R.J. Keller's Blog, page 7

We're in New York!

Monday morning, Dan and I drove past corn fields and cows on our way to the Portland Jetport to catch a flight to New York City. AmazonEncore sent a stretch limo to JFK to pick us up. On televison, the women sort of slink sexily through the door. I kinda stared at it for awhile and crawled in like a dork.

A limo!!!

Then on Monday night Amazon through a frigging fantastic party at The Press Room, which is in the hotel we're staying at.  To get into the place, we had to be let in by bouncers through velvet ropes (seriously…that was rad). I got to meet a lot of writers I'd only met online, which was so exciting!

Wow!

I stole my daughter's necklace for this party.

We also drink a lot of booze and ate raw steak on chips and gazed at the gorgeous skyline.

There was another party going on in the hotel, some sort of dog show thing.  We rode in the elevator with a poodle that was dressed in a purple tutu. Her owner was dressed to match. I almost took a picture, but didn't want to be rude. (Now that I've been in the city for twenty four hours, I have no such reservations. If I see another tutu-clad dog, you'll totally see it here.)

Then today I went to BookExpo America, where I met even more authors (and saw Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain!!) and scarfed up loads of books and other swag.

SWAG!

I also got to (finally!!!!) meet Kristen, my Paper Rats buddy. We took some video and photos which will end up in an upcoming episode of Inside The Writers' Studio.
 
 Tonight my friend writer/editor Amy Rogers and I will be speaking at a publishing panel that's being moderated by Carol Hoenig, then we're going to hit Times Square. Then tomorrow Dan and I are going to be geeky tourists. First stop: The Harry Potter exhibit at Discovery Times Square. w00t!

Paper Rats Preview

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I'm not lazy

Today my friend Zoe Winters called me lazy. Well, not me personally, but writers as a group and, in particular, writers who take their sweet time writing their books. And since The Wendy House has taken me a very, very long time to write, it made me a little defensive I feel compelled to defend myself.

Zoe's original assertion (also made here) is that it isn't "impossible to 'write fast' without [the resulting book] being crap." I agree. Prolific writers frequently get a lot of shit, with many people assuming that their work lacks quality or depth, and that's wrong. I've read amazing books that were written in a short period of time. Some writers just work faster than others, and that's fine. Here's where I take issue with her:

My Emo Couch

 "When a book takes YEARS to write, I'm really skeptical. What was the writer doing all of that time? … Most of what writers do isn't writing. It's angsting, drinking coffee, fainting on their emo couch about how hard it all is, "suffering", staring out the window, staring at the screen, rearranging the pens on their desk, checking email, tweeting, getting up and walking around, researching, outlining."

First of all, I literally don't know one writer who complains about "how hard it all is", or who spends a good amount of time "suffering." And I know a lot of writers. Every writer I know loves what they do, and those who are published (whether self-published or traditionally) are frankly awed that they're able to make money doing the thing that they love, whether that money is the spare change variety or the pays-the-bills kind. And they're genuinely appreciative of the people who make that possible: readers who buy their books.

Secondly, yes. Writers do spend more than a little time rearranging their pens, staring blankly at their computer screens (or staring at a blank computer screen), playing on Facebook and Twitter, watching Jon Stewart on Bill O'Reilly's show on YouTube because they forgot to set their DVR last night…in other words procrastinating. It comes with the territory. But most writers also have other responsibilities – day jobs (or night jobs), children and spouses, doctor and car repair appointments, etc – that they're juggling along with The Writing. And it's not always easy to slip back into the writing zone after the stress of spending an hour or two verbally wrestling with your teenager or listening to a mechanic explain what a sway bar is and trying to figure out just how the hell you're going to be able to afford replacing the one that's busted on your car. Sometimes you can use those feelings of powerlessness and frustration in your writing. But sometimes you can't.

Thirdly, when you're a writer, "getting up and walking around, researching, outlining" is work. It might not be the act of physically writing, but it's work just the same. If you, for example, want to accurately describe the conditions of a gravel pit in the middle of March, it's helpful to get your ass into a gravel pit in the middle of March. Preferably without the owners of said gravel pit becoming aware of your presence. Oops. Writers also spend a good deal of time marketing. Which means sometimes – sorry, but it's true – going on Twitter and Facebook is work, too. Not always. But sometimes it is.

Now, I realize Zoe (whom I seriously love dearly)'s post wasn't directed at me personally, but since I've been asked – a lot – when I'll be done with The Wendy House, I want to address that here. It's taken me a long, long time to write this book, much longer than it took me to write Waiting For Spring, and those of you who read WFS back when the self-published version came out are probably wondering what the hell I've been doing since then. The truth is that I've spent a lot of that time working on it: writing it, chucking what I've written, starting over, and rewriting that. I changed narrators from Wendy to Rick after the first couple of drafts were done. Then I changed it from first person narration to third. Recently, I decided to tell some of the story from the point of view of characters other than Rick and Wendy.

Some parts have been difficult to write, because a lot of this stuff hits home. So, yes, I've spent more than a little time on my emo couch figuring out how to use or to get past those feelings, to figure out a balance between honest emotion and maudlinism.

I've also had to spend a lot of time marketing Waiting For Spring. It truly wasn't easy drawing attention to a self-published, 500 page, non-genre book. I worked my ass off to get it where it is today. I don't regret it, because the work paid off, but still…it took up time I could have spent writing.

