Ryshia Kennie's Blog, page 32

It Was All Too Much - For the Christmas Socks!

My Christmas socks have survived many Christmases and are my second favourite pair of socks next to my Halloween socks.  And then it happened...





Christmas day started fine with a visit to my fave aunt.  And it continued right through an afternoon visit with another group of family - then, move on to the evening, and another family group.  Yes, three houses - one day, no one said Christmas was for the faint of heart!  But it's all fun.  At least it was right through Christmas supper and into that first game of pool and then, well, then the Christmas socks met a fate they didn't expect.



A plumbing nightmare - on Christmas night, is, while not worst case scenario - it's sure up there.  Sewer backups are not what anyone wants to think about.  In fact, it definitely puts a bit of a damper on the ho ho ho.  More like yuk yuk yuk.  And as far as a family bonding experience, I wouldn't recommend it.  But we survived the night - but first we put the plumber in the phoning queue.



Sadly, I have to report - the socks did not, survive - it was just all, too much. 



Hope your holidays are holding up a tad better than my socks!



And the New Year's Blog Hop - is only days away... Tons of blog give aways and I'll be announcing with tomorrow's what this blog's prize will be!



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Revenge of the Christmas Tree

It seems with the days running out until Christmas, New Years, a mitt full of birthdays, a story deadline and...did I forget anything...is when I really get my second wind.  The end on my latest story has powered up and finally decided to make it over the finish.  Something about, there's only so much time left (my own deadline of course), that really gets me going.  And it's not just that one book that finally kicked into gear and began trundling over the finish line.

I've done it!  The Christmas Tree (tree is capitalized because I sense for all it's lack of size, it demands it) is finally up.  And in our house - that's a big feat.  So big in fact, that everyone else took a nap until the task was done.

But I finally wrestled it out of the basement (not that it's of any size that I could brag about that match).  Of course it had the last laugh.  Doesn't it always?  And as always, it was in regards to the Christmas lights.  They never go on properly.  I should upgrade, I know.  But if I do change out the lights that means the tree goes and I suspect that this particular tree - well, it just might come back.

Okay, seriously, maybe not but I've gotten rather fond of the little "Charlie Brown" creature.  See, it almost feels like it's alive even though it's the most fake of fake.  No name yet - I haven't gone over the edge on trees, yet.  

 I suppose I can console myself with the thought that David Suzuki would be proud.  It definitely doesn't reek of commercialism.  In fact, I'm not quite sure if it reeks of anything. 

So with four days left until Christmas I'm finally in the mood and decorating.  And it's really rather nostalgic as I pull out decorations and am reminded of a friend who passed away way too early and gave me a Christmas decoration each Christmas.  Maybe she was trying to tell me something.  And I can only guess what it might be and wish she were here.  I suppose that's some of the lure of this time of year - the joy meshed with the memories.  For my memories of her are good, and while a little sad, it feels right to remember.

But now it's back to the moment.  The Christmas tree is happily alight and there's one last present to wrap.  I got a little crazy with the glue this year.  Yep, no just tape and ribbon for me.  Not when there's craft glue, streamers and fake rhinestones available. I suppose my tree doesn't say much - or maybe it says a lot, but the gift wrap.... now that says everything.

As I peel my sock from my foot and wipe off the glue that stuck it there in the first place I ask - what gets you motivated?

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Touch That Keyboard And I'll Hack Your Fingers Off

I unwrapped the garland from around my neck and pulled a piece of tape off the bottom of my foot and hobbled to my computer with a half-wrapped present in hand only to find this - "It's My Story Touch it and Die!"



Okay - possibly it wasn't that drastic but the other day I was foraging - yes, I love that term.  It sounds rather like you were wandering through a meadow instead of doing what I was really doing which was cruising the web.  And there I ran into the topic of editing. 



I was surprised to read how many aspiring writers were sure that to remain true to their own voice they should not liberally edit.  Now, I suppose liberally editing isn't a good thing but sometimes one has to rip and tear at a story to find the heart of it - what was good in the beginning that got lost in the fog of the actual writing.   But I was seeing no such inclinations instead there were comments like:

"I know the characters intimately and this is their story."

"Editing will destroy the voice."

"You're the author.  It's your story."

"If you listen to everyone you'll never stop editing."



Yikes, as a reader I sure hope you're editing and a lot. I've read more books than I want to count that could have used a liberal editor. Too bad they didn't get one and as a result I more than likely won't pick up that author's books again.



