Mollie Hunt's Blog, page 34

No. 4858

The following is an excerpt from a personal letter I wrote to a dear friend in Canada. I am very candid about my views. I’m not attempting to start a debate or initiate an argument. This is merely a moment in time for a writer who usually writes about cats.

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I am sick to my stomach over what is happening in our country. It’s hard to keep writing. I feel like I should be penning something profound and relevant, but that’s not me. So I work on the fantasy and the mystery, and hope it will bring someone joy or relief from the pain of life today.

Streets on fire. I think it’s especially difficult for those of us who were there last time, 1965 to 1970. They called them race riots back those days; I remember. Then the King assassination, then Kent State. “Ohio” (Tin soldiers and Nixon comin’…) plays over and over in my head, though the shooting of privileged white students has little to do with the tragic murder of George Floyd.

I’d never seen anyone murdered before. I think it was cruel of the news media to force that on us. The sight can never be unseen, the sound of his voice will always be with me. Yes, these things must be shown and known, but they do it for ratings. I fear soon the news media will throw away all boundaries when it comes to airing violence.

There is no way to perceive what’s happening right now without foreseeing a state of impending doom. Maybe that’s what it takes to change. The upheaval of the sixties changed things: now we recycle. But many of the points we tried to make back then faltered. The hippies grew up and chose capitalism over the communal ideals they once touted. Sixty years later, complacency has settled in, and underneath the surface, old ideas have festered.

With the onset of the Trump regime, those values of racism, greed, and hatred have been reignited and encouraged. Trump himself gives credence to those white boy sentiments. He loves to poke the bear with a stick and will stop at nothing to inflict his own personal version of hell on those who don’t agree with him. That he came to power in the first place, and that people still believe in him, proves the crack in our system, the wound that must be healed before we can go on.

Maybe there will be a civil war, but I doubt it. I’d personally like to see Washington, Oregon, and California become their own country. It’s obvious the country has split into smaller sub-countries. Too bad. I wanted to move toward the one-world paradigm, not away from it.

But I am in lockdown due to the other major crisis affecting us right now. My perceptions come through social medial and the news, from what people say, from what I’ve learned from my near-seventy years on Earth, and from logic. The view outside my window hasn’t changed. (Though oddly enough, the music coming through the window is a remake of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”) The sun is out. The cats are sleeping. All I can do is be the best person I can be today, one day at a time.

If I view time as a river and see its movement in events, then it’s safe to say none of this stops here. I believe in a Higher Power that will guide us to a new place. I believe the good in the human heart outweighs the bad. With that in mind, I look forward to what comes next. It’s all I can do. That, and take care of cats.

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“Battle of the Park Blocks” Portland Oregon 1970. My own little war. Later that year I moved to Canada.

A WRITER’S LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH REVIEWS

 

This post was originally posted on the William J. Cooke, Notes From A Journey blogsite.

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A WRITER’S LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH REVIEWS

For a writer, there is nothing more satisfying than having their book receive a great review. Conversely, there is nothing more painful than receiving a bad one. Still, reviews are part of a writers’ life, and the best way to deal with them is… well, we will get to that a bit later in this post.

 

Obtaining reviews:

First off, you need to get reviews. Reviews matter. If you collect enough Amazon reviews and star ratings, you attract more attention from the all-powerful Amazon algorithms. I don’t know that number—I certainly have not reached it with any of my books, but people do.

Reviews may be acquired in many ways. You may solicit, buy, bribe, or cajole. Any way you can convince readers to spend that extra minute letting others know how they liked your book is on the table.

Amazon isn’t the only place readers leave reviews. I stopped by my Goodreads page the other day to find Cats’ Eyes, the first book in my Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery series, had three times the reviews it has on Amazon. Who knew?

Professional reviewers are an option. They promise an honest, in-depth summary and review posted to several sites. Some pros are free, such as Readers’ Favorite (They have both a free and a paid option) Others you have to pay for, and they aren’t cheap. If you go this route, make sure the company is one that people read and admire. A review off on some obscure website isn’t going to do you much good. Note: I’ve never paid for a review. For me, I don’t think it makes that much difference.

Reviews from friends and family are great, but Amazon may kick them off, especially if the Big A decides the review is from a social media pal.

There are many reviewer sites that will give an honest review on their blogsite in exchange for a copy of your book. Google reviewers and your genre and see what comes up. I know of several for my genre, cozy mysteries. If they agree to review your book, make sure to give them plenty of time, and let them know when if you need it by a certain date, such as for a prelaunch. Don’t harass them, but if you don’t hear in a reasonable amount of time, an email check-in doesn’t hurt.

 

How to use reviews once you have them:

Don’t let your good reviews just sit there doing nothing— work them! There is a place on your book’s Amazon page for reviews. People read these, so it’s a good idea to fill them in. Keep it short— remember, most people (including myself) have the attention span of a gnat. Use only highlights of the review, and always credit the reviewer.

I also add a few of these summarized reviews in the front matter of my book, or sometimes on the back cover.

Don’t be shy. Put out good reviews in your newsletter or in a blogpost. Always include a direct link to the book for shoppers.

 

And now, what about those bad reviews?

There are various ways to deal with the eventuality of a bad review. You can read it, take it to heart, and try to learn from it, or you can ignore it. I personally try not to read the nonsense, but sometimes it’s funny. I had one reviewer dislike a book because my character didn’t vacuum enough. With all those cats, she said, Lynley should vacuum a whole lot more. Now really! Do you want to read about someone vacuuming their house? Still, the comment inspired me to add a little more vacuuming content to my subsequent books.

You can get bad reviews for several reasons having nothing to do with your book. Some people are just mean and have nothing nice to say. You need to remember that others may think very differently than you.

Do you have enemies? An evil ex? A jilted lover? A jealous friend? Sometimes these will go after a writer by leaving bad reviews. On Amazon, there is a link to a “Report Abuse” page beneath the comment where you can take steps to have the review removed, but it’s not always an easy task. You can also add your own comment in reply to a review.

 

Takeaway:

 Reviews are necessary. A few times a year I put out a plea on my Facebook Author Page asking readers to fill out reviews. I remind them it doesn’t need to be complicated: “I liked it,” is enough.

Do unto others… Reviews work both ways. Have you reviewed the books you’ve read lately?

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The Northwest Independent Writers’ Association serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing and marketing. NIWA is open to all published and unpublished writers in the Pacific Northwest Area and represents all genres in both fiction and nonfiction. Click here for more information. We would love to have you join.

Benefits of membership:

Monthly Membership Newsletter – with information about what’s happening in NIWA as well as upcoming events.

Free author’s page and advertising of your books in our online Catalog pages.

