Julia London's Blog, page 72

The Ebook Bandwagon

Those of us in print publishing have experienced a seismic, game-changing shift in the industry with the surge of popularity in ebooks.  We all have ebook versions of our books available, but what it has meant for the industry is that while more and more people buy their books via internet, less and less people are buying books in traditional outlets, such as bookstores.  There are fewer bookstores.  People are buying paper books more often in the big superstores like Walmart and Target, which don't have the same shelf space, so they end up carrying only the bestsellers.  So the bottom line is that there are fewer opportunities for new people to discover our books just by happening on them.  You know…when you're standing at the check out, and you see that display of books, and one has an interesting cover and you pick it up and think, okay, add it to the pile, I might like it.

But, most of us are rolling with the punches and finding new ways to get old books, and in some cases, new books, up on the internet.  Some of us are writing novellas that our publishers will release only as ebooks.  And some of us are just happy to have a contract, no matter what it says.

At least, in this move to digital, we Whiners have established names.  At least we aren't starting out trying to get attention in a shrinking marketplace.  Its exciting and change, and if you, as a writer, can stop focusing on the scary parts, there are some fun parts.  Like,  we have more control with the old books, because we got the rights back to them so we can do what we want, and we all know a lot more than we used to know.  To me, the best part is having a say in the covers.  Hopefully, in the next month, I will be reissuing the Lear Sister Trilogy as digital ebooks.  I have been editing the books a little and worked with an artist to get the covers.  Here are the original covers:

And here are the new:

The quality issue is all mine — I enlarged the thumbnails, because I am on the wrong computer and I am too lazy to go and download a different size.  Hey, it's Sunday night.  But rest assured the actual covers are very sharp.  Nevertheless, you get the gist–what do you think?  And how do you feel about the notion that in the very near future, some books will be available only as ebooks, and you will probably find only the perennial bestsellers in print?  How do you feel about print on demand?

O'Reilly's the Name, Writing's the Game…

Today, my 26th fiction book is on the shelves. I remember reading Nora's incredible numbers and thinking, OMG, I will never catch up to those kind of numbers, but this summer, books 26, 27, and 28 hit the stores. No, it's not Nora's 144 books written (I think it's higher now), but hey, it's a decent start.

Book Number 26!!!

I actually like writing a lot of books. It seems to work for me. I wish I wrote faster and had more writing time, because I could give Nora a real run for her money. I don't think I could spend a whole year (or God forbid, three years) working on one title. I think I'd end up hating the book, and wanting my hero and heroine to die in a hail of bullets. Since I'm about to start work on another trilogy (books 29, 30, 31), this is probably a good thing.

Today's my day to talk about the book, so Book 26 is Just Surrender, Book 1 of the Harts of Texas series. I have an excerpt on the website and I hope y'all have a great weekend.

We're not doing a lot at the O'Reilly homestead this weekend, maybe I'll catch up on my reading, or maybe, you know, I'll do some writing. ☺

What's everyone doing this weekend? Any fun plans you want to share?

The Hard Part of Storytelling

Drivel drivel, dreck dreck

Yesterday, I finished a manuscript for THE REVENGE OF LORD EBERLIN, which follows THE YEAR OF LIVING SCANDALOUSLY.  This book too me much longer to write than normal.  Not because it was so complex or deep in thought, but because my life intervened too often.  Inevitably, every time I came back to the manuscript, I had trouble liking what I was reading.  So the upshot of this is, if you are me, and you take too much time, you end up rewriting the whole damn book.  However, if  you have a strict deadline, you get 'er down and get 'er done.  Lesson learned.

Nevertheless, you can see by the screen shot that the thing was a big fat mess.  My storytelling skills go through an evolution with each book.  What sounded great in theory often turns out to be just dumb on the page.  So the story evolves, and I evolve with it.  I find myself thinking about certain scenes and thinking, wouldn't it be better if this happened?  But if this happened, don't I have to change the front of the book?  And the back?  And all the stuff in between?  Discovering your process is the hard part of storytelling.  Mine is pretty messy, but it seems to work.

I am happy the book is done.  It always feels like a cause for celebration when I finish one.   I want to do something FABULOUS.  I want to buy things, eat things, drink things.  I want to fly somewhere, drive somewhere, skate somewhere.  I feel euphoric…but then I will notice that the laundry needs doing or the kitchen needs to be cleaned, and voila, euphoria disappears and the chore list rears its ugly head.

