Lara Zielinsky's Blog: Newsletter, page 31

Thursday Thoughts

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Been a bit overwhelmed lately, starting a new temp assignment that involves an hour-long (each way) commute. I don’t like having to drive. I certainly don’t like crowded roads full of commuters who make bad, rushed decisions all the time. This morning that has led me to think about the driving scenes I have written in my stories. Are my characters as stressed out by it as I am? Have I ever written a scene with a character who is clearly enjoying their driving?

Going all the way back to the f...

Moved to WordPress

I have decided to move my author blog to WordPress.

Please visit larazielinskymedia.wordpress.com and update your bookmarks.

This site will be completely deleted March 31, 2019.

Thank you!
Lara Zielinsky

Proposal Day

Today is #ProposalDay

Here's the scene in We Three where Jess gets to once again consider Eric's proposal for some fun with him and Elena.

"What do you have in bottles back there?" 

Looking up from wiping the counter, Jess was immediately caught by blue eyes; she didn't hesitate to smile, immediately recognizing Eric. His good looks and his offer to shoot her had not been far from her mind over the last four days. "Hi," she said. "You want a beer, or something stronger?" She recalled he’d had scotch when at the nightclub. 

"Just a beer. I have to fly tonight." Eric slid onto the stool in front of her.

Jess nodded and listed off the top dozen beers most men seemed to prefer. Eric chose a Shock Top. She retrieved the bottle, popped the cap, and presented it. "Anything else?"

"You got fries or chips?" he asked. 

"Nachos with queso," she replied. 

"I'll take an order of nachos, then." His smile was warm, and then quickly hidden behind the bottle as he lifted it to his mouth. 

When she slid the nacho order in front of him, he looked down at it then back up at her. "Share with me?" he asked, then lifted a nacho with a tidy bit of melted cheese and held it out in invitation. 

Jess took it from his fingers with her own. "I shouldn't," she said, but she did, enjoying the easiness of Eric's smile. 

"It's just one chip," he said easily, taking another from the plate for himself. For a moment there was only the sounds of crunching while they both chewed. Finally, Eric cleared his mouth with another swallow from his beer. "It's Jess, right?" 

Jess nodded, fishing for her water bottle under the bar’s counter. When her mouth was clear, she dipped her head again. "You're Eric. Photographer." 

"In my spare time," he answered. His smile disappeared behind his bottle again. "Speaking of, given any thought to my suggestion? My days off this week are Monday and Tuesday, so I am looking to shoot something." He finished his chips off quickly after a glance at his wristwatch. "Oops. I'll need my check." 

While printing his check, Jess thought about how to respond. Now that the invitation had been repeated, she hesitated. Monday was a day off for her. She wondered if Eric knew that or had simply guessed because she worked late weekend hours, she was probably off on a weekday at some point. 

Bringing the printout to him, she asked obliquely, "You’re not shooting Elena?" He probably realized she was fishing for information about the brunette. Gus had pointed out how much people in this lifestyle appreciated clear communication. She wasn't comfortable being completely blunt, but she hoped Eric would understand her question's dual layers: Yes, I'm interested in doing this with you—I'm also interested in Elena. 

"Elena is also free Monday," Eric replied. He pulled a cardboard coaster from a nearby stack and flipped it over to the unprinted back. "Call," he said, scribbling a number. "We'll set things up." He set the pen down across the coaster and stood. After swallowing the last of his beer, he smiled warmly at her and said, "I gotta fly."

Tea for Two Tuesday

It's Tea for Two Tuesday!
For those of you who don't know me personally, you're learning this today: I LOVE TEA.

My favorites are black teas. A marvelous cup of "Earl Grey, hot" or a bit of cream in a pot of English Breakfast are perfect ways to start my day. I drink pots and pots of the stuff while writing. I drink herbals, and greens, and spice teas. I drink it hot or cold.

I've got a legit English tea set from my mother from when she traveled to London. When someone has no idea what to get me, I crave tea variety boxes. My girlfriend sent me some specialty teas from the shop she manages. I've made my own flavor combinations from loose leaf teas at the bulk store.

I've even indulged fandom love by buying "fandom-inspired" tea mixes (especially "Swan Queen") from Adagio.

I seldom get a companion drinking tea with me. My spouse and girlfriend prefer coffee. And I tend to have coffee drinking characters in my stories. Maybe that should change. Makes story note: next MC prefers tea.

~ Lara

St Patricks Day

It's St. Patrick's Day, when everyone claims to be Irish.

