Len Joy's Blog, page 9

How to Write a Novel in Eight Years, Nine Months and Three Days

   On June 23rd, 2005 my niece, Kathleen asked me if I would write a story to be read at her wedding in September. I thought that was a really bad idea and eventually she abandoned the notion, but not before I wrote a thousand word story called, “The Toast,” about a thrice-divorced salesman named Clayton who is asked to give a toast at his niece Kayla’s wedding. In this story Clayton has a younger more serious brother named Jim and an outspoken wife, Paula. A year later, after a dozen rewrites, that story had evolved into a four thousand word story titled, “Dancer Stonemason is Missing,” The same characters, but I added a father named Dancer. I have no idea where the name came from—it just popped into my head one day. In the fall of 2006 I started to take a novel course at the Writer’s Studio taught by Patrick Somerville, (author of the novel, “The Cradle”). I hadn’t realized that most people who sign up for a novel course have a novel they are already working on. The structure of the course was that each week we would workshop a new chapter in our novel. For the purpose of the class I decided I would write a novel-in-stories and use my Dancer Stonemason story as the first chapter. Every other week I wrote another chapter/story. Each story was told by a different character from a different point of view. Many of the scenes were identical from story to story, but told from a different perspective. In the summer of 2007 I attended the weeklong Tin House Writer’s Program at Reed College in Oregon. For an extra fee they allowed participants to have their manuscripts critiqued by one of the instructors. My novel, now titled, “The Stonemasons,” was read by Whitney Otto (author of the bestselling novel, “How to Make an American Quilt.”) Whitney encouraged me to continue with the project. I told her I feared becoming that guy from the film “Sideways,” who lugged his phone-book length manuscript around for years, searching for a publisher. To that Whitney said, “That’s what we all fear.” Since Whitney had only read part of the manuscript I hired Sands Hall(author of bestselling novel, “Catching Heaven.”) I had taken a class Sands taught at University of Iowa’s Writer’s Festival the summer before. Sands gave me detailed feedback on each of the stories. She suggested I consider abandoning the novel-in-stories approach as it was dragging down the story line. In the earlier versions the story took place on the day before the niece’s wedding. When I rewrote it I added a chapter that takes places in 1953, when Dancer is a young man. It is about a baseball game that has a profound impact on the rest of his life. It’s a good story, but I was concerned the baseball setting might turn off some readers who weren’t sports fans. In the summer of 2008 I attended the Squaw Valley Writer’s Conference and I workshopped that opening baseball chapter. It was well received. After the conference I hired Barbara Croft to read my entire manuscript, which was now 60,000 words and titled “American Jukebox.” Each chapter title was the title of a song. Barbara gave me excellent feedback and encouragement. She pointed out the gaps in the story line, character inconsistencies, and which chapters worked and which ones were weak. I rewrote the novel once more, eliminating some chapters and adding several new chapters. By January 2009 I was convinced I was ready to start looking for an agent. After all, I had two chapters almost accepted for publication as standalone stories and had even taken an honorable mention in the Nathan Brandsford Literay Agent blog "Best First Page Contest." (Of course I had actually entered page 156, which perhaps should have told me something.) I polished my query letter in the Zoetrope Literary Agents office and started sending out queries. Unfortunately the agents weren’t as convinced as I was. I queried about seventy-five agents and only got two agents to read the entire manuscript. Both agents said about the same thing: good story, heartfelt characters, but lacks a hook and would be hard to sell in a difficult market. So I started rewriting in November 2009.   In the summer of 2010 I attended summer workshops at Skidmore and Norman Mailer. By then I had another forty thousand words written. The workshops helped me to see what was working and what wasn’t. When I returned from the Norman Mailer workshop on Cape Cod I thought I had a clear vision of how to finish the novel. I finished it (again) in September 2010 and hired Marita Golden who was my instructor at The Norman Mailer Writers Colony to give the manuscript a critical reading.  She gave me some excellent, but discouraging news and I started the rewrite process all over again. In June 2011 the first chapter of “American Jukebox,” won an honorable mention from the New Millennium Writing Competition and then in July an editor from Grove-Atlantic agreed to read the manuscript after I had been referred to Grove-Atlantic by a writer friend whom I had met at one of my earlier summer workshops. I waited nervously for two months but they ended up declining. The editor was positive about the opening but thought I needed to narrow the scope which covered almost fifty years. In August 2011 I attended the Sewanee Writers Conference where I met Pamela Erens (author of the critically acclaimed novel, “The Virgins,”). I asked Pamela if she would be willing to read through the novel after I rewrote it one more time with the condensed time frame. Shortening the timeframe eliminated over half the characters, which was really difficult. They had become like family members. Well maybe not family, but close.  It took me nine months to rewrite the story which now ended in 1973 instead of 2003.  In May I sent it off to Pamela and a month later I had her feedback on what worked and what didn’t. In June and July I made revisions that addressed issues Pamela had raised. I began querying agents again. On September 28, 2012 in a blog post titled, “The Novel So Far: Quitting Time” I concluded: I’ve queried one hundred literary agents and also submitted the manuscript to a dozen small independent presses. Agents are overwhelmed with submissions and it’s hard to get noticed. Two agents asked to see my manuscript based on my query letter and one publisher who had looked at the earlier version agreed to reconsider the newest version. But it’s been weeks and I’ve haven’t heard from them and that’s usually a pretty good sign they are not interested.