Access to the Members Only section of our webpage featuring an Author Resource Guide, Events & Con Listings, plus forms for being featured on our website, plus easy membership renewal.

Opportunity to submit a short story for the annual NIWA Anthology.

and more!

POEM: SAD RAIN

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Damn the rain. 

Today it is too much. 

God’s tears, yes, 

Mingle with our own 

As more death 

Takes ones we love, 

Leaving only a cold companion, 

Grief. 

 

Written originally for Leslie, Patty, and Patricia, who have recently lost beloved feline companions, but I know there are more of you battling staggering loss. I’m sorry this poem couldn’t be one of those uplifting, promise of hope kind, but sometimes acknowledging pain is all we are able to pull forth.

I do believe there will be good and fun and happiness and joy. I even believe those things are already among us. But the grief must be embraced before we can place it in the softness of our memories and move on.

 

 

 

 

MY WRITING PROCESS – INSIDE A WRITER’S MIND

 

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The NIWA Spring Blog Tour may be over, but the advice just keeps on coming. Since there were six bloggers writing six posts each, there are still 30 posts to go. These were originally posted on other bloggers’ sites, but I’m going to run them here as well. Stay tuned for more NIWA tour posts throughout the summer.

I’m beginning with my own posts that appeared elsewhere. But first, a little about NIWA:

The Northwest Independent Writers’ Association serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing and marketing . NIWA is open to all published and unpublished writers in the Pacific Northwest Area and represents all genres in both fiction and nonfiction. Click here for more information. We would love to have you join.

Benefits of membership:

Monthly Membership Newsletter – with information about what’s happening in NIWA as well as upcoming events.

Free author’s page and advertising of your books in our online Catalog pages.

Access to the Members Only section of our webpage featuring an Author Resource Guide, Events & Con Listings, plus forms for being featured on our website, plus easy membership renewal. 

Opportunity to submit a short story for the annual NIWA Anthology.

and more!

 

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MY WRITING PROCESS – INSIDE A WRITER’S MIND

I was born to write. I love being alone. I love being quiet. I absolutely adore running around inside my head. The only time I’m really at peace is when I’m writing.

This realization didn’t come about easily. In a society that rewards extraversion, I spent years hiding my desire to be left alone. Then one night I sat down at the computer and began to write a story. Forty pages later, I knew I had found something important to my life.

That first forty pages turned into 450, a mystery called “The Oldest House.” I loved the way the story revealed itself to me, taking its own twists and turns. I loved the freedom I felt when I was writing it. When finished, I enthusiastically sent it to publishers and agents and got my first round of rejection slips. That didn’t stop me from writing, just from sending queries. I soon settled into my second mystery, “Broken Roses.”

Noted sci-fi author David Gerrold said in his Worlds of Wonder workshop that the first million words are practice. That sounds like a lot, but if you truly love to write, they just happen. By the time I found myself penning my first Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery, I had hit that million mark. And I’d learned so much along the way.

I am now working on my 7th and 8th Crazy Cat Lady mystery, and I have the process down. Here’s how it goes:

The initial idea.

The first glimmer of a thought that could be a story that could be a book comes in many forms. It can be a writer’s prompt or something you see at the store. It can be a dream. I often think of a title and work from there. Cat Café was such a story. I loved the idea of cat cafés, and took off from there.

The thrill of the first draft.

Once I’ve got my idea, it’s time to run with it. I try not to think too much as I pen that initial draft; just let the story lead me. I don’t fuss over grammar or wording—that can be fixed later. If I require research, I make a note to come back. This is the fun stuff, riding on the wings of pure creativity.

The work begins: the second and third (and possibly fourth) draft.

Now for the real work, editing and revision. During these run-throughs, I check for flow and continuity, for gaps and discrepancies, for plot holes, and for anything that doesn’t seem right to me. I use an ongoing outline, a cast of characters list, and a note page where I write whatever comes to mind. Yes, I do use color-coding.

The print-out/read-through. (Red pen required)

After all those edits, the manuscript should be perfect, right? Unfortunately it usually isn’t. This is when I print it out and read it out loud to my cats. Seeing the words on paper reveals typos and overused words. Reading out loud shows the flow of the wording. This is especially importing with conversations. Ask yourself, do people really talk like that, or am I channeling Agatha Christie?

The beta readers.

Now that I’ve fixed the problems I found in the read-through, it’s time to hand off the red pen to someone else. As the writer, I instinctively fill in gaps that would be glaringly obvious to others, but another reader will catch those things and more. I have a list of questions for the beta reader to answer once she’s finished reading, such as, “When did you realize who the killer was?” and the ever-revealing, “Did you like it?” (Please, please say yes!)

The editor.

I love my editor. She’s smart, savvy, and knows where to put the commas. Once the manuscript is as perfect as I can hope for it to be, I say goodbye to it for a little while to let her do her magic. It takes time as we go back and forth with questions and comments. Then, voila, it comes back to me a fully formatted book!

Revising with the proof copy.

I publish through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing because it’s easy and free. I begin with the print version which allows me to order a proof copy. Once the proof is in my hand, it’s red pen time again. In the same way the print-out revealed mistakes, reading the actual book shows up lingering issues. I know we were taught not to write in books, but get over it and use that red pen!

Finishing touches.

There are things a writer must do that go along with publishing, such as cover design, back cover blurb, front and back matter, bio, and links. Blurbs are hard for me, so I often begin working on them long before the book is finished. For Cat Café, I wrote one of my most well-received mini-blurbs though I still had no idea where the story was going: “A body is found in the cat café, and all the black cats are missing.”

Do it all over again!

Congratulations! The book is done and out! Celebrate, then it’s time to get on with the next book.

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This post was originally posted on Peak Amygdala, Joyce Reynolds-Ward’s blogsite.

 

#6: Advice to New Writers: Run Away Screaming, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

This is the sixth and final installment of the six-week blog tour series for the Northwest Independent Writers’ Association.   NIWA serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing and marketing.

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Advice to New Writers: Run Away Screaming, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

So you want to be a writer? You have dreams of hitting the New York Times bestseller list, of being mobbed on book tours, of scoring large amounts of money and fame?

Here’s a hint: run away. Now. Set yourself up with a YouTube channel. Become an Instagram influencer. If money and fame are your priorities, then you really don’t want to talk to me or to a lot of other writers. Money and fame do not necessarily devolve on writers. Most of us labor in private and beg to be recognized. So run away. Find that streaming dream, because the reality is that you are more likely to go viral and make the big bucks doing that than you are as a writer.

Run away if you’re all about fame and profit. You aren’t going to find that here.

