.

Year four I spent October preparing one novel only to decide on NaNoEve that I would work on a different story. NaNoWriMo success truly does depend on following your bliss to a certain extent. As hard as it is to write a story you're not inspired to write, it's even harder to do it in a month. That year one of my characters took over the story. She went off on her own personal tangent, and took my novel with it. This is another story I intend to return to, but I think I need to keep her in "time out" and make her stand in the corner a bit longer, at least until she understands why what she did was wrong. Or I convince her to move to a different story where all of her radical zaniness will be more appropriate, and appreciated.

But all four years, despite varying levels of inspiration, preparation, and contemplation I've been able to fly through my 50,000 words pretty quickly. In fact, in year three I finished in ten days! This year just hasn't been as easy. I like my characters, but I lost my outline when my phone rebooted--never again will I outline a story on Color Notes-- so I don't remember all of the nifty twists and turns that made the story really pop. I suppose if I weren't living day-to-day with this novel, struggling to get my 1,667 words before midnight, that I would be able to really brainstorm this story and give myself a road map to December.

Well, I'll be traveling this weekend, so perhaps during the long car trip I'll have an opportunity to think... and write another 5,000 words.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and to join in the fun, be sure to check out www.nanowrimo.org

Procrastination

2010-11-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

I should be working on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or editing my manuscript, so obviously here I am posting to my blog.

Not that a post isn’t long overdue. I don’t even want to look to see when my last post was. If it’s any consolation, it’s not that I forgot you, it’s just that this was the Autumn of Perpetual Busyness. If it makes you feel any better, sometime in the middle of September I made a new year’s resolution to blog more in 2011. This resolution has the benefit of not kicking in until January first, which was the only way I could justify such resolve with such a busy schedule.

Things are freeing up a bit now. I have NaNoWriMo, which I WILL blog about later, and Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas and book signings in December, all in addition to the usual requirements of work and family but still the remainder of the year does promise to be somewhat less hectic. Or at least I can hope.

One reason I was busy of late was that I recently attended the annual general meeting of JASNA, the Jane Austen Society of North America. JASNA is a delightful organization that brings together lovers of Jane Austen and her work, which really includes a vast variety of people. I mean, we have people from all faiths, and political backgrounds, those who love Jane as an authoress of great literature, and those who love her as the inspiration behind Clueless. Jane brings us all together. No matter how different you may be from the other conference attendees, you know for sure you have something in common. You have to love it.

Most of the AGM is dedicated to the study and discussion of Jane Austen and her writings. This year’s theme was Northanger Abby, and I got to attend sessions on such interesting topics as entailment, rules of the assembly, and the importance of Henry Tilney’s role as a clergyman. It always amazes me how many different insights scholars and fans have into Miss Austen’s work. It is nearly impossible to attend an AGM without learning something new. (Indeed, I wonder if Jane would not learn something new about her own work, were she to attend.)

In addition to the congenial gathering of people, and the informative talks and sessions, I also love the AGM for the ball which takes place on Saturday night. Many of the attendees dress up in Regency costumes, and we all dance English country dances (which makes us all feel as though we are Elizabeth Bennet, or Emma, or, I suppose, Mr. Darcy). The dances can get a bit chaotic, with so many novices dancing in one place, but everyone is there to have a good time, and that makes all the difference.

On Sunday morning, I was sad to see the AGM come to an end, but we got such exciting previews of future AGM’s that it was impossible to be entirely forlorn.

But, for now, I must turn my thoughts forward to the remainder of 2010. If I write 50,000 words this November (in a single, new, novel) I will continue my “winning” streak for the fifth year. So far I am on track. Then will come Christmas, then new years, then… gulp. But I am resolved not to abandon you for so long again. In the words of Jane Austen if "I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on till I am."

The benefits of beats.

2010-08-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

At tonight's meeting of the Bethlehem Writers Group, we had a delightful time discussing beats in dialogue. Now, for those who don't already know, beats are moments of action in dialogue that writers use to reveal depth in a scene that would not be evident from the conversation alone.

Now, a lack of understanding of the benefits of beats drives many writers to attempt to dress up their dialogue with what I'll call "tacky tags." Tags tell people who said something, most commonly you'll see either "he said," or "she said." Tags are fine, but they don't add much to dialogue, so many authors turn to tacky tags.

Tacky tags are those tags that authors use when they develop an irrational fear of the word said. Tacky tags might include: snapped, whined, enunciated, answered, continued, and, everyone's favorite, ejaculated. I remember back in fifth grade my teacher, Mrs. Patrick, gave us a writing assignment in which we could not use a single tag more than once. It's an excellent vocabulary-building exercise for ten-year-old students, but I can't recommend that technique for aspiring authors. Tacky tags distract the reader from what is actually being answered, continued and/or ejaculated, and tell the reader how to read something after he or she has read it.

Some authors, aware of the dangers of tacky tags, fall instead into the habit of atrocious adverbs. I remember my college writing professor (Poet Len Roberts) telling us that an adverb is a sign that our nouns and verbs aren't doing their work, and, of course, he was right. Atrocious adverbs include such gems as: he said sarcastically, he said indifferently, he said stupidly, and the like. Even bestselling authors sometimes fall into the habit of atrocious adverbs.

I remember reading one of the Harry Potter books aloud to my husband (we both wanted to read the newest book at once, so we alternated reading aloud) and Hermione Granger said something "waspishly." This atrocious adverb bothered me on three levels. First, I recognized the sign the verbs and nouns weren't doing their work. Second, since I was reading aloud, I stumbled over the pronunciation of waspishly, which interrupted the narrative. Third, I wasn't exactly sure what waspishly meant. I found myself wondering how one says things like a white Anglo Saxon protestant, or perhaps like an insect? In any case, I would have been a much happier reader if Rowling had used a beat.

So, to improve our writing, we must stay away from tacky tags and atrocious adverbs, and instead work on our better beats. I say work on our better beats because beats are work. Better beats are a lot of work. Many authors, myself included, fall into redundant habits with our beats... I'll call those... hmm, let's see... drum beats... because you beat them again and again. Drum beats are the actions that every character seems to do all of the time. My drum beats include: smiled, laughed, and rolled her eyes. My job in revising my work is to find my drum beats and get rid of them. By the time I submit a story for publication, all of my drum beats ought to have transformed into better beats.

But replacing drum beats, atrocious adverbs, and tacky tags with better beats is tricky business. In order to learn how to write better beats, we writers have to pull out of our introspective musings and actually watch the people around us. We need to actually see how people move, how they sit, how they gesture, and what they do with themselves as they talk.

