E.C. Diskin's Blog, page 2

TRAVEL WRITING is Pure Pleasure

​​I recently learned that my high school English teacher, Peter Ferry, penned a novel a few years back. Having just written my own first novel, and having such fond memories of his class, I had to get it. It’s called Travel Writing, and when I looked it up on Amazon, I saw some fabulous reviews.  Dave Eggers wrote a great review (another alum of my high school), and being a big fan of his work as well, I quickly dug in.
Well, I just finished it this weekend, and I have to share what a pleasure that was. Travel Writing in a word is clever. In fact, I’ve never read anything like it. Ferry blurs the lines between fiction and reality in a way that made me smile and laugh. The protagonist of the story is Peter Ferry, who, like the author, is an English teacher at Lake Forest High School and a travel writer. It was impossible not to wonder how much of the story was true, which was part of the fun. And though the main character’s primary purpose during the story is related to uncovering the truth behind a car accident he witnesses at the start of the tale, his own journey toward happiness in his private life is what drives the reader toward the finish. And what a finish. I was turning the last several pages as quickly as I possibly could, grinning from ear to ear, marveling at the story’s end.
What is most clear to me after reading Travel Writing, is that although Peter Ferry has retired from his gig at Lake Forest High School, he is still teaching. His command of language and his descriptions are still out of my league, and as someone who aspires to continue down the novelist’s path, and to get better with each effort, I’m so grateful that I found his book. Thanks Mr. Ferry.  

Travel Writing is a Pure Pleasure

I recently learned that my high school English teacher, Peter Ferry, penned a novel a few years back. Having just written my own first novel, and having such fond memories of his class, I had to get it. It’s called Travel Writing, and when I looked it up on Amazon, I saw some fabulous reviews.  Dave Eggers wrote a great review (another alum of my high school), and being a big fan of his work as well, I quickly dug in.

Well, I just finished it this weekend, and I have to share what a pleasure that was. Travel Writing in a word is clever. In fact, I’ve never read anything like it. Ferry blurs the lines between fiction and reality in a way that made me smile and laugh. The protagonist of the story is Peter Ferry, who, like the author, is an English teacher at Lake Forest High School and a travel writer. It was impossible not to wonder how much of the story was true, which was part of the fun. And though the main character’s primary purpose during the story is related to uncovering the truth behind a car accident he witnesses at the start of the tale, his own journey toward happiness in his private life is what drives the reader toward the finish. And what a finish. I was turning the last several pages as quickly as I possibly could, grinning from ear to ear, marveling at the story’s end.

What is most clear to me after reading Travel Writing, is that although Peter Ferry has retired from his gig at Lake Forest High School, he is still teaching. His command of language and his descriptions are still out of my league, and as someone who aspires to continue down the novelist’s path, and to get better with each effort, I’m so grateful that I found his book. Thanks Mr. Ferry.  

A great Michigan trip…

Still working on the murder story, based in Southwest Michigan and fortunately, I was there for New Year’s Eve and got to take some great pictures of the landscape.  Such beauty, but such mystery. Oh the possibilities! They’re providing some great visual inspiration and I’m feeling energized as I continue to plot the story..

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Christmas and murder?

It’s been a strange couple of weeks. I assumed that I’d be less than diligent about my writing time what with all the xmas prep stuff…getting the house decorated, dealing with the shopping, the kids’ class parties, the required baking, the parties….and truth be told, I’ve been in a rut with my current writing project–hence, the zinc top table project of a few weeks back. But about a week ago, in the midst of all that, while starting to drift off to sleep, I had a thought about a new story idea–a murder to be exact. It was such a compelling thought that I had to sit up and write it down. As I tried to relax back into sleep, more scenes and ideas came to me, and I sat back up to take some notes. Ever since then, I’ve been surprisingly focused on getting this story full plotted.  It’s providing a great distraction from all the Christmas stuff that is supposed to be festive and fun, but gets so quickly tiresome. I do love Christmas time, I swear I love my family, and I’m not secretly plotting anyone’s demise, but it’s been a strangely twisted and satisfying respite from the current reality to write about death and terrible family dysfunction!!