Okay. Now that we’ve cleared the room, it’s time to talk. Are you possessed with the desire to tell tales? Burning to tell the stories of characters you daydream about? Good, because that’s who I really want to talk to. Those of us who would die small deaths if we can’t write our stories. Those of us for whom those tales are almost more real than the lives we live.

The first thing you need to realize as a new writer is simply this: writers write. Perhaps you don’t write every single day, but you write several times a week. Whether you write by hand, on an AlphaSmart, a Chromebook, or a computer, you write.

This discipline is especially crucial for you as a new writer. New writers need to keep journals—not to record your daily life, in particular, but to play with words. You need to let yourself speculate. Record incidents, phrases, oddities of life. Spend time observing people and places and write down what sticks with you. Learn to observe the world around you and record those observations. Acquiring and developing this habit gives you resources to add depth to your work. It’s the details of a setting or of a character that breathes life into them and makes your story real to a reader. This is the foundation of your later writing life, when you will use notes like this as a part of your brainstorming processes to create realistic characters, settings, and plot situations (yes, even if you write science fiction and fantasy!).

Next, writers finish what they write and move on to the next story. One of the saddest situations I encounter when talking to a new writer is the degree to which they may cling to a much-loved early work. They often worry the story to death because it’s their darling, their baby, their dream and they don’t dare let it go.

No. You need to finish that work and move on. Writing growth comes from creating new work, not endlessly revising old work. The reality is that as much as you love that early work, it is most likely not going to be the one that sells (yes, yes, I can hear the mutterings about the exceptions to this rule. What you don’t hear about are the discards and the early projects of those exceptions).

Another point. It takes time and consistent, mindful effort to become an accomplished writer. One of my writing mentors, the late Jay Lake, used to say that it takes ten years to become an “overnight success.” Now I don’t know if Jay originated that saying or not, but whatever. It’s true. You have to write a lot of words to develop the craft of writing. Some say it’s over a million words. But a million words without the focus to figure out what does and doesn’t work about your writing, your characters, your plots doesn’t take you anywhere. You need to be mindful about what does and doesn’t work about your writing. You need to wrestle with it.

And then, one day, you’ll realize that you automatically know what should be happening at 30,000 words in the book. 60,000 words. 90,000 words. You can predict the approximate word count of the first draft of the novel you’re writing. When you go back to revise it, you can find the plot holes yourself, or, even better, see them as you work and fix them in process.

Trust me. If you work at your craft, if you keep writing every day and finish what you write, if you ruthlessly analyze what does and doesn’t work in what you’re doing—you will reach this point.

Develop a thick skin about criticism. This piece is absolutely critical to your survival as a writer. Sooner or later you will encounter both tough and toxic criticisms. A good tough critique that points out what is both good and bad about your work is useful, even if it makes you cry (and yes, this will happen). The hallmark of a tough critique as opposed to a toxic one is that it helps you grow as a writer and see your way to fix the problems. A tough critique is the best gift a friend can give you.

A toxic critique, on the other hand, is usually personalized and promotes an agenda aimed at tearing you down, not improving your writing. Perhaps the person feels threatened by you and your writing—that often happens, especially in workshop environments. It’s rarely accompanied by useful suggestions, or if there are suggestions, they’re rewritten in the critiquer’s own voice. There aren’t many if any positives added. Or that person doesn’t care for your choice of story or genre. Whatever. If you’re not certain, check with a trusted mentor or friend.

That said, sometimes even tough, accurate criticism can be wrong. Part of your development as a writer is learning the confidence to disregard critique when you don’t think it works.

A controversial point here. Learn to kill your darlings. That can be a plot twist that doesn’t work, a scene that doesn’t fit, a character, a particular turn of phrase—whatever it is, sometimes it just has to die. For example, in my early book Netwalker Uprising, I wrote a detailed scene where my character Melanie kills a suspected assassin while on a ski expedition. It was a lovely scene. I had worked hard on the choreography of that scene…and it absolutely did not work. I had to throw a whole book out in that series, Netwalking Mars, because the physics were wrong and the characterizations didn’t fit what those characters became when the entire series was not written. But all was not lost, because I did use elements from those scenes and that book in other things I wrote.

A waste of time and effort? No. Because while I made some big characterization bloopers, I also learned from those mistakes. All writing is learning your process, and to be honest, it doesn’t matter how much experience you have…at some point you screw up. Just ask any writer further down the trail than you are.

And finally, be psychotically persistent about your writing. “Psychotic persistence” is another Jay Lake-ism, and it refers to discipline. Write. Write as often as possible, finish your work, write mindfully, and don’t be afraid to discard what doesn’t work. But write. Keep on writing. One word after another. Don’t let others discourage you.