When your job is to pull human interaction out of your mind, it is sometimes difficult to pay such close attention to people outside of your head. Another danger is looking for your better beats on television. While actors do their best to portray accurate action on screen, they often have tells that indicate they're acting instead of telling the truth. For true actions, you need to watch actual people. So, go out to a public place, and people watch for a while... call it research.

In tonight's BWG meeting, we discussed good uses of beats, especially in dialogue, and we played a little game designed to demonstrate the way beats can alter a reader's perception of a scene. Each group member received the same four lines of dialogue, and we challenged each other to insert beats in order to craft two different scenes.

Our initial dialogue came from: Night of the Living Deed by E. J. Cooperman, and read as follows:

"George Washington."

"Father of our country, first president, first in the hearts of his countrymen, could not tell a lie, defeated Cornwallis and had wooden teeth. How am I doing?

"About as well as my fourth graders. But at least you knew about Cornwallis."

"Flatterer."

None of us knew who the characters were, or even how many people were contributing to the conversation. Each of us had about fifteen minutes to insert beats (not tags, and certainly not adverbs) and craft two different scenes. Here are the two scenes I wrote:

Scene 1:

"George Washington." He stuck out his chin, hands on his hips.

"Father of our country," I counted on my fingers, "first president, first in the hearts of his countrymen, could not tell a lie, defeated Cornwallis and," I paused for effect, "had wooden teeth." I held up six fingers. "How am I doing?"

He curled his lip and looked away. "About as well as my fourth graders." He took a breath and looked back at me. "But at least you knew about Cornwallis."

I shook my head. "Flatterer."

Scene 2:

"George Washington." He rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand.

"Father of our country." I rolled to face him, mirroring his position. "First president." I reached out to caress the side of his face. "First in the hearts of his countrymen." I let my hand trail down to his chest. "Could not tell a lie." I leaned forward. "Defeated Cornwallis." I moved my face close to his. "And, had wooden teeth." I kissed his mouth. "How am I doing?"

"About as well as my fourth graders." He pushed me back until his face hovered above mine. "But at least you knew about Cornwallis."

I reached up to frame his face with my hands. "Flatterer."

See? The exact same dialogue produced two completely different scenes, and I didn't even begin to tap the potential of this dialogue. Both of my scenes were in first person, and in each case my point of view character was talking to a man. There are so many other possibilities for this dialogue, all one needs to do is change the beats.

Give it a try, it's great fun. Take the dialogue above and insert beats to turn it into something all your own. Post your interpretations in the comments section, and let's see just what better beats can do.

Bunnies, bunnies everywhere!

2010-08-06T23:09:00.000-04:00

Have you noticed an abundance of bunnies this year? Usually our yard has an occasional bunny hopping around, but this year we have had far more.

It started with our regular single bunny, but then one day I looked outside and noticed he had a friend with him... well, as you can imagine we now have lots of little bunnies running around.

I thought this was something unique to our back yard, but then, on a recent trip to Cape Cod, I noticed an abundance of bunnies there, too. I can't tell you how much I prefer them to the Cape's usual abundance of skunks, but still, it made me wonder.

Then, back in PA, a doe started bringing her twin fawns through our yard. It started when they were very little, the size of shelties, and one fawn in particular captured my heart as he zoomed in circles around his mom and sibling.

The doe started bringing them by every day, and we enjoyed watching them grow.

Then, a couple of days ago, we noticed a third fawn following the doe and twins. I figured it was lost or orphaned, and was joining our little deer family in an effort to survive.

Tuesday night, however, after the BWG meeting, I saw one of our darling fawns was not fast enough crossing the street behind our house. All I could hope was that the poor thing didn't suffer, and that it wasn't our favorite little zoomer.

Wednesday, I was relieved when the doe returned with her two fawns, so I told myself that the zoomer must be alive and well... after all, the twins would stick closest to their mommy, right? And she clearly made it across the street.

Well, Thursday they were back, except that instead of two fawns there were four! I'm guessing that the two fawns I was watching grow up were actually several fawns, because, let's be honest, I can't really tell them apart.

But this means that we definitely have had at least five fawns in our yard, when ordinarily we have one, and at least that many bunnies. So, I wonder, what is going on?

And, as adorable as it is to watch Bambi and Thumper play together in the back yard, I sure hope Flower stays at home.

July 18, 2010

2010-07-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

Today is the anniversary of Jane Austen's death.

Although she died in 1817, nearly 200 years ago, her books have survived to delight generations of readers and inspire generations of writers. Recently Jane's works have inspired an entirely new subgenre, the paranormal classic. Some Jane Austen enthusiasts (Janeites) feel Jane must be rolling in her grave to see her works so polluted. Michael Thomas Ford, author of Jane Bites Back, imagines Jane as a member of the undead, still attempting to get published. I, for one, feel Jane would be flattered and bemused, not only to see how her work has survived, but to see how we have adapted her stories to reflect our own modern lives and tastes.

Also surviving Jane are a few of the letters she wrote to her sister Cassandra. Although Jane certainly wrote hundreds of letters in her lifetime, Cassandra is known to have burned many of them before her own death in 1845. Cassandra's exact motivation is now unknowable, but many believe she wished to protect the privacy of a dear sister whose moderate level of fame was enough to make people want to pry into her private life. Of the letters that survive, many have passages excised from them, so we can only speculate what cutting observation or personal aside might have been written therein.

I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to view some of the surviving letters when they were on display at the Morgan Library in New York City. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to read Jane's writing, but one of the most memorable of the exhibit was, in fact, not hers. The most memorable letter was written by Cassandra upon the occasion of Jane's death, to Fanny Knight, their niece. Although I found Regency penmanship difficult to read, and I did not have as much time to study every letter as I wished, I found myself drawn into this particular letter, the full text of which can be read here. This letter, written by a grieving sister, could not help but bring a tear to my eye, even though Jane died more than a century and a half before my birth.

As a self-proclaimed Janeite, and a lifetime member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, I often delight in Jane's works, but today, I find myself thinking of her life, and her death, and mourning a dear friend whom I never had occasion to meet.

Date night at the bookstore

2010-06-05T15:38:00.000-04:00

I come from a book-loving family, which should be no surprise given my chosen vocation. When I was a kid, my family's idea of a weekend outing was to go to the local B. Dalton bookstore (it was the only bookstore that didn't require braving the student-infested streets of downtown) and each picking out a book to add to our shelves. Perhaps if our local library had been more accessible to our home we would have saved a lot of money and had far fewer books in our house, but it wasn't.

As soon as I was old enough, I got a job at that B. Dalton... what possible better job could a kid have? Of course, when book lovers work at bookstores, they end up getting paid in books, so perhaps I could have had a more lucrative job, but not a better one.

My husband comes from another book-loving family. His family lived near more used bookstores, his mother even worked restoring collectible books at one for a while. His family, like mine, felt a day in a bookstore was a day well spent.