According to DNA and family tree, I've got a significant amount of actual Irish heritage. My maternal grandmother was Irish-American (O'Neal). St. Patrick's Day is a Catholic holiday, though, which doesn't match up since I'm Jewish. Considering St. Patrick's Day always occurs during Lent, when a lot of people I know do things like give up alcohol, I wonder if the habit of drinking to celebrate St. Patrick's Day was a way to have a tipple when you "normally" shouldn't.

Below is a snippet from a WIP story that features St. Patrick's Day.

Premise: The main character, Kira, is a office worker living in Boston. Plot starter: Drawn by the festive atmosphere, she steps into The Green Rose, an Irish pub. She's not a regular at the bar, nor a regular beer drinker. She just doesn't feel like going directly home to an empty studio apartment.

The story starts on Mardi Gras and continues through St. Patrick's Day. Here's the opening when Kira gets her first look at the bar:

Trying to look more confident than she currently felt, Kira Fennelly constantly scanned the faces and places she passed along State Street after rising from the T station below. She huddled against the March winds, hands stuffed into the pockets of her gray felt overcoat. The day of work just past dragged down her shoulders and only leftovers called from her refrigerator. 

The lively sounds of plucky strings and a bouncing woodwind -- probably a flute, she thought -- reached Kira over the clicking and clacking of heels boots and shoes on the pavement. She slowed, wondering why hurry other than to perhaps get out of the wind? No one was waiting for her. Her gaze followed her ears to the sound and she found herself looking up at a wood carved sign painted in green with gold lettering proclaiming the location to be The Green Rose. Shamrocks had been shaved into the beveled and smoked glass on both sides of the heavy-looking wooden green door.

Her surprise at finding an unfamiliar Irish bar along her home-to-work route told her two things. She was going through life oblivious and, second, she didn't really want to. She pulled open the heavy door, stepping back as a man on the other side pushed outward. Then she crossed the threshold into the mayhem before she could let social reticence override her curiosity.  

"Good evening. Do you have a reservation?"

Kira blinked as she unwrapped her scarf and opened her coat. "Um, no, do I need one?"

"Not really most days, but today's... kind of busy." 

Kira followed the nodding head of a young woman to take in the bar. Every chair, every surface, it seemed, was covered with drinking people. The musicians on a small riser in the front corner by the windows had only a few feet between themselves and the nearest patrons. They were quite literally playing to a "packed house." "I see what you mean," Kira replied.

"Are you going to be meeting people?" 

"It's just me." Kira took a closer look at the young woman while responding.

"There's probably a couple seats at the bar still."

"I don't really drink."

"Did you just come in to get out of the wind then?"

"Maybe. No. I don't know."

"Well, that's settling a mind." The young woman waved her forward. "I think we've got a space for you."

Because of the music and chatter, at least that's what Kira told herself, she hurried closely after the young woman who led her around tables and patrons, once or twice holding an arm to shepherd her around a particularly wide-spanning group. "Thank you."

When they stopped, Kira stood beside a small square table positioned only a few feet away from a door marked with the universal symbols for the restrooms. One single chair had been pushed up to it. Otherwise it was bare. "Have a seat. I'll get your utensils, water glass, and a menu."

Draping her coat over the back of what would become her chair, Kira sat down. The young woman walking away looked dapper, wearing a vest over a white shirt. The two points on the back of the vest dipped down over gray wool slacks drawing attention to the woman's rear. She closed her eyes rather than visually grope the waitress and let the music do its job to loosen the day's tensions.

--
There. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Not sure when I'll finish this story, but what do you think so far?
~ Lara(Only one more day until I fly west!)

marketing calendars

Marketing for Life: Building a Marketing Calendar A month ago I started a series about marketing as a small press or indie author. This is this third post, focused on connecting your books with readers. Basically we're going to talk about how to create a year-round marketing plan.
The calendar shifted from February to March and people's minds are turning from Valentine's Day to Easter and St. Paddy's Day, and thinking about digging out from snow and welcoming spring.  March is also designated in the U.S. as National Women's History month and National Craft month. 
Connect your book in people's minds to these celebrations is a strategy for building an effective marketing calendar. Here's a handy list of the holidays. And here's an article with some additional advice about when to smartly connect. The graphic shows a few from the beginning of the year laid out for you.
February is a popular romance book roll-out month. So are June (#1 month for wedding dates) and December (Christmas is the #2 most popular holiday for proposals). In order to get sales all year round, you need people to be seeing things about your book at other key times too. Knowing what people are generally thinking about -- or giving them something to think about that's related to your book -- gives you a chance to change up promotion and keep things fresh. It is a bad idea to run the same ad constantly.