Edits. As a reader I'll thank you.





Open to other views.




If you want to succeed, you have to be open to edits, ideas and sometimes - that means a whole lot of rewriting.  It's still your story - it's still the characters' story.  But I'm betting if you hold the old up against the new you'll see a much stronger copy than you had the first time around.



Ripping a story apart isn't a bad thing. In fact, sometimes - I'd actually call it fun.















New Year's Blog hop is only days away!



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

You Sold How Many Books?

The other day I ran into "the one".  You know the one?  The one author who wrote the book - and it soared through the ceiling that marks best seller from the others.  The author who not only broke that ceiling but went on to launch a few rockets into the stratosphere of sales.  It gets better though, let's up the ante.  Not only did the book do all that and, of course, win an award but it was self-published.  But back to self-published - think of it - after operation costs - all that lovely cash yours, no royalty splits for anything or anyone.  While I still want the conventional publisher - it's the sales that had me slack-jawed.  Twenty-thousand books sold - well above the five thousand required in Canada to be a best seller.  Good thing this author was a talker because I was speechless

So while I gathered my wits, the author says to me - they'd like to do better - better, as in crack the US market.  Yes, you read right - numbers like that and they'd only focused on the Canadian market.   That brought forth the question - what was my experience in the US market.  It was rather a reverse case scenario - although my numbers in sales can't even compare.  I remember in the early days, when my first book was published, trying to determine the best way to crack another market, the Canadian.  Yes, I am a Canadian writer published by an American small press which is an anomaly that Canadian bookstores are mostly not prepared to work with - but that's, another story.  Anyway, as I remembered my trials, I realized that I did indeed have information that might help.

Back to the author in front of me who was commanding a book signing - one of many in the past year, and while I felt pleasure at their success, it also shadowed the not-best seller status of my own endeavors and those of the majority of other authors.  Most of us never get the extra zero required to make anyone's bestseller list or to take sales into the thousands - not the small press and indie authors and that's not for lack of trying.

I won't deny this author's sales success - in another life they should have been a salesperson.  Of course, in this life, I guess they are.  I know they sold a book to me.  A book that I normally wouldn't have bought.  But I'm a sucker for that, author signings - I can't leave the author alone as most of them are, of course, this author does not fall into the most category.  And as the American Idol saying goes - Good on Them.

This author reminded me of two things - the importance of having a reader platform and the importance of believing in your self and selling yourself.  You're not just an author - you're a salesperson and until you learn that last role - barring luck, the latest replacement to the Oprah show, a dazzling story that receives instant recognition and an awesome marketing department, those extra zeros are just never going to happen.  I tell myself that this author had an advantage - and they do.  In this case there was an existing platform, a person who was known by many in the province and thus the word of mouth game snowballs.  But all that would not hold for long if this wasn't a good story combined with a fine job of working hard and selling yourself.  It was a motivational encounter - really - and reminded me that to succeed you've got to reach high because while there's no guarantee of getting to the top, reaching is definitely going to take you a step higher than where you are.

So good luck I say to said author as I leave with a signed copy of the first of a series under my arm.   But I really don't know if they need luck for they've found the truth sooner than most of us. 

No matter what your goal - sweat isn't just the domain of athletes.


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Dog Sleds, Igloos and Books

I have a secret.  I hate to admit it, as a book junkie it's rather shameful, but here it is.  There are books that I have owned for years that I have never read.  Books as in plural - yes, I'm trying to catch up.  But there was a time when my collecting capabilities exceeded my reading speed.  Not that I was ever a slow reader - let's just say my fingertips had glue when it came to books.  I collected - admired - shelved and forgot to read.  Because, like a kid with too many toys, there was always that latest book.  Now, as a writer I'm hanging my head at that admission.

So this week I was going through shelves, pulling out books and dividing up keepers from those that aren't keepers and need to find new homes and new readers.  And I am discovering books that I have always meant to read but never have. 
Not exactly the Artic - A prairie winter.
Nunaga was one of those books.  I'm embarrassed to say I've had it for longer than I've had the current house.  Which, let me tell you is many years.  I never cracked the cover of the book.  So I picked it up and opened its well-worn cover and was pleasantly surprised.  It's the true life account of a young man's career move to the Canadian Artic in the 1950's.  There are great places in this book where you get a look at life as it was - at the Artic when the Inuit still built igloos and dogsleds were still the primary mode of transport, at a point when everything was on the brink of change - and it's fascinating.