I had planned to self-publish, but I’ve changed my mind. There are a lot of good self-published novels out there (also a lot of not-so-good ones). With Amazon and other programs I could have American Jukebox on the market in a couple of weeks. I like selling and if a publisher had bought my book I would have sold the hell out of it. It would have been fun. But without a seal of approval, I just don’t have the confidence to trump the decisions of the gatekeepers. Hawking my self-published book would take all my time and I need to get back to writing again. Something new. Something better. The day before I made that post I had sent the manuscript to a new publisher, Hark! New Era Publishing.  A week later they contacted me and said they would be interested in publishing my novel, if I were interested in making some structural changes. I had a good conversation with the publisher, Jon Katora, and came away convinced that I would be able to work with him and his team.  It was extremely gratifying to have found someone who liked my work and was willing to devote time and energy to making it better. The changes that Hark! suggested were significant, but in the end, they made the novel much better. It was fun working with the Hark! team and finally, last week, American Past Time was officially finished. It took a little longer than I expected. Right now I am in the period where I can feel good because the book is done and I can send copies to friends and family and they can congratulate me on how nice it looks and commend me for my determination (perhaps obsession is the better word). I am enjoying this interlude. Soon (I hope) there will be real feedback, reviews, critiques from people other than family and friends. Some of those reviews will be less than favorable. Some readers won’t like the book. But I will worry about that (or not) later. The book won’t officially launch until April 19, and it will be primarily sold as an ebook. But there will be paperback versions available.  And while I really love reading books on my Kindle, I have to say it felt really really really good to actually hold a copy of American Past Time, in my hands.  Soon I will start on a new novel, a sequel which will give me a chance to resuscitate all those characters I had to kill off. The next novel won’t take me as long.  I hope.

FORTY YEARS

December 29, 1973

It doesn't seem like it was yesterday

  Here are some things I have remembered for four decades: I forgot the wedding ring. My high school and college friends played poker in my hotel room the night before and kept me up. High school beat college. Badly. Suzanne’s Uncle Hank gave us 5 hundred dollar bills. That would be about a jillion dollars today. I can’t recall any of the other wedding gifts, but I do remember that Tim McGinnis, a fellow DEKE, bought us a popcorn popper but then he couldn’t make it to the wedding so he kept the popper. Some things you never forget.They weren’t selling gas on weekends due to the Arab oil embargo so we had to take a Greyhound bus for our honeymoon to Montreal. The bus was packed and we couldn’t sit together. I sat in the back with convicts who were returning from prison furlough. Years later I used that incident as the inspiration for my short story, Riding a Greyhound Bus into the New World, which took 3rd place in the Canadian Writers Collective Short Story Contest (you didn’t have to be Canadian to enter).Suzanne was a beautiful bride.She still is.  

