Suzan Colon's Blog, page 2

My GH Cover Story on Bobby Flay!

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One of my favorite recent assignments was writing Good Housekeeping’s cover story on celebrity chef Bobby Flay. When I told friends about this, even the most jaded industry types would say, “Ooh, Flay–I love him! Was he nice?”

He was. He was great–really friendly and quick with the perfect quote, which made him a writer’s dream. The only downside to interviewing Bobby Flay is getting really hungry; the way he talks about food! Oy to the vey, Flay.

Here’s the feature. To read the article, just click on the pages to enlarge. The magazine is still on newsstands, so you can pick up a copy to get Bobby’s delicious cookout recipes, just in time for the 4th of July. Thanks to Bobby and Good Housekeeping for a great interview!

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Facebook and Twitter and Blogging–Oh My!

[image error]You know you’re over 30 when you’re talking to other writers or creative types (which, in my opinion, is anybody), and this question comes up: “I’m so busy writing–do I really have to post on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, and blog, too?”

Short answer: Yes. Yes, you do.

Longer explanation: Part of my karma, or dharma, or just plain grateful payback for getting to be an author, is sharing what I’ve learned with other writers. My answer to the above question isn’t what anyone wants to hear, though.

These days, writers have to be social media-savvy. This explains the above age reference; anyone under 30 is already working FB, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Paper.li, and all the rest–yes, there are more. There are even sites that allow you to link them all and post directly from your blog. You are blogging, aren’t you?

If this all sounds like work, it is. Very few people who weren’t born with a silver iPad in their mouths think social media is anything other than extra work. We’d rather be writing, and more than 140 characters, please.

The reality of the situation is that publishers, who have been drastically affected by the recession in, among other things, staff reduction, depend on authors to help market their books. Social media is considered the best way to do this because of its potentially wide reach and its low expense. There are exceptions to this rule, but that’s discovered after the fact. If you seriously want to get published, you can’t avoid what has become a standard industry expectation by saying “But I don’t wanna…” If you can’t stand to Tweet, get out of the kitchen.

The key to this, as in everything, is to make work as fun as possible. Yes, you have to blog–so make it your own. Make it beautiful, and write about stuff you like. Yes, you have to Tweet, so start off by re-Tweeting things you find interesting. Chances are, someone else will, too.

By the time you find a publisher who’s happy to see that you’re working the social media angle already, you may be enjoying it a lot more than you think. And when you become a big important author, you can dictate your “:)” to one of your social media staff while you craft your next bestseller.

Really Good Read: Dear John

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Usually I prefer original book covers, before the movie poster becomes the book cover. However, Channing Tatum... Well, I don't think I need to justify my choice.

This isn’t a new book. Even though I work in the media, I tend to read the way most people do–what I want to, when I want to, and if something comes recommended by someone else. Yes, I’ll definitely check out books that are trending, like Fifty Shades of Grey; I hate not being part of a conversation. But that’s a media-me thing. What I read for pleasure doesn’t have to be the most current or literary-pinky-in-the-air highbrow art.

Nicholas Sparks is in a category by himself, a guy who writes beautiful love stories. I’ve seen more of his movies than I’ve read his books. This isn’t hard to do, considering that most of his books have been made into movies. I still haven’t recovered from The Notebook.

While I haven’t seen the film version of Dear John, I don’t know how even Channing Tatum and his broody sensitivity could do the innermosts of Sparks’s John Tyree justice. I won’t tell you too much more than what you already know: Dear John is about a soldier and his girl, what drives them apart, and what brings them back together–not at all in the way you’d expect. Most striking about Sparks’s writing is the depth of his characters; they’re as flesh and blood as real people, but as sensitive, loving, and caring as you’d hope real people would be (and aren’t usually). You feel what they feel.

I’d heard more about Nicholas Sparks’s books than I actually knew, but based on Dear John, I’ll look forward to spending the summer with more of his beautifully created characters.