But it gets even more so when I mention to my mother that I'm finally reading the book she passed on to me to read with the assurance I could keep it.  She then tells me that the book has an unusual connection.  The book arrived in my mother's hands because a friend of my grandmother's was related to the author.  Now only an author could be excited by the unique route a book may take to get into the hands of a reader.  Even years after publication - it's still fascinating stuff, really.

But back to the path of how this particular book made it's journey through the hands of one of the most unique individuals I have ever met to finally find its way to my bookshelf.  It originally belonged to a market gardener in the Qu'Appelle Valley.  He was a Scottish immigrant, a widower who had befriended my grandmother and visited her often.  I remembered that I loved his laid back easy style but I also remember my grandmother bemoaning the fact that he was really not the man of her dreams.  In fact sometimes I think she preferred not to have him sitting on her couch for fear he might get it dirty.

But what can you expect from a literally "down to earth" long-ago widowed market gardener who has been living alone on a prime piece of land in cottage country without a single modern amenity including water.  Water - well, he pumped the water from the lake.  What he used for washing, you know as a child I never thought about it and I never asked.  I know he had electricity but no television.  And I remember his furniture was that old-fashioned, over-stuffed, stiff cushioned variety with intricately carved but well worn wooden arms - from generations ago. But all that is a sidebar to the stories he would tell.  And he topped it all off with his stories of "coming over" as he called immigration.   I remember he ran that market garden until well into his nineties.

With that one book, I expected a journey into the past, and another culture - never did I expect to touch the edges of my childhood.   Any unexpected moments in your day?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Last Day of a Big GiveAways

Head on over to Small Blogs, Big GiveAways and check out the awesome contest going on there.  It's the last day to take part in a hop that has all sorts of bookish prizes including an e-copy of one of my books; From the Dust .

Drive Like You Stole It?

Today I was out on my usual walk - which, I have to say was a heck of a lot more tolerable than it's been the last few days.  The temperature has finally risen and the wind has kicked down a notch or two.  Looks like winter-like weather may ease off for the next few days.

So five minutes into the walk - I see this on someone's truck:

Drive Like You Stole It.
Moon cast in orange - a rare sight.Okay, that's a phrase to make anyone stop and take notice.  Stole it?   My mind flashes forward to how I envision stolen vehicles are handled, never mind, that I've never driven one - stolen that is.  I imagine that if I did - and hey I could, in fiction that is - it would be wild, fast and crazy because, well - I'm assuming laws aren't really in the forefront of a car thief's mind.  So I assess said truck and think, odds are not stolen so driving your truck like a crazy person is just - crazy.  Yes, all those thoughts whipped through my head but then I settled down and yes, I got with the program.  Okay, I got it.  Be a little wild, break the rules, go for it - have some fun. 

Was I a little wild - not the last few days.  I've had some fun though and I did spring out of the box, for a while.  Does that count for something?

Wait, it seems in my writing I'm always doing that - springing out of the box that is.  I broke the rules and genre hopped a bit.  First I wrote a historical romance - which I loved writing and was my entry into the published world.  The research, well I almost never surfaced from that, I loved it so much, and I was sure I found my genre.  Than I headed to the second historical romance which somehow veered into the land of paranormal.  So I did it again.  Of course, I justify all this in that the paranormal has major historical elements in it.   But onward I trundled, or is that wrote - and followed it all up with romantic suspense or two.  I discovered I love writing suspense, love modern day and far away settings but one other thing - I love issues.  So in one "small' veer,  I recently headed into the land of Women's Fiction.  But that's a story for another post, somewhere down the road.

Then I thought, maybe all of that isn't so strange.  Because as a reader, my tastes are every bit as eclectic.  I'm reading "Hangman's Daughter" and "Nuanga" along with a Stephen King short story - all on the go.

Really, I think in life as in writing - we have many interests.  Me, I have one constant, the stories are always primarily a woman's journey, throw in a bit of suspense, a bit of drama, mayhap a romance along the way and sometimes (insert a blank page here) - hey, I'm not giving it all away.  Not just in books but in life - drive like you stole it.

Into joining in the fun of a contest or two?  Check out Beck Valley Books, where they're holding the Weekly Book Blog Hop. 

And you - do your tastes in literature remain true to genre or...?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Turn Your Day On Its Head? Why?

