Heidi M. Thomas's Blog, page 17

Starting in the Middle of Trouble

Aren’t we told over and over to start our story in the middle of the action?

 Author, teacher and blogger Kristen Lamb has some great things to say about this:

Ah, but this is where we writers can get in trouble. I see writers beginning their novels with high-action gun battles, blowing up buildings, a heart-wrenching, gut-twisting scene in a hospital or at a funeral, all in an effort to “hook the reader” by “starting in the middle of the action.” Then when they get dinged/rejected by an agent or editor, they are confused.

But I started right in the action! What is more “in the action” than a high-speed chase through Monte Carlo as a bomb ticks down to the final seconds?

Read more at  What Star Wars “A New Hope” Can Teach Us About In Medias Res

Jane Kirkpatrick: ‘Oprah Doesn’t Know My Name’

Jane Kirkpatrick is the author of twenty-three books and is a two-time winner of the WILLA Literary Award. Her first novel, A Sweetness to the Soul, won the Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and she is known for writing historical fiction based on “real” women pioneers.

Jane, I loved reading Barcelona Calling. This is a totally different book for you, even a different voice. Tell us how this book was inspired and how it evolved.

For years when I spoke to groups I teased that one day I was going to write a book about a writer who confused fame with fulfillment and that I would call it “Oprah Doesn’t Know My Name.”  One day my publisher heard me say that and suggested that I write that book.  I told them they wouldn’t like it because it would be so different but they insisted.  I wrote it.  They rejected it!  But one of the editors, after leaving that publisher, remembered the book and when he went to another publisher, approached my agent and wanted it. It went through huge changes during the four or five years as it sat in my document file never to be opened! I had a great editor and that helped a lot and voila, it arrived as Barcelona Calling.  It seems there is something about Oprah having her name trademarked??? I still think the title would have grabbed a few people but one adjusts as did the writer in the book.

I think every writer can see parallels in this story, trying to get published and then trying to get noticed by the “big leaguers.” How much of this is from your own experience? Sadly, quite a bit! Every time a book of mine comes out some well-meaning person says to me “Have you ever thought about getting Oprah (or Ellen or NPR etc.) to pick your book?  I bet that would help your sales.”  They mean well but it’s such a long shot. It’s like telling myself, “If only I could win the lottery then all would be well”…and of course it wouldn’t be. I don’t think I was quite as conflicted as Annie but sadly, some of the obscure things that happened to her (in bathrooms, at salons, on airplanes, etc.) have happened to me. I mean hasn’t every writer at one time had someone say “I always wanted to write a book” when they learn that they’re speaking to a writer? Yet neurologists rarely hear “I’ve always wanted to be a neurologist” after stating their profession. I did have to learn that I wouldn’t always get to choose my titles and that publishing is a team occupation and that was something that took Annie awhile to understand.

I loved learning a new word, “Bezoars,” for hairballs! What fun. How did you find this word? I read my alumni magazines!  There it was, people at the University of Wisconsin were doing research on cat food to reduce hairballs and there was the scientific name for it. It fit perfectly for my story. I was so happy!

Your current release is Where Lilacs Still Bloom, another historical novel. Who or what was the inspiration for this book? This book is more like what my readers are familiar with. Hulda Klager was a simple German housewife with an eighth grade education who had a dream…she wanted crisper apples easier to peel and that led her to the world of botany and hybridization eventually developing 250 individual varieties of lilacs. The garden she created is on the national historic registry and a descendant patiently but persistently suggested over several years that I write Hulda’s story. When I realized how generous Hulda was and how persistent I found it to be one of the most inspiring stories I’d ever encountered. People can visit the garden in Woodland, WA south of Seattle and 30 minutes north of Portland, OR. A real treat for everyone.

What is your next project? I just completed my latest historical novel, One Glorious Ambition: the Compassionate Crusade of Dorothea Dix. Dorothea was an early reformer on behalf of the mentally ill. It’s also an amazing story of a woman who turned tragedy in her own life into energy to relieve the suffering of others. She was also an early teacher, starting a school when she was 15, for girls, a rarity in the 1820s of New England. I also have a novella I’m working on and a devotional for caregivers Promises of Hope for Difficult Times coming out in January.

Do you think you’ll do another contemporary? I wouldn’t say never, but I realized in this process that I rely heavily on the spine of history to tell my stories. It’s also true that a historical writer must create an unknown world that a reader finds believable (as do fantasy writers). In a contemporary, people bring their own “world” experiences to the piece. Everyone has a story about Starbucks or flying, for example, that affects how they see the contemporary world inside the book. In an historical novel people rely on the author to create experiences with stagecoaches or corsets, so I think it might be easier for the reader to step into the historical world leaving their own world behind for a time. The contemporary author has a more difficult job I think keeping the reader inside “their story” without us bringing “our world story” into the mix. Does that make sense?  Anyway, it was much more work than I had imagined though I truly learned a great deal in the process. But then stories are always teaching us, right?