Angle your pitch
Did you write a story that has a single Dad? Talk up that particular angle during June (Father's Day), even if you book was released in January. If your main character is an architect, roll out that angle during the month of June also (the national meeting is being held in Las Vegas in mid-June 2019). If your story covers a historical event (whether it's fictionalized or non-fiction), rolling out new advertising wording connecting to that event's anniversary date should be top of your plans for whatever month is appropriate. Think about how J.K. Rowling always released stuff about the books, the movies, or Pottermore on and around Harry's "birthday" (also her own) July 31.

Ideally, you should work advertising from a new angle every week to keep your content fresh. Did you write a science fiction story? Roll out marketing copy for your book mentioning Asimov or Heinlein or N.K. Jemisin around their birthdays. Angle a marketing pitch in the month of the birthday of the actor you based your main character on. Have a character eating blueberries? Share an except of that moment on "National Blueberry Day" (July 8, 2019). Have a character who reads comic books? Share their favorites on September 25, National Comic Book Day.
Another way to alert readers is with hashtags. Here's a list of holiday hashtags and the dates they trend. Got a character with a dog? Share an excerpt with the hashtag #NationalPuppyDay on March 23.
What kind of content to share
You've figured out what days to alter your advertising, but what does the advertising actually look like? Excerpts, #1stlines, reviews, character collages, and reader polls are all different content angles to put your book content in front of readers. Don't forget your buy link at the bottom. No fanfare.

Here are some ideas:

A blog post with an excerpt and appropriate category labels can be linked on Twitter with hashtags relevant to the holiday/trending topic. A revised brief story summary highlighting the character's relevant attributes can be connected to your book's universal link. Maybe your original summary doesn't mention that your MC is collects comics, but on #NationalComicDay tweet an image of your character's favorite comic AND ask your readers to comment or reply with their favorites.
Add other ideas you have in the comments.

ExampleHere's a snapshot of my angled advertising during the Christmas holidays:

A Christmastime scene (posted to a permanent page on my blog) and its related Tweet.
Note the hashtag #Christmas, but also the content hashtags that are most appropriate to reach the right audience (from the previous marketing post).


Happy marketing!

~ Lara


Next topic: Platform-specific formatting. Because, duh, not every type of advertising pitch is a "best practice" for every SM site.



Sources consulted before blogging:
Media Sprout Social. "Sprout-Social-Hashtag-Holidays-2019-PDF"
TrackMaven. "National Days: The Ultimate List (and Downloadable Calendar)." 2019.

WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!
Not much has been happening this week. I'm packing for my West Coast trip.

I've seen other authors tag Wednesdays as days to blog about their works in progress.

So, even though all my writing has stalled at the moment, I do have a few things in-progress I can give a little excerpt from.

I already shared the first page of two different stories asking which one I should finish first. The one set at the beach (lifeguard/tourist) edged out the one about doctors in Miami. Considering the doctors in Miami is more likely a novel than a novella, that's fine with me. I've written four more chapters in the beach story, and just gotten to the sex. Here's the lead up to that scene, end of chapter 4). It's perfectly safe for work, unless girl kisses make you blush (or make your boss uncomfortable

2018 Lambda Finalists announced

Full list of finalists for the 31st annual Lambda Literary Awards has been posted. The ceremony honors LGBTQ books published in 2018 in 24 categories.

These LGBTQ titles come from all over the spectrum and from indie authors, publisher-backed authors, university presses, and kitschy niche houses. I always find the Lammy lists a good source for books to add to my to-be-read pile.

The awards ceremony will be held June 3 event in New York City.

new source for searching books

Why Can't You Find It? 
One of the things difficult about looking for LGBTQ books available through Amazon is the search algorithms. (Not to mention the fact that it's all one category). The search results have a tendency to put the frequent sellers at the tops of the lists. The 99-cent stuff often gets listed before the legitimately well-edited and ownvoices stuff that's priced a little higher. Random searches for tags can only randomly be successful to find quality reading material. It's fine if what you're after is porn, but not so much if your reading choices are more nuanced. As an author, unless you send a would-be buyer directly to your book page, and market hard to spread that direct URL around, it's hard to get casually noticed.

Yes, would-be readers can sort alpha, by release date, etc., and even search on specific tags, but it's hard to judge the quality of what comes up. Particularly lesbian and bisexual books. A lot of the F/F stuff on Amazon is direct-published (KDP) erotica written with the "male gaze" in mind. The bisexual tag is more often than not sharing the male (and menage) experience. Certainly, there are legit lesbian and bisexual women-identified authors in the mix, but they are often too far down in the listings to be found by the casually searching buyer.