Evanston Flying Turkey 5K - November 28, 2013

On Thanksgiving I ran in the 3rd annual Flying Turkey 5K, which is held along Evanston's lakefront. They give you a special button if you can beat the guy dressed like a turkey, but he's too fast.

It was a great course, and while it was cold for spectating (25 degrees) it was great for running. I finished second in my age group with a 23:15 time, about 30 seconds faster than last year. My coach (Heather Collins) specializes in coaching old people. Or at least she should.

 Sue Leoni, Lois Moeller (2nd in the 71-74 age group), Me and the Turkey

Skaneateles Weekend

             Len            Suzanne                           Mom             Carol Vecchi              Kendra Witter         Stephen  Joy


Every year as many of my family members as can make visit Skaneateles to visit Mom (97 this year) and enjoy one last week of summer recreation. 
For those who aren’t content to just enjoy the beauty of Skaneateles Lake   or dine in their restaurants    or shop,  
they have races.  This year I competed for the fifth time in the Skinnyman Triathlon and for the first time in the Race from the Judge, which is a mile-long swim from the dinner cruise boat Judge Ben Wills.   There is also a bike time trial (all uphill) which I judiciously avoided.  Maybe next year.

 I took second place in my age group in the triathlon and finished the mile swim in 32 minutes 31 seconds which was just 13 minutes slower than the first place finisher. They have some fast swimmers here.   

Stephen      Len     Tom
  after the Tri







Tom Vecchi anticipating another Notre Dame victory














  

USAT Age Group National Championship - Milwaukee, WI - August 10, 2013

Before the race with my official photographer
When I started this blog in 2009, one of my objectives was to chronicle my plan to participate in the USAT Championship and to achieve a top ten finish.  That wasn’t a realistic goal, but most of my goals aren’t.
I managed to qualify in 2009 and went off to Birmingham where I had the worst race experience of my life.  Birmingham in mid-August is not what anyone would think of as a fun venue for a triathlon. To make it more challenging they had us swim in a river against the current. I wasn’t ready to compete with those guys that first year and as it turned out, I didn’t. My legs cramped up so badly that I withdrew from the race after the first mile. So call it a last place finish. 
In 2011 I again qualified and that year they held the race in Burlington, Vermont.  Hilly, but about 30 degrees cooler than Alabama. That year I had some self-inflicted problems with my bike, but at least I finished the race.  I was 34th out 38 in my age-group. 
This year they had the championship in Milwaukee. It was a great location – I didn’t have to fly somewhere – it’s flat like Illinois and we got to swim in Lake Michigan – so a great venue for me.And this year, for the first time I felt much less like an imposter sneaking into the game. I didn’t have any expectations of finishing in the top ten, but I’m competitive now and could at least come close(r) to those podium-finishers.
I vowed to follow the race plan that I had carefully developed with my coach Heather Collins of Precision Multisport .  Mike Tyson used to say, “Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face...”  but I actually stuck with the plan even after being kicked hard in the face twice in the first five minutes of the swim.
In fact for me the most satisfying thing about the race was that I did what I set out to do:
·         Breathe bilaterally on the swim (i.e. breathe on both sides;) I tend to abandon that pattern during races, but this time I stuck with it;
·         Race through the transitions instead of treating them as snack breaks.
·         Stay above 22 mph on the flats during the bike.
·         Push the run (meaning suffer).  Unfortunately I had tweaked my hamstring a couple of weeks ago and despite great treatment help from Tony Breithbach at The Wellness Revolution, on the first mile of the run the hamstring pain returned.  Every time I tried to run hard it seized up on me, so I had to maintain a jogging pace. It was frustrating to see all of those 60 plus guys that I had passed on the bike pass me back on the run. 