That does make sense, something I hadn’t thought of before. I agree, as writers, we continue to learn and that’s the fun part of our chosen profession. Thank you, Jane, for sharing with us today.

Book synopsis for Barcelona Calling:

Annie Shaw is a writer with one bestseller, one book that tanked, a third book that isn’t doing all that well and a fourth book that may never see publication unless she can meet her new editor’s demands. She’s seeking fame and believing it will give her fulfillment and in the process acquires a dog, huge legal fees for unusual accidents and comes face to face with a love she left behind in Barcelona, Spain. “In Barcelona Calling protagonist Annie Shaw throws herself into all the zany ideas for attracting Oprah’s attention.  Along the way she forgets for a little while about what is really important and loses herself in schemes for fame and recognition.  This is a funny, entertaining story that brings home the message of being true to yourself.”  Deon Stonehouse, Owner of Sunriver Books and Music, an independent Book store in Oregon.

Reviews:

“Jane Kirkpatrick showcased her writing skills on Barcelona Calling, from outrageous to hilarious to inspiring words about the life of a novelist–and those people she touches. Bravo, Jane, for showing us what this life of writing is really all about–touching one heart at a time.” Hannah Alexander, author of The Wedding Kiss and The Hideaway series

“For years Jane Kirkpatrick has created wonderful, engaging characters and detailed plots that keep the pages turning. And she’s done it again with a completely new genre. Hats off to Jane Kirkpatrick for showing her versatility and humor and making me a fan all over again.”  Tracey Bateman, author of Thirsty and Tandem

Book Sales Getting Musty?

Marketing is a big scary, challenging world to the newly published writer, and sometimes even to the multi-published author! Thanks to Carolyn for sharing her tips with us today.

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Adapted from the multi award-winning Frugal Book Promoter 

In the world of publishing as in life, persistence counts. Of course, there is no way to keep a book at the top of the charts forever, but if you keep reviving it, you might hold a classic in your hands. Or your marketing efforts for one book may propel your next one to greater heights.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen authors who measure their success by book sales give up on their book (and sometimes on writing) just about the time their careers are about ready to take off. I tell my students and clients to fight the it’s-too-late-urge.

Publicity is like the little waves you make when you toss pebbles into a lake. The waves travel, travel, travel and eventually come back to you. If you stop lobbing little stones, you lose momentum. It’s never too late and it’s never too early to promote. Rearrange your thinking. Marketing isn’t about a single book. It’s about building a career. And new books can build on the momentum created by an earlier book, if you keep the faith. Review the marketing ideas in this book, rearrange your schedule and priorities a bit, and keep at it.

Here are a few keep-at-it ideas from the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter:

Run a contest on your Web site, on Twitter, or in your newsletter. Use your books for prizes or get cross-promotion benefits by asking other authors for books; many will donate one to you in trade for the exposure. Watch the 99 Cent Stores for suitable favors to go with them.

Hint:Any promotion you do including a contest is more powerful when you call on your friends to tell their blog visitors or Facebook pals about it.

Barter your books or your services for exposure on other authors’ Web sites


Post your flier, brochure, or business card on bulletin boards everywhere: In grocery stores, coffee shops, Laundromats, car washes, and bookstores.


Offer classes in writing to your local high school, college, or library system. Publicizing them is easy and free. When appropriate, use your own book as suggested reading. The organization you are helping will pitch in by promoting your class. The network you build with them and your students is invaluable. Use this experience in your media kit to show you have teaching and presentation skills.


Slip automailers into each book you sell or give away for publicity. Automailers are envelopes that are pre-stamped, ready to go. Your auto mailer asks the recipient to recommend your book to someone else. Your mailer includes a brief synopsis of your book, a picture of the cover of your book, your book’s ISBN, ordering information, a couple of your most powerful blurbs, and a space for the reader to add her handwritten, personal recommendation. Make it clear in the directions that the reader should fill out the form, address the envelope, and mail it to a friend. You may offer a free gift for helping out, but don’t make getting the freebie too tough. Proof-of-purchase type schemes discourage your audience from participating.


Send notes to your friends and readers asking them to recommend your book to others. Or offer them a perk like free shipping, gift wrap, or small gift if they purchase your book for a friend. That’s an ideal way to use those contact lists you’ve been building.


While you’re working on the suggestion above, put on your thinking cap. What directories have you neglected to incorporate into your contact list? Have you joined any new groups since your book was published? Did you ask your grown children for lists of their friends? Did you include lists of old classmates?


Though it may be a bit more expensive than some ideas in this book, learn more about Google’s AdWords and AdSense and Facebook’s ad program. Many authors of niche nonfiction or fiction that can be identified with often-searched-for keywords find this advertising program effective.


Check out ad programs like Amazon’s Vine review service. You agree to provide a certain number of books to Amazon and pay them a fee for the service. Amazon arranges the reviews for you. It’s expensive, but it gets your book exposed to Amazon’s select cadre of reviewers who not only write reviews for your Amazon sales page but also may start (or restart!) a buzz about your book.