I suppose it should be no surprise, given our childhoods, that when my husband and I are looking for a good daytime date destination, our local bookstore springs to mind as an excellent choice. In our case, our "local" store happens to be a Barnes and Noble since the nearest indie bookstore to our home is about twenty minutes away, and the Barnes and Noble is only five.

Because of its proximity, I find myself in the local Barnes and Noble quite frequently. It's one of the places I meet my fellow authors to "write in," it's where I meet my friends for coffee and conversation, and it's where my husband and I go when we want to get out of the house together, as we did today.

Today, I had an agenda for our date. You see, yesterday when I was at the Barnes and Noble, one of my favorite booksellers mentioned they were having a tough sales week, and tried to persuade me to purchase a Nook to boost sales. Would that I had the sort of funds available that I could just purchase a Nook, or even a book, on a whim, but I do not. I did, however, promise to come back today with my list of Books I Mean To Purchase Someday, and see which ones I could afford to purchase this week, instead of Someday.

Last night, I came home, checked the books I had in my online shopping carts for Barnes and Noble and Amazon, and compared prices between the two vendors. Oh how I wish I had money enough to skip the price comparison step when I shop for books, but I simply do not. To my dismay, the prices on Amazon were pretty much universally cheaper than the online prices from Barnes and Noble, which, in turn were cheaper than the prices of the books in the store.

Of course, as a price-comparing book shopper, I've run into this inevitable price difference in the past. I mean, it makes sense that an online entity that doesn't have to pay booksellers, rent, and cleaning bills can afford to give deeper discounts than our beloved brick-and-mortar stores. But moving beyond brick-and-mortar to an online-only world of booking-buying is a thought that brings tears to my eyes. Without bookstores, where would I write? Where would I meet my friends? Where would my husband and I go on lazy Saturday afternoons?

Still, I have financial obligations that make it impossible for me to pay more than I have to for books. Bookstores aren't charities, after all, they're out to turn a profit and they don't really care if I go broke trying to support them.

For these reasons, I'm willing to bend over backwards to buy books from local stores, but I'm not willing to pay more thanone dollar more for any given book. I buy a lot of books, and those dollars would add up fast!

In the past I have found that I can help out my local store without paying too much by going to the info desk and ordering my books to be shipped to my home. When I do that, I get the online price rather than the much higher in-store price. Then, when I use my member card for a 10% discount, and a coupon or two that I get by e-mail, I end up paying not too much more than I would if I purchased from Amazon. It's complicated but it's worth it to keep my local store in business.
But things, I am sorry to say, have changed.

It turns out that I can still order books shipped to home, and I can still get the online price in the store, but I can no longer use my member discount either there or online, and I can no longer use my emailed coupons for ship to home orders.
This last piece of news is particularly upsetting. Those coupons often make the difference between buying from B&N and buying from Amazon. Now, even though you can use a coupon code off of the discounted price online, or the printed coupon off of the full list price in the store, apparently you can't use either off of the discounted price for ship to home orders. This means that Barnes and Noble is basically telling me that instead of shopping in their stores, I should go home and order from their website which, by the way, is generally more expensive than Amazon! If I'm going to order online without the perks of a living, breathing bookstore, why would I pay even a penny more to give Barnes and Noble my money?

What a tradgedy!

Of my list of ten hardcover books, I was only able to justify buying two. Two! Two books are not going to make a dent in the store's weekly sales. Two books are not going to make the difference between keeping a bookseller on staff and laying someone off. Two books are not going to help at all. Add to that the fact that one of the two was only cheaper if I had it shipped to the store instead of to my home, which means that the boost in sales wouldn't even help them at all this week, the week when they especially need it.

What a disappointment.

So, my list of Books I Mean To Buy Someday isn't much shorter than it was this morning, but I'm not giving up. Perhaps someday Barnes and Noble will reinstate their ship to home member discount, or maybe an indie store will open nearby or maybe I'll get a big contract and have the luxury to shop without price comparisons. One can only hope.

In the meantime, I hope my local store can stay in business when its corporate online affiliate seems to be trying so hard to put them out of it.

Book Expo America 2010

2010-06-03T21:07:00.000-04:00

A week has passed, and I know I am horribly remiss in not putting pen to paper (or in this case, electron to screen) to document the amazing spectacle that was Book Expo America. I have spent the past week going over the experience and making notes of what I must do differently when I attend next year, for attend next year, I must!

I first learned about BEA in December. I can't begin to guess how in my life as a writer and previous life as a bookseller, the splendor that is BEA escaped my consciousness, but it took a book signing to clue me in to all I was missing. It was at our book signing at the Palmer Branch of the Easton Area Public Library that my ignorance came to an end. There, I started comparing literary notes with the librarian who was hosting us, and she asked if we had ever attended Book Expo America. She went on to describe an amazing gathering where members of the book industry come together to network and, more unbelievably, get free books.

What a concept!

I came away from the signing knowing I had to learn more about BEA. My research turned up the dates of BEA and the fact that it was going to be held in New York in 2010, and I knew I had to attend. When A Christmas Sampler won its two Next Generation Indie Book Awards, that just sealed the deal. No way was I going to go into New York on one of the days of BEA and not go to the Expo!

I ended up deciding to attend BEA on Wednesday since the Tuesday of the award ceremony was only the opening day of BEA and the exhibit hall was not yet open. I figured, correctly, that the exhibit hall was where all that free book magic happened, and I didn't want to miss it. Perhaps in retrospect, signing on for two complete round trips into NYC two days in a row wasn't the smartest decision, but it was certainly worth it.

My goals for BEA were three:

1. Get a signed copy of David Weber's new book for my husband

2. Network with industry professionals

3. Get free books

With those three goals in mind, I spent many days, and some nights, preparing for the experience. I researched which publishing companies and agents would be present, prepared a synopsis of my current writing project, got some spiffy new business cards, and, of course, researched which authors would be signing books. I also found a catalog of the books that would be available at BEA, and drew up a strategic plan for picking up as many of the ones I wanted as possible. And, of course, I made careful note of when, and where, David Weber would be signing his new book.

I was sleep-deprived, but I was prepared. Or so I thought.

Carol L. Wright, Ralph Hieb, Sally W. Paradysz and I met early on Wednesday morning to drive in to NYC together. I was working on about two and a half hours of sleep from Tuesday night (I had to put the finishing touches on my synopsis, after all), and about two hours of sleep from Monday night. Accordingly, I loaded up on coffee and chatted the whole way into the city, knowing if I allowed my body to slow down even for a moment, I'd be dead to the world. We got tied up in the Lincoln Tunnel for much longer than we anticipated, even having considered the morning rush of commuters, and thus arrived at BEA later than we would have wished. Thus, I missed the first author I wanted to meet, but was so happy to finally be out of the car that I wouldn't think of complaining.