Writers write. They finish what they write. They exert consistent, mindful effort to improve their writing. They learn to discern effective criticism from ineffective. When necessary, they kill their darlings, and above all else, they are psychotically persistent about writing. That’s what it takes.

~~~

Other posts in this series by Joyce Reynolds-Ward (note: each website owner will post at some point during the week listed).

March 29-April 4th—Organizing Your Plot http://www.joycereynoldsward.com

April 5-11—Self-editing, grammar, and beta readers https://authorwilliamcook.com/blog/

April 12-18—Genre and cross-genre https://tanstaaflpress.com/news

April 19-25—My Approach to the writing process https://varidapr.com

April 26-May 2—Reading to Impact your writing http://www.conniejjasperson.com

May 3-9—Advice for new writers https://lecatts.wordpress.com

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward is a speculative fiction writer from Enterprise, Oregon. Her short stories include appearances in Well…It’s Your Cow, Children of a Different Sky, Allegory, River, and Fantasy Scroll Magazine. Her agripunk thriller trilogy, The Ruby Project: Origins, The Ruby Project: Ascendant, The Ruby Project: Realization, are due for release in November, 2020. Her books include Shadow Harvest, Choices of Honor, Judgment of Honor, and Klone’s Stronghold. Joyce has edited two anthologies, Pulling Up Stakes (2018), and Whimsical Beasts (2019). Besides writing, Joyce enjoys reading, quilting, horses, and hiking, and is a member of Soroptimist International of Wallowa County.

 

CATS’ EYES FREE 5-DAY KINDLE EVENT

 

What if a retired cat-lady found a stolen sixty-eight carat chunk of trouble in her back yard pond?

It’s been a tough month and a half. Here we are, May 89th, with very little sign the world will be normal any time soon. I, for one, could use some good news. That’s why I have created a 5-day book Giveaway on Amazon.

From Sunday, May 10th to Thursday, May 14th, Cats’ Eyes (Kindle version) is free! Cats’ Eyes is the first of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series featuring Lynley Cannon, a fifty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble that a cat in catnip.

…an outstanding amateur sleuth mystery that will delight cat lovers and mystery lovers alike. Cats’ Eyes has so many exciting twists and turns; it keeps the reader fascinated until the final thrilling scene. I liked the addition of “cat facts” at the heading of each chapter. I learned a few fascinating tidbits that I didn’t know. —Readers Favorite 5-Star Review

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Lynley Cannon is the crazy cat lady, but she’s not quite crazy yet, though a bizarre connection to a bumbled heist and a double homicide has got her wondering.

Lynley usually enjoys her old Portland home with her clowder of rescue cats, but when elderly Fluffs drags in a dusky brown beach agate that turns out to be a priceless chocolate diamond, things change fast. The uncut stone, one of a pair called the Cats’ Eyes, has been stolen from its wealthy owner, but how it ended up a cat toy, even the robbers cannot guess.

Threatened by theft, kidnapping, and murder, Lynley is determined to maintain her serenity, even if it means finding the crooks herself. With the police completely baffled, friends, family, and a hunky humane society investigator come on board to help.

The killer, convinced that Lynley has the diamonds, is prepared to go to any lengths to get them back. Will Lynley live to clean the litter box another day?

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Excerpt from Cats’ Eyes:

Chapter 1

My name is Lynley Cannon and I am the crazy cat lady, only I’m not crazy yet. I swear. Everything I say is true, though it may seem like the wildest fiction. It does to me, now that I look back, starting when Fluffs discovered the stone. But I’m getting ahead of myself. How are you to know what led up to that unfortunate find or its dire consequences? Why, at the time I didn’t even know myself and could never have guessed.

I am fifty-eight years of age, and life in the slow lane has been pretty serene. Quietly happy, or happily quiet, whichever you choose. I’d had a good run in my youth—sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll—but I was over it. Too much trouble. Too much drama. I have better things to do.

Which brings me to the cats. I don’t know where I got the reputation of being a crazy cat lady; I only have seven in my care at the moment. And two aren’t even mine but fosters from FOF, Friends of Felines, the shelter where I volunteer. One is named Addison and he’s here to recover from a kitty cold. The other is Fluffs.

Fluffs’ is a sad tale gone good. Originally she came to me for a few precious weeks of hospice before she passed on. It had been so poignant, bringing home the dying cat, the scrawny gray with chronic kidney failure, to give her some last, best moments of TLC. But it soon became apparent that nobody had bothered to tell Fluffs her time was up. That was months ago and she’s still going strong.

Fraulein Fluffs isn’t the name I would have chosen for a cat, but it was the name she came with and at twelve-plus, there was no going back. I accepted her as she was, though I admit to calling her Fluffo when no one else was listening. She allowed the silly pet name as long as it was accompanied by affection and food. I treated Fluffs as the treasure she was. And then one day she found a treasure of her own.

Mondays are always busy. Through a quirk of fate, I’m retired, but I seem to be busier than ever. I’m finally doing all the things I used to think about when I was at work but never did because I was always too tired when I got off. That Monday was no exception. After yoga and a brisk walk around the park with the senior ladies, I spent some time on the computer compiling my Scottish heritage, the Mackey family tree. Got to get it all down before I pop off in case anyone’s interested. My daughter isn’t—Lisa’s too busy in the here-and-now—but maybe someday my granddaughter will take a break from her texting and her iPod and whatever else might be invented for sedentary self-gratification long enough to wonder where she came from. When that time comes, I want to be ready.

I was in the midst of a particularly difficult connection between a great-uncle and a third-cousin-once-removed when I heard a clink and then the clackity-clack of a sharp-sided object rolling across the hardwood floor. It stopped, then started up, then stopped again, creating just enough distraction to turn my attention from the quandary of my ancestors to the question of what was making the noise.

Cat toy, I thought to myself. But which one, and who was playing? Can’t be Red—Big Red was seventeen pounds of muscled tabby dynamite; when he played, he sounded like a dancing elephant. Dirty Harry, the black and white, didn’t play much anymore; he was getting on in years and preferred to sleep in his donut or his cupboard by the TV. And when Harry did sport around, it was with the little female, Little. Though Little, an all-black panther-shadow with daring yellow eyes, was half his size, they boxed and wrangled like tigers. Violet, who got her name from her gray-violet coat, didn’t play at all because she was what veterinarians call morbidly obese, which for us laymen, translates into as wide as she was long. Solo was just that: a singular beauty. White as a ghost, she lived an almost-feral life out of sight of human eyes. Addison, the fourteen-year-old black male I mentioned earlier, was in quarantine. That left only…

“Fluffo?”

I tracked the enigmatic sound, not raucous enough to be the plastic bell-ball but too irregular to be the walnut. Down the stairs, through the hallway, and there she was, batting something small and glittery into a corner.

“What have you got?” I said softly as I crossed the room. When she heard me, she stopped dead in the middle of a serve and looked up with big, guilty eyes. Her paw covered the item, pressing it down with the gentle firmness she might have used on a baby mouse.

I bent over and scooped the object out from under her. Fluffs gave me a look that could have frozen fire and stalked off in the opposite direction.

“Fluffs,” I called apologetically but I knew it was no use. She was miffed, and then she was gone.

Shaking the thing in my hand, I felt the smooth, oily heaviness of stone. Opening my palm, I glimpsed it for the first time.

I’d like to say I had a premonition of fate at that historic moment, a frisson of expectancy, a sense of Things to Come, but I didn’t. My only thoughts on the brown agate with the dark slash through the center were How pretty! and then What’s it doing in my living room? since I didn’t remember having ever seen it before.

