Molly O'Keefe's Blog, page 7

So this is what a New Year feels like…

For the first time in well…eight years really, this new year has a different feel to it. And it’s absolutely because we solved the our daughter harassing us in the night problem. Of course, now the problem is she harasses our son in the night, but that’s a problem to solve in a little while. Not quite now. Because now I’m finally getting some sleep.

It’s amazing what a little more sleep brings to my world view.

And of course the kids are older, what they need from me is different than what they needed from me years ago and I feel like there is a little more space in my life. Some wiggle room. I’m not going so far as to say I’m ready to start a new hobby or join a running group – but everything doesn’t feel quite as panicked in my life.

It’s a big moment when you take a deep breath and realize you’ve been sprinting for eight years. Sprinting in place.

So, what am I going to do with this space in the New Year.

Well, first of all a little organization of the grocery shopping/meal prep part of my life. It’s time to lose the nearly daily flail and get on top of this thing. I swear it’s like every evening the fact that my family needs to eat comes as a horrific surprise.

Work on something ANYTHING that isn’t contemporary adult romance. Do I know what that is specifically? No. But it’s time to grease some new wheels.

Reinvest myself in the conversations we have here. I miss writer talk. I’m tired of my cave. I love these smart women. That’s an easy one – how about you guys? What are you doing in the New Year?

Bad Blogger. No coffee for me. :-(

I apologize. I’ve been a sucky blogger lately. I haven’t posted in a while and haven’t been doing much commenting. I don’t even know why.

I’ve been writing. When I write I usually have something to say. Right now my bright shiny idea is coming out dull and lifeless on the page, but I know this is just a stage I have to get through. It will probably never be as bright and shiny as it is in my head, but once I find this character’s voice, it’ll perk up. Right? Right?

I’ve been reading. I’ve been reading tons. I’m reading lots and lots of stuff for school. Mainly YA, but some mystery and some criticism and some interesting non-fiction as well. Usually that gives me some fodder, but not really. At least, not yet. Although I will say that Special Topics in Calamity Physics is shockingly long and the type is really tiny and it makes me wish I bought the e-book instead of checking it out of the library except for the whole money thing.

We’ve been watching some new (to us) TV. Everything is shut down for the holiday hiatus so we’re checking out some shows we didn’t catch the first time around like Arrow and Revolution. We’re getting caught up on the second season of Lost Girl, too. I will say that Bo’s battle eyeshadow is impressive, but I worry that it will sting her eyes if she gets sweaty. Other than that, I got nothing.

So have a happy new year. My mother thinks that 2014 has a nice smooth sound to it. I hope it’s full of happiness, health and prosperity for all of you (and for me).

L’chaim!

 

Ode to Julia Spencer-Fleming

I started reading the Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne after listening to a DBSA podcast. Sarah mentioned reading several in a row they were so good, so I thought sure I’ll give it a try.

The word glom doesn’t even begin to describe what I did with these books. Inhale. Inject. I was addicted instantly and as soon as I finished one I bought the next. And then I checked the last page to see how devastated she would leave me when it was over.

That’s right… I skipped to the end. I’m not proud about it, but I’ve found it’s a self-protective measure I need, to not be completely and emotionally crushed by whatever surprise Julia has planned.

Through the Evil Days is her latest release. I had to wait months for it after finishing her last (which I know is less than many fans had to wait). I saved it for a special occasion where I knew I could read it without interruption or guilt that I wasn’t doing something else… you know like writing my own book.

And as I read it I tried to break down the magic of her books. First, she’s completely readable. The prose and dialogue so real and seemingly effortless. Her characters are distinct and memorable. She’s built a town and populated it with people I feel I know well. She brings something different to each book. Real life problems that people face wrapped in a convincing mystery. I mean she legitimately manages to incorporate an Episcopalian Priest into each investigation so that we believe it every time.

But the number one thing she gives us is the emotional ride. The ups and downs of life. That moment when you realize you’re in love, only to realize in the next second that you can’t be with that person. The moment when you think it’s all going to work out, only to realize nothing ever works out perfectly.

There is usually that stunning moment at the end of the book that simply takes the breath out of you and even though I skipped to the end of her latest release it STILL took me by surprise and delivered an emotional impact that lasted for days. Yet I don’t feel manipulated. I don’t feel like these endings are designed to crush me. I feel like the endings are a result of what happened throughout the book.