Yesterday, however, I took in a movie.  It was a rainy day and I haven't seen one in a while.  So I went to see:

Well, here's another hard part of story-telling.  No matter the story, you have to give your characters some redeeming qualities so readers will root for them.  There has been some controversy among readers about the book this movie was based on (Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin), because the lead characters behave badly in ways that none of us would behave.  I read the book, I knew the challenges, and while I can think of how I might have done it, the movie kept me engaged, just as the book did.  It's a salacious little tale, and if you don't mind that sort of thing, I thought it was pretty good.  But then again, my standards are not high.  I thought the previews for Kung-Fu Panda II looked pretty good.

Have you read the book?  Have you read a book with a difficult conflict where you were still able to root for the characters?  What is your story-telling process?  Is it as ugly as mine?

The Mother of All Days

I had a lovely Mother's Day.  Friends came over and we went out on the lake then grilled burgers.  It was fun, relaxing, and we laughed until our sides ached.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to spend the day with my mom as she lives in New York, but did speak to her on the phone.  Here's a photo of her on her honeymoon.

 

I have so many great memories of my mother.  She was a stay-at-home mom and was always very involved in the PTA and girl scouts and band parents.  She never minded when I collected Styrofoam cups of caterpillars or lady bugs, or when I caught dozens of baby frogs at the beach and then brought them home and freed them in her garden.  It became tradition for me and my sister to give our mom plants for Mother's Day, and her garden is filled with azaleas and hydrangeas from Mother's Days past.  She didn't like to swim in the ocean, but she'd sit on the beach for hours and watch while I played in the waves.  She made band capes for the entire elementary school band.  She instilled in me a love of reading.  She taught me how to do the lindy while we watched The Glenn Miller Story.  She taught me how to roller skate and how to cook, and hundreds of other things.  She's always supported me and been my friend and an inspiration.  She's going to be 87 next month and she's a dynamo.  Although she didn't pass on the tiny butt gene (thanks a lot, Mom, LOL!), I'm hoping she passed along that 87-and-still-a-dynamo gene.  Thanks for having me, Mom!

How was your Mother's Day?  If you're not a mom, what did you do for yourself?  Any favorite memories of your mom, or grandma, or sister or some other significant woman in your life you'd like to share? 

Comfort reads

I've always had comfort reads. When I was a kid, it was either Nancy Drew books or anything by Edward Eager (my favorite was Half Magic). And E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was the fave.)

My daughter has comfort reads, too: The Lightning Thief books, Bailey School kids, and, of course, Harry Potter.

In my adult years, I've picked up a few more, and I find that although there are exceptions like The Pillars of the Earth and Gone With the Wind (what can I say, I like long books), most of my comfort reads are part of a series. Sue Grafton ranks high on my list. And my younger adult days saw me picking up all the Hitchhiker's Guide books. In the early nineties, I discovered a wonderful series of cozy mysteries that started with Grime and Punishment. And, yes, there was a period in my life when I glommed all the Flowers in the Attic books (and loved every sordid minute of it!)

Of course, the risk with a series is that your comfort read will start to disappoint you. That's happened on a couple of occasions. Series that I absolutely glommed that have turned into wallbangers for me (and no, I won't name names).

But that's not something I fear happening with my number one favorite glommable series: J.D. Robb's In Death books. I love these books. I love the characters and how they grow (which, sadly, doesn't happen in some series books). I love the plots. The writing style. The world.

What's interesting to me is that although I enjoy Nora Robert's romances, I'm not a rabid fan. But a J.D. Robb? It's usually on my kindle the minute that puppy goes on sale, and probably read by about noon of the next day. I've even read all the anthology stories, and that says a lot since (probably b/c of my proclivity toward long novels) I'm not a huge short story or novella reader. But for Eve and Roarke, I'll happily make an exception. More, I'll read the whole series over, starting with book one. I did that two Thanksgivings ago. Started on Thanksgiving day and ended in February, right in time for the next book (can't remember which one it was). So kudos, Ms. Robb. And please don't get tired of Eve and Roarke anytime soon. I wouldn't know what to do without my regular fix!

What are some of your comfort reads? Do you glom any particular series? Got any you read over and over?

That's What I Like About… ME!

