Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 61

Spring Cleaning for Writers

There was a time when I would have never done, couldn’t even imagine, what I did today. If you save every piece of paper, including cocktail napkins, that you’ve ever written upon or printed out, I suggest you try to let some of it go. Not work in progress or things you think you might be able to make a book out of down the line. But the old stuff. The stuff you don’t need anymore hogging precious space and making it difficult to let in the new.

I’ve been a little blocked writing-wise, and I think it’s because my genes feel spring coming and know it’s time to clean out the old to make room for the new. My writing room is normally quite neat. I do not work well in chaos. But I can shove things in the closet, shut the door, and forget about them. I painted the room recently so lots of things that had been on the walls were crammed in there amid boxes of old collages, manuscripts and notebooks. Also when my mother moved a few months ago, she off-loaded family “treasures” to me that I didn’t know what to do with. Into the office closet they went.

Today, I decided to clean out that closet. After tucking away a few true treasures, I loaded lots of things into the car for donation. Next I had to deal with the paper. I filled our recycle box and then 2 large garbage bags with collages, old drafts of manuscripts that are now published books, and notebooks. Lots of notebooks. Out they go!

Notebooks are the most difficult thing for me to throw away. I’ve only done it once before and afterward, I felt liberated. This time it feels great, too. Since my last purge, I had accumulated twenty notebooks full of morning pages, novel ideas, sprints of dialogue and scenes. All the useful bits have been entered into documents on the computer. I will never read those notebooks again. They had to go.

Some writers donate their original manuscripts and working notebooks to curated collections in libraries. As much as I admire our literary greats, I’m not one of them and I know it. But I am a writer in need of space, ready for a fresh notebook and a new flow of words. Hurry spring!

Heart Boomers

The generation I was born into (1946-1964 Baby Boomers) are everywhere. I was born in 1955, so I’m at the heart of the boomer parade.

I wonder how many people of my generation embrace the internet? I wonder how many use social media? I kinda feel like the old lady playing with kids when I’m doing this stuff. I avoid talking about my age. Especially on Twitter. I do not know one person in real life (except myself) who tweets. I am hoping to find some heart boomers to talk to about all the puzzling and intricate details of life after wrinkles. I think we blame ourselves too much for things that really are beyond our control or a lot more complex than what we read and see and hear from newspapers, magazines, television reports and even our doctors.

Many people in the US, including myself, are overweight. It’s frustrating to try to lose weight when you are also on a medication regime that includes 3 pills that have “weight gain” as a side effect. So I figured since the migraine headaches I use meds for have lessened of late, maybe I could cut down on the med and eventually wean myself slowly off of it, and something magical would happen, something like what happened to one friend who said when she stopped taking Prozac “the weight just fell off.”

(I wasn’t taking Prozac, but a low dose of Elavil, which can have weight gain as a side effect, and is not a recommended prescription for migraine, but is an older form of anti-depressant that has been found to help with migraine. So it’s an “off prescription” remedy for migraine.)

I cut my Elavil in half for a week and I didn’t lose any weight but I got a migraine. Luckily, I think the 1 Maxalt and 2 Advil prescribed for onset of a migraine nipped it in the bud. I also took a Xanax because migraine shoots my anxiety through the roof. Xanax also causes weight gain and I take those daily for anxiety and so I can sleep at night.

Am I going to just say fuck it, eat what I want and hell with trying to lose weight? Nope. I’m going to eat healthy and continue to try to keep portions small. I’m a vegetarian and usually avoid crap carbs. So you’d think that would be enough, but no. I admit I like a glass of wine or two and dark chocolate. I eat & drink those treats in moderation and fit them into my calorie plan. They’re said to have health benefits.

In general, women are supposed to eat no more than 2,000 calories a day to  maintain a healthy weight. Ha! I eat 1,300 and can’t lose weight, even though my weight tracker app says I should lose one pound per week with this calorie load. So I’m cutting back to 1,100 (again) which my app (Lose It!–it’s free and easy for iPhone:) says will help me lose 1.5 pounds a week. I have had some success with 1, 100 calories. Not 1.5 pounds per week success, but most weeks, I’ll lose a pound. Well, I did for a while until I got stuck.