So this blog post is for you Julia. I bow in awe to your craft. There have been other series where six or seven books in I get bored and move on. I can’t see that ever happening with Clare and Russ.

What about you? Any authors you want to bow to?

Christmas Giveaway!

I’m doing a giveaway for the holiday season and wanted to give our readers at Storytelling Rules a chance to enter!

Here you go:

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Homeland… WTF?

I don’t know if there are any Homeland watchers out there, or anyone thinking of getting caught up but this post is going to be sort of spoilerish, without giving too much, if you want to look away. It’s one the great things about TV now that no show is lost to us, but the downside is it’s hard to talk about shows because no one knows where anyone is in the series.

But for me this post is more about the writers writing themselves into a corner or maybe not. I will say a BIG thing happened at the end of Homeland’s season finale three.

I was crazy freaked out by it, but if I looked at the culmination of seasons 1 and 2 there really was no other outcome. This was exactly it. This was exactly as it was supposed to happen. Because the writers took us there.

It just made me think about how much control writers have in general. Writers of books, TV, movies. So many decisions that add up over the course of the work that sometimes can pull us into a direction we can’t write ourselves out of.

I mean it’s one of the greatest lines from Romancing The Stone isn’t it?

“Write us out of this one, Joan Wilder.”

“Joan Wilder? You are Joan Wilder the novelist?”

As I’m going through edits now on my wip (Thanks Molly!) it really weighs on me how each decision, each direction I take, each piece of dialogue must play a part of how the story resolves itself. In a perfect book there is not one single line of extraneous information. All parts most work toward a common goal. The finale.

I felt that way about Homeland. Whether they did it intentionally or not, those writers put those characters into a position where the only outcome was the one we saw on Sunday night.

So either well done, or WOW you guys wrote yourselves into a corner even Joan Wilder couldn’t write you out of.

What’s next?

I’m officially out of touch with what’s happening in publishing. Oh sure, get a few drinks in me and I’ll loudly and righteously proclaim that I’ll keep track, watch the bestseller list, take note of who’s getting book deals, and then utterly fail to follow through on any of that. So aside from the two writing loops I’m on, and what falls into my lap, I’m a bit clueless.

But I think back to the beginning of 2013 and there was a sense of excitement. Self-publishing was giving authors a new chance to expand their readership, and make a living. We all heard of the authors who’d gone on to make good money getting their work out there on their terms and it had worked.

Except that still isn’t the norm. I heard from an author recently who is crushed. She released several books this year, books she’s proud of, and they landed with a big kathunk. Her sales are dismal, and she’s nowhere close to making a living with her writing. And she pointed to all the names that are so vocal in their appreciation of this new avenue of publishing, where they can write what they love, and make great money and everything is perfect.

Except that is still very much the exception, and the norm are still out there, struggling to make inroads into an increasingly crowded marketplace. The author was asking a question along the lines of ‘why not me as well?” Which is a hard question to answer. It still takes a great book, and timing and lightning striking to  break out of the pack and for a while a lot of us forgot that.

But lightning can’t strike if an author has nothing out there, so there still has to be effort and craft and now marketing and media savvy. It’s still possible, but it won’t happen for everybody, and yes, this is not a happy post. Maybe it’s just the news that has trickled to me, but some of my favourite authors, really, great writers, have seen great books sputter over the past two years, books that had great reviews and solid buzz.

I can’t really think of a breakout book this past year, and certainly nothing that caused a genre to see incredible sales boosts like Fifty Shades of Grey, or Hunger Games. I’d even say New Adult peaked in 2012.

So what’s next? I honestly have no predictions for 2014. Hopefully, great books find eager audiences. But I guess we’ll see.

 

 

 

 

The Pieces We Keep

Today I’m excited to share with you my friend Kristina McMorris’s latest title: The Pieces We Keep. And I’m posting not one, but TWO giveaways!

A young boy’s violent, recurrent night terrors unseal a trove of family secrets tracing back to the Second World War, forever altering the lives of those around him.

