Tia Silverthorne Bach's Blog, page 113

Interviewing in Character: Krista Interviews Abby

Mom and I wanted to do something fun for a Monday, so we decided to have Krista interview Abby as part of a sixth grade English assignment. In Depression Cookies , Krista is the 13 year old daughter and Abby the mother.

Krista: Why did you have three children? I don't remember asking for a brother or a sister.

Abby: And I don't remember needing your approval either.

Krista: Fine. I'm supposed to ask you your favorite memory as a teenager. Do you even remember being a teenager?

Abby: Certainly! Probably playing slap, kiss and hug with your father.

Krista dry-heaves and then continues: That's SO gross. How did you know Dad was the one?

Abby: I didn't at first. We didn't run in the same crowd. But he was cute!

Krista: Enough. When you were my age, what did you want to be? And my teacher is going to want me to ask, Why?

Abby: I wanted to be a teacher. They seemed to have all the answers and my parents seemed to be struggling with all the questions.

Krista: Aha! So you admit parents don't know everything!

Abby: I admit some parents are so steeped in their own problems they can't see the larger picture.

Krista: Um, okay, whatever that means. Last question, because I forgot my paper and can't remember any more, did I mention I need 2 dozen cookies by tomorrow?

Abby: No, but what's new?

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path. Agatha Christie

Hand Gestures Don't Sell Books like a Voice Does

Mom and I both attended our first book festivals yesterday in NC and MD respectively. Mom had a table set up in a lovely, downtown store named Wine & Words, and I enjoyed a sunny day mingling with fellow authors and enthusiastic readers.

But I must explain my title . . . I could feel a head cold coming on mid-day Friday. Power through, I chanted all day. I woke up to a beautiful Saturday, took cold medicine, and headed out at 8am to setup. Pumped up, I started out strong. Good crowds, people interested in talking about our book, and two great booth neighbors pumped me up.

The voice started going about 10:30am (the festival started at 10am), and nice, uncontrollable squeaks and cracks littered my speech. Some found it endearing, especially those who were already smitten with my t-shirt (see picture, thanks Mom!). By noon, it was all I could do to project my voice over the crowd and train that passed by every so often.

Melanie of the Paper Pear and Richard Peabody of Gargoyle Magazine and Paycock Press, my lovely booth mates, were so supportive. At one point, Melanie offered to step in and pitch the book if my voice completely failed me.

In the end, I hand gestured more than normal and pushed through. My middle daughter, Reagan, hung out with me part of the day. She was so sweet telling people her mother was losing her voice, and she even gave a pretty impressive synopsis of the book. (The fact that she's adorable, if I do say so myself, charmed several people).
It was funny how many people saw the back cover of Depression Cookies and took a second before asking, "Is this you?" Yes, it's the non-head cold, non-heat suffering, hair and makeup done version of me, I wanted to say.
One of the sweetest people I met was Haley Tanner, author of Vaclav & Lena. She and her mother came around to several of the booths before Haley gave her presentation and signed books. They spent several minutes speaking to me and relating mother-daughter stories. They were both lovely.

Silver linings . . . sometimes people listen better when you use fewer
words,  and my husband has a quieter Sunday ahead of him.

A Furry Friend Remembered: We'll Miss you Mikey

Mom and I sat down at the beginning of the Blogathon and made a rough calendar of topics to cover. We have deviated from time to time. We are going to do so today to say goodbye to Mikey, the Yorkshire Terrier child of my mom and dad. A faithful friend and companion, he's with his brother Rambo now (the Chihuahua child of my parents who passed away not long ago.)

We'll miss you Mikey!


we girls moved awaya companion to fill spacefilled your heart instead

Official Award Recipient and Now Appearing on the Lit Chick Show!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you exciting news. First, as a follow up to our Chick Lit debate, please check out the list of 2011 award recipients at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website. We are honored to officially announce that Depression Cookies was named a Finalist in the Chick Lit category.