I tried a few things to get unstuck. Carbs no more than once a day. One glass of wine twice a week. No chocolate. Not even my 72% cocoa squares. Cutting Elavil. Stubborn number on the scale stayed the same. Am I upset with my experiment’s failure? Oh yeah. I get so hopeful (still) about new measures and weight loss methods. When they fail, I feel like I’ve failed.

I used to think, when I was younger, that there would be a cut off time when weight would not matter. Sadly, this is not true. I want a healthy weight so that I don’t get the cascade of other maladies that come with being overweight. (Diabetes, bad knees, heart problems, back problems, etc, etc). Also, I am vain. I didn’t think I would be. I thought there was a cut off date for vanity too. I’m here to tell you, I’m 55, and I still don’t want to be overweight. I don’t mind my silver hair. I kind of like it. Wrinkles are fine too.

What I don’t like are migraine headaches and weight gain. I don’t like taking lots of pills either. I think the way to living successfully as a core boomer is to realize that things I don’t like will continue to happen with my body, despite the care I take with it. It’s been a good body and basically still is, even though I put it through some rough stuff back when I didn’t think about my body as something that could fail me. It took all the abuse I gave it and never cried. That was then. This is now. And somehow, I have to learn to be okay with it.

Don’t Mess With Bill

My dad’s name is Bill. My brother’s name is Bill. My cousin’s name is Will. All derivatives of William, and all beloved by me. Then there’s the other William. My historical crush. William Shakespeare. In my dining room, in a place of honor, I have a shrine with a portrait of a young & sweet looking Shakespeare discovered and authenticated only a decade or so ago in a Canadian attic owned by a guy named Saunders, who, much to his delight, turned out to be a distant relative of the portrait painter.

Then there’s the custom-made bookshelf right under my handsomely framed print, devoted to William’s own works and works about him. Also, sometimes I teach Shakespeare  to college students. Mostly Hamlet, and the sonnets, but also things like Twelfth Night. My friends and I are frequent visitors to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford (Ontario, since we live in Detroit and it’s a couple hours’ drive compared to an ocean voyage for the real thing). Simply put, I’m a fan.

Because I love Bill, I dislike the anti-Stratfordians, those crazy people who think, because he didn’t go to college, Shakespeare could not possibly have written his plays. I dislike that theory more than almost more than any other, even the one about only Catholics going to heaven. I do relish lecturing about why. But this is not a lecture.

It’s a ramble about marketing, in which I seek to talk about what I really love instead of hammering out a press release type marketing blog. I ramble with a purpose. Looks like I’m going to have another book accepted by The Wild Rose Press. And it’s the first in a series. I’ve got a few other half-books going. Tonight I started thinking about how I could cobble pieces of them together for my series. And if my publisher will allow the series to transform from romance to women’s fiction. Lots on my mind. Happy thoughts. Thoughts of Bill, who loved words and ideas and stories.

And thoughts of Rosalind, my favorite Shakespeare character, from As You Like It, my favorite Shakespeare play. Rosalind and her words so wise as she cautions an infatuated suitor: ”I’m not for all markets.” Ha! That means something different in the play than it does for my own marketing, or lack thereof. But when I find a connection to my special William, I take it, however tenuous.

So there it is. Like Rosalind, I’m a writer who is not for all markets. And you know what? That’s okay. She lived happily ever after, and I intend to, too. Despite the fact that there are no pictures in my blog and the title of this entry is not intended to bring in searchers, which I hear are both absolutely necessary for a good post.  I assert again, like Rosalind, I am not for all markets.

Messy Mercury

We are smack dab in the middle of Mercury Retrograde, which started February 23 and runs through March 17. What Mercury Retrograde means for writers is that it’s a good time to sit in the chair, revise your manuscript and concentrate on details. Bad time to start a new project, fire your agent or sign a contract. Good time to back up all files. Ideally you’d want to back up files before the retrograde. I would have warned you, but I was busy being sick on vacation.