Let’s just hope I can keep the fires burning. Regardless of what happens with this story, I’m hoping it will unlock the door that has been jammed in my mind.

A DIY distraction–The Zinc Topped Table

When I’m struggling with my writing, I like to turn to a good DIY project as a distraction, a creative outlet, and a way to get  some (relatively) immediate gratification. I’ve been playing with an outline for this book for months and writing some scenes, but I feel stuck. Besides all that, I love interior design and am always looking for cheaper ways to imitate high end looks.

So, with Thanksgiving around the corner and my old, hand-me-down dining table warped and marred from an infamous nail polish remover spill, I decided that it was time to replace it with a new top. A zinc top. I’m a big fan of the hard and soft of wood and metals and I figured it would be easy. This is my M.O. I read up on a project, watch a few videos and think: I can do that!  It’s not until I’m knee deep in sawdust and sweat, returning from my fourth hardware store run, taping up the burned or poked or hammered finger, or falling into bed more exhausted than if I’d climbed a mountain, that I realize: This is why more people don’t do this!

This project held to that pattern.

I was off to a good start. I built a plywood top to attach to my existing pedestals (of the old table) and after many years of building things, this was not a problem. I ordered a zinc sheet (from Rotometals.com—super helpful guys, BTW) and watched their videos and the insights from Van Hook & Co. blog (also great info).

After the metal arrived, I adhered it to the plywood top using everything in the house I could think of to weigh it down while it dried—photo albums, books, concrete blocks from the yard, and all those dust-covered, seldom-used free weights.  So far so good!

After a day or so, it was time to bend down the sides.

Now this is where it got tough. When I practiced bending a small sample of sheet metal, it was easy, but I soon realized that there’s strength in size. Duh. Now I was trying to bend the side of an 8 foot long sheet and my rubber mallet was not going to give me the nice sharp edges of a professional table bent with machines. I watched more videos, tried to use a really heavy book, ran to the store for a hand-held “metal bender” (didn’t work) and ultimately just threw all my weight into it.  I finally got the sides down, but it was a bit lumpy. I started wondering if this great new table would end up in the backyard.

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But once I got that done and nailed the metal to the frame, it was time for the fun stuff—soldering the corners. This took some practice but it was really pretty cool to melt metal and sand it down so that it looked like a seamless, rounded corner.  I probably inhaled some zinc dust which might lead to an early death, but no matter.

Finally—I needed to add the patina. As sold, the sheet looked like stainless steel and though it would age over time, I didn’t think my dining room of antique furniture would work well with an operating table.  But here again, a problem. I obviously didn’t test my method enough because when I began wiping on the chemical with a paint brush, the sheet turned black. But not uniformly black—just giant brush strokes of black. Yikes! Though you’re supposed to let the chemical sit on it overnight, that seemed like a bad idea and the thought of re-sanding and starting over was out of the question, so I grabbed the steel wool and began to rub it out. Turns out that created a pretty cool effect. Though I thought I’d be getting a chalky, warm zinc top, I ended up with a shinier version, with soft, darkened streaks.  And surprisingly, I think it looks better in the space than the chalky version might have (since that’s more country and rustic anyway!)

So, in the end: another hard-fought victory. I burned my arm with a little flying metal, inhaled some zinc dust, and collapsed into bed last night, barely able to move, but the table is done. It’s not what I originally thought it would be, but I think it looks pretty cool. (I think it can stay in the house!)  Thank God. Thanksgiving without a dinner table would have been tough.

Okay–Back to work!!

A surprising find…

When I first dreamed of writing books, it felt like a great fit because I could be creative, set my own hours, and be at home. I don’t think I’m a recluse, but I’ve never been comfortable at “work functions” and the idea of networking, schmoozing, or talking to strangers, has always been something I dreaded. Once I published, I realized that I’d have to actually “get out there”, and do what writers do–book signings, book fairs, and whatever else came up–but I didn’t look forward to it. I just knew that I’d worked too hard to ignore the marketing and promotion side of things, so I begrudgingly accepted the opportunities as they arose.