In addition, we are featured today on Sylvia Massara's Lit Chick Show. When researching the idea of video as a marketing tool, I came upon Sylvia's website. Such a cool concept. Sylvia, a self-described Literary Chick, is a Sydney, Australia-based author who is giving back to her literary community by featuring authors on her literary blog run as a mini-TV show. Thanks so much to Sylvia for featuring us!


Please check out our show at http://www.litchickshow.com/2011/05/lit-chick-show-looks-at-depression.html.

Normally on Fridays, our blog features The Best Thing We Read this Week and Why. Is it okay to admit the two best things I read this week were the announcement of our Finalist award and Sylvia's email about our Lit Chick debut?

Still, I have read some incredible blog posts as part of WordCount's Blogathon and plan to feature some of those very soon.

Offical Award Recipient and Now Appearing on the Lit Chick Show!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you exciting news. First, as a follow up to our Chick Lit debate, please check out the list of 2011 award recipients at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website. We are honored to officially announce that Depression Cookies was named a Finalist in the Chick Lit category.

In addition, we are featured today on Sylvia Massara's Lit Chick Show. When researching the idea of video as a marketing tool, I came upon Sylvia's website. Such a cool concept. Sylvia, a self-described Literary Chick, is a Sydney, Australia-based author who is giving back to her literary community by featuring authors on her literary blog run as a mini-TV show. Thanks so much to Sylvia for featuring us!


Please check out our show at http://www.litchickshow.com/2011/05/lit-chick-show-looks-at-depression.html.

Normally on Fridays, our blog features The Best Thing We Read this Week and Why. Is it okay to admit the two best things I read this week were the announcement of our Finalist award and Sylvia's email about our Lit Chick debut?

Still, I have read some incredible blog posts as part of WordCount's Blogathon and plan to feature some of those very soon.

Support Book Festivals OR Don't Leave Authors Sitting All Alone

I've always enjoyed book festivals. Row after row of great hidden gems: books the big book chains aren't exhibiting at the front of their store. Quoting the Gaithersburg Book Festival flyer, "(it's) a large-scale annual celebration of the written word." So, let's celebrate!

I'm looking forward to talking with book lovers, but I'm also looking forward to sneaking away from my own booth and checking out the local author scene. I've recruited my oldest daughter to help man my table while I mingle.

Mom and I will each be attending our first book festival this Saturday, May 21. I will be at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, MD, and Mom will be attending the Washington, NC Book Fest sponsored by I Can't Believe It's a Book Store, a great, local bookstore. This festival has authors set up in local businesses, and Mom is in a shop called Wine & Words. Wine and Books, brilliant.

If you are near either of these areas, come check out all the books and local authors. And, don't be shy . . . stop by the Depression Cookies table for a chat!

I am Woman Hear me Roar, for Shoes?

We won an award, we won an award . . . so exciting, but let me get back to that in a moment.

Mom and I wrote a book about something very near and dear to our hearts: the many female relationships in our lives, particularly the relationship between mothers and daughters. The publishing and marketing world require "labels" for products. You need to define what you are selling before you attempt to sell it. I get it. I'm not a genre-specific reader, so I don't personally need a book to be labeled. I need a good friend recommendation or great back/inside cover detailing the story.

Caving to industry standards, we set out to define our novel. This was particularly important for submitting to awards contests. We didn't want to be in General Fiction, because we'd be competing with everything. And, although so many elements of our lives creeped into our finished work, we are not a memoir. The term "Chick Lit" seemed the best choice, but I had a hard time giving into this classification.

Prior to researching, I definited Chick Lit as any book about whiny, self-absorbed women who only cared about shoes, clothes, purses, jewelry, the right man, and the right purse-sized dog. The big reveal at the end: the woman realizes she is more than said things, but she's not willing to live without them. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for fluffy beach reads, but I don't read them often. And I really felt our book offered more.