There are several Mercury Retrogrades a year and it actually helps me to know when they are coming (and going away!) FYI the other two this year are June 26–July 20, and October 21–November 10. I plan for them now, still I’m not surprised when things go horribly wrong, or even slightly sideways. Plus, there’s a loophole in Mercury Retrograde: anything you start before the retrograde period is safe to continue. But don’t be surprised if things go a little haywire for the next week or so while this thing plays itself out.

I’ve had my share of nasty Mercury mess: a highly anticipated vacation turned into a super bad (and literal) bellyache. A rush of confidence about the blog turning an important corner got lost in the shuffle somewhere. I have started and deleted maybe ten posts in the last few days. Mercury Retrograde does not bode well for turning important new blogging corners. I’ll just have to blab along as per usual.

Also, I have no kitchen sink. Again, literally. There is hole in my kitchen where my sink used to be. Long story. Also, no mail. Because I told the postal carrier not to deliver since I would be on vacation but then I got home early and all attempts to get mail service returned have failed. Of course they have.

Even things I set up earlier, like having my morning Mah Jongg group over on Monday,  have gone awry. (No sink, no lunch. Sorry ladies!) I’m almost happy that I have not heard from my editor yet about the revisions I sent BEFORE Mercury went Retro. If it comes before March 17, it is bound to be bad news. OTOH, because it was a project started before the wreck of Merc, maybe she’ll write to say she loves it and also her cousin in L.A. wants to option it for a movie because Jennifer Lawrence read it and wants to play the lead.

You’ve heard this before: plan for the worst but expect the best. Always. Even in Mercury Retrograde.

Blog It! the author’s guide to building a successful online brand

Molly Greene

Ever wanted to start a blog? Already have one and can’t get excited about it? Molly Greene’s  power tool of a book is all you’ll ever need. Molly, an author I follow on Twitter, and have reviewed before, sent me an advance copy of Blog It! and I ate it up like brain candy. Which is weird because I’ve had a blog for ten years. Ten years sounds impressive, but after reading Molly’s guide,  it felt as if having a ten year old blog is similar to having a pair of ten year old blue jeans. You want an update every decade or so.

Molly’s book taught me so much. When I read it, I was pretty much blogged out. I’d said everything I had to say about the art and craft of writing and publishing. But Molly re-energized me with her concrete solutions for bloggers in need of new topics. I had to stop reading to jot down ideas for posts, that’s how fast this book works.

Blog It! is easy to follow and packed with pertinent information. Molly gives clear, concise instructions for beginning bloggers and those of us in need of a blog-lift. I’d recommend this book to any blogger, from seasoned pro to newbie to not quite there yet.

Having found (at least) twenty things I want to try,  I’m already implementing Molly’s suggestions, like using widgets to build a tag cloud, adding social media icons, and joining Google+. Don’t let these terms scare you off; if you follow Molly’s step-by-step instructions, their meanings will become crystal clear.

Blog It! teaches more than how to navigate a Word Press dashboard. There are sections on building readership, blogging a book, and how to shoot page views through the roof. But the biggest thing I learned is that you CAN teach an old blogger new tricks.

Publishing Shorthand

Indie, self-published, small press published, vanity published, e-published, POD, traditionally published. If you’ve always wanted to write a book, and don’t know where to start because there are so many different ways to do it, this post is for you. Vernie:)

Although many of the above terms are related, each one is a little different, and if you’d like to save time and effort, you should know everything about all of them before you decide what your path to publishing will be. I’ve published five different ways, and worked in the field as a professional reviewer for several years, so I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes stuff, too.

Indie Published

Indie published is a synonym for self-published. I like it. The hip vibe of “indie” nails it for me. You might rather say you are self-published, but they both mean you did the publishing work yourself or, when things got too technical, paid someone to do the hard parts for you. My first book, Your Words, Your Story, was self-published. I started a small press (TCAM Press) used only for my own work, wrote the book, found a reputable printer, paid someone to format the book, paid very little for a cover that used two photos from a friend. I applied for bar code and ISBN, I contacted Library of Congress to register my book, picked up and distributed the books with my husband on a magical snowy day in December of 2007. Below you can see my distribution center, otherwise known as a closet.