Some of your reviews (both others’ reviews of your book and reviews you’ve written about others’ books) have begun to age from disuse. Start posting them (with permission from the reviewer) on Web sites that allow you to do so. Check the guidelines for my free review service blog at TheNewBookReview.


Connect and reconnect. Start reading blogs and newsletters you once subscribed to again. Subscribe to a new one. Join a writers’ group or organization related to the subject of your book.=


Record a playful message about your book on your answering machine.


When you ship signed copies of your book, include a coupon for the purchase of another copy for a friend—signed and dedicated—or for one of your other books. Some distributors insert fliers or coupons into your books when they ship them for a fee.


Adjust the idea above to a cross-promotional effort with a friend who writes in the same genre as you. He puts a coupon for your book in his shipments; you do the same for him in yours.


Explore the opportunities for speaking on cruise ships. Many have cut back on the number of speakers they use, but your area of expertise may be perfect for one of them. I tried it, but found ship politics a drawback. Still many authors like Allyn Evans who holds top honors in Toastmasters and Erica Miner have used these venues successfully. For help with the application process from beginning to end, contact Daniel Hall at Speakers Cruise Free.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, instructor for nearly a decade at the renowned UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, has been promoting her own books and helping clients promote theirs for nearly a decade. Her marketing plan for the 2nd in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success  won the New Millennium Award for Marketing. She just issued the second edition (New! Expanded! Updated! And already an award-winner!) of The Frugal Book Promoter. Learn more about her at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

When Pigs Fly: Meet Author Bob Sanchez

I got acquainted with Bob Sanchez through an on-line Blog Book Tour group and I’ve watched and listened as he went through the process of publishing his books through Amazon’s CreateSpace program. I just finished reading When Pigs Fly, a zany, “Three Stooges” or “Keystone Kops” type of adventure that takes you on a cross country chase from Massachusetts to Arizona.

His second book is Getting Lucky, a missing persons case, in which Pigs’ retired cop Mack Durgin is resurrected in the character of Clay Webster, Private Investigator. In Little Mountain, Sambath Long,  a Cambodian refugee, is now an American homicide cop. Sam’s investigation of a brutal murder unearths painful memories that threaten to tear his own life apart.

Welcome, Bob, and congratulations on your three books. What made you decide to become your own publisher with CreateSpace?

Thanks for honoring me with an interview, Heidi. I’d started writing novels around 1990 and found three agents over the years. None sold any of my books, though, so I eventually decided to get my books published and let readers decide if they were good enough.

Can you share briefly your publishing experience with CreateSpace?

Initially I published with iUniverse, which turned out to be a mixed bag. They charged too much for publication and controlled pricing. They put out a good product, though.

CreateSpace doesn’t charge for publication, and they let the author set the price.

What advice would you give anyone who wants to try this route?

Don’t cut corners. Be sure your novel is the absolute best you can make it. Get several competent critiques, and hire an editor. You’ll also need a professional-looking cover. Don’t settle for someone’s template.

Do you have a background in writing or is this something you’ve undertaken as a second career? Have you been published elsewhere?

Yes and yes. Technical writing was my second career, and novel-writing was a hobby that allowed me to express myself creatively. A few of my short stories have been published over the years, I’ve sold non-fiction to several magazines, and I write book reviews as well.

Why do you write, what is it that makes you do it?

It’s what I’m best at. Lord knows I can’t play a piano, fly a plane, or write a computer program. And although I make a few dollars writing, the ego boost from readers’ comments keeps me going even more. Once a woman wrote me saying her mom had recently died, and she consoled her father by reading When Pigs Fly to him. That email was worth—oh, about a million dollars to me.

I’ll bet that was!

Your three books seem to have a common thread in that they’re all about solving crimes. How do they differ?

Another common thread is that they all have a tie-in to Lowell, Massachusetts, a city near where I used to live. They differ in their level of seriousness as well as in their genre. When Pigs Fly is a comic road trip, Getting Lucky is a noir P.I. novel, and Little Mountain is a police procedural with a strong ethnic angle.

Where did the idea for When Pigs Fly come from? (You do caution that this is not a children’s book)

It began with the serious premise of FedEx showing up at a man’s door and delivering an urn with his brother’s ashes. That didn’t get far, and I set it aside. A couple of years later, I remembered it when I wanted to write a comic novel. The story’s javelina didn’t even appear until the second draft, though. But then what to call it? When Pigs Fly fit best, but it sounded like a children’s book. Referring to a scene in the book, a friend suggested the title Asses to Ashes. I will be forever grateful to iUniverse for saying they hated that.

What do you do to market your books and what has worked the best?

I used to do book signings, but never sold many copies. So I reissued all of my titles as ebooks and promote them on Twitter. In general that works well, though there seems to be a July-August slump. I tell people my novels are good summer reads, but maybe no one wants to bring a Kindle to the beach.

