Nancy Freund's Blog, page 4

FIRST, Get in the Game

I asked my brilliant romance writer friend Lauren Christopher whose novel The Red Bikini comes out soon, what can you tell me about the skeletal structure of a good romance? I assumed there was one, even though writers in all genres like to say they write from their guts and even if they outline, there's a certain seat-of-the-pants je ne sais quoi that brings the magic to the story. Well, I have plenty of je ne sais quoi, so I was asking Laurie for the true scoop. The meat-and-potatoes. The bones. And she delivered. It's all about FIRSTS.

 

And I start there, today, because it's relevant to so many, many things in life... even when you're going on 50! OK, I'm 48. Some people call that late-40's. But let's face it, a good few firsts are behind me now, and YET! YET! I've got first-time fun stuff happening all the time these days, and today was one of them. I'll tell you about that in a sec. But gratification is all the sweeter when delayed, so FIRST, let me tell you what Laurie said about romance.

 

There's evidently a seritonin release or dopamine or some such brain chemical pretty much the same as what happens when you fall in love. You know that giddy, flowers-in-springtime, even on a rainy day joy you feel when newly in love? It's the shimmering golden question mark inflated overhead... is this... could this be... does he maybe... feel the same about me? Followed by an immediate blue-and-silver balloon saying hell-yeah-MAYBE, and somehow, a little higher, a little brighter, you can just about make it out in that upper-echelon breeze, is a sparkling mylar balloon saying yes. Pearly pink stuff and fairy dust glitters down upon you. It makes your hair look awesome. Those balloons are all swollen up with those brain chemicals that are so addictive and feel so amazing. And guess what? They come back again and again and again, when triggered the right way. A good romance novel triggers them. First the question, then the first eye contact, the first kiss, the first date, the first "I love you," the first, first, first. There's no template, necessarily, and the sequences in these things are all jumbled up in fiction these days just like they are in real life, but the fact is, there is joy in doing something for the first time.

 

And now, to my own "first" from this morning. A month ago, I launched a giveaway at Goodreads for my novel Rapeseed. I'd never really had any interest in doing one because I didn't see why I would. Then I met Patrick Brown from Goodreads at the London Author Fair, and he made it seem, well... FUN. So I did it. And as usual, when I saw my stats begin to change on my Rapeseed page, I got a little addicted. It's not just firsts that are addictive, it's CHANGE, period. It's progress. So one day, I had 80-some people who'd clicked to win the book, and the next day I was closer to 90, so then I was hoping against hope maybe I'd hit a hundred! The numbers don't even matter, point is, it became a game. Click again, check for change. Click, click, click. Facebook, Twitter, website, blog. (My next novel seriously needs my attention now, and just as SOON as I sign and send these two winner copies, I swear I'm getting back to it).

 

But today the giveaway closed and I got the names of two winners. Crystal and Mimi. Florida and Chicago. REAL PEOPLE! I'm so thrilled to ship these books to them. The first two people I'm sending books who I didn't know before... other than Oprah, but let's face it, Oprah's kinda my best friend, and yours and everyone's, so we won't count her. I had no idea how excited I would be to read these two ladies' names and addresses. And to top things off, I discovered that those stats I'd been clicking weren't what I thought. Those were new to-read stats. People who found the novel intriguing enough to click their interest in READING it. The number of people who clicked to win it was double what I'd thought. DOUBLE! If I wasn't giddy before, let me tell you... giddy-plus. Giddy-overload. Ultimate giddy-rama. Festival of giddaciousness.

 

And yes, Patrick Brown. This stuff is fun. Writing a novel is awesome, I THRIVE on being squirreled away in my writer's garret for long, long stretches of time, but this coming-out stuff of publication is a whole nother kind of fun, and I'm so pleased I decided to get in the game.  (Yeah, that link is an excllent speech about yet another kind of coming-out -- too good not to share where I can).  So to repeat -- Get in the game!  You truly don't know until you try it. Whatever your "it" is, I heartily recommend, as they say in England, giving it a go.

Process in progress

This morning I woke up to a "creative process" Facebook post by a friend I've known since high school. So simple, so familiar, so true!  Also, I could say: overly simple, devastatingly familiar, and probably, undeniably, yes, universally true.