Carol, Sal, Ralph and I entered the Javits Center and the first thing I saw was the registration area, which resembled nothing more than an airport check-in. We wound our way through the maze of ropes, and each waited until a teller opened to check us in. When it was my turn, I approached the teller, handed over my registration confirmation, and noticed on the counter before me the catalog of Next Generation Indie Book Awards winners. I was thrilled to know that everyone who registered at BEA had the opportunity to pick up the catalog, and therefore might know A Christmas Sampler won both the Short Fiction, and Anthology categories of that prestigious award.

I grabbed a map of the expo, and a book outlining all of the exhibitors, and met my co-authors at the foot of the escalator. We rode to the next floor together, scrambling to don our name tags which each proclaimed in green that we were published authors. When we reached the top of the escalator, nothing could have adequately prepared us for what we saw.

Book Expo is huge!

Okay, we knew Book Expo would be huge. Everyone tells you Book Expo is huge, but Book Expo is huge in the sense that the Biltemore Estates is huge. Even knowing it is huge, nothing can prepare you for how very huge it is.

I snapped two quick pictures, and put my camera away for the remainder of the experience. Next year I'll be better prepared and attempt to take more pictures... that's BEA 2011 resolution number 1.

Now, in my preparation for BEA, I had outlined which booths, authors, and events were happening on which floor of the Javits Center. I had a nifty list of where I should be and when, and I was going to stick to it. The only problem was that I couldn't make my nifty little list reconcile itself with the space before me. I wasn't sure which floor I was on, but I knew I was looking for the third. Or rather, I thought I knew I wanted to be on the third floor.

In an effort to catch my bearings, I decided to accompany Carol and Ralph to where Scott Turow was signing books. I figured I could follow them, and check the map, and eventually figure out where I wanted to be. Sal was much braver and announced she was going off to find the agents... I knew the agents were upstairs, but I had no idea how to get there... I told myself I'd figure that out later. Carol, Ralph, and I plunged into the mass of humanity before us, and somehow found the correct line.

It was at about this point that the lack of sleep, the unfamiliar surroundings, and the overabundance of caffeine kicked in and I realized that standing elbow to elbow with everyone in line wasn't going to happen. I bid my co-authors adieu and ventured forth onto the melee, hoping to find Sal and the many agents.

Moving from booth to booth, and still not understanding which floor I was on, I noticed something else. Nowhere did I see the much-talked-of piles of free books. From what I had heard from those "in the know," BEA was supposed to be comprised of stacks and stacks of free books that you could just walk past and take. Not so... at least not as far as I could see. Finally, reconciling my list with my map, I realized I must be on the second floor of the Javits Center, and the agents were on the fourth, so I cast around looking for the stairs.

Or an elevator.

Or an escalator.

Or an obliging ladder.

The only escalator I could find was the one that led down to the lobby. And stairs, elevators and ladders were not to be found.

I was no thoroughly confused at this point, and so overwhelmed that I started questioning why I ever came to Book Expo in the first place. This wasn't what I prepared for! This wasn't fun! In that moment I thought I'd NEVER go to BEA again.

And then I noticed the banners hanging from the ceiling.

I will try to justify the fact that the banners escaped my notice until that point by reminding you how extremely sleep deprived I was. In any case, all of my preparation for BEA had failed to inform me of one very important fact: the exhibit hall is all on one floor. Here I was thinking that booth 3000 was on the third floor, 4000 was on the fourth, etc, and I would have done better to realize that 3000 was in the middle, and 4000 was off to the right.

With my new-found understanding of my surroundings, I took a deep breath, checked my watch, checked my schedule and checked my map and realized the best thing I could possibly do was high-tail it to booth 3940 where David Weber was supposed to start signing books in twenty minutes. Or so I thought.

With a goal in mind and a general understanding of the layout of the hall, I entered the throngs of people again and wound my way to the approximate area of booth 3940. I was able to find the right aisle, but was uncertain which booth was his, so I buckled down and asked for directions. It was then that I learned one more very important fact. I learned about the "Author Signing Area."

David Weber was nowhere near booth 3940, he was off in the author signing area with most of the other authors who were signing books that day. I followed the delightfully clear directions to the area, which I had not noticed on the map, and eventually found an eddy of peace in the rushing rapids of book expo. Fortunately it was very clear which line led to David Weber, and his line-- by virtue of the fact that it was in the author signing area and not among the booths of the exhibit hall-- wasn't nearly as frenetic as Turow's line. So, I joined Weber's line finding comfort in the knowledge that I would end my day having accomplished at least one of my goals.

Standing in line allowed me a chance to breath, to collect myself, and to get to know the people around me. I asked those nearby who had the look of BEA veterans where to find the free books and learned that, indeed, the number of giveaways was far diminished from previous years, but that I should be able to know them when I saw them. This somewhat cryptic advice (no matter how accurate) was followed by more helpful advice. "If you're not sure if you can take a book, just ask."

Sometimes it's the most obvious advice that is the most helpful.

By the time I got to the front of David Weber's line, I once more felt in charge of my Book Expo experience. Mr. Weber only made my day better. He was welcoming and pleasant and inscribed his book "to Adam, from Emily, and me" which I love, and think I'll have to borrow at future book signings.

Just knowing how thrilled Adam would be to have the signed book, made me feel able to face the insanity of BEA with no worries, so, thank you, Mr. Weber!

I spent the rest of the day learning everything I'll need to know for BEA 2011. For example, while there are agents and publishers all over the place, I would need to make appointments to meet with them and pitch my book, so my hours of synopsis editing were perhaps not as useful as if I had spent some of them asleep.

I learned that the best way to get a free book is to find someone who is signing, but, if you see a pile of identical books and you ask nicely, you might get to keep a copy.

I learned that some books are only for people with blogs (so glad I have one) and "published authors" rank pretty low on the list of important people... unless, of course, you're signing books!

I learned that a backpack is better than a canvas bag, but they give tote bags away for free all over the place, so don't bother bringing your own.

I learned that you'd better bring a sandwich, because, if you're like me you'll forget to eat, and that you need to budget your time wisely because you might find out the two authors you want to meet are on opposite ends of the exhibit hall.

And, I learned it's well worth the time you spend hiking back to the car to empty your bags, and return, unladen, for more books, because even if the giveaways have gone down from previous days, you're still going to go home with more books than you can carry. For example, at the beginning of the day, the trunk of this car was empty!

Next year, you can expect to see me at BEA for at least two days, and maybe all three. I'll have my map and my list of must-see authors, and a backpack and a water bottle, and a great big smile on my face, because I'll finally know how to be prepared.