Self-Published

I teach creative writing and my first published book was written specifically for my students, but it works for any writer, and if you’re not my student, you don’t have to do the homework:) A closet is not an ideal distribution site, but lucky for me, the college bookstore sold the books to my students. More recently, I’ve put the book on Kindle for 99 cents, so when I teach creative writing these days, I bring a box of books to class and hand them out for free. Your Words, Your Story cost me approximately $3000 to print, and I made that money back through sales. But it was not the ideal situation. I still have 3 or 4 boxes of books in my closet and I could use the space.

My next venture in self-publishing was with Scribd. Just checked out Paradise Fields, my chapbook of poems there, and it’s been read by close to a thousand people! Scridb is a free sharing writing site. Meaning, I make no money for it. But I didn’t have to pay money either. I wanted to try this indie avenue, so I did. I’m happy with it, but again, not perfect. For example, no hard copy to give to friends. When one of the poems won an award, I had ten copies printed at Kinkos. For the covers, I used photos from my sons. With their permission, of course.

Publishing on a Digital Platform

I went all in with my third published book, the indie novel Sister Issues. I didn’t want to pay any costs, I wanted to try KDP (Kindle Digital Platform), and most of all, I wanted that novel in the world. There are tons of digital publishers out there, but I chose Kindle because I am on my second Kindle and love them. It wasn’t as easy as I thought to get a book up on Kindle. The cover shot was difficult. Gave it my best effort, but I’m no photographer. Still, I didn’t have big bucks for a picture. This time my daughter-in-law saved me with the perfect pic. I did pay her for the photo. Not much, but something. If a friend or family member allows you to use their photo on your book, I think it’s essential to give them something in return.

Sister Issues as an e-book only, at least right now, because I didn’t have the cash to pay for the POD (Print On Demand) fee Amazon’s Create Space charges, and I was already running into production problems. In the end, I paid someone I trusted $100 to format the book for me so it correctly uploaded to KDP. I do plan to get a print edition published soon. I chose the price point for this book. 99 cents again. Not sure I’d go so low next time. I think $2.99 is fair for a novel-length e-book.

E-Publishers

And then, after going it alone with a few hired guns, I finally got an offer from e-publisher Wild Rose Press for my second novel The Paris Notebook. The major difference between my publisher and let’s say Harper Collins, one of the traditional New York publishing houses, is that there are no advances. No money is paid to me up front. I have to earn it through royalties. The other thing is that e-Pubbed books are sold online, not in brick & mortar stores. On the plus side, I worked with an editor who helped me greatly improve the story, WRP chose an awesome cover artist, did the formatting and uploading to online bookstores and their PR people sent copies to many review sites, a few of whom picked up my novel and gave it great reviews:) Also, if your book is 65,000 words, the publisher has a POD option. So my friends without Kindles could finally read one of my novels.

My WRP editor asked me to delete a storyline. It was a great subplot, but she felt, since the novel was a romance, it took away from the main love story. So I extracted that plotline and with a few edits Sarah’s Survival Guide is now available free on my webpage. I paid a trusted designer $100 for the cover image. And I love having that free story up. Whenever a friend asks me to “write more” about the characters in The Paris Notebook, I direct them to my website for a free read of Sarah’s story.

I loved my e-publishing experience with The Wild Rose Press. I got to do what I wanted to do, write the book, and they did everything else. I’ve got another manuscript with them now. Fingers crossed!

Vanity Presses

Vanity presses are often confused with e-publishers. There are all kinds of e-publishers, and the vanity people are in the mix, so you should make sure you use a reputable, established publisher. Check out “Predators and Editors” website for unscrupulous agents, editors, and publishers.

Here’s how you can tell a vanity publisher from a legit e-publisher: they ask for money. Lots of it. I’ve heard $10,000 is not unusual. And they do nothing for your book. No editing, no marketing, no nothing. They slap a cover on it and print it. That’s it. They prey on the uninformed and the (gotta say it) lazy would-be writers who don’t care if the book is poorly edited, who just want to have published a book. Then the books land in their basement where they stay unless the author works full time on marketing their book from the trunk of their car.