The Creative Process

1. This is awesome

2. This is tricky

3. This is shit

4. I am shit

5. This might be ok

6. This is awesome

My trouble with point number one, oversimplification, is the leap one assumes can be made from point 5 to point 6, with just the snap of one's fingers and a puff of magic glitter-dust.  In my world, the move from "this might be ok" to "this is awesome" takes centuries.  It is not a glittery ballet leap in tights and tutu, it is a long and treacherous uphill slog in ill-fitting hiking boots one accidentally borrowed from one's son.  A heavy backpack, no more water in the Camelback bottle, three layers of fleece when you wish you'd worn one.  The fact that it happens at all is what's magic, and the fact that is does indeed happen, eventually, every single time one attempts the high writers' Hill of Sysiphus is not just magic, it's divine.

But the process is there, every time, whatever creative endeavours we bravely tackle.  And the phase of it's-ticky-it's-shit-I-am-shit may be long and arduous and longer still every time we try again.  That's when we just have to suck up a deep breath and remember it is a PROCESS.  Not a journey, not a result, not an eyes-on-the-prize goal we must keep in our sights.  It's just doing what we do, come what may.  And eventually, what comes, what MAY come, might be awesome, yet again.

:roll: This emoticon is where I throw my hands in the air after trying to load a photo fourteen million times, to no avail.  I'm not done.  I'm not giving up.  But I'm at the point where I'm thinking it's a glitch in the system.  If you ever see a photo, an actual photo, here, showing my international cookbook plans, dance wildly and sing.  I certainly will.  

THE PHOTO!  DANCE! DANCE! BABY!  I'm leaving that nonsense and the emoticon there, just so you can really see THE PROCESS even in this. Celebrate small victories.  They are NOT small.  And thank the Lord for your teenage techs, when they show up to help.

Here's a process pic (*you wish.  No, you don't wish, You DANCE!)  of my latest work-in-progress.  One thing that keeps me firmly in point 2, "this is tricky," and hovering near the precipice but not diving over the edge of "this-is-shit," is color.  Bright green post-its and a blue Sharpie marker.  Here are 40 countries all lined up for the International Cookbook I'm editing.  Fantastic foods and countries and cultures generously revealed in here by the diverse international families in Lausanne -- and an important scholarship fundraiser too.   But it's a load of work, of course, and whenever it feels overwhelming, I remind myself of the cycle of process.  What goes around, ultimately comes around, and I'm pretty sure it's going to wind up on AWESOME. 

Something to celebrate!

SignatureSoft Women's T-shirts by Vistaprint
Yes, I have designed my very own t-shirt with Vistaprint, so I can silently but boldy announce Rapeseed's having been named a finalist by Foreword Magazine for the 2013 Book of the Year Award in the category of General Adult Fiction.  I intend to write an actual blog post about that, and about the courage one must summon to celebrate a success... It does take courage.  There's a fine line between gracious celebrating and being obnoxious and arrogant, and only the brave feel confident (enough) that they're on the right side of the line.  But if we're not going to celebrate the good results of hard work, then what's the hard work for in the first place?  My great friend Sedef taught me that.  When I finally write this promised blog post I should tell you some other awesome stuff I've learned from Sedef.  But the reason I'm not writing the full post quite yet, is I'm still leaping around like a crazy person.  Bet you didn't know I could do a round-off back-handspring, triple cow-tow toe-loop, now did you?  I'd video it, but I'm pretty sure that would be a balance-tipper.   

My Writing Process Blog Tour

I love the way writing and books connect people, and Sylvia Petter’s invitation to do this blog tour made my day. In fact, it gave me just the nudge I needed to re-launch my own dormant blog. I’ve known Sylvia through the Geneva Writers Group for a decade now, and I can assure you, her work and her interests continue to evolve in exciting ways. She’s never at a loss for words, and she cares deeply about the projects she tackles, like her contribution to to the book NEW SUN RISING: STORIES FOR JAPAN published in 2012 to support the victims of Japan’s 2011 tsunami and earthquake. More recently, her flash fiction collection MERCURY BLOBS has been garnering fantastic reviews, including a wonderful comment by Robert Olen Butler, who rightly notes that Sylvia’s work is often very funny, often very moving, and often BOTH. Her blog and facebook and twitter presence are all joys to behold as well.