Off to the computer I went. I simply typed in "definition of Chick Lit" to see what bounced back. The best of what I found:

The World English Dictionary defines Chick Lit as a genre fiction concentrating on young working women and their emotional lives (as modifer: chick-lit romances).
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines it as stories written by women, about women and for women to read.
And, finally, Wikipedia, says Chick Lit addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly.
Each of these was problematic in some way. Our two main characters: a stay at home mom and a thirteen year old. The stay at home mom is hard-working for sure, but not the "young working woman" this definition alludes to. And I wasn't sure the definition of modern womanhood, but our story is set in the 1980's so probably not a fit. We are humorous in several parts, but it does not define the novel. I could wrap my head around written by women, about women and for women to read. But does that mean Nicholas Sparks for all his sappy, emotion-jerking books does not qualify for Chick Lit?
I needed more than a definition. So I kept searching. I found blog after blog trying to define it. Yeah, I wasn't the only one confused. Time and time again, I saw the face of Chick Lit as Sex and the City. I know I'm in the minority here, but I've maybe seen two episodes of the TV show, never saw either movie, and did not read the books. Our book would not speak to someone looking for more Carrie Bradshaws. More adjectives seemed to circle around the term Chick Lit: fluffy, happy endings, romance, contemporary, hip, stylish...
Then I found two quotes. One from an author (Roberts) I've turned to time and time again when I needed some "down-time but not trashy" reading and one from an author I know little about.
"Chick Lit uses humor to reflect life back to us. It's a very comforting genre..." Marian Keyes
Oh, we reflect life, but I don't know how comforting life's reflection is at times.
"Women's Fiction is a story that centers on a woman or on primarily women's issues, not necessarily the romantic relationship based books I do but the woman's story." Nora Roberts
Now, this I like, but the term is Women's Fiction and not Chick Lit (although the article quoting Mrs. Roberts stated it was the best Chick Lit definition she'd read). I like Women's Fiction and would embrace defining ourselves that way, but it's rarely used and I'm not sure it's interchangeable with Chick Lit.
In the end, we defined ourselves as Chick Lit for our submissions. There was even one award with the category Chick/Women's Lit. I don't like labels (not helping my Chick Lit cause!). Still, it must be a fit, at least in the eyes of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. We were just named a Finalist in the Chick Lit category (winners and finalists will be officially announced on their site on Friday, 5/20). Shiny stickers, here we come.
I'm not sure I have a better handle on what Chick Lit really means. I'd like to think it centers around stories written by women (prefer to "chicks"), about women and for women to read. Women define themselves in many ways. They can be a stay-at-home mom, a business woman, or anything in between. So it stands to reason "their" literature is varied in its definition.
Still, I couldn't help but chuckle at my favorite quote about Chick Lit:
"If we call Bridget Jones's Diary 'chick lit,' why don't we call The Hunt for Red October 'dick lit'?" Gloria Steinem
We'd love to know: How do you define Chick Lit?

Guest Post: Shameless Self-Promotion Dos and Don'ts by Lisa Carter

We welcome Lisa Carter of Intralingo to our blog today with a wonderful article about self promotion (check out my guest post at her site as well). Yet another fascinating and talented blogger I've met through WordCount's Blogathon, Lisa is a literary translator.

