Hart Johnson's Blog, page 46

Death by Page Proofs

*falls over*





[Note: TOMORROW is when I will share
results from Friday's poll... I have tallied, but at work I have
better software for playing around with what I get]





So for the last week I've been
microscopically reading The Begonia Bribe... This is not my favorite
activity. For starters, page proofs are supposed to be fairly clean,
so when I find a mistake I feel guilty. Did I do this? Should I have
caught this earlier? (and I actually caught quite a lot—many more
than last time)





And reading so carefully has awoken my
inner insecure whiny baby. GADS! Is this GOOD ENOUGH to publish!?









See, this book was ALREADY challenging,
so maybe that is part of it. It was my second in the series... and
while I've written a trilogy, a series is a different animal. Each
needs to stand alone... So there is the careful balance of what goes
in and what doesn't so that new readers aren't lost, but repeat
readers aren't annoyed.... and there were the subplots... I made the
mistake in my early draft of front loading one of these and it pushed
the body back too far into the story... so then I had to rewrite the
darned thing... twice... Strangely, writing the 3rd was a
piece of cake by comparison (and my beta readers both independently
told me they thought it was the best of the three). But number 2
comes out first...





Another challenge: Penguin changed my
editor midway through... which is nobody's fault, not even the
Romans... but there are challenges related. I loved Emily, my old
editor. I love Michelle, my new editor. But I think changing captains
mid-stream just means there are some complications. The new one
doesn't know what the old one expected necessarily... and the ship
(that's me) has to get a feel for the new driver...





But now it is DONE!!!! And I am FREE!
Though working on a bloody holiday, which isn't my favorite thing.
See, the U gives us the week between Christmas and New Years in lieu
of a number of 3 day weekends and this is one of them. I don't get
another 3 day weekend until Memorial day *grumbles*

What Kind of Writer are YOU? (A poll)

Be sure to say that with incredulity and add just a note of disgust on that last word. It's how we all HEAR the question, anyway...







Oh, we're ALL mad here!

But what brings this on?



I've been hanging out over at ABNA... it is what I DO in January after all (besides go hungry). I like to get to know my fellow contestants... there are old friends and new acquaintances... and there are some discussions that cause me to... observe stuff.



Stuff??? You say? What KIND of stuff?



First, before I say anything, I need to shout out the big disqualifier... none of these observations makes one type of writer better or worse. It is ALL just an observation about the different ways we can BE... we are not all alike, much as we are more like each other than we are like non-writer types.







But I notice:



Some writers are so attached to ONE BOOK... Same book entered year after year. And I wonder... do they write other books, or have they just been perfecting THIS book?



This is not unrelated to the 'won't take on the next until this one is published'.



And then there are folks like me, who must seem very short-attention spanned... entering my 4th book in 4 years and year 1 I entered book 1, but this year am entering #10...





What this MEANS, is some writers focus on ONE BOOK until it is totally polished, finished and OUT THERE.





Do you suppose this helps?

OTHERS write a book, set it aside to work on something else, set THAT aside to work on a 3rd thing, then come back to the first thing. Know what I am? I'm a ROTATOR!



Still others work SIMULTANEOUSLY on a couple projects (writing two at once)--now I've done this—back in the day I was writing my first book and still writing fan fiction—but I can't do it anymore, though I CAN write one and polish another.





I've ALSO noticed some people write slow and clean and some people write fast and dirty (this would be me) and some people write slow and dirty, and SOME LUCKY BASTARDS write fast and clean.





And some people dive straight into editing, while others let it sit... Some share parts of their book right away, others wait until the book is done (maybe even edited—here is where I raise my hand again) to share.



So how do YOU do it?



Fast or slow?

Dirty or clean?

One at a time, multiple or rotating?

Can you edit right away, or do you need to set it aside?

Publish or die or do you go on to next project and wait to come back to it?



And to put this all in context:



Do you outline/timeline/ or pants?

How many books have you written?

How many YEARS have you been writing since you got serious?

What genre do you write?

If My Head Weren't Attached...

Lose it, I would.



So do you want to talk about memory?



Look! A Squirrel!



No, but seriously. I used to have one.



I no longer do.