A jangle of electronic church bells rose from the direction of the kitchen—my cell phone. The stone still in my hand, I went to answer it. This proved more difficult than expected since it wasn’t where it was supposed to be: on the wooden tray by the real phone. The bell played merrily along, mocking me as I searched through my purse and rifled my coat pockets. Finally I found it under yesterday’s mail just as it clicked over to message mode. With a sigh I waited for the caller’s number to appear. When it did, I saw it was from the shelter.

I shot an alarmed glance at the Kit-Kat clock on the wall. Its switching tail and roving eyes confirmed my sudden fear that time had gotten away from me. My shift was about to start and I wasn’t even dressed yet. My apron was still in the dryer. I hadn’t even cleaned my own cats’ litter boxes, and here it was time to do the forty-plus trays at FOF!

Without another thought, I tossed the errant rock into a catch-all basket on the kitchen table and ran to get ready. Maybe if I had been paying attention, if I were better at multi-tasking, if the phone hadn’t rung right then, things would have turned out differently.

Maybe not.

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Cats’ Eyes original cover, 2013.

 

Cats’ Eyes is also available in print ($14.00) and large print ($16.99) versions.

Happy Reading!

 

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#5: Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Approach to Sales, by Suzanne Hagelin

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This is Suzanne Hagelin’s fifth post in a six-week blog tour series for the Northwest Independent Writer’s Association. NIWA serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing, and marketing.

Are there people who love sales? I think so, but I’m not sure how many authors are among them. Most of us are pressed into the wild realm of sales by necessity.

It hasn’t come to me naturally. Whether in person or online, it’s taken time to acquire some practical skills and a healthy sense of detachment. My emotional well-being doesn’t need to depend on making that sale. I don’t beg for sales and I don’t apologize for my books or prices. If my selection doesn’t suit someone, I’m happy to follow Thomas Gondolfi’s advice and direct them to another author.

Once the time has come to organize your approach to sales, remember that you can’t pursue all the options at the same time. I know it’s tempting, but it’s unwise to spread yourself too thin. So, where do you start? Before you can make a plan, you need to do some research.

Gathering Intel

Buy a trench coat, a fedora with the front edge turned down, and pick up some sunglasses. Next time a fog rolls in as dusk is falling, don your gear and head out into the streets, sticking to the shadows, and follow the leads…

No, it’s not that glamorous.

You need to know a few things before planning your sales approach. How are other authors in your genre selling their books? What are readers looking for—and where? Who should you turn to for suggestions? What tactics are doable for you and what investment do they require? Write down your questions as they come to you. Some of them will be really helpful. Others may become obsolete as you investigate and collect information.

Ways to research

Search engines
Join groups, in person and/or online, where authors talk about sales (FB has many)
Read blogs by authors
Get on newsletter lists by independent authors in your genre
Go to events that carry your genre of books

 

SALES

You can release your book in both print and ebook form at the same time, but you’ll find that the approach to selling them is very different. Make a plan for each and whether you focus on them one at a time or juggle the two, just get started and do your best. There’s no ideal way.

There are no secrets, either, that can bypass the hard work needed to make sales. Some authors have found shortcuts to success, but it wasn’t due to brilliance on their part. They had the right books at the right time offered to the right market. Don’t count on having the same results—and certainly don’t spend money to buy this kind of ‘secret’ and become one of their sources of income.

Printed Books

Selling print copies of your books is a great place to start but it’s a more expensive path. So, why do it? Some people prefer printed books and some like to support local authors. Printed books with quality covers that the authors are willing to stand behind and sell personally are also more likely to be better quality than a lot of the miscellaneous eBooks out there.

This is not to say that good authors who publish only eBooks can’t make a name for themselves, but hard work is what is needed in any medium. They need to establish a reputation as a known author and set themselves apart from the glut of writings that exist.

Research Events

The year I spent going to events, talking to authors and buying books, was valuable. I heard their pitches, looked at their books and table arrangements. I walked through the dealers’ rooms and saw how it all fit together. It was rather overwhelming, but it was a great opportunity for me to get to know each event, its attendees, vendors, and style, and decide whether or not I could do it.

Some advice, if you decide to follow my example and talk to authors at events:

Look at their books and see what interests you. Buy one. I buy at least one book from another author at every event I attend. Think of it as market research. I’ve found some real gems that way.
Beware of blocking an author’s table and dominating their time with your questions. Be watchful for other customers and considerate of the author’s time.
Don’t expect a personal private lesson in sales or publishing or any other aspect of writing. It’s true that many authors will talk to you about these things and some are really helpful, but more often than not, the time you spend at their table is blocking potential customers.
Don’t talk to them about your book or work-in-progress unless they ask and then keep it brief.
Don’t offer them samples or copies of your writing or ask to put your books on their table.

Selling at Events

I write science fiction, and in my case, events were the ideal place to break into print sales. Science fiction and fantasy conventions have concentrated groups of people who like these genres and some of them are looking for books or new authors. Research led me to some events to try and I began signing up for tables in local events.

Here are some of the costs.

Table fees and related event fees
Stocking books and table supplies
Printing business cards, bookmarks, signs, and such
Time investment
Personal cost, putting yourself out there (authors aren’t often extroverts)
When you’re holding your first book, pitching it to your first potential customer, and facing what could feel like rejection for the first time—that’s when you need to know, not just the how-tos, but the benefits of sales.

When you’re holding your first book, pitching it to your first potential customer, and facing what could feel like rejection for the first time—that’s when you need to know, not just the how-tos, but the benefits of sales.

There are a number of benefits that make it worthwhile.

Getting to know real people who like your genre and might like your book.
Learning how to pitch your book.
Forming realistic expectations about sales and being ok with them.
Learning by trial and error is valuable and increases what you’re able to glean from others.
Getting to know the market, finding your niche.
Getting to know other authors, networking, making friends.

Planning for Events

Do you want to give events a shot? I highly recommend “Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions”. It has everything you need to know to get started.

Choose two events nearby and submit applications for a table. Depending on how popular the event is, you may not get a spot. That’s fine. Just keep trying till you get one somewhere.

Budget. Make a budget for the event and for now, don’t assume you will make back ANY of it. Tell yourself this is research and worth the investment. I usually include the table fee, gas and parking, food and coffee expenses (if I don’t bring my own), and money to buy one book from another indie author. I have a separate budget for other expenses that cover multiple events such as printing and tablecloths. Restocking books is also something I budgeted separately in the beginning.

Schedule. Planning time for each step of the event is important. Allow for setup and teardown, traveling time, hours working the table, meals, and updating your records at the end. If you need supplies, add shopping time. If you need things printed, schedule it early enough to have them in time.

Setup. The first couple times I had a table, I staged it at home a week ahead so I could think about what I wanted it to look like. Once you get there, you find that there are things to change. This could be for a number of reasons like lighting and the tables on either side of you. Staging at home helps to identify supplies you could be lacking or unrealistic expectations of what you can achieve on your table. Setup is an art that can be learned and improved. Start simple and see what works. If changes need to be made during the event, wait till there are no customers around, before the dealer room opens or after it closes is best, and keep it simple.

