Lacey Louwagie's Blog, page 12

Writing Book Review: Publishing E-books for Dummies by Ali Luke

Publishing E-Books for Dummies by Ali Luke


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this book to be superior to APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. How to Publish a Book as a handbook for self-publishing, and it was indispensable as I worked on the release of Rumpled, especially in the technical aspects of preparing a clean and professional file. Like most “for dummies” or “idiot’s guide” books, this one is not necessarily compelling reading if you’re going to sit down and read it straight through, but it offers valuable and easy-to-follow instructions for various aspects of publishing e-books, from securing cover art to preparing the file to marketing. It also takes into account that many writers may be on a tight budget and offers lower-cost alternatives while not downplaying the importance of professionalism.

While the encouraging tone is reassuring, one of my main criticisms of the book is that I think it sugar coats the reality of self publishing a little bit, setting high expectations with the rare authors who have made it really “big” going this route. I think it would be easy for inexperienced authors to have an inflated expectation of their success. Still, those who have read this book probably have a slight advantage over those who don’t, and I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone planning to publish an ebook. Read it quick, though, because technology changes fast and I expect it may be out of date before too long.





View all my reviews

Finish Novel by October 31? Challenge Accepted

A library friend of mine asked me to come to the library in October to share “tips” on completing NaNoWriMo since I’ve “won” it several years in the past. I agreed. And then I realized that if she is asking this of me now, November is not very far away.

This is one of my “on” years for NaNoWriMo — I tend to do it every other year, and last year I skipped. What’s more, I want to do it this year. I have several ideas, and I look forward to being part of the community that will be set up at my local library for it. I’ve never before had the opportunity to participate in many social NaNo events, and having a friend at the library who is heading them up can bring me closer to that comfort zone. There’s just one problem.

I can’t seem to finish my NaNo novel from 2012, which is a retelling of Rapunzel.

It sort of boggles my mind that a novel that takes place primarily in one room with three characters can end up being so much longer than my recent novella about Rumpelstiltskin which, while not epic in scope, at least had a fair amount of movement between settings.

I guess a girl in solitary confinement can have a lot to say.

I’m about 2/3 through my second draft, and I don’t want to abandon this project for a month to do NaNoWriMo. So if I can’t finish this draft in the next 2.5 months, that means I’m going to have to take this year off from NaNo. It seems a little ironic that I’m trying to write more so that as a reward I can write more, but there it is.

I write almost every day, but I don’t work on my novel every day. I rotate my novel-writing with book reviews, marketing, blogging, and journaling. But I think I’ll need to work on my novel every day, or almost every day, to make my deadline. It’s doable, but I don’t have time left to mess around. This will mean quite a few days of writing double shifts — blog posts and novelling in the same day, for example.

This comes in the midst of one of my primary clients amping up the amount of work they’re asking of me, sometimes bleeding into evening work, which means I need to start writing in the morning again. This is bad for the procrastinator that lurks within every writer, but it’s good for the rest of my life, and especially good, I think, for my writing.

At least, it better be. The fate of NaNoWriMo rests on it.

Fairy Tale Retelling Book Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This mash-up of Greek mythology and Beauty & the Beast retelling is somewhat lackluster. It reads more like a paranormal romance than a fairy tale, right down to the “Beast” being described in a such a way that you can only picture him as a vampire. Although the book came across as overwritten, especially in the beginning when Nix just kept obsessing over her fate as a “sacrifice” offered in return for a bargain her father had made years ago, at the same time some aspects of the story just didn’t come together for me. I never did totally understand the mechanics of the spell on the “Beast,” and I’m not sure if that’s because it wasn’t explained well, or if it was because there were slow spots in the book that allowed my mind to wander and miss things.

Much of the book takes place inside Nix’s own head since the cast of characters is very small. I don’t mind introspective books, but it still kept the story feeling a bit slow in places. None of the characters particularly appealed to me, although I suppose the Beast piqued my curiosity in places. Still, there was never a moment when I really connected with the story, and the subplot in which (view spoiler)[ Nix betrays Ignafex for her sister bothered me more now that I'm married than it would have in the past, which was just one more aspect pushing me away from the story. (hide spoiler)]

I didn’t hate this book — it was an interesting take on Beauty & the Beast and it had potential. It was mostly well written. It just kept coming up short for me.