I hope to see you there too!

Next Generation Indie Book Awards

2010-05-25T20:31:00.000-04:00

Let me just say, that was SO cool! Carol L. Wright and I just left New York after attending the Next Generation Indie Book Awards cocktail reception, a medal around my neck, and a smile upon my face.

Where do I start? Okay, the Plaza is really nice. I mean it was doorman-opening-your-cab-door, car-sized-chandeliers, bathroom-stalls-the-size-of-dorm-rooms kind of nice.

Then, there was the fact that the party was full of really happy authors, publishers, and agents. How cool is that? It was great fun to talk to publishers about the changing face of the publishing industry, discuss projects with agents, and meet all the interesting, award-winning authors.

Talking to the non-fiction writers was an education. I learned, for example, about quince. Have you heard of quince? Apparently it's a fruit that must be cooked to make it edible. How about that? One of the winning books was a cookbook devoted to all the ways you can prepare quince. Apparently such a cookbook is unprecedented in the world of cook bookery. Personally, I think quince are the next pomegranate. You heard it here first, folks.

Oh yeah, and did I mention there were medals? As if the fine surroundings and interesting people weren't enough, there was an award ceremony! As soon as we walked in, we got our name tags, complete with Next Generation Indie Book Awards pins, and "winner" stickers. Carol L. Wright and I were then greeted by handsome men offering champagne... pretty cool if you ask me. Then, we spotted the medals and drew near like moths to their glow. I was about to take out my camera and take a picture when three women came over to greet us. One of the women, Tag Goulet, introduced herself as one of the contest judges and told us how much she liked our book!

By that time, more people were streaming in, and I noticed a shocking lack of cameras. Well, I didn't want to seem like a tourist, so I only snapped one quick picture or two of the pile of medals before stashing the camera.

When everyone had arrived, and had a shot at the Champagne and food, Catherine Goulet, who founded the Indie Book Awards three years ago, welcomed us all and started the ceremony. Marilyn Allen, a literary agent, talked about the Indie Book Awards, telling us that she had always wanted to be a part of a really good book award program. She described the award as one that honors writers by critically examining their work and awarding the best of the best.

Really? Cool!

Perhaps the most amazing part of the evening was when Catherine Goulet, told us that she had heard from the award judges that this year's submissions were the best ever.

The best ever? Wow!

Then they gave us our medals.

How can the week get any better?

Oh right, tomorrow we go to BookExpo!

Feeling Special

2010-05-24T11:45:00.001-04:00

It's Monday, LOST has come to an end, and the cocktail reception for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards is looming. Yikes!

You may be glad to hear I will NOT be wearing pajamas to the reception. After much planning and consultation with my "fashion experts" (read: friends and family) I have picked my outfit, found suitable jewelry, and purchased a cute little red bag.
Which just leaves... (insert ominous music here)... the shoes!

More consultation with my "fashion experts" helped me decide that what I need are red strappy heels that are dressy, but not too sparkly. Add to that my budget and difficult-to-fit feet, and my assignment basically became to find the Holy Grail of shoes.

But I had hope! You see, I've heard about Zappos.com for a while. Perhaps you have too? It's an internet shoe store that is supposed to be all about customer service. The word on Zappos was that they have free basic shipping, free return shipping, and a great selection of shoes. Also, I'd heard from a couple of sources that Zappos "always" upgraded their free basic shipping to free overnight shipping because they "want their customers to feel special."

Feeling special sounded good to me, so Saturday night I logged on to see what they had in my size.

Now, to give you a bit of background, I have my dad's feet, so my feet are really long. Let me tell you, it's hard to find a women's size 11 shoe in a store. At least in a traditional brick and mortar store.The internet, however, is a whole different story. I found SO MANY shoes at Zappos that I wanted to try on. So, I ordered them, and hoped I'd be lucky enough to be upgraded to the free overnight shipping.

My fingers were crossed, but no way was I going to leave myself without a safety net, so Sunday I went out shoe shopping for a backup pair. Just in case. Well, as I expected, I had a very limited selection of shoes available to me in the stores I checked. None of them in red. I ended up with a sparkly pair of silver strappy heels. Not bad as far as insurance shoes go, but not the Holy Grail. My fingers were still crossed for that free shipping upgrade.

This morning when I checked my email, I received the shipping notice from Zappos. No shipping upgrade. Now, I totally understand that they were in NO way required to upgrade my shipping. I mean, nowhere on the Zappos site did it even hint that such an upgrade was possible. I knew I had no one to blame buy myself that I didn't shop earlier or pay the $25 to order overnight shipping. I knew all these things. But still, not receiving a free shipping upgrade that's supposed to make you feel special, makes you feel... well... unspecial.

I debated ordering the shoes a second time and paying the $25 for overnight shipping, but I just couldn't justify paying $25 to try on shoes that might not fit. Especially when I have the silver shoes sitting in their box, waiting to be called into the game. I took a deep breath, went to the Zappos site, and checked to see if I could cancel my order. After all, if the shoes couldn't arrive on time, the least I could do was save Zappos the cost of the shipping, and the return shipping, right?

I couldn't find any way to cancel the order on my own, so I clicked on their "live chat" option, to text a customer service rep. The rep, Laura, was friendly from the start, and checked to see if she could cancel my order. She could not, but she seemed genuinely sorry that she couldn't help me. I felt so sheepish about asking to cancel an order right after it shipped that I explained to Laura that I needed the shoes tomorrow, and had heard they sometimes had free overnight shipping. I expected Laura to say something like, "The only way you can get overnight shipping is to pay the low, low price of $25," but, she surprised me. Instead of pointing out how ridiculous I was to order something for basic delivery in the hope it might magically arrive overnight, she offered to process an exchange for me and ship me the exact same shoes overnight! Seriously? Well, let me tell you... I started to feel special!

Laura upgraded my account to VIP status (so THAT'S how people got the free overnight shipping!) and while she processed my exchange, she asked me about the event to which I would wear the shoes. I told her about the Next Generation Indie Book Awards cocktail reception, and she seemed really excited for me... which made me feel excited for me too!

I mean, this is really thrilling! I've gotten so caught up in the details the last couple of days that I lost sight of the really important thing, the writing and the awards. Even if I did show up in my pajamas, people aren't there for me, they're there for my book, and, quite frankly, I prefer the idea of people admiring my writing, to the idea of them admiring my outfit.

And that is the real reason to feel special.

Terrific Tech Tuesday

2010-05-19T01:41:00.000-04:00

Our most recent BWG meeting deviated from the norm. Usually we spend our meetings reading and critiquing each other's writing, but this time we talked technology.