Supplies. “Working the Table” has great suggestions on supplies to keep in stock and I can’t improve on it. Make a list of things you think you’ll need and keep them on hand, packed in a plastic container, ready to go. At the end of each event, make sure you have a “resupply” list where you make a note of things you’ve run out of.

Making Sales. Get an app for making sales that has the ability to charge credit cards. You should use it for ALL your sales including cash to simplify tracking. Square is a great, and their software and reporting are excellent. Some people use PayPal Here but I found their reporting cumbersome; in fact, it drove me crazy. I have both, but I much prefer using Square for sales and PP for making business payments.

You’ll need a cash box with some seed cash for making change. The easiest way to do cash sales is to include the sales tax in the price. I have one price on the books, and I tell customers that if they pay cash, I will cover the sales tax. You earn slightly less on your books and it adds a bit more work in calculating your sales but it’s worth it to avoid the hassle of small change.

Records. Square tracks all your transactions, deposits your credit sales money at the end of the day, and tracks your inventory. Keep receipts and record your expenses, and you’ll find it’s easy to keep your records up to date.

Getting Into Bookstores

Check out independent bookstores near you and see if they are open to hosting local authors. Many have information about this on their website. Some will sell your books on consignment and others may be open to scheduling a book signing. This step makes more sense once you have a following because the idea is that you will bring in customers for the bookstore and sell books for them.

If no one knows who you are yet, book signings are not the place to start.

One final word of advice on selling printed copies. Keep your expectations reasonable. If you have never sold books before, don’t expect to cover your costs the first time—or even for some time after that. Writing more books helps, but so does learning how to sell them. Your target should be long-term, establishing a reputation, gaining fans who like what they’ve read, building skills in working the table, and getting to know your market. In the long run, this is what book sales are all about. Again, “Working the Table” is a great resource.

 

EBooks

There are a number of places where you can sell your eBooks online. Most authors choose Amazon, which pretty much created the digital reader world, and it’s certainly an easy way to go. There are a number of other options as well and it’s not hard to try several of them at the same time. This isn’t the place to discuss the pros and cons of each one, and I’m not necessarily the best person to give advice either. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to focus more on eBooks and exploring different ways to distribute them and make sales.

EBooks are closely tied to online marketing and most of the discussion about planning these sales fits better in my next post on Organizing Your Approach to Marketing.

Here are some practical tips using Amazon KDP as an example—but please don’t limit yourself to them without considering all your options. I have tested and am using several different distributors and am very glad I didn’t restrict myself to only one.

Take a small book or novella for a test drive, and do the following:

Upload your test ePub to the KDP platform.
Add the cover and metadata.
Publish the book.
Go to the Amazon page and check out how everything looks.
Buy a Kindle copy, (the app is free on your phone or computer, so you don’t have to buy a Kindle).
Invite a couple of friends or family members to get a copy and read it.
Make notes on what you learn about the process and what needs improvement.
Check out the KDP Reports section and see how your sales data is handled.

Now check out some other eBook distributors and try the same thing there. I have used Draft2Digital (which has worked well for me) and IngramSpark (which may have good distribution but is impossible to run promotions through). There are a number of other options as well.

Managing Your Own Online Sales

Author Page Online. Authors should have some means of selling books directly to their readers and that requires a website or author page of some kind. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to set up a presence online. What you do need is time and a clear idea of what you want to accomplish.

Here are a few suggestions.

Host your own website through a web hosting service that works for you.
A FaceBook author page
A blogsite such as Word Press

Use your website, FaceBook page, blog, or whichever other platform you prefer to link to your online store and your eBooks. It’s not necessary to pay a lot in order to sell books from your own site.

Online Store. There are some pretty sophisticated packages out there for setting up secure, online stores, but if you’re looking for a free option that blends beautifully with your in-person sales, I highly recommend Square’s online store. It’s easy to use and free, apart from the usual fees all credit card sales charge. It has the added benefit of keeping all your sales transactions and inventory in one place.

eBooks links. You can also set up universal book links through a service like Books2Read.com and that way, you have one link per eBook and from there readers can choose their favorite distributor.

 

Final Thoughts

There are a few classic tidbits of wisdom that never lose their punch.

To learn to sell books, keep selling books.
To sell more books, write more books.

You may want readers to love you, but they don’t want to love you unless you have more books they can pick up and read.

I’m a reader and I feel the same way.

 

The first post in this series is “Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Mind”.

You can read the second installment here, “Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Time”, the third here, “Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Plot”, and the fourth here, “Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Publication Process”.

The sixth post, “Writing Essentials: Organizing Your Approach to Marketing”, comes out next week on Joyce Reynolds-Ward’s Blog.

Graphic made with photos by NASA Hubble and  Igor Oliyarnik on Unsplash

 

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USA Today bestselling author of hard science fiction, Suzanne Hagelin, lives in the Seattle area where she runs a small press, Varida P&R, and teaches language on the side.

Her Books. The Silvarian Trilogy Book 1, “Body Suit” is available for 99c in April only and the audiobook is Downpour’s current Editor’s Pick at $4.95. Book 2 “Nebulus” just released on audio, and Book 3, “The Denser Plane” is in the writing stage. The Severance begins with “Cascade” and will be followed by “Eclipse”.

LINKS—Suzannehagelin.com, Suzanne’s Blog, Newsletter, Twitter, FaceBook, Medium

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#4: How an Author’s Reading Impacts Their Writing, By Connie J. Jasperson

 

This is the fourth in a six-week blog tour series for the Northwest Independent Writers’ Association.   NIWA serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing and marketing. You can catch up with them at https://www.niwawriters.com/

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How an Author’s Reading Impacts Their Writing,
By Connie J. Jasperson

Every author I know is a book junkie. The works an author gravitates to fires their imagination, inspiring them in subtle ways.

My literary ambitions were fueled by tales about dragons, knights, barbarians, booze, morality, and the Regency, as lived vicariously through the imaginations of the great authors. Running out of books to read gave me permission to write my own stories.

In the 1960s, our TV antenna only reliably got two channels. Thus, reading was a passion in our home. My parents were prolific readers and were members of both Doubleday Book Club and Science Fiction Book Club. They also purchased two to four paperbacks a week at the drugstore and subscribed to Analog and several other magazines.

I was a sneak-thief when it came to reading—anything in my parents’ bedroom was fair game as long as I didn’t get caught.

My earliest literary influences were the crazy mix of testosterone-fueled sci-fi novels my father read, the scandalous romances my mother devoured, the Dr. Seuss books I read to my younger siblings, my “appropriate for a ten-year-old” subscription to the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book clubs.