I blame motherhood. Specifically, I blame my son. Child 2. I had one until he was born. Call it a testosterone incompatibility. Call it direct transference (he's a very smart boy). Call it the stress of two children. But it's GONE. Se fue. Finite. Kaput.





What were we talking about?





Oh, right. The trouble of memory insufficiency and writing. (Well, not really, but I forgot my original point, so this one will do).



Did you know I've had scenes turn up three times in the same manuscript? They were REALLY GOOD SCENES. But probably once was enough. I just forgot I did it already. Twice.





So what's a girl to do? (boys, too, though I don't see as many guys with memory issues—I think they tend not to be torn in as many directions... just to stereotype and generalize a bit)



1) Beat Sheet. Now I hear people use these and don't know if mine are the SAME, but what I do with mine is write one line for each scene... what is the MAIN action of that scene. (it helps trigger my memory as I go on, and it helps me FIND something if I need to go in and change.



2) Character list. Just like it sounds. Because the BIGGEST memory snafu I have is forgetting what I've named all my secondary characters. (and plot notes)





3)  Write FAST. Memory is far less an issue in a WriMo, where the novel is finished in a month than it is if the novel takes six months or nine months.



4) RE-read. I do this for revisions. Oh yeah... I can't resist keeping a pen in my hand for simple typo/wording stuff, but before I make plot changes, I read beginning to end so I know what's what.



5) Critter help. TELL your critique partners you could use help spotting inconsistencies. This is easier to spot the first time you ever read a book than when you know the thing inside out. When you KNOW it, then the right way is in your head and you will just think you did it that way.



Any of you have tricks for faulty memories?

Diet Starts with DIE

We haven't had a good whiny baby blog for a while eh? Well it's time.



Two weeks.



I have been SO GOOD for TWO FREAKING WEEKS! Totally on points. Getting back to walking more again. I have done everything I'm supposed to. You all KNOW how hard it is for me to behave!





AND THE BLOODY SCALE IS NOT BUDGING!!! Down ONE pound in two weeks. For pete's sake, at that rate, I won't reach my goal for three years. Who can diet for three years? Gads! I'll probably be menopausal, which will make it all worse! #sorryTMI





Why is it that as we age, not only does everything start to hurt, and we mend slower and get sick easier... and our a FREAKING METABOLISM SLOWS DOWN! Doesn't it seem like if we have all those other problems it should use MORE energy to just... you know... exist?







I know I still need to get some sort of weight routine going. But SHEESH. It just should NOT BE THIS HARD!!!



So I am throwing out a plea to any of YOU—do you know any tricks after 40 for those non-moving scales?



This was interesting infor and I'm going to try some of these:



It ends up an ad, but the beginning info is interesting.



You can stop early. I just liked the info about the real things you could do (sleep more, eat pumpkin seeds. deep breath... apple cider vinegar before a high-carb meal... Don't NEED the pills.)



Update:  Today was weigh-in and it's 2 pounds in two weeks, but that is still SO SLOW!!!

3 Days: Can we Panic NOW?

Yes. Now we panic.






Wait. Have I lost you? The Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award contest opens in 3 days. Between now and
then I need to:





Finish 43 pages of my OWN edit.

Incorporate Leigh's feedback

Incorporate Helena's feedback on the
excerpt





Clean up the pitch... Thank you SO MUCH
everyone who gave feedback! I really think I've got what I need to
polish this puppy til it's fluffy! (and by fluffy, I mean fabulous).





FORMAT the excerpt (it is pasted, and
so you need to manually add double spacing between paragraphs, not a
HUGE ordeal, but with 15 pages or so, it takes time).





My PLAN *Buwahahahahahahaha* is
to do the first today, the second two Saturday and the last two
Sunday.





In the meantime, let me amuse you...





   
The ever ellusive Push-me-pull-llama




Not bad advice...



Glad my kids aren't the only ones...






It's true...







*snort*






And finally...


Funniest thing I saw this week...

My Son the Senior Citizen (and a plea for help)

The senior citizen in question (and 1/3 of me)

So somewhere around 2005 the AARP lost an old guy named Samuel Johnson. But never fear. If the AARP loses you, they will find you... or some near approximation. About my son's 9th birthday they started sending us stuff. Offers for magazines, life insurance (really A LOT of life insurance), assist beds and chairs... Never mind that his dad didn't qualify until last September...



