Anna DeStefano's Blog, page 15
December 7, 2012
USA Today Spotlight!
I owe the blog a Publishing Isn’t for Sissies/How We Write update, but it’s a USA Today Spotlight morning. Back soon with more from the “work” side of this beautiful ride we call publishing. But for now, share my unexpected USA Today Happy Ever After Blog spotlight from Kathy Altman and Joyce Lamb!
The book was even more stirring than I imagined. The perfect houses on Mimosa Lane harbor more than their share of heartrending imperfections — the once tightly knit neighborhood is slowly unraveling. The characters and their struggles are all so real and relatable that I’m still worried about them.
With Mallory and Polly, DeStefano presents a wrenching and effective juxtaposition — the child laboring to cope with her mother’s death seeks salvation from the woman who can’t come to terms with her own loss. But Mallory ends up helping Polly more than she can ever anticipate, and in doing so helps herself. She gives the little girl a “safe place” to store her mother’s memories until the child is ready to reflect on them — which is a lovely parallel for the safety Mallory doesn’t yet realize she’s found on Mimosa Lane.
But there’s so much more than angst within these pages! The sexual tension between Mallory and Pete burns hot enough to melt the snow off of every roof in the neighborhood, and the humor tucked here and there is entertaining and timely…
Still the #1 Family Saga on Kindle, holiday priced for $1.99 .
December 6, 2012
Amazon’s 100 Books… COML a $1.99 Daily Deal!
Shameless plug time.
Gratitude time.
Christmas on Mimosa Lane has been picked up as a $1.99 Amazon Daily Deal, as part of their December 100 Books promotion, and it’s an amazing thing not just for the book, but for me personally.
I’m reaching readers I never have before, because my publisher’s on the cutting edge of digital/international publishing and positioning my book to be discovered. That’s everything, sales numbers and royalties aside. I’m making less per book now, because of the special promotion, but I’m reaching hundreds/thousands more readers a day. Heaven!
This is a special series for me. My “Anti-Desperate Housewives/Anti-Real Housewives” novels are about what it can really be like to live in a suburb of a large city like Atlanta. My story-telling is a hybrid somewhere between women’s fiction and contemporary romance. It’s more my natural voice than anything else I’ve written, and it took me forever to find the right publisher with the vision and the sales platform to take on the challenge I presented and find the readers who’d love what I do.
Thanks to everyone who’s been so supportive and truly made this the happiest holiday of my career!
~~Anna
I dwell in possibility…
“All of me will want all of this forever.”
She looked up at the clear, nearly night sky already bright with icy stars. Her breath misted in the air, frosting everything with a hint of unbelievability. There was no window between her and the sky. She was part of it, drinking in its beauty. She felt herself opening up to the view, to the man sharing it with her, craving the normality of standing with him on a beautiful cul-de-sac after spending an afternoon with his child.
He cuddled her closer. His gaze dropped to her mouth. She lifted ontoher tiptoes, wanting his lips again, banishing the last of the space between them.
Their mouths touched, their breath mingled, misty and warm and feeding her need to believe that htis fairy tale was exactly where she should be…
***
Yes, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, emotional and challenging as it sometimes might be, is a fairy tale holiday story for me, BECAUSE the characters are struggling. And, yet, as Emily Dickinson challenges us, they choose from this point forward in the novel to “dwell in possibillity.”
We should all be so vulnerable and brave, so honest and accepting and determined to overcome, so real with ourselves and our loved ones and so hopeful.
Dwell in what can be this holiday, my friends.
Make your fantasy reality!
Related holiday posts:
Past, Present and Future Christmas
Holiday Hangover
Holiday Memories
Hope for the Holidays
The BEST Holiday Memories are Made From the Darnedest Things
Holiday Traditions, Symbols and Themes
December 4, 2012
Past and Present and Future Christmas…
What’s most important for me this time of year is feeling that rush of memories and smiles and hopes for another holiday season like my favorite ones from before. For my reader groups, and for all of us, our Week 2 book club discussion is about this past and present phenomenon. Are we ever really feeling only now this time of year, or are we enjoying so much of the idealistic holidays we’ve had before and wishing for even better memories to come?
I write about it in a slightly different way in Christmas on Mimosa Lane–where our characters deal with their memories (both good and bad) so they can focus on the beautiful holiday they’re making now. This is the only way for them to have their chance to be happy. Some of us struggle with being happy, too, this time of the year, while the rest of the world seems to be celebrating non-stop.