Do you have a life’s philosophy and does it translate to your writing?

The Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. I try to make my main characters follow that principle.

If you could have dinner with six people, alive or dead, who would they be?

My goodness, why would I want to have dinner with a dead person? Oh, I get what you mean. Let’s set aside family, who would be my first choice. I would like to break bread with Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jesus Christ, Marie Curie, Groucho Marx, and Mika Brzezinski, all at once. Can you imagine the stimulating conversation? Groucho would of course be there to deflate egos and lighten things up now and then, while Mika would be asking lots of good questions.

Now THAT would be a fun and interesting dinner party! Thank you for joining me today, Bob.

Bob Sanchez’s books are all available on his Amazon author page and his free short story collection is available on Smashwords. You can read his Blog, The Funny News Leader, and follow Bob on Twitter: @desertwriter and Facebook .

Bob Sanchez was born in New Orleans, grew up and worked in Massachusetts, and lives with his wife and two cats in New Mexico. Bob has published three novels: When Pigs Fly, Getting Lucky, and Little Mountain. He actively participates in several writers’ groups, edits nonfiction reviews for The Internet Review of Books, and maintains or contributes to several blogs.

What’s Your Excuse for Not Selling Books?

 

Reprinted with permission from Patricia Fry, article appearing in Francine Silverman’s Book Promotion Newsletter.

By Patricia Fry

I’m sorry, but sometimes I get exasperated with authors who make excuses for not promoting their books.

Some of them are known for their aggressive marketing tactics. There are also those who had every intention, BEFORE they finished their book, of presenting a major and ongoing marketing campaign. And then, when opportunities arise to promote their books, they have nothing but excuses as to why they can’t/won’t participate. Wanna hear some of them?

• I don’t have any copies of my book right now. This one still has my head spinning. You should always have copies of your book to sell. How long does it take to get copies from your print-on-demand company or your publisher? Ten days? Two weeks? What were you thinking about when you looked at your box of books and it was getting low? Why didn’t you order books then—before you ran out?

• I had a bad experience last time I did that activity. Well, what makes you think the same thing will happen again—that the same people will be there, that the stars will line up in exactly the same way?

And what can you do to change what happened last time?

• I don’t sell many books when I go there. How many do you sell when you stay home?

• I don’t like crowds. Then, perhaps, you should have hypnosis to get over this phobia or look into another business—like being a mortician.

• I’ll go out and speak only if they pay my expenses. And you have earned your speaking credentials how?

• I don’t like to get up in front of groups. If your book is particularly conducive to live presentations and if you want to sell copies of your book, you’d better find ways to get comfortable with public speaking.

• I don’t want to bother people on my email list with notices about my book award, new Kindle book, upcoming speaking engagement, etc. Helllooooo, your address book should be made up of your readers—your audience—and they should be interested in an occasional notification from you.

• I didn’t know it was up to me to promote my book and I didn’t know how hard it would be. It’s never too late to study the publishing industry, which is what you should have done before you even started writing the book.

Do you make excuses for why you cannot go out and speak, do book signings, sign up for book festivals and so forth? Are your excuses valid or are they just excuses designed to maintain your comfort zone? Think about this. And think about how many books you’ve sold in the last week, month, year. Do you see a correlation between your promotional activities (or lack of) and your book sales?

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Considered “a maven when it comes to counseling authors in the art of publishing and selling their books” and “one of the most well-known writing gurus,”  Patricia Fry has been working with other freelance writers and authors for over two decades.

For additional tips, techniques, ideas and a swift kick in the pants that will surely increase your book sales, order your copy of Promote Your Book today. It is available at Amazon and most other online and downtown bookstores. Learn more about this book and the companion book (for those of you who are thinking about writing a book or in the process of writing a book), Publish Your Book. (Both books by Patricia Fry)

 

National Day of the Cowboy (and Cowgirl)

Here’s something I’ve talked about before:

A Cowboy Code of Ethics

Live Each Day with Courage

Take Pride in Your Work

Always Finish What You Start

Do What Has to be Done

Be Tough, But Fair

When You Make a Promise, Keep It

Ride for the Brand

Talk Less and Say More

Remember That Some Things Aren’t for Sale

Know Where to Draw the Line

And I believe you don’t have to be a cowboy to do this.

Meet the Author: C.K. Crigger

My guest this week is C.K. Crigger, author of Three Seconds to Thunder,  the third book in her western mystery series featuring 1890s sleuth, China Bohannon. C.K. writes of free-spirited people who break from their standard roles. All of her books, whether westerns, mysteries, or fantasy, are set the Inland Northwest, with a historical background.