In Love and Other Drugs, a watchable but not great Ann Hathaway-Jake Gyllenhaal movie, Ann's character Maggie confirms her suspicion that Jake's character Jamie has self-esteem issues when she finally asks him, flat out, to name five things he likes about himself– and he can't do it. [image error]

It's important to love yourself. And yet, as women (and some of you men do it, too), we spend so much time focused on our flaws. Are we too fat? Too skinny? Too wrinkled? Too old? Too gray? Not pretty enough? Out of style? Out of touch? Enough!

Today let's celebrate what we love about ourselves. Five things! Name five things you like (or better yet, love) about you.

I'll start:

1. I have a quick wit. Just the other day, having coffee with my friend Debby, I made her laugh three times with my wordplay. The lines were so good, she wanted to write them down to remember them for later. (Alas, she did not– let's hope she has a good memory). Virginia Henley has called me "the wittiest woman in the world." And though she exaggerates perhaps, I'll take the compliment.

2. I love my natural hair color. Admittedly, I loved it more when I was younger. I've had to add highlights to bring back some of the blond that's gone dark over the years, but no gray yet. Yes, I said it. No gray! I love that. Woo-hoo!

3. I'm fiercely loyal. I love my friends and family, and I will stand by them and stand up for them with everything I am.

4. I love my green eyes. They have yellow flecks. I think they're a little unusual. They could be bigger… stop, wait. No. I'm not going to the negative. I love my green eyes. There. Done.

5. I've accepted that life is not fair. It has taken me some time, but I finally understand that not every fight is worth fighting. Some are. Absolutely. But sometimes, you just can't win, can't change what doesn't seem right. Sometimes, it's best to find acceptance and walk away.

Your turn! Is it your flawless complexion? Your stunning eyes? Your natural charm? Name five things you like about you. And then, if you're like me, maybe you can think of five more. Love yourself!

 

Just Surrender…

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

This weekend, I planted my garden. Eight tomato plants, a bunch of green beans, and a bunch of cucumbers. Three years ago, the Hubster constructed a raised-bed garden frame for me (I 'managed' the project). I found some flexible dog-run fencing to put on top, and voila – Kathleen's garden.

Kathleen's Garden

That year I did surprisingly well. I say 'surprisingly' because I can kill pretty much anything, but this one seems foolproof. The plans and soil recipe I got from the Book entitled Square Foot Gardening , but the wiki entry has a lot of the basic information, too.

Before I had planted six tomato plants, three vines of green beans, some peppers and six cucumber plants. The tomatoes did great, but we can eat a LOT of tomatoes. Homegrown tomatoes are awesome compared to the flavor-less store bought tomatoes. Homegrown tomatoes actually have taste. The beans were great as well, but I sowed a lot more green bean seeds this time. Each vine yielded about a dozen beans, which would be great if I were a hamster instead of a family of four. Hopefully, the extra vines will do the trick.

There is one plant that has survived all three years. The Chives. Chives are apparently indestructible. I did not water the chives, nor cover them in winter, but we've had fresh chives ten months out of the year. Chives are apparently the Terminator 3 of the plant world. I highly recommend them to a novice.

On the side of the house, we have raspberries and two apple trees. We planted the apple trees four years ago, are finally getting blossoms on the smaller tree. Not sure if the taller tree will ever bloom, but I read that apple trees take a long time to get started, so we will be patient. The raspberries are doing great. Last year we yielded about two baskets full of berries, but my family could eat a lot of raspberries. We should plant more canes, I think. Raspberries are not cheap.

This time I'm hopeful about my crops. Groceries are really getting expensive, and I hate that it's the fresh produce and fruit that is so pricey. I'll report back later in the year and see if this year's bounty was thick or thin.

So what about y'all? I know we have a few gardeners out there. Who's growing what this year? Are there any plants that you wish you could grow?

Everything is Related

[image error]Often times when we think of world building we think of great fantasy writers.  The worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Terry Brooks and J.K. Rowling.   Whether it's Middle Earth, Narnia, Landover or Hogwarts, we are transported to a magical place created inside the author's mind.  But this kind of world building isn't limited to the fantastical.  All writers build worlds.  Granted some are more elaborate than others.  But in every author's mind there exists a special place where their characters live.  We're transported instantly, and sometimes without warning, while driving down the street, watching passersby, and sometimes, unfortunately, in the middle of something that quite honestly should be considered more pressing.  But there you have it –writers live in their own little worlds.