But the gist of the sentiment behind Pete and Polly and Mallory’s story is realizing that you can make your holiday now whatever you want it to be–make it look however you want it to look–no matter what you or anyone else has been saying should make you happy. First, though, you have to decide–for yourself–exactly what that happy will look like, instead of assuming it will look like everyone else’s holiday.
What we want is usually a combination of before and now, with a sprinkle of what we hope could be. It’s often a confusing rush of emotion and longing that doesn’t feel entirely comfortable, so we don’t look too closely at first (like my characters) for fear that we can’t have it, or it’s not the right thing to want, or even that we’ll have to let go of past holidays (even not-so-good-ones), and that doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.
But right this time of year is our individual ideal to define. We shape how we’ll live and love during this season. And once me make the decision to live, and not just get by or endure or make do, then the sky’s the limit. There’s no joy or dream holiday too fantastic–and no simple, quiet moment too fragile and perfect for us to savor–that we can’t make real.
So, reader guide/book club questions: What will your past, present and future holidays mean to you this year? How will you grow from where you’ve been, live and love and revel in where you are, and take the steps you must to grow in the direction you want to take in the upcoming year. Take a moment to answer them, when you can, just as I challenge me characters to in COML.
That’s your Christmas present to you this holiday!
Related holiday posts:
Holiday Hangover
Holiday Memories
Hope for the Holidays
The BEST Holiday Memories are Made From the Darnedest Things
Holiday Traditions, Symbols and Themes
December 3, 2012
Winners, winners, winners…
October and November contest winners below! Thanks to everyone for being so patient. Amazon gift certificates and spooky cereal and even a vintage Trifari Rudolf pin, so check out the list and see of you’ve won. Oh, and my December contest is up–more Amazon free stuff AND I’m giving away a vintage Trifari Christmas Tree Pin just like the one Polly and Mallory love in Christmas on Mimosa Lane. It’s a shorter contest this month, so you can have your tree to wear during the holiday and your gift certificate to buy something special to read during your time off ;o). So be sure to enter before the 15th!
November Contest: Rudolph Vintage Trifari Pin and Amazon Gift Certificate
The winner of this Rudolph Trifari treasure: Mary Preston, who commented on October 27th.
The winner of the $5 Amazon Gift Certificate: Felicia Plastini, who commented on November 20th.
October Contest: Spooky Cereal and Amazon Gift Certificate
The winner of the yummy collection of spooky cereal: Tracy Bryam, who commented on October 24th
The winner of the $20 Amazon Gift Certificate: Lisa Brown, who commented on October 11th.
Congrats everyone!
You should have receive an email from me this morning, with instructions for how to confirm your address, etc., so I can zip prizes to you ;o)
And don’t forget to enter my December contest, everyone, ASAP–for your chance to win this amazing vintage Trifari Christmas Tree or an Amazon Gift Certificate! The contest closes at midnight, December 15th…
Thanks again for everyone’s support for Christmas on Mimosa Laneand for sharing such great holiday stories. ~~Anna
December Contest: Oh, Vintage Trifari Christmas Tree!
Look for a October and November contest winner announcement next. But before we go there (so I can link THIS announcement into that one ;o), we continue to celebrate the season and Christmas on Mimosa Lane’s release (currently the #1 Family Saga on Kindle!) with a short December contest for my fans and supporters and blog faithful. This beautiful Vintage Christmas Tree from Trifari, just like the one little Polly loves so much from her mommy’s collection in COML could be express mailing its way to you on December 15th!
To enter, share your favorite Christmas Morning Memory in the comments before December 15th.
Christmas on Mimosa Lane, as a title, is all about the ending of the story: How do Pete and Polly and Mallory make their “perfect” Christmas morning dreams come true? Later today, I’ll blog the second of my Reader’s Guide/Book Club posts about that very thing–what makes Christmas perfect for you, what does your ideal morning or holiday look like, and do the commercials and promotions and more materialistic flood of media messages this time of year make your holiday happier or maybe a little harder to deal with?
To get you started, check out last week’s reader’s guide/book club post: Happy Ever After Holidays .
So, overall, how do your holidays find their way to your hearts and how do you share what’s most special to you… And what does perfect mean in your life, on that magical morning we wake and rush to our trees to celebrate our blessings?
Chat away in the comments for your chance to win a priceless Trifari Christmas Tree of your very own!
Oh, and a second winner will receive a $5 Amazon Gift Certificate ;o)
Contest closes midnight December 15th!