I finished in about 2 hours 49 minutes (haven’t seen the official results yet) and I am pretty sure with that time I will be in the slower half of my age group. But I finished and even with the slow run I improved from the previous race. Wait till next year.

 

Evergreen Lake Triathlon - July 13, 2013

Christine Anderson - 2011

On Saturday I competed in the Evergreen Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon near Normal, Illinois.  This is the fourth year that I've run this race.  My best previous finish was 5th but this year I finished 2nd so I stayed for the awards ceremony.

They had a podium and they made us get up on it so that they could take our picture. I thought it would be nice to post a podium picture instead of the same old photos of the old tired guy running, biking or swimming. I even wore my C'oeur d'Alene Ironman hat to hide my bad hair.

Unfortunately so far they haven't been able to find that podium shot so until they do I thought I would just repost this shot of Christine Anderson finishing her run at Evergreen from a couple years ago.

Patrick McCreary won for our age group, as he has every year that I've entered the race. However this year he only beat me by 11 minutes down from 20 minutes the last time we raced. I figure a couple more years and I'll have him.

Here are the results:

 NAME   AGE   SWIM   T1   BIKE   MPH   T2   RUN   PACE   TOTAL  Patrick McCreary 62 33:13.9 01:17.6 1:07:19 22.1 01:12.1 49:52.7 8:02 2:32:56 Len Joy 62 36:40.6 01:58.7 1:11:16 20.9 01:41.0 52:14.0 8:25 2:43:50 Reid Hansen 62 38:06.8 01:54.6 1:10:41 21.1 02:18.8 02:18.8 10:02 2:55:20 Scott Richardson 62 37:59.7 02:22.5 1:12:18 20.6 02:09.3 03:09.2 10:10 2:57:58 Jim McIntyre 61 41:33.6 02:46.4 1:20:15 18.5 01:41.1 01:00.0 9:49 3:07:16 Mark Frederiksen 64 34:46.9 03:38.3 1:24:32 17.6 02:54.2 04:06.5 10:19 3:09:58 Charles Stengel 60 39:12.0 03:11.1 1:11:35 20.8 03:59.6 15:27.4 12:09 3:13:25 Dan Powell 63 39:38.1 03:06.3 1:24:04 17.7 01:34.8 07:57.2 10:57 3:16:20 Bruce Duffield 61 54:22.2 05:21.8 1:32:01 16.2 02:21.3 59:52.6 9:38 3:33:58 Robert Trippel 62 37:00.8 03:02.1 1:10:37 21.1 03:40.1  

No Wetsuits allowed

An Almost Perfect Race

Yesterday I competed in the USAT Mideast Regional Championship. The race was held near Waterloo, Michigan - about 30 miles west of Ann Arbor. 

When I first start competing in Olympic Distance triathlons seven years ago (.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.25 mile run) my goal was to finish a race in 2 hours 30 minutes.  My somewhat naive assumption was that I could complete all of those events individually in that amout of time so with some training I should be able to do them back to back to back. 

It didn't work out that way. I managed to break 3 hours but I have never had a race time under 2 hours 45 minutes.

Conditions for the regional championship were perfect.  Cool temperatures, no wind, easy to spot swim buoys (staying on course on the swim has always been a challenge for me), easy rolling hills for the bike course and a scenic trail through a shaded forest for the run.  There were only about 200 competitors so the tranisition area was compact, which meant faster transition times, too. 

For years I have been expecting a breakout race where I finally knock serious minutes of my personal best. But progress to date has been glacial.  Until yesterday. 