It’s now been almost six months since The Green Line launched, and I’ve done a good number of events–book fairs, book signings, book clubs (both live and via Skype) and something surprising has happened–I realized that it’s kind of fun!  In fact, last night when I saw that another event was approaching–The Chicago Book Expo, I thought “Oh, I should do that!” No one is more surprised by this reaction than I am. But I’m finding it all so interesting. Every experience has been different–some more successful than others, but each has been of value. At the Printers’ Row Litfest in June, I didn’t meet too many readers, but of the few books I sold, it seemed that the buyers purchased simply because we had a fun conversation. I met some Chicago area writers that day with interesting backgrounds and we passed the time trading stories and strategies.

When I did a community book event in September at The Buzz in Oak Park, I approached the evening with fear and couldn’t wait for it to be over. And as I walked into this room full of strangers, all waiting to hear from me, I felt the heat rising into my face and immediately poured a glass of wine. But once the event began, the discussion was lively, the group was friendly, and we all had some great laughs. I came home feeling completely energized and grateful and excited by the crowd’s enthusiasm, support, and interest–not only in my book, but in the process, and the industry, and reading, in general.

When I did Glen Ellyn’s Bookfest in October, most of the authors did a one-minute pitch in the morning to a crowd of potential readers, trying to stir some interest in their story. So we all stood and listened to each other, and laughed later about what we’d said or forgot to say, or talked about how to do it better. We then spent the afternoon side by side at our tables, ready to talk to readers. But the crowd wasn’t too big that day and we ended up walking around and visiting with each other a lot. I got to know my table mate, Michael Matula, saw some familiar faces from previous events (Karen DeWitt and Scott Kenemore) and spent a lot of time chatting with other area authors. I began to feel like I had become part of this little Chicago subculture.

I am now scheduled to do a reading at the Wood Dale Library later this winter and it’s just so nice that this part–the part I dreaded–the promotion and marketing part–isn’t so bad!  The people that come to events or bookstores are generally either fans, friends, fellow authors, or book lovers–and after years of spending so much time doing something that involved being alone for hours and hours and hours and working toward a goal that I’ve shared with very few people (just my writers’ group), it’s been a great bonus to find all these other people who share the same goals or interests and to learn that a room full of strangers is not always a bad thing!

Now, let’s hope that I find the same to be true when I go into a room full of middle-schoolers next week to talk about writing–that really scares me!!

A New Chapter for The Green Line

Today was a big day for me and my book. As some of you know, Wells Street Press, my publisher, was created by me. After spending two years working toward publishing with one of the big houses (six months seeking an agent, and then a year and a half with an agent) , I had to regroup. No one was biting and I didn’t know whether it was my book, my agent, or the industry. So I sought some more objective reviews of the work and when they came back positive, I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I am a do-it-yourselfer by nature, and though I didn’t know what to do, I knew that like anything else, research would teach me.

So I got busy, invested a little money, and after about four months of production work, seeking reviews, and learning about the business, The Green Line launched. I tried not to expect too much. It’s a first book from a complete unknown and I had nearly zero marketing budget.  I thought that if I was really lucky, I’d recoup my investment by the end of the year, and if I sold a thousand books, I’d consider that a great success. As I had learned, the vast majority of self-published titles sell less than two hundred and the rare break-out stars of the self-publishing world are just that—quite rare. AND—those people seem to have a lot of titles. It took me many years to get this one finished, and I wasn’t about to follow it up in just a few months. (I’m at work now on book two, but the research is intense and we’ll just see how long it takes!) I had also heard that if the book did really well, then perhaps publishers would come to me, offering to take it to the next level. That was a nice dream.

It was a great launch and a fun summer.  My friends and family were my first buyers—which gave me such anxiety of course—but they were incredibly supportive and it seemed they really liked it. Word began to spread, I did a couple of free promotions, and the title started getting around. Reviews started coming in. Every so often, I’d get a message from a reader on my Facebook page that really made my day. People from all over the country and even Europe were reading and reviewing the book—it was surreal!