These days, technology is a necessary part of almost everyone's life, and authors are no exception. Aside from the obvious-- authors using technology to type up their work and send it to agents and editors-- we need to be able to socially network in countless ways. Authors of the 21st century are expected to tweet on Twitter, to network on Facebook, to blog, to have websites, and to keep track of it all while still managing to write!

The goal of this week's meeting was to get BWG members up to speed on how they can establish their web presence. We covered all kinds of information, but I thought I'd pass on a couple of tips to you as well.

GETTING FREE ONLINE STORAGE TO PROTECT YOUR WORK FROM LOSS:

After writing and revising a piece of prose a million times, the last thing I want is to lose it. I back up my work, and try to keep hard copies, but still worry what would happen if something catastrophic took out both my computer, and my external hard drive--not to mention the concern that something might happen to a chapter between a vital revision and my next opportunity to back it up. Enter Dropbox. Dropbox is a free service that will automatically back up a single folder in your computer. Now, all I have to do is put my most recent drafts in my Dropbox, and I can relax in the knowledge I won't lose my work, even if I lose my computer.

So, if you're like me, go to https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY5MjA2NzM5 and get 2 gigs of free backup storage. Seriously, don’t wait, just do it. Then, put your most recent drafts of your writing in your “dropbox” and sleep well in the knowledge that even if a meteor should hit your computer tomorrow, your work is safe in a “remote location.”

GETTING AN AUTHOR WEBPAGE FOR ONLY $10:

It's a common story. You, an aspiring author, know you need a web presence to impress a prospective agent. Unfortunately, as an aspiring author, you lack the funds to purchase your domain and pay for a web host. Now, thanks to Google, you can create your own webpage for only $10 a year. It may not be your permanent solution to your online presence, but it's an affordable way to go, at least until the royalties come rolling in.

To get your own website, visit: http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new and click on “I want to buy a domain name.” Type in the domain you want (I have www.emilypwmurphy.com for example) and click on “check availability.” Once you find a domain that is available, buy it for $10 by doing the following:

Click on “Continue to registration.”

Enter your domain registration information. Click “I accept…”

Create your username and password on the next page. Don’t forget them!!

Click “continue with setup guide”

Now, go to your domain (I would go to www.emilypwmurphy.com) and click on “get started creating your home page” at the bottom of the page.

Sign in using the username and password you just established.

Name your site and click “create site.”

Now, at the top of the page you should see “Create Page,” “Edit Page,” and “More Actions.” To design your webpage click on “Edit Page.” To add another page to your site (for example a biography page, or a “contact me” page) click on “Create Page.” See how this works?

If you want to change the overall look of your page (for example turn it from white to purple, or something like that) click on “More Actions” and select “Manage Site” from the drop down menu. On the left of the next page, select “Colors and Fonts” and go to town.

You can also select “themes” that will save you the time and effort of customizing your page.

To return to your site click “return to site” on the top left of your page.

Any time you edit your page, make sure you remember to click “save” in the upper right hand corner.

That's it. All that's left is to have fun designing your own website for only $10! Some sites to look at for inspiration are: www.emilypwmurphy.com, www.bethlehemwritersgroup.com, www.ralphhieb.com, www.jeffbaird.net, and www.carollwright.com which were all created using this technique.

RSS GRAFFITI:

Once you have a website and start tweeting, blogging, and updating your status all over the place, you will find it is rather daunting to remember to post your updates on all of your different accounts. Enter RSS Graffiti. RSS Graffiti automatically posts things like your tweets and your blog updates to your Facebook page. This way you only have to put out that announcement of your big book deal once, and it goes to both Twitter and Facebook.

Go to: http://apps.facebook.com/rssgraffiti/?ref=ts and follow the directions you find there to set up RSS Graffiti on your page.

Once you have added RSS GRAFFITI to your page, you can add a feed by doing the following:

Go to your Facebook page (mine is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emily-P-W-Murphy/163388716890?ref=ts)

Underneath your picture click on “edit page”

Under “Applications” find RSS GRAFFITI and click on “edit”

Click on “+Add feed” (big green button)

Now, in order to add your feed, you need to find the appropriate URL. How you find the URL will depend on what you want to have post automatically to your page. Since you're reading this blog on Blogger, I'll use that as my example.

In another window, go to your blogger page where all your lovely blog posts appear. Mine is www.emilypwmurphy.blogspot.com so your should look something like that.

Find where it says “Subscribe to” and click on “posts”

Select “Atom” at the bottom (it has an orange box with curved lines next to it)

Don't panic when you get a scary page full of letters. (Yes, it merits it's own step)

Copy the URL in the address bar of your browser.

Paste the URL into the “Feed URL” box back in RSS Graffiti.

Click “Preview” to make sure it works, adjust your “General Options” to taste, and remember to SAVE!

Well, that's just a taste of what we covered at Tech Tuesday, but it's enough to get you started! I'd love to hear about your attempts to establish your own online presence.

Happy Tech Tuesday!

Christmas in May! Now what do I wear?

2010-05-16T01:49:00.000-04:00

Christmas came in May this year for those of us in the Bethlehem Writers Group. We found out just a few days ago that our book, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, placed first in TWO categories at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Apparently we won in both the "short fiction" category, and the "anthology" category. Of course, I am thrilled.

My joy comes on a variety of levels. It's wonderful to have the honor of recognition from others in the publishing industry. It's exhilarating to know our book won in two categories, because it rules out the possibility that a single award is a fluke. And, on a less mature level, it's really nifty we will be able to put shiny stickers on our books next Christmas season!

Yes, stickers! And we will be able to display our two gold medals at book signings! My excitement this past week has vacillated between pleasure at the recognition of our writing, and goofy sticker glee. I know it's silly, but the life of a writer has few such delightful moments-- and the ones we do get, we end up editing later.

In addition to the stickers and medals, our book will be featured in a catalog at BookExpo America, an enormous conference of all sorts of publishing industry professionals, which will take place later this May. Also we and the winners of the other 58 categories, are invited to a cocktail reception in NYC during BEA.

Which brings up an interesting question.

What does one war to such a reception? You may laugh, but my coauthors and I have had a very serious discussion on just this topic. I mean, I hear "cocktail" and think of little black dresses. I hear "reception" and I think business casual. Then, I consider the business of writing and realize my "business" dress is usually jeans and a comfortable shirt. Would my "business casual," then, be my comfiest pajamas?

Okay, I'm ruling out the pajamas... this is New York City, after all.

Obviously, this is one of those situations where being an author differs from day to day reality of being a writer. Still, it's probably good for us authors to get out of our houses, leave our computers behind, and rub elbows with people in the outside world-- even if the people we meet are blinking in confusion after having emerged from their writer-lives to rub elbows with us.