When they would call us asking for him, my husband would lecture them on his age. But we've never done anything about the mail. Heck, sometimes they send us discounts. And more often, it is just really funny to think about my teenage son getting these Bizarro World offers.



[Note I am 5'11. You can see in this photo my 14 year old has passed me by more than a wee bit)



So last night I got the mail and there is a letter. It is that weird type that might be type, might be handwritten, but since it's addressed to my son, I do the magnanimous thing and pass it on, explaining it might just be an ad...



Me: So what was it, Bud?

Him: They want to help me with my ear wax.



*dies *



Oh, to be fourteen and treated like 64.





MEDIUM WRONG Pitch for Feedback...



So the Amazon contest starts in 5 days, right? And the first cut is based on the pitch... so here is my current pitch and I would LOVE feedback... 2 things: After reading the pitch would you want to read the book and do you see ways to improve it?





MEDIUM WRONG









Amanda Harden has anticipated summer break and her brother’s return from
college since Christmas. She’s been biding her time, trying to stay under her
volatile father’s radar. Within minutes of Asher’s return; however, she learns
he’s flunked out of college and their father throws him out of the house.





Worried as much about Asher’s self-destructive response as her own
well-being, Amanda insists on tagging along on the road trip he plans as an
escape. He resists, but then decides on a plan that can use her. They learned
the con young, under their father’s constant example, and Asher believes Amanda
can help him run a doozy to pay for their trip. Amanda will bring messages from
the dead to their loved ones ‘for peace of mind and profit’.





The plan seems to go well... until the dead decide their stories need more
accuracy and detail and start talking to Amanda for real.  Amanda suffers
vivid dreams and lurid visions, not to mention the puking and the headaches.
But mixed in are messages that are much more personal about a series of lies
and cover-ups. There is a wrong that needs to be righted—one that could change
everything.





At 75,000 words, MEDIUM WRONG is a young adult novel that combines a road
trip, a family mystery and the love-hate struggle siblings do so well.



I would LOVE feedback!!!

Carol Kingore's Soloman's Compass

So I am a day late and feel terrible. MAN, never recruit me to do anything on a Monday... But I am VERY excited to share with you.



Carol is a great friend and she has a book release to shout about!!!  So I'm VERY sorry about forgetting to post yesterday... TODAY, let me just share a little about Soloman's Compass...




:::::



A missing belt—her uncle’s prized possession. The lure of buried treasure. And a sexy former SEAL who makes U.S. Coast Guard Commander Taylor Campbell crazy. What more could any woman want. Right?




Taylor is on a quest to unearth her uncle’s buried treasure—a journey so far out of the realm of her real life she can barely fathom it. There’s one other minor glitch. Taylor's certain the buried treasure was all in Uncle Randy's dementia-riddled mind. Now he’s dead.




All the same, Taylor is in Rock Harbor, Texas, to settle her uncle's estate, including following his directions to the treasure—even if doing so means trespassing. When someone tries to kill her, Taylor's quest becomes personal. She tosses Randy's official cause of death—Drowning Due to Accident—out the window and starts looking at his Rock Harbor acquaintances. Could Randy's treasure be real?




Jake Solomon is in Rock Harbor under false pretenses. He loathes the charade, but if he doesn't follow the plan, his dad will make Jake's SEAL training feel like a day on the monkey bars in kindergarten.




The plan is to protect Taylor Campbell from the fate that befell her uncle and the other members of a tight circle of Coast Guardsmen called the Compass Points who served together on Point boats in Vietnam.




Due to the danger involved, Jake’s dad has ordered him not to become involved with Taylor. Disobeying his father was Jake’s first mistake.




Taylor is attracted to Jake as well, but she refuses to wait for Jake to locate the killer when she knows her plan will force her uncle’s murderer into action.




But the killer's actions are just what Jake is afraid of.









Carol's Bio: 

Carol Kilgore has always had stories and characters in her head, but she didn’t know she should write them down until about a dozen years ago. Once she started, she couldn’t stop.

Her first published short story won the Derringer Award for Best Short-Short Mystery. She continued to write short fiction for a few years and also enjoyed a small success as a freelancer before giving it all up for her true love—novels.