What Does Your Novel Sound Like?

[image error]Recently, I interviewed Quiara Alegría Hudes for an upcoming magazine article. Quira is a playwright who has had to make room on her already-crowded awards shelf for a Pulitzer Prize, which she won for her play Water By the Spoonful.

I love talking to other writers, both because I can relate to them, and because I can learn from them. In this case, Quiara mentioned that the play she’s working on now is fueled by music. Not just inspired by it–songs and music can midwife ideas–but providing the right backdrop and foundation for what she was writing.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. My first job was at a music magazine, and later I became a music critic. (Terrible title, terrible job– criticizing other people’s creativity. Never again!) But as for its place in writing, I was never sure how music fit in. My friend Sherri Rifkin, author of one of my favorite summer reads, Love Hampton, likes to listen to music while she writes. I can’t do this. I can’t hear my characters’ voices over music.

But I had heard other authors, particularly at the nationals conferences for the Romance Writers of America, talk about the importance of soundtracks for their novels. The soundtracks fell into two categories: the songs that accompanied certain parts of their novels, just the way they would if the book were a movie, or by creating a playlist for a character to help flesh that person out.

I loved both these ideas, and I’d already been employing the first method–putting together a playlist of songs that accompanied scenes from my novel. The inspiration flowed, and sometimes the music even inspired scenes that helped create a fuller, richer story. I tried the second type, creating a soundtrack for a specific character, but I found that kind of limiting. One character liked dance music, but her world didn’t revolve around dancing all the time.

Whether you’re working on a novel or another creative project, do you listen to music while you’re doing it? If you’re writing, do you create a soundtrack to your novel, or has your iPod been hijacked by someone else–your character? If you haven’t tried this yet, forgive me for this heavy-handed but appropriate pun: Music can help make your novel sing.

When “No” is better than “Yes”

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At last, the novel was finished. Two or three years of thinking, plotting, building characters and a world for them to live in, all down on the page. Now it was off to my beloved agent, who I figured would be as thrilled as I was with the final result.

She wasn’t. She said the idea was good, the story arc was there, the writing was on target. There was just one problem: the heroine. Didn’t like her, didn’t believe in her, didn’t think she fit in with anyone or anything else. There were lots of other things she said, but the only word I heard was “no.”

That was the best thing she could have said to me.

Nobody wants to hear “no” in relation to their creative work. “No” means back to the drawing board, the computer, the hard work of whatever it is you’re doing, whether writing or photography or baking cupcakes. But at the Romance Writers of America Nationals Conference two years ago, I heard best-selling author Cherry Adair talk about the power of “no.” She went through a period of reading that word a lot in rejection letters. Instead of drinking heavily and shelving her career as a novelist, she took all the rejection letters, highlighted the different reasons for the rejections in colored markers, stood on her couch, and looked down at which colors were predominant. Was it blue, signifying that the plot needed work? Was it red for the characters?

Cherry refused to give up. She was going to learn from these rejections, these “no”s. This tactic must have worked, because she was giving us budding novelists this lecture on the same day that her latest novel was on a couple of national bestseller lists. So yeah, I was going to listen.

I took my agent’s “no” as a “not yet.” I went back into the story and fixed my heroine. And I fell in love with my book. This novel is now so much better than it was before that I feel like I was selling myself short with that first draft. I love this thing so much it’s ridiculous. Hopefully someone else will, too.

If someone says “no” to you, use that “no” as a tool to make your work better. Maybe it’s not a “no,” but a “not yet” that will then become a “yes.”

Writing the Dream

“And then she returned to her only other love, besides writing: yoga instruction. While many thought it a curious follow-up to publishing a memoir, no one could have foreseen the benefits this strange move would bring.”

Above, an update on what I’ve been doing lately, written in the style of a biographer. Why? Because it’s a more fun way of doing an update, and it provides motivation. When you’re in the middle of something your gut implores you to do but your brain says is crazy, you need tools that help you keep going.