Do check out Sylvia Petter here: www.­mercsworld.­blogspot.­com

Sylvia posed these four “simple” questions and really got me thinking about how best to answer them… Number two is the doozy. Sometimes the best ways to “learn” ourselves is to try to explain ourselves to others. Thanks, Sylvia for this opportunity!

 

 

1.What am I working on?

I’m certainly a bit of a juggler at the moment. I just got my manuscript back from my development editor in France, and am wildly eager to dive in to the revision of my Montana-rancher/Swiss expat novel currently titled EFFORT OF WILL. With a male protagonist, this is a fun and different challenge to write. Also, this is a new editor I’m working with, and I think she’s amazing. But I can’t narrow my focus only to that novel because my debut novel RAPESEED is still very much in its launch phase, so I’m doing a lot of fun publishing things too… book clubs, promotional events, and so on. Next week is a Swedish book club… I have a Swedish teenage boy in RAPESEED, and I’m eager to know what these readers will make of him. If you want to see more on that novel, click over to Amazon. 

Also, as part of my literacy efforts, I’m doing language support with the International School of Lausanne’s Tanzanian scholarship students, and am heading an international cookbook project in conjunction with that program. We hope to have 100 recipes from 20 countries. As Sylvia mentioned, there’s also a lot of fun stuff going on with the Geneva Writers Group, which just hosted its 9th international writing conference. (230 writers from 40 countries!) Being a panelist on alternative publishing gave me a good chance to speak about publishing distribution in the US and Europe and was a wonderful chance to reconnect with fantastic writers, including my first roommate, Tananarive Due, who was a fiction instructor in the conference. (We were paired up as “cherubs” in Northwestern University’s National High School Institute for Journalism at age 16, and we had not seen each other since. WONDERFUL!) And just for fun, I’ve also launched a little book review channel on YouTube. In fact, Tananarive and I did a 3-minute interview there right before I took her back to the airport. If you’re tempted, hop over and watch.

 

2.How does my work differ from others of its genre?

 

Well, this is the wild-card question, because I’m a genre bender already. All my work features children or teens in an adult story. While male writers of literary fiction are apparently permitted (even encouraged) to do this, female writers tend to be corralled into one or the other. If you include the POV of a teen, a traditionalist will tell you to make your novel YA. My novels are not YA. I use language and scenes and dialogue – and plot lines – that just wouldn’t be appropriate for many young adults to read. But I also include a younger perspective, because I write family dynamics, and the younger members of a family matter in that. I think they deserve to have their POV shown directly. And I think as indie and alternative publishing gains ground, the requirements of tradition will continue to fall away, and readers may find they get to read more of what authors genuinely wanted to present – regardless of industry gatekeepers. As long as quality measures up – truly measures up – I believe this is a good thing.

 

 

3.Why do I write what I do?

Same answer I would have for why do I write? I can’t not. I’m a lucky, lucky person on this planet to know FOR SURE why I’m here and what I’m meant to do with my time. Writing is on the very short list of things I’m meant to do. It’s how I feel connected to people, to myself, to my self-worth and my place on this planet. I enjoy it, and I know that writing is at the root of much of what makes me feel fulfilled.

 

4.How does your writing process work?

 

Oh my. Am I going to try to answer this truthfully? I mentioned juggling above, and let’s just say I’m not yet a master juggler. I’m like one of those jugglers who can get two apples, three apples, suddenly six apples going, and I can even do that thing where I take a bite of an apple, mid-flight, now and then, but apples are often also flying out of range and then I go to grab a bite and it turns out that was no apple – it was a lime. This is the sort of circus act my writing life would be. But I can tell you if I’m home, I’m in front of the computer. Pretty much all day long.

 

 

And now I’d like to introduce to you three writers to whom I will happily pass the baton.