People often ask which of my books are connected and I'm often tempted to tell them that they're all related.  Katherine and Jeff from Everything in its Time are related indirectly to Kacy in After Twilight and quite distantly to Michael in The Promise.  And in my newest series, Harrison Blake, who appeared as a supporting player in the Last Chance series and once worked for John in Midnight Rain, shows up in the third book A-Tac book, Desperate Deeds, to help the team find the traitor in their midst.   And these are just a few examples of how my imaginary world links the characters within the books I write.

World building in series work is perhaps even more important.  Continuity is crucial and if a series spans more than a couple of books, it's critical for a writer to maintain not only a story bible, but one for details as well.  Characters favorite things, descriptions of their homes, their families, their feelings on any number of subjects.   If A-Tac's second in command Nash Brennon hates technology in Dark Deceptions he'd darned well better not hack into a computer in Dangerous Desires (at least not without a lot of grumbling and some serious help).  Or if Tyler Hanson, who we learn in Desperate Deeds, has good reason to hate umbrella drinks, we'd better not find her sipping a pina colada in Dark Deceptions.  Readers are smart people and believe me they always catch these kinds of mistakes.

So whether the writer's world is as far removed from reality as Lewis Carroll's Wonderland in the Alice books or as grounded in truth as J.D. Salinger's New York in Catcher in the Rye, world building is crucial to creating a compelling read.  One that transports the reader away from their own particular reality, if only for a few magical hours.

[image error]When you think about great world-building what authors and books spring to mind?

 

Sometimes life is just like the movies…

We are about to start the summer block-buster season and the movie reviews are starting to trickle out:

Thor – "It's not art, but it's mighty fun" – Entertainment Weekly. I should note that the NY Times hated it (and the review is wildly entertaining)

Something Borrowed – NY Post called it a "thin gruel" which cracked me up.

However, what is fascinating to me is not the current crop of movies, but an older crop of movies. In particular spy movies, because as I was reading about the events leading up to the terrorist who shall not be named, I started to remember scenes from movies that I had seen before, and I'm thinking that this whole moment in history would make a great Jerry Bruckheimer production.

First of all, back in January, a US diplomat, Ray Davis was indicted for killing two men in a local 'robbery' in Lahore, Pakistan. Davis was in a car, when two men began pursuing him on motorcycles (see "The Bourne Ultimatum and also more loosely Clear and Present Danger when the diplomats get ambushed).

Click here to view the embedded video.

When the news story on Davis first broke, I was thinking 'uh-oh' this guy is toast. Americans are not popular in Pakistan. Americans who kill Pakistanis are even more unpopular. And then, the US government came out and said Davis was a member of the U.S. special forces, and worked for the CIA. And I'm thinking this guy is SO DEAD. Then Time magazine reports that the men that Davis killed were ISI, the Pakistan military intelligence, and I'm thinking, what's deader than dead? because this dude is it.

But then, something odd happened. The US paid a lot of money to the families of the ISI men that were killed, and Davis was free to go.

Now, for those of you who are wondering, Lahore, the city where the Davis incident occurred is not near Abbottabad, Pakistan. It's about four hours south and east. Did you know that Google directions work just as well in Pakistan as they do in your own neighborhood? I did not.

Also, the New York times said that Davis was investigating Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is not tied to Al Queda, but more to the India/Kashmir conflict, but hey, I write fiction, and I think it makes a fun conspiracy theory.

So, now we fast forward to the scene of the White House watching the raid.

Tension at the White House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm reminded of a scene in Patriot Games.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And the last flashback moment. NBC news ran a virtual re-enactment of the take-down, and there was the bit with the wife and Bin Laden's 19 year old son, and I'm back to the Bourne movies, the scene where Jason is getting his memory back, and he remembers the assassination attempt and why things went wonky (couldn't find a video, and besides, there'd be some spoilers).

We like to think of movies as pure escapism, and I am a huge military thriller fan, but sometimes fiction cuts close to reality and you realize that life and fiction aren't that far apart.

I love Hunt For Red October (both the movie and the book), and all the Bourne Movies were lots of fun. I think Matt Damon plays an excellent military dude. Not as over the top as Tom Cruise, more 'real'. I don't see any military thrillers in the summer line-up, but I'm predicting – you heard it here first – that there will be a TON coming out over the next two or three years.

Does anybody out there love military thrillers? What are your favorites? What movie star would make a great military hero? And are you glad it's Friday?