Shameless Self-Promotion Dos and Don'ts

Congratulations! You've just had your feature article/book of poetry/contribution to an anthology/novel/[fill in the blank] published! This is no easy feat. It has taken time and effort, dedication and perseverance. You should be justifiably proud. Now the public needs to hear about your work so they can read it.
In 2007, The New York Times book review supplement estimated that 1.5 million books were published around the world the previous year. With the recent explosion of self-publishing, just imagine that number now! Without s
ome promotion, your work is sure to be swept away by this rising tide.
What's more, in this era of reduced marketing budgets, even major publishers leave it mostly up to you, the author, to promote your own work.
Shameless self-promotion can be daunting. Standing there, holding the brightest flashlight you can find over your own head, takes most writers far out of their comfort zone. Yet, if writing is meant to be read and it's unlikely that anyone else will turn a high-powered spotlight on you, it is simply something we have to do.
This fall, I was fortunate enough to have two novel translations released. Because my name is only on the inside cover and the publisher's marketing efforts (such as they are) never target the translator, it was up to me to tell people about this work and my contribution to it. I chose to do a virtual launch for each novel: I sent out e-mail announcements, posted on my blog and added pages to my website.
What you choose to do may vary, but I hope a few of the dos and don'ts that I've learned along the way will help.
Do promote. Whatever you decide is the best marketing approach, be it a virtual or in-person launch, you have accomplished something extraordinary. Shout it from the rooftops! Contrary to what you might think, people do want tohear about your work, and you are the best person to tell them about it.
Do cast your net wide. Invite friends and family, of course, but also colleagues, past and potential business contacts. A launch is not only about one specific publication; it is about building your reputation. Clients you may not have worked with for a while will be reminded of your skill. Prospects are sure to be impressed and will be more likely to get in touch.
Do be personal yet remain professional. Since the invite to take part in your launch is from you, not a slick marketing firm, let your real voice be heard. Write in your usual e-mail, speaking and published writing style. People will be more receptive if they feel they are being approached personally. However, make sure you maintain your high writing standards: use appropriate language, ensure there are no spelling or other mistakes.
Do offer some value-add. By announcing your work, you are asking the public to acknowledge you. It's only fair to acknowledge their attention by offering something beyond the trumpet horn blaring your name. You might want to give away a certain number of your books or provide links to related articles of interest.
Don't announce every single publication. You're obviously proud of everything you publish, but save your focused promotion efforts for major milestones. People will grow tired or even annoyed if constantly spammed with announcements. Then, as the boy who cried wolf found out, when a really important work comes out, your news will be ignored.
Don't only ever promote yourself. If you are going to interact with potential readers, let it be about other things as well. For example, if you tend to announce new works on your blog, make sure you post other things in between. This will build up a consistent readership that is engaged, not rolling their eyes thinking, "Here she goes again…"
Don't offer more than you can deliver. If your value-add is to raffle ten signed copies of your book or three subscriptions to the magazine, make certain you actually have those physical gifts to give when the time comes.
Don't repeat yourself ad nauseam. Let's say you have decided to launch the work on your website and blog, as well as send an e-mail invitation. Be sure to provide different content in each of those places so visitors will find something new of potential interest, not be sickened by the same thing over and over again.
Although promotion means an investment of at least your time, it is absolutely worth it. You write with the public in mind. They deserve to be given the opportunity to read your work, to congratulate you on your success. If shameless self-promotion is done well, respecting your audience, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Good luck with it!
Lisa Carter is a literary translator with five novels and one book of non-fiction to her credit. You can find her on Twitter @intralingo and on the Web at http://www.intralingo.com/.
Note: This post originally appeared in November 2010 on The Urban Muse blog. 

Guest Post: The Top Advice for Anyone Considering Freelance Writing by Nicky LaMarco

Today is Wordcount's Blogathon Guest Post Exchange Day. I'm honored to have Nicky LaMarco from Writing Pays guest blogging today. I've learned so much from her since we started this Blogathon journey. Thanks Nicky!  The Top Advice For Anyone Considering Freelance Writing This is a loaded question, and the one answer I can give is write. To be a writer you must write. It sounds simple, but (as you may know) is not. Freelance writing is a business and you need to treat it as such. You'll need to write well and market yourself to potential clients and Editors. You need to learn to create a writing plan, choose your writing niches, build a writing portfolio, create a resume, write queries, apply for writing jobs, and set your fees. Freelance writing is a superb career if you love to write. Learn all of the basics in my freelance writing class Get Paid to Write: Become a Freelance Writer. Based in New Hampshire, Nicky LaMarco has been writing on animals, business, health, home and garden, martial arts, gift giving and writing since 2001. She enjoys helping beginning writers with her blog Writing Pays and her online writing class Get Paid to Write: Become a Freelance Writer. She has studied business administration at McIntosh College. LaMarco has a first-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Wishes for an Eleven Year Old: Happy Birthday Jackie