Where Can You Find It?
I found a place where LGBTQIA authors can list their own books directly that has a search engine that allows for an intensive and diverse search. You can search dozens of tags, genres and subgenres. You can search for stories that specifically take place in certain regions, countries, states, or cities. Do you want to binge on paranormals that take place in Europe? Find only queer stories set in Chicago or the 1920s? You can search for it. Do you want to find F/F content that is about a veterinarian? You can search that. Do you want science fiction that takes place in the near future with bi F/F content on a space station? Do you want to explore more non-erotic translit? You can find those too.
On Amazon, these books probably wouldn't be found because the titles and subtitles don't have those words. They have "normal" genre titles like "The Stellar Voyages of a Cardiff Witch." (Come to think of it, that might be a fascinating title for a sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal crossover that just happens to have a pagan bisexual witch main character who uses tesseracts to travel between worlds. Try finding THAT on Amazon! LOL)

Furthermore, the buy links at QRI don't lock you in to buying through Amazon. Authors can point the buy links to wherever there's the best return for them. Sometimes that's direct from the author. Or Smashwords, or Lulu or .... You get the idea. Also, author can announce specific places and times where their books are on sale.

Members at the site can create a TBR list, leave reviews, flag books coming so that you get alerts when they're available to purchase. Authors, I have found the listing fee is worthwhile investment in a queer-owned business.

Queer content all the time.
Queer-owned and queer-run.
QRI.

Here's my page for We Three. I'm adding my other books, too.

~ Lara

International Womens Day

It's International Women's Day.
The 2019 theme is "Balance is Better" from Google doodle for May 8, 2019
How is balance truly achievable when human perception can be stubborn? There are still studies that show a man will consider a workplace "overrun" or "dominated" by women when the percentage of workers who are women goes over 30%. Just talking 20% of the time in a meeting women are derided by men for "dominating" or "controlling" the agenda. Be tough on employees as a man and you're "just doing your job." If you're a woman though, you're "just being a bitch."
If you've been visiting this blog for any length of time, you know I write stories that feature lesbian and bisexual women as the main characters. In my day to day life, my answer to the question "what do you write?" is generally shortened to "I write women's fiction."
Women's fiction 
Stories about women's lives. My first two novels Turning Point and Turn for Home were women discovering some thing about themselves: they were capable of intimately loving another woman. Then they defend and shape that relationship in ways that positively support their partner, their families and themselves.
In We Three: One and One and One Makes Three, I also present women characters discovering something about themselves: they possess the power of consent. They control what happens, when, and they can ask for what they want. They give permission explicitly. No one is allowed to assume what they want. Partners, male or female, "check in" and activities are planned together.
Here's a scene where Elena and Jess, along with Eric, arrive together at the decision not to have sex.
Jess finally finished her shot of the chocolate wine. When the pictures had finished, Eric removed the camera from the cable. Watching his fingers move nimbly, she wondered what was next. Her thoughts were scattered by the alcohol, and she'd started to lean into Elena's shoulder. The terrycloth of Elena's jumper made her cheek tingle. She brushed at the sensation, even as Eric moved closer, his camera once again snapping away.
She frowned. He stopped clicking, lowered the camera, and asked, "Is this all right?"
"Mmm, fine," she murmured. "Feeling good."
"Maybe too good," Elena said. "I think you're falling asleep."
Jess tried to push herself upright to deny that she was tired. She was enjoying the ebb and flow of emotions. Everything was excitingly new, and yet blissful comfort stole into her limbs.
Eric put down the camera and reached for her hand; without hesitation, Jess grasped it. She came to her feet, swayed a little, and smiled at him. He smiled back. She looked back over her shoulder to see that Elena, too, was getting up. The brunette moved her hands to the small of Jess's back. Eric kissed her forehead. Jess sighed. She reached behind her and drew Elena's hands onto her hips, then covered the quivering in her stomach. Full lips touched the back of her neck; she breathed deeply.
"Bed sounds like a good idea," she said, and a brief image of the three of them tumbling onto sheets poured adrenaline into her veins that argued with the exhaustion. "Don't want to go," she added. Stepping back, she looked from one to the other sincerely. "I've had a really good time."
"There's nothing stopping us from doing it again," Eric said. "I'll drive you back to the club."
"I'll bring your work suit by tomorrow," Elena said as she followed Jess, leaning on Eric, to the front door. "After it's dry-cleaned."
Jess leaned away from Eric and kissed Elena again. "I'm really glad I came," she said.
The brunette's gaze turned dark and seductive and her lips twitched. "Not yet," Elena said.
Feeling loose and good, Jess laughed. "Not yet."
###Grab your own copy of We Three to read the whole story.