The snow and cold has settled in over the last week.  Heading out for my walk, the first thing I noticed was that there are still flowers blooming in the front flower bed.  How is it possible for petunias to still have blooms with snow pushing into their space and the temperature not cracking zero in many days?   I know, next year, get petunias - they might be zoned hardy but this is ridiculous.  They'll survive anything.

This morning I was up earlier than usual - headed for cereal rather than anything that added an extra five minutes preparation time and five minutes less away from my keyboard.  But the day began in a strange way.  I lost chapter nine.  Not even lost, more that it had never existed.  How is that possible to have a story with over thirty-nine chapter and no chapter nine?

And this is all before nine a.m.  

Kind of feels like the day my ad got punted from e-bay.  Did Chapter 9 suffer the same problem? 

Maybe, maybe not but - Yes, I had my only ever seller's ad punted from e-bay and here's how it happened.   Apparently, you can't sell three concert tickets and group them in a bundle that looks like they under the legal selling price - it wasn't but that's another story.  Suffice it to say - I am not in their black books.   But they were having no part in posting those particular tickets.

So since then I've skirted e-bay.  That, and I don't think I want to be shipping anything of any weight further than the outskirts of the city - clear across the continent, maybe not.  Anyway, since the basement has been renovated, all those forgotten items that were stored away in dark corners and cupboards have come to life.  And they have been the catalyst to scrounge elsewhere, like the corners of the garage.  Yesterday, I said goodbye to a set of tires that fit a car I no longer own and a collection of "antique" pictures.  It was kind of sad really, about the antiques (should I bracket antiques in quotes - were they really antiques?)  I'd saved them for years thinking they were special, maybe a find for the Antiques Road Show .  But alas, the other day I came to my senses and discovered that all they were really worth was a supper out, and not a fancy one either.  I wasn't going to buy the island of my dreams with my "yet to be discovered" antiques.

And on the upside to all that so-so news, one of my fave authors, Stephen King, is giving an interview on CBC radio's program Q this morning.   Stephen King is by far my favourite living author.  I read him back when I was a teenager.  Back then, after Nancy Drew horror was the natural progression.  He's the author in whose footsteps I so badly wanted to follow when I was seventeen - that was until I grew up and discovered the size of his feet - figuratively speaking, of course.  So there you go, that's why everything today begins early - I've got to be back from my walk with the dog and parked by my radio at ten this morning.   An interview with Stephen King in real time, that makes up for bad weather, missing chapters and maybe even that e-bay infraction.  If you miss the interview, I know there's the podcast, but there's just something about real time.

Anyone you'll never meet, that you'd rearrange your schedule for?

And before I close - happy graduation day to a good friend that just flew across the country to accept her well-earned diploma!
Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Scream Autumn All You Want - It's Winter!

The first day of a snow dump is not what I'd call my favourite day of November.  But from the looks of things, the snow is here to stay.  I woke up to snow and it's still snowing.  There's something about being face to face with snow after months of absence that just makes you cold, even though the temperature inside hasn't fluctuated. 

No matter what the calendar says - for me, this is it.  Winter is here.  And between that and the weather, I'm thinking about escape and we've laid some tentative plans.  A road trip, south to begin with, far enough that the white stuff hasn't reached.  Not a long trip - just one that gets some new scenery and some better weather for a week or two.   After that, we'll see where the road takes us. 

Meantime - click here for a raft of giveaways to chase away any blues in your day. 

Any escape plans in your future?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Spooktakular Blog Hop Update

The Spooktakular Blog Hop has ended.  I'm rather sorry to say that because then I also have to admit that Halloween is over and November has begun.

On the upside - there's still no snow.  At least not here on the prairies.  I know other parts of the continent have been subjected to some fairly wicked weather.  It's unusual here not to have had at least a smattering of the white stuff.  In fact when I was looking back I remembered one blog post that recorded a fall storm that actually was marked as a snow day.  That's not usual here where snow is the norm at least five months of the year.  I kind of wish I hadn't said that, snow.  Do you suppose I may have vexed the universe, hastened it's arrival, shaken the order of things?

Here's hoping not.

Meantime, there's some celebrating to do as the Spooktakular Blog Hop ends and a winner needs to be announced.  Congratulations to the winner of the prize (a copy of the books; Ring of Desire, Gerald's Game and Beatrice and Virgil) here at Once Upon a Time... is:


Caroln

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Ryshiawww.ryshiakennie.com