Sometimes I read a story so good I want to skip to the end just to find out what happens, but I don’t; I enjoy the journey. Same with life. Below, write your update in the style of a biographer profiling you.

Writing, part 4: The recipe for success

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"Finally!" you're saying. "She's going to tell me how to get my book published!"

Well . . . sort of.

Since I hate having to read an entire blog, magazine article, or book to get to the point of the tantalizing title, I'll cut to the chase. The recipe for success, whether you're writing a book or pursuing any other endeavor that's important to you, has one ingredient: perspective.

There. Now you can finish writing your novel, content in the knowledge that success is right around the corner.

For those of you who don't mind reading further for a little elaboration, I'll use my own experience as an example of what I'm talking about.

First, a question: How do you define success?

Most people will name the usual components: money, fame/recognition/accolades, and, somewhere down the list, a feeling of accomplishment: You finally did what you were promising and/or threatening to do for ages. "There–I wrote the book!" But that probably comes far after the money and accolades.

This fit my definition of success, for sure. Other, wiser people had to remind me repeatedly that just writing my book was enough. Certainly high on the success definition list was making my mother proud; she'd been asking me for years to write our family's story, and I'd finally done it. But I have to admit this: more important was the fact that a major publisher wanted the book.

Cherries in Winter was published, and my definition of success began to change. While I didn't have to fret over what to wear on Oprah or the Today Show, neither having asked me to stop by for an in-depth interview, I began to get letters from readers. I'm not exaggerating when I say that these letters made me weep; people were telling me their stories, how they identified with my family's story, how the book got them through difficult times, how they wanted to share it with their mothers and grandmothers. Suddenly, my definition of success was drastically redefined. I remembered why I'd written the book in the first place–to help people who were struggling and remind them of the strength they had in them. Many times over, I was told that the mission had been accomplished. My definition of success was drastically redefined during this humbling, amazing experience, and for the better.

The trying times I wrote about in Cherries in Winter are still with us, and as a writer, I see it most in publishing. Staffs have been slashed; there are fewer editors reading books. Advances have been cut way down. Publishers are less willing to take chances than they used to be because it costs so much to print a book.

This is all great news for authors. Why? Because we can redefine what success means to us, often to the better. Best example: a 1,200-page book about bondage (not the spiritual kind) put out by a publisher no one's ever heard of. Doesn't sound like the recipe for success, does it?

Well, that book is Fifty Shades of Grey, a word-of-mouth blockbuster that was highlighted on the Today Show yesterday. I'm betting sales went through the roof after that segment, and that author EL James was initially just happy she'd written the book.

Got lemons? Make lemonade. Got a book? Sure, take the traditional route. Look up the agents for your favorite authors. Find their websites, which will have their submissions requirements. Follow those to the letter. Follow up after the recommended amount of time (usually six weeks). Rejoice over acceptance, and accept rejection gracefully.

If the latter happens more often, submit that novel or nonfiction work to lesser-known publishers, which may have more passion than cash–but who's to say which more closely matches your redefinition of success? And who am I to say you even need a publisher? iBooks Author can make you a published author in less than an hour.

Of all the things you write, none will be more important than your definition of success. And as you can see, there are more than 50 shades of that.

xx,

S

[Special thanks to Christina Kelly of Fallen Princess fame for telling me that her husband wasn't a glass-half-full kind of guy; "He's happy just to have a glass."]

Writing, part 3: Slay the cliché

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"'Her hair felt like silk slipping through his fingers'? Let me kill it!"

How many times have you read the following worn-out sentences?

She padded down the hall in her bare feet.

His eyes were wide with horror.

He cupped her breast.

She fisted her hands by her sides.

Fisted? When did that become a word? I'm not sure, but I've read it many times. And I've read those other sentences so often that they've lost their meaning. I'm sure we can think of more examples, but I want to keep my breakfast down.