 

Daniela Norris has a marvelous book coming out next month with John Hunt Publishing in the UK. ON DRAGONFLY WINGS: A SKEPTICS JOURNEY TO MEDIUMSHIP is a compelling and moving personal journey from a family tragedy through grief to remarkable new understanding of life’s mysteries. I have unbound respect for this author.

http//www.danielanorris.com/

 

Mary Albanese (following a similar line of thinking) has been working with a psychic and medium in England for years, and has recently published LOVE AND LAUGHTER WITH SPIRIT detailing the work of “modern medium” Lorraine Rees. More recently, Mary has published BERGBUCHLEIN, THE LITTLE BOOK ON ORES: THE FIRST MINING BOOK EVER PRINTED - from 1518 - and her own excellent memoir about mapping uncharted Alaska, MIDNIGHT SUN, ARCTIC MOON.

http//maryalbanese.com/

 

Lauren Christopher, my third featured writer, is one of my oldest writer friends -- another journalist-turned-fiction writer I respect hugely. Lauren and I studied English together at UCLA, and today she is following through on our student-day promises to write romance. Her new novel, THE RED BIKINI promises to be a fantastic, racy read. I’ve been privy to sneak previews of Lauren’s work, and I’m telling you, there’s a bright new light in romance right now… based in Sandy Cove, where Lauren’s characters are having all kinds of fun and trouble. If a super hot alpha-male is supposed to be at the heart of romantic fiction, Laurie truly puts the alpha in the alphabet. Her stuff is fabulous. And sunny and sandy and surf-y… and indescribably fun.

http//laurenchristopherauthor.com/

 

 

 

Five-plus years ago...

I had a brand-new blog, and I was pretty new to Facebook and still skittish.  Now that my author website has a new blog tab, I thought a few old posts might migrate over here.  It's shocking to discover the difference between December, 2008, when this first posted, and today... take a look.

Chris Brogan's Killer Content

So, I got on Facebook because Kathryn (with a K) sent me a message about her sister using Booksurge (and that's all MY FAVORITE TOPIC) and then Catherine (with a C) sent me a wall-message saying she'd just figured out how to use a wall, and I think the whole wall thing is a little mind-boggling, and I love that her message was about trips to London or Stockholm, so of COURSE I had to click right over to Facebook. And of course my friend Gretchen who's also a blogger, who's also the ex-clerk to Sandra Day O'Connor (and frankly, a thousand steps ahead of me, anywhere I'd ever hope to go, she's brilliant, and actually kinda balanced and nice too)... so where's this post going? Two big philosophical things. First, the point about Gretchen is she's put a link on her Facebook status through her blog to another blogger's post on Killer Content. So I clicked it. (Husband wonders why no laundry gets done chez nous these days). Yes, Chris Brogan seems to know what he/she is saying about white space and short paragraphs et cetera. (I'm blogging for me though, right? So I can be verbose??) But as I now have this blog of my own, it would seem I am bound by a bloggers' code of honor to comment, link, tweet, backbend and handstand and grandstand and blow up balloons, or something every time I read something on the internet. Oh, and bleach a shirt or two. [Yes, that link on Gretchen's name today will take you to her Happiness Project blog+bestselling BOOK and a boatload of other cool stuff].  

 

So how do I link to this dude? And should I? Apparenlty ctr-c, ctr-v isn't gonna let me get busy here. Must be a more official way to greet and tweet or whatever it is. And you know, I nearly commented on his/her site, but MAN, don't these people have LIVES? I read some of those comments -- the guy has 29 of them -- and they're just ridiculous. What's the point? And while we're at it, who the heck is bleaching their shirts? www.chrisbrogan.com [and today -- 2014 -- his post shows 153 comments, 91 tweets, 14 INshares and 14 G+ shares]

 

Ok, apparently if you type it all up like an anal retentive typist, it goes in. AND it goes in purple, no less. Cool. [This was in Wordpress, note.]

 

But in the interest of short-and-snappy posts, I'll point out I've not yet entered into the second of my two philosophical questions. And it's the BIGGIE. Privacy issues. I guess I'll just use first names like a lot of bloggers seem to do.  [Ha!  Privacy!]  But I'm still way too gun-shy about even Facebook, so what the heck am I blogging for? Esp when the laundry awaits.

The Next Big Thing - 10 Questions and Answers about My Current Project

1. What is the working title of your book?

Effort of Will

 

2. Where did t he idea come from for the book?

For more than 30 years, I've been visiting my best friend's working ranch in central Montana regularly. Every time I leave, I wish I could take the whole place with me. Writing this part of the world into my fiction is the next best thing. Though this story quickly moves to New York and then Switzerland, the novel's heart remains in Montana.