In this richly emotional novel, Kristina McMorris evokes the depth of a mother’s bond with her child, and the power of personal histories to echo through generations…

Two years have done little to ease veterinarian Audra Hughes’s grief over her husband’s untimely death. Eager for a fresh start, Audra plans to leave Portland for a new job in Philadelphia. Her seven-year-old son, Jack, seems apprehensive about flying—but it’s just the beginning of an anxiety that grows to consume him.

As Jack’s fears continue to surface in recurring and violent nightmares, Audra hardly recognizes the introverted boy he has become. Desperate, she traces snippets of information unearthed in Jack’s dreams, leading her to Sean Malloy, a struggling US Army veteran wounded in Afghanistan. Together they unravel a mystery dating back to World War II, and uncover old family secrets that still have the strength to wound—and perhaps, at last, to heal.

Intricate and beautifully written, The Pieces We Keep illuminates those moments when life asks us to reach beyond what we know and embrace what was once unthinkable. Deftly weaving together past and present, herein lies a story that is at once poignant and thought provoking, and as unpredictable as the human heart.

BEHIND THE BOOK

A friend once shared with a Kristina a news story about a young boy troubled by night terrors involving a plane crash during WWII. Eventually, his detailed knowledge convinced his skeptical parents that in a past life he had been a pilot who perished in battle.

Kristina’s eldest son, often referred to as an “old soul,” had also once suffered from night terrors and used to speak of a grandmother who didn’t exist. Reflecting on this, Kristina wondered: how would she react if her son, too, suddenly spouted historical facts that logic dictated he couldn’t yet know? What if those “memories” linked back to secrets people strove to keep buried?

From there, a true account of Nazi spies on American soil inspired the final threads of Kristina’s story, raising challenging questions of courage, faith, and loyalty.

 

ABOUT KRISTINA

Kristina McMorris is the recipient of more than twenty national literary awards. A host of weekly TV shows since age nine, including an Emmy® Award-winning program, she penned her debut novel, Letters from Home (Kensington Books, Avon/HarperCollins UK), based on inspiration from her grandparents’ wartime courtship. This critically praised book was declared a must-read by Woman’s Day magazine and achieved additional acclaim as a Reader’s Digest Select Editions feature, a Doubleday/Literary Guild selection, and a 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Historical Fiction. 

Kristina’s second novel, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, was named a 2013 nominee for the prestigious RITA® Award and is frequently an official reading selection among book clubs, universities, and libraries throughout the country. Most recently, her novella, “The Christmas Collector,” appeared in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling anthology A Winter Wonderland. Her novelette, “The Reunion,” will be featured in the forthcoming anthology titled Grand Central (Berkley/Penguin, July 2014).

Named one of Portland’s “40 Under 40″ by The Business Journal, Kristina lives with her husband and two sons in the Pacific Northwest. The Pieces We Keep is her third full-length novel. For more, visit www.KristinaMcMorris.com

FIND KRISTINA HERE:

Website: www.KristinaMcMorris.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Kristina-McMor...

Twitter: www.twitter.com/KrisMcmorris

GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/4384611...

ORDER THE BOOK:

Amazon

B&N

Powell’s

Indiebound

Books-a-million

What others are saying:

 ”The Pieces We Keep gripped me from the first page and didn’t let go.”  —Alyson Richman, bestselling author of The Lost Wife

“The past collides with the present in this sensitive and multilayered story where the discovery of long-held family secrets leads to healing.”  —Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Me and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

“An utterly absorbing novel…this is a beautifully woven story, at once gripping and uplifting.” —Margaret Leroy, author of The Soldier’s Wife

“A compelling tale with memorable characters, written in McMorris’ elegant and captivating prose. I didn’t want this novel to end.” —Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Call Me Zelda

“A haunting read…it is a perfect combination of historical fiction and modern mystery.” —Amy Hatvany, author of Heart Like Mine

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SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s that time. I’m back in Los Angeles at Antioch University starting my second term as a graduate student. It is freaking awesome. I have Gayle Brandeis as my workshop leader. She is kind, gentle, perceptive and exacting all at once. My fellow workshoppers have been pretty amazing. I cannot believe the good help I got toward planning out the novel I just started. I’d like to carry them all around in my back pocket forever.