My oldest daughter and Mom's oldest granddaughter, Jackie, turns 11 today. So on her special birthday, we wanted to share the dreams we have for her.
From Nana:
Faith – in God and in yourself.
            My family never went to church. They never talked about God. Still there was always a part of me that knew all about Him. Friends invited me to their church. I fell in love with the beautiful stained glass windows and the songs that filled me with wonder and awe. I loved Jesus even before I knew His name. I sense you have this longing in your soul, preserve it.            Faith also rests in yourself. Be real. People want to be around real people, not people who change like a chameleon. Get grounded in your beliefs and stand firm. Some people will want to change you. Understand a lot of people aren't as strong as you are and be patient with them. Nana and Jackie 2000
Love – guide your heart.            Sanskrit has 96 words for love, Persian has 80, Greek three, and English only one. One word and we use it for everything. We love our parents, and we love pizza. Well, yes…but no…I mean, it's not the same, is it?  Love is powerful and wonderful. Take it seriously. Right now you know love as parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. Before long, you will start to have tender feelings for others. That special young man will be standing on your doorstep. Choose wisely; guide your heart to guard your heart. Be honest about your feelings; love is not a fad. We can have a lot of wonderful friends, boys and girls, but real love is to be treasured. Look at Mama and me – we've got your dad and papa. 
Dream Big – you can be anything you want to be or dream to be.
When I was your age, I wanted desperately to be a paleontologist. I poured over library books on the subject. I dug up half the yard looking for bones. One night my dad picked up a book off the mound in front of me, flipped through the pages and said, "Do you see any women in this book?" I grabbed first one and then another and he was right, there were no women in the pictures, only a bunch of old, gray haired men. I closed the books, returned them to the library and then decided to become an anthropologist. Lots of books; no women. Geologist? No women. Archeologist? No women. So, I started writing down my thoughts, eventually writing two books, and I'm still digging in the dirt, hoping to find a pterodactyl toe. And when I'm famous, I'll head to Egypt, to that one place I found in my dream and I'll dig until I find it−an unnamed cranium unlike me.
From Mama:
Love: I hope you concentrate on loving yourself before trying to love another. I want you to find your soul mate without too many "sole" mates (my version of the boyfriend equivalent to the crap on the bottom of your shoe or a smelly, rotten fish!). May you find yourself before you find him. If he's THE one, he wants an authentic you as much as you should. Mom and Jackie 2000
Dreams:
"Dreams are illustrations . . . from the book your soul is writing about you."  ~Marsha Norman
Keep a notebook for dreams. Jot down everything your imagination considers. Later, another dream may replace it, but don't simply disregard anything on your list. (And for my sake I hope your dreams don't include inspired tattoos, too many men on motorcycles, collection of Mardi Gras beads, or anything to do with modeling or casting couches).
Faith: There's a reason it's called a "leap of faith" and I hope you take that leap. In a world where religion is often distorted and used for evil, remember grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. Let your faith guide you and be your shield without it every being armor against good people.
Stumbling Blocks: Life is full of them. You can't avoid them. I just want every pothole in the road to teach you something you needed to learn in order to reach your destination. I hope none leave scars that cannot heal. Know your father and I (and sisters and grandparents, Aunts, etc.) are here to catch you if you fall or throw you back in the ring if we think you can handle it!
Technology: May Facebook, Twitter and email lose their social allure and good old-fashioned letter writing, kind conversation and phone calls come back into vogue.
And a final list of what we'll both need:
·         Patience – for each other and in life·         Prayer – but know unanswered prayers can be the sweetest gifts·         Resilience – for when patience and prayer need a helping hand
       And know all the things we want for you could not possibly be compiled in a list.
God lent us one of the sweetest angels when He gave us you!
Jackie - end of 5th grade

·       Humor!!