View all my reviews

I’m a Librarian Again!

One of the best jobs I’ve ever had was as a teen services librarian for a rural library. It was incredibly fulfilling, as working with youth is often rewarding, not to mention FUN, and I got paid to know lots of stuff about Young Adult Literature. On top of that, it was a part-time position, which meant I could balance it with my freelance work and still keep my primary clients happy.

Leaving that job was one of the hardest parts of moving away after I got married; I worked in a circulation position in my new city for a little over a year, but it just wasn’t the same. When I was offered a reporter position with a national news agency, I quit the library and wistfully wondered if my library days were over.

Well, they were NOT over. In addition to retaining a relationship with my beloved rural library, I am now the owner of a Little Free Library! I’m back in business as a part-time librarian!

From left to right: My dad, who built and installed the library, my husband, and me.

A closeup (come on, you know you want to try to read the book spines!).

Solar lights allow browsing after dark!

Included in the library are copies of both my books, Hungering & Thirsting for Justice and Rumpled (which is still free on Kindle through tomorrow!)

And as if this book goodness isn’t enough, over the weekend I received a copy of Living True: Lesbian Women Share Stories of Faith, the book for which I wrote my personal essay “Where I First Met God,” which I then submitted to Unruly Catholic Women Writers. Unruly found a publisher first, so my essay went into Living True as a “reprint” despite being written specifically for that collection. Publishing is funny that way.

The production on Living True is absolutely gorgeous, and it was worth the wait. My only qualm is in the subtitle, since the anthology includes stories by queer Catholic women who don’t identify as lesbian per se — my essay is about the experience of being bisexual and Catholic. I guess that’s why I’m glad places like the Religious Institute are specifically addressing bi invisibility.

Still, it’s a blessing that a book addressing the lives of queer-identified Catholic women exists, and I can’t wait to read it. First, however, I will be finishing my re-read of my friend Marie’s book, Plover Landing. So many books, so little time!

Rumpled free on Kindle August 1-5

My retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpled, is free on Kindle from now through August 5.

Indie Book Review: Night Sweats by Laura Crossett

Night Sweats: An Unexpected Pregnancy by Laura Crossett


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book started as a blog for friends about a professional single woman’s unplanned pregnancy (REALLY unplanned, as in the IUD failed, which is really rare.) It still reads like a blog, but since I’m into published journals, that was okay with me, especially since I probably never would have spent the time sitting in front of a computer to read Laura’s whole saga (I use the word lightly, it’s not a very long book), and I’m glad that I did.

I related to Laura — she is a librarian who lived alone (with a cat, who died over the course of the book — wish she had written more about that) with liberal politics and a tendency to write to make sense of her life’s biggest transition. I think that I would have been a lot like her if I ended up pregnant and unmarried, and (not to pat myself on the back too much), even though the pregnancy totally freaks her out (understandably), there’s still a sense of calm that somehow permeates her entries, and I get the feeling that she has a good head on her shoulders and that she is going to be just fine.

The book is professionally designed, well-edited (only noticed one or two errors), compelling and smart. I wish the author had done a little more to bring outsiders into her story — I could not keep characters straight because they were all referred to by letters; I appreciate Laura’s respect for anonymity, but I would have preferred that she use false names because names are easier to attach people to than letters. The narrative arc worked well enough, although I wish it had been more balanced — tons of entries early in the pregnancy, then a whole trimester without any entries. I found myself wondering if I would have liked this better as a memoir than as a journal, and I’m not sure. Still, it is a high-quality self-published book, and one I would recommend to people who appreciate the intimacy and/or voyeuristic pleasure of published journals or stories about pregnancy, especially unplanned.





View all my reviews

There’s More Than One Way to Objectify a Woman

My latest post is up at Young Adult Catholics, and it’s sure to be inflammatory with its implication that women should be able to make their own decisions regarding their sex lives. I know, shocking.