Lauren Strasnick is going to be my mentor for the next project period and I am so excited. Her books are amazing and she is lovely. It just so happens that we met once before in Florida at the RWA conference when she was a double-RITA nominee for her first book. I was kind of relieved that she didn’t remember me from the Pocket Party. Kresley Cole was egging me on to ever more inappropriate things. There may have been alcohol involved. Just maybe.

I went to a terrific seminar by Bernadette Murphy on road trip narratives, specifically the dearth of female road trip narratives where the women don’t end up dead or raped. I went to another one by Ed Frankel about teaching academic writing which he somehow made super fun and entertaining while bombarding us with information. Later this week I’m apparently going to learn how to be  a genius and how to give a reading without boring people.

I already feel the call of home a bit. Just that tiny tinge of sadness at the end of the day, but I also kind of don’t want to leave.

Bowing to peer pressure or how my life implodes at 10 thousand words a week.

HI! I’m not sure if you remember me? I’m the person who used to write the monday blogs but then…I don’t know, things just hit some kind of tipping point in my life and I could only hold onto two things at a time. Neither of them was this blog, grocery shopping, taking showers or leaving my home in real clothes.

I’ve been listening to podcasts and reading interviews with authors who talk about how much work they produce or produced during the most productive time in their lives. Sylvia Day in a recent RWR interview said that during the early days of her career, she wrote seven days a week, giving up time with family and missing some big events. Kristin Ashley said in a podcast that most days she can work for 12 hours – straight. What was her average? 20,000 words a day or something wild? Steph?

A good friend of ours, Juliana Stone, just hit the USA TODAY list with her self-published box set about the Barker Triplets. And I saw first hand how damn hard she worked.

This has utterly blown up my world. I’ve waffled between fury at their obvious lies (that’s my coping mechanism, anger at them and thinking they are lying – I never claimed to be gracious or mature) and feeling miserable about my own slow down in productivity. I’ve gotten involved in my kids school, I’m trying to exercise more, I’ve grown accustomed to not working on the weekends.

Well, I decided that had to stop and I gave myself an insane half book deadline for just before Christmas. Which meant, being realistic about Thanksgiving, a book release and what I could really get away with on the weekends – that I would have a little more than a month to write between 40-50 thousand words. I know that people work much faster – I know about NaNOWriMO. I get it. But this felt big – and you know something – it is. It’s really big and I realized quite effectively why I can’t do more than this. And that maybe I shouldn’t.

Part of it is that this book is not my most clearly thought out. Though, frankly, I could say that about each of them at the beginning. They’re bloby, messy half cloud, half real bits of movies I’ve seen or books I’ve read all staring Matt Damon. But I get the beginning scene in my head and I go. And then I get the next few and then sometime around Chapter 4 when something has to be revealed that will change reader expectations I grind to a painful miserable halt. And I spend three days editing the first 3 chapters and then, at some point out of the blue while I’m walking the dog, or doing the dishes, having drinks with Sinead and Maureen or screaming at my kids in the grocery store – the thing comes to me. And then I’m off again. And then, it’s Chapter 7 and something else has to happen, a reversal, a page-turning bit of backstory, a small plot point that isn’t so big now, but gets a big pay off in the black moment. And I stop for three days…edit, futz, clean up my in box and then lightening and I’m off again.

This is inevitable. And I don’t know how to stop it. And it’s why I’m not sure I can write any faster than I’m writing. Or if I should. Because yes, I could pound through those blocks, and maybe in the end I would get to the same place. But somehow, I doubt it.

So, I’m writing faster, but I’m pretty sure this is as fast as I can go.

What about you? How fast are you writing? Can you work faster? Should you?

Congratulations

We had a big deal happen for one of our authors. Molly o’ Keefe made it on NPR’s list of best books of the year for Crazy Thing Called Love, which is awesome. She’s on a list with such no name authors as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Dave Eggers, so seriously, if you haven’t read this book, you are missing out.

Thinking on Steph’s post yesterday and the rise of the 99 cent book, and author’s buying reviews, I’ve decided that whenever I get a good recommendation, I’m leaping all over it. There are several romance and YA books on the same list, I’m going to read them, and would gladly take any recommendations for self-published books that are really good, and we’ll call them out here. For me the absolute best thing about the rise in self-publishing is a chance to read great books that maybe weren’t considered marketable by a large publisher, but are amazing and different and I still haven’t really found enough yet.

Hope everyone has a great weekend