Carol writes a blend of mystery, suspense, and romance she calls Crime Fiction with a Kiss. Always at least one crime; always a love story. Solomon’s Compass is her second published novel.

As the wife of a Coast Guard officer, Carol has lived in locations across the U.S. She and her husband now live in a San Antonio suburb and share their home and patio with two active herding dogs that keep them free from all danger, real or imagined.

You can find Carol here:

website . blog . facebook . twitter . goodreads . amazon


 

In Praise of Beta Readers

Know what makes us better? FEEDBACK.



I've had and am getting some great help lately and I just want to express THANKS to some fabulous friends. They happen to all be women at the moment, but it can come from all kinds of people.



THANK YOU, Stacy and Leigh for developmental feedback on MEDIUM WRONG. It is about 40% through what will be final revisions for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest which opens January 14, and I KNOW will be better for the help.



THANK YOU Helena , for beta reading the excerpt with a microscope! The contest is such that the pitch is read first, then the excerpt, then the whole book, so that excerpt really needs to be highly polished. I trust the STORY when someone is reading the whole book, but if they only get three chapters, then any mistakes will hit harder.



THANK YOU Erica and Johanna for feedback on my STUPID BLOODY SYNOPSIS for KAHLOTUS DISPOSAL SITE. I am querying and some agents want a synopsis... and synopses are HARD to write!



SO THANK YOU!!! (if you have time, you should go visit them all, they are AMAZING!)





And I have a little excitement to share... apparently my next book cover is up! I didn't get the okay to share it, but since Amazon took liberties, I figure I am okay... So here is The Begonia Bribe! To be released May 7, 2013 (one day before Hurray Hurray the 8th of May!)







It has got me guessing what color the third will be... Maybe light blue? I love the begonias inlaid into the yellow here, though. And this version of Elmwood Park in Roanoke is fantastic! If you wanted to go like it on Amazon, that would be really amazing. 

IWSG: Baby Steps

So going through successes and failures from last year and writing goals for this year got me thinking. There is something I am pretty good at that I don’t think comes naturally for everyone. And I believe it is the REASON I am able to be so persistent for so long on projects that can seem ENDLESS. So that is good help for others, ne? (and be sure to visit the other Insecure Writers today, too)





I am good at taking a huge, pie-in-the-sky goal and breaking it into manageable pieces. Not only does this help to DO the thing, it also gives you dozens of mini-successes along the way that reinforce you really CAN get there from here.



So in writing, there are a couple GIANT goals, each as intimidating as the next… WRITING THE BOOK (the first is always hardest) and PUBLISHING THE BOOK… So I thought I’d break down some of the steps a person might break out, though keep in mind everyone has a different process for both of these things.







WRITING A BOOK



If you like to plan ahead…

* Outline

* Character sketch

* Research (though beware of the black hole this can become—limit this to what is absolutely necessary for the story—DETAILS can be researched after)

* Get a few books you think fit the genre and get familiar with what DOES and DOES NOT belong in stories like the one you have planned.

* Write the pitch that will go with your book

* Write the synopsis if you are a superstar





Or if you are a pantser…

* Figure out the time of day that works for you and schedule it…

* Remember a page a day is a book in a year.

* Set reasonable wordcount goals



Or if you are in between like me…

* Make your timeline



NOW just write regularly… set your goal… a chapter a week? A scene a day? 1000 words a day? (or 500?)



And let yourself be proud for each thing you get done…







And then there is PUBLISHING

* Read blogs!!!! (I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about this business from reading the experience of others)

* Go to The Writer’s Knowledge Base[http://hiveword.com/wkb/search] and look up the latest on the process including wordcount guidelines by genre if you are publishing traditionally

* Find someone to READ your book and give you feedback (edit, repeat, ad nauseum)—some people write relatively clean first drafts… like one in a thousand. Most of us THINK we write clean first drafts at that first book and learn we DO NOT.

* Look up the agents who represent your genre and read more specifically what they like OR find the small publishers who publish what you have

* (if you’d prefer to self publish, on about your 10th draft, hire a professional editor and shop cover artists—we have several of both of these within our blogging circle)

* As you research your process make your OWN list of baby steps. Because as I said, we all have different preferences, but know that networking can teach you of alternative routes, so keep that piece in the loop.