And then about a month ago, I got a Facebook message that I’ll never forget. It was from a senior editor at Thomas & Mercer, she had heard about the book, read the book, loved the book, and hoped that I’d talk to her about the possibility of working together.  Of course I promptly cut and pasted that message into an e-mail to my husband, siblings, and parents with a “What?! Holy Cow!”-type message.  The dream of getting a publisher’s attention had never gone, but I never thought it would happen so soon!

Long story, short, we had a great first conversation, several follow up conversations, I did some research about Thomas & Mercer, spoke to a couple of their authors, sought  some advice, dealt with some of the legal stuff, and mulled over the pros and cons. After several weeks of talks and negotiations, this morning I signed on the dotted line.  I have no idea what will come of all of this, but I’m excited by the possibilities, thrilled that an audio version is in the works, and just got an email about setting up a conference call with “my marketing team.” The very idea that there’s a team supporting me just makes me giggle!  It’s like I’ve been at sea on this tiny little boat, trying to survive and find my way with very few supplies, and suddenly, this big ship has pulled up, with a whole crew aboard and they’ve offered to give me a lift.  What a day!

Stephen King, the teacher

I just finished Stephen King’s book, On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft.  Given the title, you might think this is only of interest to writers and aspiring writers. I don’t think so. I believe most would find this to be a fun and fast read and a great peek behind the scenes. It’s not too long and I got through it in just a couple of days—he was trying to keep it short, though it was clearly a challenge since he added three Forewords and a few postscripts…“Furthermore, Part I…”, “Furthermore, Part II,…” and “Further to Furthermore, Part III.”

First of all, he’s funny. The tales from his childhood, and his slow and steady ascent to writing fifty bestsellers, and even some of the setbacks he suffered, are fascinating. I knew nothing of his years of alcoholism and the refection of his own life in Misery, for example. He’s interesting and relatable and, of course, he really does have a way with words. If you’re already a fan, you’re like “duh!” But for the others, I assure you, this is worth your time.

I must confess that this is actually the first Stephen King book I’ve ever read. It’s not that I don’t appreciate him as a master storyteller (and of course I’ve watched many movies that were made from his books: Carrie, Cujo, Delores Claiborne, The Shining, Misery…), but (I am now embarrassed to admit it) I have always been afraid to read his stuff—he’s into horror, right?! I was always afraid to let disturbing images enter my brain because with my obsessive tendencies, I feared they’d never come out! So know first, that whether you’re a Stephen King fan or not, this is a fun read. And second, if you’re like me, once you finish the book, you’ll be mortified that you haven’t read his work, and quickly remedy that. (How can you not? Once you read more about how he began Carrie or The Stand, compared to what it became, you’ll want to read it, or read it again!)

The book is intended for writers and aspiring writers and there are some parts in the later half that focus on helping writers master some of the mechanics: death to the adverb, story vs. theme, etc. I loved this and used my pen several times to underline some gem advice. Whether or not these bits would be of interest to the general reading public, I can’t attest, but I think that for most of us, we can learn from all masters—even masters in another field, and by getting the chance to learn more about Stephen King, the man, and to see his method and inspiration and his aspirations, is a treat.

Certainly, this guy needs no kudos from me to sell his books, but my point is—he can write more than fiction.

Last Free Run on Kindle….

So my run with Amazon’s KDP select is nearly over, which means I’ll soon be able to offer the e-book on other platforms.  So Today And Tomorrow ONLY, The Green Line is FREE on Amazon!  Here’s hoping I find some new readers and fans!

 

The legs are getting stronger!

They say it’s a magical equation of what exactly gives a book “legs” and it’s still too soon to know how strong The Green Line‘s legs may be, but I just found several glowing reviews on the Amazon UK page for the book–and overseas sales seem to be growing!!!  What fun to think that readers beyond my circle, beyond my town, beyond my country- are finding the book and enjoying it.  Makes me really grateful for the power of Amazon!

And one of those lovely Brits chimed in with the suggestion that it would make a great movie!!  It’s always been my dream to see the book get adapted for the big screen and it’s great fun to have so many readers feel the same. Here’s hoping someone out there with the power to do it, finds my book and agrees. That would be so flippin’ fantastic!!!