Writing is no less than a thrilling process. An author comes up with an idea, and then she or he takes the time and admirable effort to find the words to bring you that idea and make you care. The words are the most important thing. I can tell you a basic story–woman finds her grandmother's recipes, makes them with her mother, discovers her family's history–but believe me, that's not how Cherries in Winter got published. (That flavorless description is an example of why I don't write proposals.) I searched for the right words that would translate my idea into a story that readers would care about.

I'm excited by books. I love getting lost in a good story, and I love that people took the time to transcribe their thoughts and dreams. But the second I read something I've read many, many times before, so many times that it's just become a phrase people use like kindergarten paste to glue thoughts together, my time becomes a lot more valuable. I begin to wonder if I'm wasting it on lazy writing. It's like seeing a broken window at a shop or restaurant; if they can't be bothered to fix that, what else is wrong?

As thrilling as writing can be, it's also hard work–a labor of love, to use another over-used phrase. If you get to the point that you write your book, be prepared to write it again, and again, and againandagainandagain, and to read it a hundred times or more. Hopefully you love it so much that you never mind the amount of revisions and readings you'll have to do.

And if you are in love with your book, and your characters, and your story, you will take the time to say to yourself, "Self, let's do the best we can here." Out of love for your heroine, don't let her pad down that hall in her bare feet, as so many barefoot or sock-clad heroines have padded down countless literary halls. Can she feel the chill of the cheap, cracking linoleum as she walks (yes, just walks, or limps, or trots or whatever is important to your plot) down the hall? Can she feel her tendons straining as her fingers tighten into white-knuckled fists? (I think she's angry about "fisted" being used and abused as a verb.)

I admire anyone who takes the time to write, because it's not easy. I admire more the authors who love words so much that they don't want to use those cheap floozies that everyone else has written. They love words and writing so much that they want the best words, the ones that dance together, that sing.

Do this. Your writing deserves it. Love your writing enough to find the best words, and everyone will…fall for your story like a ton of bricks.

xx,

S

Writing, part 2: The "blank page" stage

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I've taken a while to get back to this subject because I wanted to think very carefully about what to say. Which means I've been staring at a blank page for a while.

This is NOT where all writing begins. It is, unfortunately, where some writing dreams end.

You have an idea for a story. Something beautiful is unfolding in your mind; you can practically see this story, as though it's a movie. Maybe you've been thinking about it for so long your characters feel like real people, down to details that will never make it into your book. (Your heroine hates vanilla ice cream. Your hero loves it. Conflict!)

Your story is so vivid that you're finally ready to put it down on paper–or, if you're not being old-fashioned, on your computer. You get your notebook or your Netbook out, you get to a blank page, and…

It's just so blank. And so, suddenly, are you.

Those first words are hard to get down. Not because you have to choose the right words; that comes later. It's usually because you've finally committed to your project, and that means the boogeymen found their way out of the closet. Shoot. (I don't mean "shoot" as in "darn." I mean, shoot them.)

If, on the road to writing, you find yourself blocked, you need to take action. Now. I approach everything I do today as an insurance policy against future regret. I can't think of much that's worse for a creative person–and we're ALL creative–than the three horsemen of the creative apocalypse: Shoulda, Woulda, and Coulda. (They're in cahoots with the boogeymen who keep the page blank.)

I'm no writing coach. I'm a person who's had the wonderful opportunity to write several books and see some of them get published. I hope to do that again soon. The only way I can do it is to be unblocked. And the only way I know of to do that is by working the program outlined in The Artist's Way.

I've written about The Artist's Way before, and I'll write about it again and probably again because I love it so much. I love it and I hate it; it makes me clear the clutter from my mind, let go of ideas I've held on to that no longer serve me and that keep me from making dreams become reality. That's tough. This work is not for the weak of knee.

I'd rather do this hard work, this emotional heavy lifting, than to one day say I should have, I could have, I would have, I wish I had.