December 2, 2012
A Top Pick Sunday. Color me grateful…
Tomorrow, look for three blog posts (and a newsletter, if you’ve signed up for that list):
A second much asked for reader’s guide discussion
Contest winners announced for both October and November’s blog giveaways
A fabulous NEW December contest!
Today is for reveling.
It’s been a glorious release month, and a not-so-bad last week of November, thank you very much, with a 5 Blue Ribbon review of Christmas and Mimosa Lane (now priced at $1.99 as part of Amazon’s 100 Books December Promo) on Romance Junkies and a 5 Star Top Pick rave for Her Forgotten Betrayal on The Romance Reviews… Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, everyone ;o)
***
From Billie Jo at Romance Junkies for Christmas on Mimosa Lane ($1.99):
“ Christmas on Mimosa Lane is one of the most emotionally powerful tales I have read in a long time… I adored all the characters set in this charming tale. Their stories are heart wrenching and you cannot help but to hope that they will find their happily ever after… I highly recommend the magical tale of Christmas on Mimosa Lane to all readers who love an emotional read set in the holiday of Christmas.”
From CozyReader at The Romance Reviews for Her Forgotten Betrayal ($2.99):
Her Forgotten Betrayal is a “…page-turner that left you wondering who was playing with the heroine’s mind. Even though the book was about 300 pages, it went by too quickly. The mystery of who was trying to make Shaw crazy was captivating. I could see it truly happening as I was reading. I highly recommend picking up Her Forgotten Betrayal if you are looking for a story that will touch your heart.”
November 30, 2012
Holiday Hangover…And it’s not even December yet!
We can drive ourselves crazy, chasing the “perfect” holiday, until all we feel is the chase and the need for a big ol’ nap to rest up for the next surge of family and friends and celebrating. I know I am. But I’m also getting all kinds of reader mail about the subtext of my Christmas novel–what it really means to be “happy” at the holidays and how hard that can be for some of us, unless we work for it. Overwhelmingly (with a few notable exceptions on Amazon, readers who find my premise depressing), the response has been hopeful and excited and folks walking away with a life-affirming new take on what this time of year can mean to them and others. We might have to work hard to find the “happy” sometimes, and holidays are rarely perfect the way we see them in movies and ads and so forth. But the mere fact that we have something to fight for and families or friends to share the struggles of the season with makes this…wait for it…A Wonderful Life.
For me, watching with gratitude how wonderfully Christmas on Mimosa Lane is being received, I’m seeing the hard work of the last six months (and the effort I’m pouring into writing the sequel that will be out next Summer, OVER the holiday season) pay off in a way that’s better than any tangible present I will get this year.
Readers are reading, and they’re responding, and they’re loving COML enough to want to talk about what it’s meant to them. That’s this authors idea of a dream come true. Which reminds me of a favorite quote…
Notice the “action” in Walt’s words of wisdom.
Writing COML like it would be the end of me, more than a few times. But look at the beautiful result. Sweet Summer Sunrise has the potential to be equally as powerful, but writing the draft and then honing those bare bones into something meaningful isn’t what I’d prefer to be spending my holiday doing. But I dream of readers loving and sharing that story, too. So I keep writing.
Holidays can be like that, whether you’re working through them or not. We have to want our “happy” sometimes. Wonderful isn’t always a gift–it’s often more of a pursuit that you have to tackle and wrestle to the ground and fight for until it submits. Will you make your holiday what you want it to become, or will you despair of ever being able to get there?
I know. I have holiday hangover already, and we’ve just barely recovered from Thanksgiving around here. There’s another full month to get through. But this time of year isn’t about enduring. It’s about living your dreams, just as I challenged my Christmas on Mimosa Lane characters to take charge of and live theirs. It takes courage, as Walt said. It takes faith, as we learn from It’s a Wonderful Life. And it takes discipline of the mind and imagination, each and every morning we wake up, to see something amazing within our grasp.
We can drive ourselves crazy with all we hope to accomplish, or we can purse our holiday with hope and excitement and the determination to make magic happen, regardless of how tired and overworked and weary we are.
I’m waking up this morning and wishing for all of you the same as I do for myself today and through the holiday–find a way to make a difference in others’ lives this season, and believe that the same love will flow back to you!
November 28, 2012
How We Write: NANOWRIMO Rewrites… Ouch!