So there you have it… Baby steps + Just keep swimming = success.



Good luck to all of you trying to bit off something new and HUGE!

2013: On Prime Numbers and Plans

I turn 47 this year. That's a prime number, as is 2013... I like prime numbers (my lucky numbers being 23 and 5) so I am taking this as a good sign. I had a huge year of ups and downs last year. REALLY BIG ups and downs. So I'm actually really glad to kick 2012 in the back side. In future years I will remember it as the year I first published, but I am really just hoping the other stuff fades.



2013 has some big events coming... probably the biggest is my daughter graduates from high school in June. But I also have a second book release and I am determined I will ALSO sell one of my young adult books... But lets get specific here. Goals always work better with some specificity...







Fitness Goals



This piece of my life has gotten out of hand. I need to lose quite a bit of weight. I'd like it to go quickly, but am realistic... though optimistic, too. My GOAL is ten pounds in January, then five a month through the rest of the year... after summer it will be a lot harder—it goes slower when you get closer to goal, but maybe a few of the earlier months will have a few extra pounds lost to make up for it.



I will do this by:

Weight Watchers

Daily walking

4 times a week something more intense for at least 30 minutes

3 times a week working with weights (and that pesky push-up/sit-up/lunge stuff)







Mental Health and Balance



This is more a family goal. Most of you who come around here know I am a nut, but honestly, my claimed insanity is pretty stable. I am calm and my reactions are fairly calm. But my family is going through some stuff, so this is really more a commitment to put some regular attention on them and how things are going. My kids, in particular, deserve to have me break my tunnel vision away from the writing more regularly. And I need to make a better attempt keeping in touch with the family that doesn't spend their lives on facebook (though I love that facebook keeps me in regular touch with a lot of people I used to only rarely talk to)



I also have a memorial to plan for the end of June and I need to make a point of doing this well.









And the Writing...



Always back to the writing, eh? It is the piece I seem able to maintain some illusion of control in...





January



1) Revise MEDIUM WRONG and polish for ABNA contest (first 3 weeks)

2) Send at least 10 queries for KAHLOTUS DISPOSAL SITE

3) Begin first revision of WHAT ALES ME



February



1) Continue revisions WHAT ALES ME

2) 10 more queries.

3) Finish typing SHOT IN THE LIGHT



March



1) First polish WHAT ALES ME. Send to reviewer friends.

2) Evaluate whether KAHLOTUS doing what I want: either plan revisions or query 10 more

3) Make Book release plans for The Begonia Bribe





April



[keep block open for unexpected revision of SOMETHING or writing of something requested (in my dreams there will be at least a 4th Garden Society book), maybe KAHLOTUS needs something (in fact probably it does).



Also, if getting nowhere, this is the month to learn the self-publishing stuff I need.





May



1) Revisions for WHAT ALES ME. Send to Ellen

2) Execute BEGONIA BRIBE release







June



BuNoWriMo: I have several books I want to write this year, but in jump starting my career, I thought my next Cozy Mystery idea was most promising. Unnamed... has retired lady cop who is now running a lingerie store as the sleuth... it was inspired by a real (and fabulous) woman.



[note, this will be challenging, as I think I have 10 days on a road trip this month, but I will try it anyway]



Other books on maybe list: Next Pleides, Undoing (a taking down of a secret society from the inside—probably a series), my young adult Armageddon one, or one from my file of ideas...) Also wrote half a book after my first that I've begun thinking has a lot of potential... would probably need to be totally rewritten and certainly needs an ending.





July



1) Revisions MEDIUM WRONG based on ABNA feedback



August



1) Second block for 'fill in here' what has been either requested as changes or do some self-publishing prep work

2) POLISH MEDIUM WRONG



September



1) Being revisions for SHOT IN THE LIGHT

2) Query MEDIUM WRONG



October



1) Continue revisions on SHOT

2) Keep querying



November



1) NaNoWriMo (see above)

2) SHOT to first readers





December



1) Revise SHOT per feedback (polishing for ABNA 2014)



So I think I'm learning... those two months in there to be a little flexible... We will see how that goes, but I have my hopes it will help to keep me on track.



What are your goals?