This is trite but true: Life is short. Too short to say you don't have time to do the things your heart is begging you to do. You don't know how long I wanted to write Cherries in Winter before I actually did. But when I realized that there are only so many "someday"s left, I took the time to write it, and I fought for the time like a crazed tigress–there was a night that I was stirring spaghetti sauce and writing at the same time. I wrote before my husband got up in the morning, after he left for work, and after he went to sleep at night. I got past all the boogeymen and I wrote because I had to.

And I'm no different or better than you, or anyone else.

If you're staring at a blank page, or if you haven't even gotten to the blank page stage yet, get yourself a copy of The Artist's Way. Don't just read through it; do the exercises. They will get you writing, which, if you want to write, is kind of important. But this writing is like an exorcism that banishes boogeymen and horsemen and anyone else who says you can't.

You can.

Next post: What you can do when you're ready to go to the next level.

xx,

S

Thanks to Pink Sherbet for the photo.

Writing, part 2: The “blank page” stage

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I’ve taken a while to get back to this subject because I wanted to think very carefully about what to say. Which means I’ve been staring at a blank page for a while.

This is NOT where all writing begins. It is, unfortunately, where some writing dreams end.

You have an idea for a story. Something beautiful is unfolding in your mind; you can practically see this story, as though it’s a movie. Maybe you’ve been thinking about it for so long your characters feel like real people, down to details that will never make it into your book. (Your heroine hates vanilla ice cream. Your hero loves it. Conflict!)

Your story is so vivid that you’re finally ready to put it down on paper–or, if you’re not being old-fashioned, on your computer. You get your notebook or your Netbook out, you get to a blank page, and…

It’s just so blank. And so, suddenly, are you.

Those first words are hard to get down. Not because you have to choose the right words; that comes later. It’s usually because you’ve finally committed to your project, and that means the boogeymen found their way out of the closet. Shoot. (I don’t mean “shoot” as in “darn.” I mean, shoot them.)

If, on the road to writing, you find yourself blocked, you need to take action. Now. I approach everything I do today as an insurance policy against future regret. I can’t think of much that’s worse for a creative person–and we’re ALL creative–than the three horsemen of the creative apocalypse: Shoulda, Woulda, and Coulda. (They’re in cahoots with the boogeymen who keep the page blank.)

I’m no writing coach. I’m a person who’s had the wonderful opportunity to write several books and see some of them get published. I hope to do that again soon. The only way I can do it is to be unblocked. And the only way I know of to do that is by working the program outlined in The Artist’s Way.

I’ve written about The Artist’s Way before, and I’ll write about it again and probably again because I love it so much. I love it and I hate it; it makes me clear the clutter from my mind, let go of ideas I’ve held on to that no longer serve me and that keep me from making dreams become reality. That’s tough. This work is not for the weak of knee.

I’d rather do this hard work, this emotional heavy lifting, than to one day say I should have, I could have, I would have, I wish I had.

This is trite but true: Life is short. Too short to say you don’t have time to do the things your heart is begging you to do. You don’t know how long I wanted to write Cherries in Winter before I actually did. But when I realized that there are only so many “someday”s left, I took the time to write it, and I fought for the time like a crazed tigress–there was a night that I was stirring spaghetti sauce and writing at the same time. I wrote before my husband got up in the morning, after he left for work, and after he went to sleep at night. I got past all the boogeymen and I wrote because I had to.

And I’m no different or better than you, or anyone else.

If you’re staring at a blank page, or if you haven’t even gotten to the blank page stage yet, get yourself a copy of The Artist’s Way. Don’t just read through it; do the exercises. They will get you writing, which, if you want to write, is kind of important. But this writing is like an exorcism that banishes boogeymen and horsemen and anyone else who says you can’t.

You can.

Next post: What you can do when you’re ready to go to the next level.

xx,

S

Thanks to Pink Sherbet for the photo.