So, I paid $3000 for 1000 books. How is that not vanity publishing? First of all, I established myself as a small press. Like Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, and countless other intrepid writers. Also, I have two degrees in English and I edited the heck out of that book. I also had trusted beta-readers give it a close read for me. I visited the print shop, saw copies of the books they published, worked with an editor on the typeface, font and paper (you really don’t want white/white pages.) I took in a copy of a book that I admired the look of and the print shop did a similar job for me. Also, I had a distribution plan.

Traditional Publishers

Traditional publishers have been hit hard by the e-book phenomena and aren’t accepting many new writers these days. They rely on their top sellers like Stephen King and Danielle Steel to keep bringing in the bucks, and some are even developing e-pub subsidiaries. If you do find a traditional publisher, their benefits are many: your book in a real store! Up front money for your book. $5000 or more! Maybe some publicity, more reviews in traditional print venues like newspapers and magazines. Here’s the down side: Most traditionally published writers don’t earn out their advance, so that up front money is all they see. Most traditionally published authors need day jobs. And if their books don’t perform well, they may not get a contract on a second book.

So, there you have it, the big messy fun exciting world of publishing today. Hope this post helps you find your way to publication!

Landing With Kindle

After writing and revising a book, and then revising it several more times, and finally getting a revision letter from an editor that requires yet more revising, well, it is a huge thing. So when I sent my final (I hope) revision in, I breathed out my first freeing breath in months.

What I am doing now is not writing a novel. Still writing blogs and journal entries and tweeting but also taking better care of my health, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Also reading like crazy. I’ve got a couple of books going now, expect another this weekend from a friend, and really am just loving NOT revising that novel.

Al and I are taking a road trip for two weeks soon!! That will be major relaxation. But now I’m doing the reading on the sofa thing:) Still on my Reacher kick (#6 Without Fail), Spirit Junkie is my non-fiction/spiritual morning read, I’ve got a romance with recipes by Shirley Jump going and I need to read The Lady and the Unicorn for Bookies next week. Meeting here! Need to plan a menu.

Tomorrow my other book group, Fab 4, meets to discuss Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Someone else is in charge of that meal, but I’m bring champagne!

So this is how I land after a long long process of finishing a book and getting it ready for final edits. Slowly, with Kindle in hand.

 

 

Terry Tyler

Terry Tyler writes humor like she was born to it. If you like Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella, you will love Terry Tyler. Her smooth writing, biting wit, and ironic commentary on popular culture make this a page-turner I could not put down.

The cast of characters revolves around a band named THOR dreamed up by forever-young Dave. He’s got a child and a long-suffering sweetheart who finally can’t take his band-boy ways and kicks him out. He still pines for ex Ariel, also in the music biz. So when Ariel comes back to town, sparks fly. Very fun finding out what happens next with a full roster of great characters.

Best news? Tyler’s writing a sequel! Can’t wait.

At Last

At last, my book has come along, my revising days are over, and life is like a song. Well, okay, not exactly. I did get my page count up to very close to where it should be. But what I need to do next is read the whole thing again and then decide what crucial scene or important detail is missing. Finding  a day to read uninterrupted from an unbound manuscript isn’t easy, those pages get messy and out of order, but I’m pretty sure tomorrow is the day. At last!

Have not been working on the novel at all for about a week now. Letting it sit before I read it again is always good. Also, I had stuff to do. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow is the final day before I send this one off to my publisher:)

Dear Diary,

I have hit an impasse in my revisions. Written out and integrated all the new plots ideas I had. Was sure they’d add up to 65K but they did not. I need about 20 more pages. This is okay. I started out needing 50. Then 30. Now 20. So it’s progress even if it doesn’t feel like it.

My plan for tomorrow is to read the whole thing AGAIN and see what else is needed. My head hurts right now from thinking so hard. I am going to take a walk on my treadmill and not think at all.

Thanks for always being here for me,

Cindy xxo