Synopsis: China Bohannon is a modern 1890’s career woman, but the Doyle & Howe Detective Agency hasn’t turned her loose on a case of her own just yet. When a call for help comes in, a trip into the mountains above the St. Joe country sounds just the thing to prove her worth and assist a friend at the same time. Porter Anderson’s uncle has disappeared and a Johnny-come-lately timber baron has claimed the family homestead. Porter doesn’t believe his uncle sold out and left the country without telling anybody. He’s afraid old Lionel Hooker might be dead—murdered.

Declaring the case unsuitable for a lady like China, Monk Howe takes it on, but now no one has heard from him in days. China sets out to discover his whereabouts as the dry lightning of summer sets the woods ablaze.

What she finds is a trail of lies, theft, and murder. Then, just when the problem appears solved, trouble breaks out again. This time, Gratton Doyle is the one in danger and China who must bail him out.

When did you first consider yourself a writer and what inspired you to write your first book? 

I think I considered myself a writer—not an author—when I had a couple complete short stories under my belt, written to conform to publisher guidelines. I actually did it. But I’m basically a novelist. Strangely enough, my first published novel began life as a short story. In the first Gunsmith book, In the Service of the Queen, my character’s first time-travel adventure was the short story and it kept expanding. Somehow, the character grew from there into the heroine of five books.

Who/what motivates you to write?

This is easy. An inner compulsion gets after me every single day and says, “Write!” So I do.

What do you find particularly challenging about writing?

Putting the right words down on paper, and avoiding mid-book sag.

What books or authors have most influenced your life most?

I don’t know that there is any particular book or author. Certain stories nag at me in different ways. Some because I know I can do it better, and that inspire me and make me wish I’d written whatever it is. Either way, they get me revved up.

How many books have you written?

So far, I’ve completed sixteen novels, twelve are published, three are looking for homes right now, and one I’ve given up on.

You’ve written in several genres. Which do you like the best?

I like whatever I’m working on at the moment. By the time I get done with a western, I’m ready for a fantasy or a mystery, and so on. Certainly keeps my mind busy and I think it helps prevent becoming stale.

Is there a message in your novels you want readers to grasp?

I have no particular message, unless it would be a sense of responsibility. I’d say I write purely to entertain.

Who is your favorite character, and why?

Hmm. I guess it’s a toss-up between Boothenay Irons and China Bohannon. There are similarities between them, separated by a hundred years span of the expansion of women’s rights. Both are strong women, adventurers, and mavericks.

What are you working on next?

I haven’t made up my mind for the next book. It may depend on what transpires with a couple books doing the rounds now, but it may be another China Bohannon, something about bootlegging days, or I have an Iraq vet who has captured my imagination. I’m never at a loss for subject material!

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write, write, and rewrite—and follow your dream.

Thanks, Heidi,for hosting me today on your blog.

C.K. Crigger lives with her husband and three feisty dogs in Spokane Valley, WA, where she crafts stories set in the Inland Northwest. She is a 2008 Eppie Award winner for Black Crossing, a western, and a two-time Spur Award finalist in short story and audio. She reviews books and writes occasional articles for Roundup Magazine. Recently, she’s begun reviewing for CnC Bookstore in the mystery and science fiction categories.

C.K.’s books are available on Amazon, at Oak Tree Books, Amber Quill Press, and Treble Heart Books

Check out her website and her blogs: www.chinabohannon.blogspot.com and http://ckcrigger.blogspot.com/

Meet the Author: Carmen Peone

I met my guest, author Carmen Peone, recently at the Silver Spur Western Gathering in Spokane, WA, and read both of her delightful Young Adult books, Change of Heart and its sequel, Heart of Courage.

Change of Heart Synopsis: After fighting with her sister, thirteen-year-old Spupaleena bolts from their Arrow Lakes pit home into the dead of winter. Spupaleena doesn’t know where she is going but knows she canno longer live at home. Haunted by the deaths of her mother and baby brother, Spupaleena runs until she falls over a cliff.

Upon discovering Spupaleena’s body, Philip Gardner, a trapper, brings her home to his cabin. His wife, Elizabeth, does her best to help heal Spupaleena, although with a broken heart and a mangled body, she is not likely to survive. See Trailer for Change of Heart.

Carmen, your bio says you live on the Colville Indian Reservation and work as a substitute teacher there. Is this background what inspired you to write your books?

Yes. I had studied the Sinyekst or Arrow Lakes Language, that of my husband and sons’ tribe, with elder Marguerite Ensminger for three years. Having lived on the reservation for 26 years now, I knew I had to write these books if nothing else but for my sons; in honor of their culture and our faith. I also co-coordinate the after school program at the Inchelium school. I love working with youth and is the main reason I write for the young adult audience, although every age has read them (third grade up to the 70 and 80 year olds). The cultural aspect is historically accurate, which I think is what draws readers of all ages, as does the Native language.

Are the books based on stories the elders told you? No, although in Heart of Courage the story about the turtle and coyote is a story pasted on for many generations. Everything else is a story that came to me many years ago.

The books contain many authentic words from this Native American tribe. Tell us how you learned them, and can you speak the language?