One Crazy Month!

2010-05-04T14:02:00.000-04:00

Well, my writers group finished reading my novel, and I survived their critique. Phew! Now all I have to do is settle in for a nice revision. No problem, right?

So why am I working on my blog instead? Well, as a friend pointed out, it's been quite some time since I've posted anything. It's been a seriously crazy month. So crazy, in fact, the fact my group liked my story really hasn't sunk in. I'll probably realize how delightful that is sometime in the next week or so. Instead, believe it or not, more important things have consumed my attention.

It's been a month of hospitalizations: my grandmother, my friend, my cat. It's been a month of celebration: my husband got and accepted an exciting job offer. It's been a month of transition: we have been looking for a place to live closer to the new job. It's been a month of unexpected complications: our car was rear ended just days before we were to drive to North Carolina. In short, it has been a month of surprises.

I wish I could say things will calm down soon, but who knows what the future will bring? The only thing I know for sure is that wherever I end up living, and whatever else happens in the world around me, I have some revising to do!

The incredible rumors of the Verizon Incredible

2010-04-11T17:56:00.000-04:00

With my recent foray into the world of twitter and blogging, I've found myself thinking, "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could do this stuff easily from my phone?"

Well, yes it would!

After all, wouldn't it be better for me to spend my time on my computer actually writing fabulous prose-- and editing those prose once I realize how unfabulous they actually are?

Yes it would!

These thoughts combined with the fact my contract with Verizon is ready for renewal, have me seriously researching my Verizon smart phone options. Enter my husband, the scientist whose technological interests extend far beyond my own, and I learn what I really want is a phone with an Android operating system version 2.0 or higher. So, it would seem I have only one choice, right? The Verizon Droid.

Except...

When I went to the Verizon store I liked the little Eris that was sitting right next to the Droid. It was cute and little, but, oh darn it ran the wrong version of Android. Then, the Verizon employee helping me mentioned the Eris would very soon get an upgrade to Android 2.1. Nifty! But, I wasn't going to buy the phone until it already had the update.

So, I went home and started checking online from time to time to see if the Eris had gotten its update. As of this moment, it has not... at least as far as I can tell. So I should get the Droid, right?

Well...

As I searched the internet for word of the Eris update, I caught wind of a nifty new phone, the Incredible. The Incredible sounds, well, incredible, if you believe everything you read. But, can I believe what I read? Well, let's start with when the Incredible will be available. In mid March rumor had it the Incredible would be available in two weeks.

Two weeks passed, nothing.

Then, it was certain the Incredible would be available on April 29th.

Then April 25th.

Then April 12th.

Then May 13th.

Then April 19th.

Need I go on?

Then there are the rumors insisting the Incredible is in fact an entirely different phone, Google's Nexus 1, and the rumors the Incredible doesn't exist at all!

Who knows what to believe? I certainly do not.

For now I'm waiting a bit longer before committing myself to any phone. And, I'm learning there are entirely too many rumors circulating the internet.

So. . . I'll add to them.

Here's my new rumor . . . from my super secret sources who are too secret to name. . . the Verizon Incredible went on sale on January 2nd of this year, but the amazing phone is in fact invisible, and thus, no one knows it's already here! So, if you see me talking to myself as I write, I'm not crazy, I'm just talking on my brand new invisible phone. Pretty incredible, isn't it?

What I found when I emerged from hiding:

2010-04-07T07:37:00.000-04:00

So when I came out of hiding, guess what I found. A whole lot of work!

Actually, it was more complicated than just a whole lot of work. It was a whole lot of work, then a little work, then a lot of work, then a lot of unrelated work.

When I opened the file that was the final "100" pages of my novel, it actually consisted of 129 pages. No big deal, I knew I had to cut the manuscript, and cutting 29 pages out of 129 isn't so bad on the grand scheme of things. Still, I was confused, because I couldn't figure out what I had written in those 129 pages. These were NaNoWriMo pages, so I wrote them in a creative frenzy which can result in indifferent prose. I remembered several scenes that I wrote in the frenzy, and I remembered how my story ended (I'd better, right?) but I couldn't figure out what the rest of the 100 pages contained. This fear of the unknown was a major reason for my hiding from my novel.

Anyway, when I finally conquered my fear and faced my novel, guess what I discovered: 93 of my 129 pages were actually duplicates! Let me just say, this was very very good news. My novel was hundreds of thousands of words too long, and I've been spending months and months cutting those words to a manageable level, so finding a free 93 pages to cut was delightful. Realizing I only had 36 pages left in my novel (and taking advantage of an unexpected opening in my long form group's schedule) I agreed to have my final chapters ready to go out to my group on April 1st. (I should have realized agreeing to a deadline on April Fools Day was a mistake)

Not until after I agreed to meet my foolish deadline, did I realize what should have been obvious. My document was single spaced.

Yes, that's right, I somehow managed to fail to notice my document was single spaced while my writers group accepts 100 pages of double spaced material. On the up side, this turned my 93 pages cut into a very impressive 186 pages cut (yippee!), but on the down side, it turned my very reasonable 36 pages to edit by April 1st into a far less reasonable 72 pages to edit by April 1st.

Then the real world decided it ought to get some of my attention as well. In the final week of March I squeezed in a trip to CT to see my brother in a play, several days finalizing my grandmother's move to her new apartment, and let's not forget the review of my second 100 pages by my writers group.

What a week! Still, my final pages are finally in to my group, and I have until the end of April to sit on the edge of my chair and hope they like it.

Coming out of hiding

2010-03-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been hiding. Some people may call it a vacation, but in truth I've been hiding from my novel. I think it's the result of editing on overdrive in February, and spending the early part of March consumed in other work, but as a result, this last week I've been hiding. I haven't turned on my laptop, I haven't picked up my printed pages, and I haven't figured out how I'm going to face my novel.

I've done a lot of other interesting things though. I read two books including Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, which I was saving for just such an occasion, and strongly recommend. I finished the blocks for a quilt top I've been "working" on for many many months. I discovered bacon flavored chocolate-- or was it chocolate-covered bacon?-- and was much too disturbed by the concept to consider purchasing it. I made a pie to celebrate Pi day. And, I purchased an adorable elephant-shaped teapot to keep me company (and provide me tea) when I come out of hiding.

Now, as a writing companion, the elephant would be much happier if I were not hiding from my novel. I know I would be too. I don't like the feeling that I'm avoiding my writing, and yet...

But, enough is enough, right? When last I checked, I was at a sticky point in my editorial process. My writers group is busy evaluating my 100 pages from February, and I will find out what they think in a couple of weeks, but I can't wait that long to start editing my later chapters. I have entered the point in my story where my characters, plots, and subplots need to come together into a delightful ending, and it's a daunting prospect. Also, since I can't expect people to read as many tens of thousands of words as I have written, I need to cut thousands of words from these later chapters.