Yesterday I had personal bests on the bike (averaging 21.5 mph) and the run (7:56 pace per mile) and had my second best time ever on the swim.  I was actually in second place for my age group into the last mile of the race, but was passed by Squires and Baas just before the finish line, pushing me back to 4th place. 

Nevertheless it was a great race and I was thrilled to finish in 2 hours 33 minutes.  Just three minutes short of my original goal.  And fifteen minutes faster than my previous best time for this distance.

Here were the results for my age group:


Male 60 to 64 Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total Overall Place Name Time Time Time Time Time Time Place 1 Robert Rossbach 28:33:00 1:13 1:08:38 0:59 50:16:00 2:29:40 99 2 D Mark Squires 31:43:00 1:10 1:09:26 0:54 49:07:00 2:32:21 108 3 Ed Baas 26:07:00 1:11 1:18:37 0:58 45:52:00 2:32:47 112 4 Len Joy 30:16:00 2:16 1:09:45 1:18 49:28:00 2:33:05 114 5 Michael Lindley 29:36:00 1:56 1:14:59 1:03 50:41:00 2:38:17 129 6 Mike Morris 40:11:00 1:50 1:16:22 0:43 48:46:00 2:47:54 160 7 James Weaver 34:00:00 1:23 1:15:33 1:23 1:04:04 2:56:25 179 8 James O'Brien 48:31:00 2:12 1:15:57 1:05 49:12:00 2:57:00 181

Next Race:  Evergreen Lake Olympic Triathlon - July 13, 2013

BOX Evanston - 739 Main Street, Evanston, IL

   My friend, Fernando Rivera has a gym in Evanston where he provides boxing instruction as well as other fitness classes like Pilates and Yoga.  He invited me to try a class and so this morning I met him for a one hour "light" workout. Fernando's clients range from the very young to the not so very young and from beginners to advanced, although if you looked at his website photos - BOX Evanston  - you might think that all he trains are young, very fit women. 
 I discovered that some of the same form challenges which I encounter in triathlon training such as staying balanced and maintaining a tight core are also critical for proper boxing technique.  It was a challenging cardio workout but the time went by very fast.  Fernando's an excellent trainer. He was able to demonstrate and encourage with good humor so that all of the sessions were fun. He enjoys what he is doing and that makes a huge difference when you are trying to learn something new.   If you live in the Evanston area and are interested in a different kind of workout give him a call at 224-999-0288   Dangerous Lefty  

Elkhart Lake Triathlon Results - June 8, 2013

Woody's maxim proved true for my goal of qualifying for USAT Nationals.  This was my third attempt and all I had to do was finish 5th in my age group.  It turned out there were only 7 competitors in the 60-64 age cohort and one of them dropped out during the bike segment, so I just had to finish ahead of someone. Which I did.  I finished 5th, a couple minutes ahead of Sam Hill, who finished sixth. I could probably find another pithy maxim referencing Sam Hill.

It was a perfect day for a race - partly cloudy, cool and no wind. The water, while a little coolish at 63 degrees was like a mirror and the bike course, while not exactly flat, had mostly rolling hills and again no wind.  The best part of the race though was that the final two miles of the run were downhill.

I had a good race. The bike course was 2.4 miles longer than I anticipated so my actual time is hard to compare, but I averaged 19.4 mph, which was close to my goal of 19.7 mph.

It was a very well organized race in a spectator-friendly venue. I would race here again.

Here are my race results this year:
Year Total Swim /100 T1 Bike MPH T2 Run Min/ Mile Havasu2:56:130:29:401:483:251:17:50 19.3 2:0950:51   8:12Tempe2:47:260:29:121:472:481:15:22 19.9 1:3658:25  9:24 Goal - Elkhart2:40:300:31:001:532:301:16:0019.72:0049:007:53Act - Elkhart2:56:510:31:371:554:141:26:44 19.3 2:5251:248:16
 Note:  The Elkhart bike course was 2.4 miles longer than the other races and the run from swim to transition was twice as long. 



















 Year 








Goal