I studied the language for three years with elder Marguerite Ensminger. She actually taught my oldest two sons in school before she had strokes, causing her to retire her volunteer services at the local school. We came to be good friends while both serving on the Inchelium school board. Marguerite pestered to me come to her house and take lessons, and finally I did until she could no longer give them due to a major stroke that sent her to live in a retirement home. Not long after that she did pass away. At one time I knew much of the language, although not fluent, and now I speak very little. Not many people speak the Arrow Lakes Language. Okanagan, which is similar, is what is taught in the area now and is spelled much differently.

What would you say is the theme of your writing?

The theme of my writing is that no matter how hard life gets, there is hope in God. I like my girl characters to be strong, but not disrespectful. There are many life lessons in my writing and hope youth take these lessons to heart and learn from them.

You include strong messages of faith and courage. How does your personal faith influence your writing?

I write because of my Christianity. In my early years I struggled with esteem issues and want my readers to understand that all things are possible with God. Too many times, a false perception of self is our biggest struggle. We were created with all the tools we need to succeed; we just need to work hard to achieve our desired goals. Nothing really is impossible. It took me a long time to figure that out and I still struggle with those “I’m not good enough” issues that try and pop up at times. Then I think of my successes, give it to God, and move forward.

Tell us about your writing journey, how you got started and how you came to be published.

I never intended to be a writer. Over ten years ago I began writing Change of Heart and had to put it on the back burner and finish raising my sons, who at the time were in junior and senior high school. Once my youngest left for collage, he pestered me until I finished the manuscript for Change of Heart. During the course of the ten year stint, I took an online non-fiction writing class and didn’t really care for the craft of writing articles. I then took an online fiction course with Writer’s Digest. My instructor helped me get the manuscript for Change of Heart in order and off to a good start. Once it was complete, I searched various publishers and was accepted with Tate Publishing and Enterprise as they are big on first time authors. I decided to keep on with Spupaleena and her adventures in honor of the culture and the youth I work with. I believe the Native language is what makes my books unique. I want to leave that as my sons’ legacy to the Native men God created them to be.

Who or what has inspired your writing? Any favorite authors?

I am an avid reader. There are so many inspiring authors, but Gary Paulson’s young adult books have encouraged me to write for youth, especially because God has always given me a heart for them. I eventually want to write western adult romance. But because I have fallen in love with my characters, I will continue on with them for a few more stories. Another author who has really inspired me is Mary Connealy. I love her humor and characterization. She is a master at keeping a story flowing.

In your second book, Heart of Courage, Spupaleena is endeavoring to race horses against young men. I understand you raise Paint horses and are in a riding group called the Saddle Sisters. Tell us more about your love for horses.

Yes, I have paint horses, but quarter horses also. I always knew horses would be in my books. I have shown horses with my youngest son in 4-H and open classes in Western Pleasure. My Paint gelding was born and raised on the reservation. He has some thoroughbred blood in him and loves to move out. So I bumped him up to extreme challenge competitions were he has to slow down and think. We actually won an ACTHA competition in Spokane, WA and placed Second at Ride the West also in Spokane, both last year. I am pleasure riding only this year with my Covada Saddle Sisters as I’m focusing on marketing and writing the books this year.

The reason I chose racing in Heart of Courage, is because it is a big sport on many reservations. A few youth my sons grew up with now race. My next book, out in 2013, will include Spupaleena racing with a team against other relay teams, which is also big in our area. It’s called the pony express racing, or relay racing. It is big at our Ferry County fair in Republic, WA and in Pendleton, OR as well as surrounding venues.

Heart of Courage Synopsis: Knowing she encompassed the skills to race against young men, Spupaleena begins her intense training, despite her fellow racer’s cruel insults, and her father’s opposition to this unconventional sport for women. She draws her strength from God, but does she have the spirit to compete and win? View the Book Trailer for Heart of Courage.

Change of Heart and Heart of Courage are available as print or e-books at Tate Publishing , Amazon.com or can be ordered at your local bookstore or as audio books at The Audio Book Store.

A third book of the series, working title Heart of Passion, will be out summer of 2013, and is a continuation of the first two. There is more horse racing but in a relay setting. Revenge, hate, hope, and forgiveness all encompass Spupaleena’s world.

See Carmen’s Website, and connect with her on Facebook and on Twitter at carmenpeone@authorcarmenpeo 

Favorite Quotes About Writing

I love collecting great quotes about writing. Here are ten I’ve culled from Zachary Petit‘s “72 of the Best Quotes About Writing” for Writers Digest

1. “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”

—Philip Roth

2. “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

—Stephen King

3. “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

—George Orwell

4. “Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”

—Hunter S. Thompson

5. “I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.”

—Roald Dahl, WD

—Ernest Hemingway

7. “Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”

—Virginia Woolf

8. “If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.”

—Peter Handke

9. “For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.”