I was sent home one day in 5th grade for bringing “lurid and unsuitable” literature to school for the reading hour—Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. My mother took umbrage at that, and the fight was on.

When we children ran out of those books, we had the Encyclopedia Britannica and my parents’ library of The Great Books of the Western World, a series of books originally published in the United States by Encyclopedia Britannica.

There was always something new and wonderful to read around our house. My father insisted we attempt to read everything and discuss what we could.

Some of the Great Books were mostly understandable, such as William Shakespeare and Samuel Pepys. At the age of 14, I didn’t comprehend what an awful, arrogant man Pepys was considered to be by his peers, but I read his diary.

While we were bass fishing on a Saturday morning, Dad would talk about the contrasts and similarities of life and morality in Pepys’ London and our existence in suburban America in 1969. His thought was that I should learn about the 17th century and the Great Fire in London from an eyewitness, just as I had learned about the human cost of the war in the Pacific from John F. Kennedy’s autobiographical novel, PT 109.

I read the works of Byron, Shelley, Elizabeth Browning, and all the brilliant 19th-century romantic poets—too numerous to list here. I fell absolutely in love with William Butler Yeats, consuming his work like some demented fangirl.

Scott Fitzgerald educated me about my grandparents’ era, the 1920s.

In Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes gave me permission to write satire and dark comedy.

To this day, I watch very little television. Reading is and always will be the most crucial influence in my writing life.

Reading teaches me how to tell a good story.

The most important book I ever stole off my father’s nightstand was J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I was enchanted, swept away by the enormity of the story, and the complexity of the world Bilbo lived in.

Tolkien taught me about world-building.

I was also a confirmed Fritz Lieber fan. My first completed novel, written long ago in a galaxy far, far away, began with the idea of writing a book Fritz might write if he were still alive and had consumed several hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The work I produced had no resemblance to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and was nothing like anything Fritz would have written. However, my friends told me that the bones of a good story lurked within the uneven plot and overblown dialogue.

My friends also told me that I needed to relearn the fundamental rules grammar that I had forgotten, so I bought the Chicago Manual of Style and used it.

Grammar was only part of the problem. I had to learn how to craft a readable story, so I bought books on the subject and studied them.

At that point, I began reading with a more critical eye, and what I learned in that process profoundly influenced my work.

I became a confirmed fan of modern epic fantasy in 1988 when I first read a book written by Tad Williams. The Dragon Bone Chair blew me away.  Each character was deserving of a novel, and the diverse races whose cultures were so clearly shown fascinated me. The arrogance members of each race have, the assumption of innate superiority, illustrated a fundamental truth about the real world.

Give me the Flawed Hero over the Bland Prince any day.

But I’m also a poet, and I love words.

Tad Williams blends complex world-building and compelling characters who aren’t exactly squeaky clean with sharp, beautiful prose. I sense the slightest hint of rebellion in his work, which makes his work a little wild.

Patrick Rothfuss writes brilliant, poetic prose and gets a deep story told in the process. The opening paragraphs of “Name of the Wind” are sheer beauty.

Neil Gaiman’s Stardust is a shining example of a beautiful, poetic fairytale written in modern times.

Looking back, I see that I learned about world-building from Samuel Pepys and Tolkien. I studied how to develop characters and character arcs from Fritz Lieber and Tad Williams. I was taught to craft prose with my own voice by authors like William Butler Yeats, Neil Gaiman, and Patrick Rothfuss.

It is because of the uncountable other authors whose works I have been privileged to read that I was inspired to write, not just poetry and short stories, but novels.

For me, writing has always been as necessary as breathing. In the beginning, my writing was unformed, a reflection of whatever I was reading at the moment. As I matured and gained confidence in writing vignettes and poems for myself and my children, I developed the courage to believe in my own ideas and stories.

Once that happened, I became a writing junkie.

Some days I write well, and others not so much, but every day I write something.

Every day I look for the new book that will rock my universe, a new “drug” to satisfy my craving, even if I struggle to find time to read it.

I’m addicted to dreams and the people who write about them. Reading is my form of mind-expanding inspiration.

Without the authors whose works formed my world, I would never have dared to write. My advice to every author is to read with wonder, and also read critically.

Reading is the elixir of creativity. Never stop reading.

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Connie J. Jasperson  is a published poet and the author of nine fantasy novels. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. A founding member of Myrddin Publishing Group, she can be found blogging regularly on both the craft of writing and art history at Life in the Realm of Fantasy . You can find her books on her Amazon author page: http://bit.ly/CJJASPauthor

Follow Connie J. Jasperson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cjjasp

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VEGAN HUMAN-CARNIVOROUS CAT

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I am an omnivore. In the past, I’ve been a vegan, a vegetarian, a pescatarian, and a macrobiotic, but at this point in my life, I’ve found it prudent to be flexible. Whether traveling in other countries or visiting people here at home, it’s simplest to eat what is offered. Since my husband eats meat— and cooks it for me— I accept it graciously. When I cook vegetarian meals, he does the same.

I won’t cook meat myself because, yuck! (Also because I ruin it.) And when it comes time to feed the cats, I have a certain amount of yuck factor there as well. This is what started me wondering how true vegetarians and vegans reconciled the conundrum of feeding their cat meat. I reached out to my vegan/vegetarian friends and acquaintances, and I learned a lot.

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What does it mean to you to be vegan/vegetarian?

First off, I asked my little group of ailurophiles to explain what being vegetarian or vegan meant to them. Why were they moved to limit their lifestyles so drastically? Most answered with variations on the theme of not wanting to take part in animal cruelty and suffering.

Adriana answers neatly, “Being vegan is all about reducing animal suffering.”

“I really just feel like we have no reason to kill animals for food,” says Elisa, “and we especially have no reason to treat them so cruelly before we slaughter them.”

“For me, it’s about doing the least amount of harm in the world as I can…” Leslie replies, going on to add, “…with the understanding that the amount will never be zero no matter how hard I try.”

I found that statement particularly thought-provoking. Much of the ridicule aimed at veg/vegans points to some flaw in their practice. Maybe they own a pair of leather shoes or eat figs. My question is, why should non veg/vegans expect such absolute perfectionism?

 

How do you reconcile your cats’ need for meat with your vegan/vegetarian philosophy?

The people I talked to are serious cat people, and most agreed that since cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they need meat to survive, feeding them a healthy diet is just part of the deal.

 I tend to agree with Leslie when she says, “I can see why some meat-eaters consider it hypocritical for vegans to have cats and feed them meat. But I also think those criticisms come from a place of defensiveness; it’s easier to criticize those of us who are trying to limit our negative impact than it is too seriously look at what harm meat-eaters are causing…. By (their) logic, it makes no sense to even try. If you can’t be perfect, then you might as well just kill as many animals as you want.”

“It is definitely uncomfortable to be vegan and still have that unbreakable link to the slaughterhouse,” she goes on to say. “It’s something I struggle with. There are vegan pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs for those who can’t deal with this, but I love cats.” (Leslie has a magnificent clowder of senior and special needs cats.) “I do what I must to give them the best quality of life for however long they have left despite my discomfort.”