Part of my mind is trying to convince me that I should just wait for inspiration to strike. It suggests that I should give my novel some distance and try to gain a fresh perspective. But after a week of hiding, no perspective is coming, so the only thing I can do is confront my novel, and forage ahead. Only when I get into the undergrowth of my story and cut away all the weeds, will I find the path to my conclusion. But, I cannot enter that jungle until I come out of hiding.

So, here I am, novel. How about that?

I'm throwing down the gauntlet, novel. Ready or not, here I come!

The books you read... you take them with you

2010-03-05T22:53:00.000-05:00

You know those weeks where the entire universe seems to conspire against your writing? The weeks when the stars align in such a way as to form a gravitational pull away from your computer? The weeks when you have to choose between writing and such essential functions as eating or sleeping those vital 3 hours a night? THIS was one of those weeks. Or, at least it was for me.

This week I've been helping my grandmother move from her "independent living" apartment, down a series of long hallways punctuated by three different elevator rides, to a new "personal care" apartment. This is a great move for her, but her neighbors are horrified by the idea.

You see, the people in "independent living" see "personal care" as something to be avoided at all costs. My grandmother used to agree with them, but after a few tours of the new area, she's very excited about it. I've watched her try to explain to her friends how wonderful the new place will be, but they're unable to hear it, and are equally anxious to explain to her why they think it's a bad move. The thing is, they just don't know because they've never been there. When dealing with people like this, it helps to have some words of wisdom to guide you, and I have found myself remembering The Dream Tree by Stephen Cosgrove.

My mother read me The Dream Tree and many other of Cosgrove's "Serendipity Books" countless times when I was very very young. The Dream Tree is about a caterpillar who wants to know what it's like to be a butterfly, but she can't find out until she is one. It's a great story if you haven't read it, and I find it particularly apropo in this situation because even though my grandmother's new apartment is under the same roof as her old one, to her neighbors, it might as well be the moon. The "personal care" apartments are in another "building" they're practically a mile away, and they have a- pause for ominous music- different dining room. To the caterpillars of the "independent" apartments, if you move to "personal care" you might as well become a butterfly.

So here I am, a writer, an avid reader and a bona fide grown-up, and the most inspirational words of wisdom I have running through my head come from a book I heard when I was two. And I find it amazing because it goes to demonstrate how very important what we read can be in our lives. Sure, we read for education, for relaxation, and for escapism, but we also read to help us make sense of our lives. It is humbling to think, to hope, that as a writer I may someday touch someone in the same way that Stephen Cosgrove has touched me; to imagine that in more than two decades, something I write today may cross a reader's mind.

Who knows? All I know is that in this week in which the universe has conspired to keep me from writing, a simple Serendipity Book has offered me guidance. The Dream Tree has helped me understand my grandmother's neighbors in a way that would have been impossible without those few words.

Have you ever found wisdom from an unexpected book? What is the most influential book you ever read?

Why a writers group?

2010-02-25T21:27:00.000-05:00

This is my writers group, and I am proud to belong to it. I have, however, heard world-famous authors speak out against them in general. I believe they feel writers groups are too frequently social clubs wherein people gather to praise each other on their writing. Perhaps this is the case with some writers groups, but a good writers group can be an invaluable resource. Why? you may ask. Because they give you DRIVE.

Deadlines. Writing without deadlines is easy. Finishing without deadlines... well, let's just say it's harder. A good writers group will force you to bring "finished" writing to your meetings. Even if what you have "finished" is a very distant relative of what you will someday publish, your group will help give you the motivation to get there.

Reality check. We authors tend to either love or hate what we have written. A good writers group will tell you when your work doesn't live up to your rose-tinted impressions, but will also help you find the good in the writing you hate. I, for one, prefer to hear from a small group of colleagues when my writing is off mark, rather than from an agent or publisher.

Information. If you are working to improve your writing, you are undoubtedly gathering information on good writing technique. If you are a member of a writers group, you gain the benefit of your research, as well as that of the other members.

Vindication. No one but another writer can possibly understand the craziness that is the author's life. A non-writer will likely never appreciate the accomplishment of a single perfect page of prose, nor the agony of perfecting said page. Tell a non-writer your characters have run away with your story, and they start researching padded rooms; tell your writers group, and they not only understand, they also try to help you catch them.

Encouragement. Writers groups are not just about writing, they're also about writers. It is difficult to risk rejection day after day, but your writers group will see you through it. They will help you deal with the inevitable rejection, and they will celebrate with you when you succeed. They will know, in a way your friends and family may not, just how hard you worked to deserve the celebration.

So, do you belong to a writers group? If so, why? Otherwise, why not?

Why we write

2010-02-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

I met two of my best author friends yesterday for a write in. All three of us are deep in the jungle that is the revision process, and it seems editorial misery loves company. Writers revising their work inevitably experience editorial mood swings. Some passages are so wonderful, you can't help but picture your book on the bestseller list, others are so horrible you feel your trash bin is too good for it. (The true future of the novel is probably somewhere in between.)

It was during one of these murkier moments that my friend and fellow author, Sally Wyman Paradysz turned to me and asked that crucial question: "Why do we write, again?"

These moments of self-doubt are not limited to revising our work. Writing is HARD throughout the process. It takes a lot of work to transform the tiny seed of a story idea into the mighty oak of a finished novel. Crafting a story and writing it down requires work and sacrifice. There are only so many hours in a day, and good writing can take many of them. Even when you have a completed first draft, you are far from the finished product.

So why do it? Why devote hundreds of hours to writing a novel, only to turn around and spend hundreds more tearing it all apart?

It's not because it's fun. At least, that can't be the only reason. Writing certainly can be fun. The scenes that fly from your mind to your keyboard seemingly without your intervention are incredibly fun. When your characters take control and steer your story where it has to go, and you are the lucky one who gets to read the story first; well, that's exhilarating. But, so much of writing is puzzling over word choice, agonizing over story questions, and slogging through slow but necessary scenes, only to rewrite them later because they're too slow. If we only write because it's fun, we won't be writing very long.

For me, the answer is more basic, more essential. I write because I have to; or rather, I write because not writing is worse than the alternative. Sure, I can get away with not writing for a while. It's always easy to find something that needs to be done sooner, or something that would be more fun, but not writing catches up with me. It's almost like holding your breath. You can hold it, but if you hold it long enough, you'll be sorry you did.

So, Sally, keep writing, and please, please, PLEASE, keep reminding me why I do!

What about you? Do you write? And, remind me again, why do you do it?