So, you’ve participated in NANOWRIMO. Now what? NOTE: I didn’t say you’d finishedNANO. I saw a tweet from someone yesterday saying she wasn’t going to finish her NANO project this year, and that she was likely never going to finish this book at all. And that’s just sad to me. It’s the worst of what can happen with an extreme challenge like this: demotivation. Or even harder to watch than that: any writer, no matter how new, deciding after a month of dedicated draft writing that she CAN’T do what she wants to with a book–to the point that she’s giving up before giving it a real chance. Don’t do that, my friends. DON’T!
Remember our revision discussions:
Rewriting Intro: scratching the surface…
Deconstructing BEFORE Rewriting: no more excuses…
Rewriting Techniques
ANYONE can learn to deconstruct and rewrite story. It’s always better if you approach a draftingproject with as much planning as possible, at some point WE ALL feel lost while we draft, even multiple-published authors.
I just finished a 3-day writing retreat where I’ve drafted 150 pages. Which just about killed me. And not because of NANO. Because I have a book due–NOW. And sometimes in this business, no matter how much we’d like to for every book, faster has to take precedence over slow and thoughtful and story slowly evolving in its own organic way. It’s an unfortunate fact of our world that getting the next book out sooner rather than later is key to maintaining and escalating reader interest, particularly in a series like the one I’m writing in my Seasons of the Heart books for Montlake. Christmas on Mimosa Lane is selling well now, readers are asking for Sweet Summer Sunrise, and by God I’m going to finish this draft so I can promise them it’s coming on time next June.
The question became very quickly once I’d squirreled myself away from all distractions to create, “Could I? Would I?”
I’ve been drafting UGLY. Really ugly. But there’s also beauty in what I’ve created.
This dark but creative place that crashing a draft out becomes is what I teach students when we talk about Improvisation. The story and characters and community I’m dreaming up as I type like a mad woman (with purpose, because I have the bones of a story outline) have taken over at this point.They’re talking to me and taking me to places only they and my subconscious was aware of before now. It’s AMAZING what concentrated drafting can do, once you surrender to it. But it’s also IMPOSSIBLE to sustain for long. And it can be fraught with the temptation to give up and believe that the rough, un-prefected work you’re creating is all there will ever be for this book. Trust me, I could have quit several times over the last 72 hours, just like the dear writer I saw throw her hands in the air last night on Twitter.
Because we all know what comes next: the revisions. And those are going to hurt even more than the drafting (or the NANO) did. And that should be impossible, right?
No writer enjoys facing the reality that what she’s crafted doesn’t work for the reader the way it’s first written.Many of us have to hand over our drafts to critique partners or for editorial revision, knowing that those comments can be painful to work through. But WE NEED THEM. Yes, we need to self-edit the story first. But eventually we’re going to have to let someone else see what we’ve slaved over. And that horrifying reality is why many of us quit, right? It’s not perfect, it’s never going to be perfect, OMG someone’s going to see my draft and it’s NOT PERFECT!
It’s never easy for me, turning a manuscript over to a beta reader (akin to dropping my creative pants in public) or my agent or editor and asking them to show me where the story breaks down (where I need to get back to the gym and work on the gushy parts).
But I do it. Because I’m a professional writer, and I adore my readers, and I want every book to be the very best it can be. AND I can’t get the story and plot and characters and setting and theme and symbol and narrative structure, etc. where they need to be (in any draft, but especially a quickly crafted one) completely on my own. I know that while I draft, everything’s not always going to be perfect the minute my creativity poops it out ;o)
We’re too close to our work once we’re in the thick of the writing (or NANO). Don’t let that closeness close you down to the point of quitting now that you’re November drafting spree is done. Even if you haven’t finished NANO this year, you’ve done an amazing, hard work, and now you need to take yoru process to the next step! Revision and recrafting, and committing to not giving up on a story that’s come to life because of your skill and imagination alone.
We’re no longer seeing the story’s journey from a reader’s perspective, when whe’re this deep into drafting. At some point, our writer’s experience becomes the tunnel we see through. Which means, we’re in the tall grass, losing our way even as we write something unique to our voice that we want readers to love. To be worthy of that love, we have to be willing to let go of a little of our creative control. At least long enough to ask the writing professionals we trust where we’re not getting the story right.
Enter the very necessary critique and editorial revision phases of your creative process.
Buckle up, my friends, because that’s what’s coming next. It always comes next. So don’t you dare NANO Quit on me now!
And as much as I preach the importance of revisions, this is what it typically looks like in my house, when I’m staring down that gauntlet.