—Catherine Drinker Bowen

10. “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”

—Samuel Johnson

And a bonus quote I love:

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard

Meet the Author: Rae Ellen Lee

My guest this week is Rae Ellen Lee, Pacific Northwest author of one novel The Bluebird House, two memoir adventures, I Only Cuss When I’m Sailing and My Next Husband Will be Normal – A St. John Adventure, and the editor and publisher of  anecdotes told by Post Hole Augerson, her father, titled Powder Monkey Tales — A Portrait in Stories.

Thanks for joining me, Rae Ellen. I just finished reading The Bluebird House and I fell in love with its quirky small Montana mining town characters. This tale of a haunted brothel was a readers’ choice selection of the Salt Lake City public library system. Rae Ellen likes to describe this book as a paranormal-historical-romance-adventure novel with a mystery and some mountain man recipes.  It’s a multi-genre feast.

I understand this is partly based on your own adventure of living in and renovating a former brothel. Tell us how that came about.

I just finished a fun blog post about this — how an innocent (some called it “bad”) choice I made one Montana spring day in 1992 came to haunt me for three years. For the price of a used car, I bought a collection of old buildings up in the mountains near Helena. You see, I’m somewhat addicted to novelty, and this gets me into trouble sometimes. What an adventure it was, living in a dilapidated old brothel during its renovation.  Did I mention it had no running water or indoor plumbing? This is the setting for the novel – that and the mining camp town. But most of the other events in the novel, like Molly getting stepped on by a moose and having a near-death accident while cross-country skiing, didn’t happen to me. The characters are authentic Montana, however, and some of them were inspired by real people I’ve known. I loved writing that book. It was like the story insisted on being told.

What got you started on your writing journey?

In the 1980s I lived in West Yellowstone while working for the U.S. Forest Service. One weekend, when it was nearly sixty below zero, a friend and I were wondering what to do. She read a lot and said, “You’re good at writing Environmental Assessments, why don’t you try your hand at writing fiction?” I began by writing an essay about living in West Yellowstone, and branched out to produce a travel sketchbook to the area, now out of print. Years later when I took a fiction-writing class at the Univ. of Montana, the instructor told me, “Do us all a favor and don’t write any more fiction.”  But I went ahead and did it anyway. My then-husband, Tom, and I started writing a novel together. We set the story in the Caribbean, where neither of us had ever been.  We flew there on a book research trip, and that set into play a total change in our lifestyle.  We moved from Montana to a sailboat in Bellingham so we could fix up the boat, learn to sail, and sail it back to the Virgin Islands. This sailing life was so astonishing to me that I wrote extensively about events as they happened, so I could make sense of it all. It was during this time that I read Anne Lamott’s wonderful book, Bird By Bird, which gave me courage to turn my writings into a memoir, If The Shoe Fits, published by Sheridan House in 2001.

You have a wonderful writing style that puts me right in the skin of your character and drops me into the mountain setting of this story. Have you studied writing?

Heidi, thanks for your kind statement!  I believe that writing in first person, present tense immerses the reader into the action.  I also enjoy reading books written in this style. It’s so immediate. And I’m an outdoor girl and have studied the details of landscape, so the setting is a key character in all my books. I’m writing a novel now that is mostly set inside a sawmill, so I’m working to capture the sensory details, like the smell of sawdust and pitch, the noise of  saws and other machinery, and what it’s like to work wearing a hard hat and safety glasses. For me, this setting is much more difficult to write about than a landscape. Fortunately, I have friends and family members in northern Idaho who have worked in mills and I consult with them to get the details right.

I have taken numerous creative writing classes and workshops, and read dozens of how-to books on writing. There is so much to learn, and always room for improvement.  I studied journalism and fiction writing at the Univ. of Montana; participated in a six-week fiction workshop at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C.; enjoyed a memoir writing workshop with Laura Kalpakian; and attended various writing conferences. I’m in an excellent writing group, and I’m telling you, they’re a tough bunch. It’s impossible to sneak an adverb or a trite saying past them.

I constantly strive to write better, with renewed efforts at the sentence level. For instance, I manipulate each sentence many times to make certain the emphasis is in the right place. Next I work to link the sentences. Then I play with specific word choices, studying my thesaurus.  And all of that has to result in a certain musicality when I read the piece aloud, or I start over. It usually takes a year to write a solid first draft, and two or three years after that to revise and polish the manuscript. I think it is essential that we put only our best work out into the world.

Your writing is infused with humor. Is that something you’ve had to develop or do you come by it naturally?

Humor is my drug of choice. I strongly believe the world needs more humor, and that my purpose in life is to take the truth, turn it on its ear, have fun with it, and help others do the same. Also, I’m allergic to alcohol, so I can’t drink to soften my troubles. I’ve had to learn to laugh at things. While some difficulties are simply not funny, like the loss of a loved one, there are so many other problems that can be made fun of. For instance, when my last husband realized at the age of sixty that he was really a she.  So many astonishing events took place during that time, and we both have a sense of humor, so we laughed a lot.  Not that we didn’t cry a lot, too.  It was a period of “high relationship drama.”