I've also been hanging out in gravel pits, reading up on guns and gruesome wounds, working nights, producing episodes of Inside The Writers' Studio, raising two (now three) teenagers, spending time with my husband, acting locally, and, yes…I drink a lot of coffee and frequently play on Facebook.

So although I haven't spent every waking minute working on this book, I haven't been slacking off. I'm not lazy.

And because I really think you deserve to know: As of right now, The Wendy House is pretty much done. That is to say, I have a decent draft saved on my computer (and safely backed up) that could go to an editor at any time. My plan is to print out the entire manuscript when I get back from New York, read it over again, and fix anything that needs fixing. Then I'll actually send it on to my editor. And we'll take it from there.

First book signing

Stewart Free Library

Earlier this afternoon, the Stewart Free Library in Corinna held a reception/book signing for Waiting For Spring.

We lured people in with Hubby's homemade peanutbutter cookies. Nom!

Oh...and with books.

Oh, yes, I did.

Puttin' down my John Hancock.

A great, big thanks to Donna Lambert, Librarian Extraordinaire, for hosting the event.

Waiting For Spring contest winner…

This morning I entered the names of everyone who commented on my last post into random.org

Congratulations Susan Morris! You've won a signed copy of Waiting For Spring. Just send your contact info to rjkeller.wfs@gmail.com and we can make arrangements for shipping.

Thanks to everyone who commented, and for your support! You rock!

Spring is here!

Release Day.

Today is release day! I'm excited and nervous. But mostly excited.

"Where can I get a copy?" you ask. The answer is:

Amazon: Paperback or Kindle download
Borders: Paperback
Barnes & Noble: Paperback
Select retailers. Check your local bookstore.

If you see a copy of it sitting in your local bookstore, let me know. If you can get a picture of it sitting in your local bookstore, send it to me at rjkeller.wfs@gmail.com and I'll post it here at da blog.

Your Kindle will like Waiting For Spring.

If you want to tell a friend to pick up a copy that would be awesome, too.

And if you're in the Corinna, Maine area on Saturday, May 14 between 1pm and 3pm, stop by the beautiful Stewart Free Library. I'll be there signing books and answering questions and reading an excerpt from Waiting For Spring.

The most common question I've been asked about AmazonEncore's acquisition of Waiting For Spring and its subsequent rerelease is:

Are there any major changes from the original?

The good people at Encore left my book pretty much intact, which is code for "they didn't water down the sex or language." They also didn't insist on cutting the length. They gave it a very thorough, and much needed, copy edit. I'm pretty sure the members of the editing team still dream about removing semi-colons from the text. There is a minor change near the middle that involves a decision Tess makes about employment. It does have a new cover, which I love, and the Kindle version now has a clickable table of contents (something I could never figure out how to do on my own). And that's pretty much it.

Oh, by the way, a random commenter on this post will be sent a free signed copy of Waiting For Spring. Winner to be announced on Friday, May 13.

A copy at the Stewart Free Library in Corinna, Maine.

Another step closer

Countdown: One week until the AmazonEncore edition of Waiting For Spring is released.

Last night I removed the self-published editions from Amazon and other online retailers, which was both exciting and sad. Somehow it seems like it should have been a bigger deal than just clicking "unpublish". It made me think about the journey this book has taken me on over the past five years and how grateful I am to have had all of you with me.

Waiting For Spring attracted Encore's attention because of sales numbers and reviews, which I understand, and I appreciate each and every person who spent a bit of their hard earned money on a copy and encouraged their friends and family members to do the same. But for me it goes beyond that. I mean, you guys helped me design a t-shirt. You let me put you in my silly video. You've been in general an awesome group of people, and I truly appreciate all of your support and friendship.

Onward!!

New interview at The LL Book Review

Check out this interview over at The LL Book Review! Conducted via Twitter, each question and answer is 140 characters or less. You can enter to win an advanced reader's copy by leaving a comment.

Be nice next time, Karma

Today I broke one of my New Year's Resolutions. I colored my hair. That's right, vanity won out over health concerns. More specifically, I decided I didn't want to go to New York next month with gray hair.

Karma's kind of a bitch, though.  I chose medium reddish brown, the same color I've used for pretty much my entire hair-coloring career, because I thought it was a safe choice. However, while the salt-and-pepper hair in the back was transformed into the nice reddish brown I remember so well, the silver hair in the front turned a weird orange-y color.Ick. I'm not sure what to do about it. I'm hopeful that a shampoo regimen will save the day. Or it might be back to the drugstore for an ashier color. Oy.

Let this be a lesson to me: Don't cheap out. Next time go to a professional.

Speaking of New York, I have some more information about my upcoming trip. I was invited by Carol Hoenig to participate in a publishing panel that's being sponsored by The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Tuesday May 24, 6:00 PM, at The General Society Library. I'll be speaking about orange hair and how to avoid getting it. Or maybe it'll be about something publishing related. Probably it's that last thing.

In other news, look for Shannon Yarbrough's interview with moi to be posted at LL Book Review on Sunday. The interview was conducted via Twitter direct messaging, which means all of my answers are 140 characters or less. Anyone who knows me will realize what a challenge this was. In the meantime, you can check out Shannon's review of Waiting For Spring from 2009 and an article Kristen Tsetsi and I wrote for the site about first chapters last summer (which is pretty funny, if I do say so myself. And I guess I just did).

Books!

  The UPS man brought me a special delivery on Monday!

Only 2 1/2 weeks till release day!