 

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Literary fiction. The main character in Effort of Will is a 32-year-old man, so the Barnes & Noble employees would have a hard time shelving it with Women's Fiction, though it deals with some traditional domestic issues of Women's Literary. All of my writing also features young adults in key roles, but this novel is not YA. Like all indie writers, I'm a little tough to pin down.

 

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I really can't answer this! It may look like cheating, but these fictional characters are 100% real people to me -- so putting another real person's face and body and mannerisms in their stead would just be wrong. Not that I'd complain about having Hollywood do their best with reproducing my fictional friends. Once the novel's published, I'd love to know which actors the readers might imagine for certain characters.

 

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Montana rancher-turned-artist Will Harding falls in love with a New York financier whose job takes him to Switzerland and whose children take him to insanity and beyond...

 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be published by Gobreau Press in 2015.

 

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I revise as I write, so the first draft's completion will in fact be the fourth or fifth draft's completion. The first time I type in those gratifying words "The End" will probably take four years. I've heard rumors that super efficient writers actually speed through a full first draft and then revise much more quickly than I do. I admire and envy that approach, but it's not me.

 

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Comparisons will likely lead readers astray. But for art fiction, check out Jesse Kellerman's The Brutal Art, Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs, Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved, and Steve Martin's Object of Beauty. For Western fiction, I'd recommend Stanley Gordon West, Larry McMurtry, and Cormac McCarthy. Above all, I'd also point you to Kari Lynn Dell's fantastic blog. It makes me happy every time I read it: http://montanaforreal.blogspot.ch/

 

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I suppose I answered this in question one. Point is, I write to put stuff away... poetry the morning after a crazy dream that won't otherwise get out of my head... fiction for the bigger experiences and stories I am compelled to make sense of through writing. I'm not a memoirist -- I only write fiction, but I think all the fiction has its roots in reality somewhere. This novel begins with a calf's birth in a barn. I was 14 the first time I went to Montana, and my friend Linda's dad woke us up to go down to the barn for a calf's birth that night. It was an important moment for me, and a similar night is now an important moment for Will Harding in Effort of Will.

 

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Let's see, once I figure it all out, the social media metatags and hashtags should say: art, art brut, jung, expat experience, twins, blended families, New York, Switzerland, ranching, Montana, Altzheimers, fishing, guns, art galleries, contemporary art, international schools, and uhhh, indie fiction...

 

Writers worth watching

I was tagged in this author publicity chain by inimitable Adrienne Dines. Clever, sometimes dark, always funny... her novels pay off hugely. She's an excellent writer. And an excellent speaker too. http://www.adriennedines.com/

 

Secondly, I'm repeating Adrienne's first tag because Mary Albanese is another writer I also really admire, and I want to be sure you know her. Mary writes mystery, YA, memoir, children's, Western, music, and both screenplays and scripts for TV. She paints and exhibits in museums, she's an art therapist, she designs jewelry that has been featured on the cover of the top London goldsmiths' catalog. She captains a narrow boat, she's a karate master, and she also got dropped from a helicopter over uncharted Alaska and mapped it. Check out her fascinating memoir about those days: www.MidnightSunArcticMoon.com www.MaryAlbanese.com

 

Also, check out Kathryn Dow at http://www.kathryndow.com/ and her new novel The Great Disappointment: A Confession from Foreverland Press. Don't be fooled by writer/publisher/professor Susan Taylor Chehak's claiming to be a woman-behind-the-woman of Kathryn Dow. Susan may have created Kathryn Dow, but as far as I'm concerned, Kathryn is absolutely a living breathing, launch-party-hosting friend now. She and I are doing UPenn's online course in Modern Poetry together. I'm telling you, this woman is real, and she can really write!

 

Laurie Sanchez is an excellent journalist by day and romance writer and blogger by... well, night, day, and everything in between. One of my favorite blog posts is her "Game Changer" description about winning a Romance Writers Association Golden Heart.award. The fun Laurie has with her writing is what it's all about. http://mizwrite.com/2012/09/19/game-c...