Yes, it can hurt to look at the rough stuff. But so can going to the doctor or the gym or even visiting the dentist we’re not overly fond of having poking around in our mouths. Still, we do all these things, because they’re good for us. And we don’t blame the professionals who help us or the treadmill that firms our thighs, because it’s not a birthday party every time we see them. They’re doing their jobs. We’re lucky to have them in our lives. And it’s up to us, once we leave them, to keep the work going and follow whatever of their advice we choose to (or not).
And here’s the thing about handling the less-than-flattering critiques that we’ll face now. If you’re too thinned skin to deal with a critique partner’s not-always-flattering notes on your work, how on earth are you going to have the skills you need to work with that publishing house editor you hope to write for one day? You know, the publishing professional who isn’t a friend, who really isn’t invested in whether or not he/she’s hurting your feelings, and who potentially holds your next book contract in his/her grasp, while they’re telling you to fix something you don’t want to go back and mess with again…
Okay, then. Back to work!
Related How We Write Posts:
NANOWRI No!
NANO and how we Don’t Write
Living the Book
Drafting Freedom
November 27, 2012
The Soul of the Matter: Forever is composed of nows…
I’m hearing from readers each day who’ve enjoyed the Emily Dickinson poetry quoted in my Christmas novel. Now that we’re officially moving into the holiday season, I’ll be chatting weekly about the words of hers that I chose to be this project’s emotional touchstones. So, join in in the comments if you like. Sit back and just listen. Throw your hand in the air because I’m going on and on and on. It’s all good to me. I love the sensations and images that flow from ED’s words so much, I’m equally as excited to talk to myself as I am an entire room of readers. So, this Tuesday thread’s for me…and you, if you’re as obsessed as I am ;o)
The beauty of Emily Dickinson, is that while an entire poem might not resonate with you, there are kernels of amazingness in practically everything she wrote–most of it never published in her lifetime, because she couldn’t bear to be around people, to know their thoughts about her work, or even to look herself too closely at what she saw as prose that were full of prose. She wrote and rewrote and hid away everything she penned, drilling deeper and deeper into an idea until she discovered a “now” that said exactly what she wanted it to.
Forever is composed of Nows
‘Tis not a different time
If forever (all the tomorrows there would ever be) were the same as now, and time lost its power over what we chose to do and what we put off or avoid forever, what would we be today? If yesterday and all the things we’re running from, or remembering fondly as if the past were better than what we have now, were today, then what would our decision be about how to live this now.
I’m playing with time in Christmas on Mimosa Lane. We travel back and forth to the past and present and back again with each of the story’s central characters. What they’re learning, I hope, is what ED is saying in this poem. That we are what we are now, and we are the compilation of all that we were and will be–and how that affects who we choose to be now. There is no difference in time. There is no before or “to be.” There is now and what all the moments of our lives combine to be in us in the place we currently are.
We chose our future. That’s what I discover in her words. It’s what I’m saying in this story, I hope. We can let the past hold us back, or fear future hurt or disappointment so much, that we don’t become what we should today. Or we can live beyond the control of time.
From this experiences Here
Remove the Dates to These
Let Months dissolve in further Months
And Years exhale in Years
Here is where we live. It’s the possibility we either create or destroy. Months will dissolve away and years will exhale, die, and give birth to more years, with our without our presence within them. But while we’re here in this experience, what will our now be about? Are we ready to become the forever we were made to be, or will clinging to tightly to time that’s come before or might soon be become our excuse for not trying.
So many of the characters in Christmas on Mimosa Laneare at first choosing not to act, or running from choices they need to make. This snippet of ED’s poetry seemed perfect for introducing an early chapter where characters who were longing for a perfect Christmas were each and every one doing EXACTLY what they needed to be doing to prevent that happy holiday from happening.
The question I pose with this poem–perhaps the same question Emily Dickinson was asking when she wrote it–is are these wonderful people ready to make the hard choices they must to live these moments they have now to their fullest?
Do I, I’m asking myself as I read that chapter again.
Do you?
Happy first of December later this week, my friends. Next Tuesday, more Emily Dickinson musings ;O).
Until then:
More Emily Dickinson Posts:
To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need
It’s good we are dreaming
Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door
Hope is the thing with feathers…
Related Holiday Posts:
Happy Ever After Holidays: Reader’s Guide Post One
Holiday Memories
Hope for the Holidays
The BEST Holiday Memories are Made From the Darnedest Things
Holiday Traditions, Symbols and Themes