Indie Book Review: Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers by Liz Eastwood

Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers: Coping Wisdom for Heart and Soul After the Loss of a Beloved Feline by Liz Eastwood


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book, although only 125 pages, took me six weeks to read. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it WAS. I so craved affirmation and validation after my cat Phoebe died that I wanted to savor the experience of, as far as I can tell, one of the only books on the market written specifically for grieving a beloved cat.

“Soul Comfort” is self-published, but it is self-publishing at its highest calling, fulfilling a need that mainstream publishers seem to mostly ignore with a high-quality offering. The book is accessible and well-written, with a clean, consistent layout and is virtually error-free. Growing out of the author’s own grief after a beloved cat died, she shares her experiences as well as information from grief counselors and animal experts. The first part of the book validates the experiences of grieving after pet loss, and then moves into ways that you might honor your deceased pet and integrate your grief more fully. I especially liked her idea of choosing “continued connection” over “closure,” because it helped me reframe the way I’ve been addressing my own grieving process. In the beginning, it felt sort of frantic — like as soon as I got all Phoebe’s photos and videos together, as soon as I got her urn, as soon as I wrote her a goodbye letter, then I would have “closure” and be ready to “move on.” I did all those things and simultaneously started writing in My Pet Remembrance Journal, so then that journal became a proxy for my journey, and I started to feel anxious about finishing it so I could have “closure.”

But that chapter made me realize there really is no “rush” in my attempt to remember and honor Phoebe, and I’ve taken a more relaxed approach to putting together her mementos so that I can treasure that time rather than have it feel like “one more thing I have to do” instead of moving on.

The final third of the book explores the spiritual side of grief and the possibility of a loved one’s “essence” continuing to connect with you after they are gone. For me, this was the part that lagged the most, partly because it didn’t have a lot of “cat-specific” reference points but also because it felt as though the author tried just a little too hard to reassure the reader that life does continue after death. Even though she didn’t push any one religious agenda, and even though I do believe that mortal life is not all there is, something about it still rubbed me a bit the wrong way.

Still, I’m so glad that a book like this exists, and that Liz gave her project the time, effort, and professionalism it deserves. I will be holding onto my copy for a possible reread when I have to take this journey again (hopefully not for many years) or to lend to friends when the sad time comes for them to say goodbye to a cat companion.





View all my reviews

Retelling Book Review: Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

&lTill We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend recommended this as his favorite retelling when he found out I liked them, and another friend seconded his suggestion. I acquired a copy from Paperbackswap soon after, and then, of course, let it gather dust on my shelf until something brought it to my attention. This time, it was the Into the Forest Goodreads group (fairy tales and retellings) choosing it for their May/June “group read.”

I have read four of the seven Narnia books, and getting through them always feels like a bit of a chore. Something about the writing style feels so distant to me. So I was surprised by the intimacy of Lewis’ writing here, which maintained a “classical” feel without being impenetrable. I liked the character of Orual, and the way she told her story, and I related to the love she felt for her younger sister, and the way in which the line between protectiveness and possessiveness became blurred. I didn’t really mind the allegorical nature of the story, or the way it stood in as a potential metaphor for Christianity vs. atheism, although I did think it was somewhat strange to use the character of Cupid, a “pagan” deity, to stand in for a monotheistic God. I kept expecting the “God of Israel” to make an appearance!

What makes me most uncomfortable about this story is not its exploration of “profane vs. sacred love,” but its implication that to be beautiful is to be godly and to be ugly is to be at the mercy of baser emotions. If Orual essentially came to “realize” that she had been “jealous” of Psyche all along, and had been in the wrong for most of her life; and if Psyche is the one who has been lucky enough to see the face of God and find herself beloved of God, can we avoid a message that one who is ugly in appearance is also ugly in heart, only dressing up her motivations as nobler ones? Or that to be beautiful in appearance is to be good and “pure” of heart? These are conclusions that don’t sit well with me, despite the beauty of this piece’s writing and its insight into the human psyche — no pun intended.





View all my reviews

In Which Congregants Take Over Worship

My latest post, a reflection of the burden Catholicism places on priests and laity alike when it restricts who can administer the sacraments, is up at Young Adult Catholics now. Check it out!