My father had a terrific sense of humor. His alias was Post Hole Augerson. Throughout my childhood he told stories about his life on an Illinois farm, and later about how he headed west with a friend and when they saw someone catch a fish in northern Idaho, they slammed on the brakes and settled there. His stories captured the history, hardships and especially the humor of his life.  I believe I got some good “humor” genes from him.

I love the titles of your books, especially My Next Husband Will Be Normal—that’s a real attention-grabber. Did you come up with the titles yourself?

One reason I became an “indie” author is to maintain control over my titles.  A brash statement, I realize. But my working title for If The Shoe Fits was I Only Cuss When I’m Sailing. However, my conservative publisher refused to publish a book with the word cuss in the title. I like my title so much better, and now that all rights have reverted to me I’ve e-published the book with its original title. The working title of my first novel, The Bluebird House, was What Darwin Said About Music, from the title of an article I found in the walls of my old brothel. The agent and publisher both said it was too obscure, and they’re possibly right.

Finding a title for my second memoir was difficult. I wanted to use The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful, but that phrase is more or less owned by Jimmy Buffet. Another one was Objects in Mirror Are Better Looking Than They Appear. Too long. I did not invent the title, My Next Husband Will Be Normal. My husband bought me a shirt with that saying on it as a joke.  When I researched it, I learned the saying is not trademarked. I could use it as a title.  Women love it.  The joke, of course, is that men are so different from women that to many of us they don’t seem “normal,” even the ones who don’t change gender on us. I wanted the title to show the humorous slant of the book, and I wanted to be able to add – A St. John Adventure so the title would show up when someone searches for info on St. John.

The title of my next novel, the one set in a sawmill, is Cheating the Hog. While some people might mistake this for a diet book, the title is the name of an actual job in the mill.

What authors or books have influenced your writing?

Anne Lamott, of course.  I love Bird By Bird about writing and life. I also love her book, Operating Instructions, about her son’s first year of life. She writes with honesty and truth, and a huge dose of self-deprecating humor. Another important book that helped me is On Writing Well by William Zinsser. The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris helped me structure The Bluebird House.  His idea of establishing plot points at key locations throughout the novel, and then writing from one plot point to the next, worked well for me.

For inspiration I read anything by Mark Twain. I sometimes reread parts of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Pam Houston’s essays and short stories are unabashedly personal and compelling. To name only a few.

What accomplishment are you the proudest of in your life?

In 1986 I recorded my dad’s stories, edited them for chronology, and published Powder Monkey Tales – A Portrait in Stories.  In doing this project, I asked him lots of questions and learned details about his life I never would have known. He appreciated being asked. One of his stories, The Osprey and the Fishing License, was selected to be performed by an actor in the Idaho Centennial Play, Idaho Tales, Tall and True.

Which of your own books is your favorite? Which was the easiest or hardest to write?

The Bluebird House was easiest to write, not that it was so easy. I worked hard on it. My favorite book at the moment is, My Next Husband Will Be Normal – A St. John Adventure. The book documents a specific time on St. John (2001–2006). I’ve been back to the island, and certain developments have changed the island experience a lot. The book also captures what it was like to move to paradise and discover the difference between living there and being a tourist. That was a shocker. And then, too, my brilliant and funny (and difficult) husband realized he was transgendered. This book was also the hardest to write. It’s very personal, but we both hoped by my writing the funny side of the experience that others (including spouses and family members of other transgendered people) might relax a bit and allow a more compassionate view of the situation. Not that it’s an easy experience to go through. One reader said, “I laughed. I cried. What a ride. What a story.” And that’s what it was like for me to live the experience, as well as relive the events as I wrote and revised the manuscript. As I wrote, I also felt like I was walking a fence. Some women thought my acceptance of my husband’s realization would contribute to “depravity,” while a few transgendered individuals, sensitive to disapproval, were insulted by my title. But now that the book’s been published, it’s being met with cheers from both sides.

What would you say to someone who tells you, “I want to write a book”?

I would ask them lots of questions to see how serious they are. I’d ask if they’d considered learning to play the ukulele instead.  If they really are determined, I’d find out if they want to write fiction or non-fiction and ask if they have a unique story to tell.  I’d offer some books that have been helpful to me, and answer any specific questions they might have. Other than that, I’d say, “Go for it.”

Synopsis of The Bluebird House: The place: Montana. The time: the present.

After a nearly fatal encounter with a moose and a terrifyingly close brush with middle age, Molly reassesses her life. The result: she ends her stale marriage and moves to a small mining town where she purchases The Bluebird House, an old bordello. A madam. A diary. A murder. And romance, too.  The Bluebird House has it all.

Rae Ellen’s books are available through her website www.raeellenlee.com and for Kindle at Amazon.com. Follow her on Facebook, on Twitter @raeellenlee, and at her blog.