Adriana brought up another point. “Keeping my cats indoors and not letting them hunt is a way (of compromising). By providing them with all the nutrients they need to be healthy reduces animal suffering too, in this case, their suffering.” She also mentions that cat food is often made with meat by-products, so animals are not specifically killed to make it.

Cathy has gone a whole different direction. “I decided to try my cats on a vegan diet…  I learned that although cats require a high protein diet and certain essential nutrients, it is possible to formulate a healthy and tasty diet for them that does not include animal products. Many of our cats have been vegan for more than 10 years and are doing fine.” Cathy does mention that she also has cats who are on prescription non-vegan diets for medical issues.

Before talking with Cathy, I would have insisted the only healthy diet for cats must include meat, but as she explained to me the complex mixture of protein and nutrients supplied in the cat food she makes and buys, I will have to reconsider.

 

What foods do you feed you cat and why?

So the next step was to find out what these veg/vegans did feed their cats.

“A high quality food… the expensive stuff. Wet food mostly,” Elisa says, echoing what many cat people feel is the right diet for their furry cohabitors.

“I have seven (senior) cats and they are on different diets,” Leslie explains. Leslie lovingly tailors meals for each individual cat, depending on their special needs. “Senior cats often don’t eat enough so I’m always looking for ways to get more calories and water into them… One of those cats has chronic kidney disease so I add half a can of water and half a scoop of protein powder to his meals. The seventh cat has inflammatory bowel disease, and she eats a limited ingredient diet.” Leslie tries to choose foods “that do not include problematic ingredients and (are) transparent about what they put into their food.”

Cathy, as she said before, feeds a complex vegan diet, but she adds, “I am excited that a company called Bond Pet Foods is working to make cat and dog food from In-Vitro meat (meat proteins derived from animal cells— no slaughter required) so we can have animal protein without the animal. Hopefully this will be available some day in prescription diets.” Adriana also mentioned In-Virto meat, saying she will use it for her cats when it becomes available.

 

What else would you like to say about veganism and living with a cat?

 Cathy again brings up the issue of progress verses perfection. “I realize that some cats are very finicky eaters, so what my ones are eating might not work for everyone. I’m not trying to impose a vegan diet on anyone’s cats, just wanting to get it out there that it can be possible. Another option is that some cats might be willing to be flexitarians. Every little bit of harm reduction helps.”

 Adriana says, “As a vegan, I feel good my cats are protected and the wild fauna around them as well by keeping them indoors.”

Leslie states, “I love my cats so I feed them the diet that is best for them. I love all other animals as well, and since I can not only survive but improve my life by eating plants instead of eating their dead bodies, that’s what I do for myself.”

 

What other questions should be asked?

Often in an interview, it’s best to let the interviewees ask and answer their own questions. After all, who is more qualified to tell us what we want to know?

The debate on feeding vegan continued with Elise saying, “I guess to make sure that people know that they can harm or kill their cats if they don’t feed them animals,” and Cathy countering, “Perhaps ask if people would be willing to try their cats on vegan cat food.”

To some extent, both are right: Absolutely, without the correct diet, cats will suffer and die, but apparently for some cats, that diet can be attained from sources other than meat. I want to impress that, in my opinion, veganism for cats is neither simple nor inexpensive. Cats must be watched and checked regularly by a vet to make sure they are maintaining their health.

Leslie wanted to leave us with an observation:

“If we treated cats and dogs the way we treat cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, etc., people would be up in arms. Labeling some animals as “food” does not change the way they experience their lives: they feel pain, grief, despair and fear, just as our pets do. The fact that torturing and killing them is legal while rescuing them from confinement and death is illegal says nothing about what is right or wrong.

The major difference between vegans and others is that we don’t put a box around our compassion and find ways to exclude some living beings from it. The thing that annoys me the most is that we are considered weird, while those who justify torture and killing think of themselves as normal… I am more bothered by the fact that my family members and most of my friends refuse to even consider these points.

Cats are just being cats and they eat what their biology requires. People have the capacity to think and realize what they are doing if they would just open their eyes and stop being defensive about their choices. I wasn’t raised vegan, but I do ascribe to what Maya Angelou said: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”

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Are you a vegan or vegetarian cat guardian? If so, I’d love to hear how you handle the feeding of your cats.

 

#3: My Approach to the Writing Process, by William Cook

This is the third in a six-week blog tour series for the Northwest Independent Writers’ Association.   NIWA serves Pacific Northwest writers working to achieve professional standards in independent writing, publishing and marketing. You can catch up with them at https://www.niwawriters.com/

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My Approach to the Writing Process, by William Cook

I understand that a disciplined approach to writing pays off. You work from an outline, so you know where all your crucial plot points fit. You know when it’s time to remind your readers of details that had been disclosed earlier in the story and may now have been forgotten. You can pace the work up to the critical denouement, pulling a literary rabbit-out-of-the-hat at just the right moment. You can maintain logic and consistency throughout, in story and character development.

I know all these things, but I can’t do them. For better or worse, I’m an inveterate “pantser.” Yes, I write by the seat of my pants, but it’s not out of laziness. I think of it rather as letting my stories grow “organically.” When I plant the seed of an idea, I’m never sure exactly what will sprout, if anything, but I know it will be fun. And I know it can’t be forced.

Of course, this does present some difficulties. I was almost halfway through the first draft of my novel, Seal of Secrets, when I realized that the person I thought was the protagonist was not. That led to some rewriting, I can tell you. Three-quarters of the way through my latest endeavor, Dungeness and Dragons, I realized a secondary character had to be introduced to the reader much earlier in the novel to make it work.

Does this make my writing process haphazard? Not really, but it can cause some relationship problems in the real world. I can get so involved in my imaginary world that re-entering regular life can take some time. “Coming out of the zone” isn’t always easy.

The “seed” idea I mentioned earlier is crucial to my process. My writing begins with this “kernel.” Typically, I don’t have a plot in mind, don’t know where the story will go or how it will end, what the conflict will be. Often, I don’t have a clue what new characters will people the tale. (I’m writing a series of mysteries for now, so there is a cast of regulars.) There’s just this germ of a notion that I have to write a few sentences about. And where it comes from can be the most interesting part of the process.

A few years back, I enjoyed the movie, “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” because of the way Dan Stevens portrayed Charles Dickens. His Dickens always carried a notebook. If he heard a name he liked, overheard an interesting conversation, spied a fascinating object or event, he wrote it down for future use in his books—writing fodder. Although I don’t carry a notebook with me everywhere, I try to stay alert, keep my “antennae” up. I imagine myself a “sponge” soaking up things around me. Let me provide you with some examples.

Several years ago, on a junket to San Diego, I was sitting outside at a coffee shop when I heard church bells ring and saw people walking down the street toward a church on the corner. I thought, “Why not?” I followed them into the church and saw a large painting to the left of the altar. It was a Pietà, a depiction of Mary holding the dead Jesus just taken down from the cross. As I looked on, a young woman stepped up to the lectern to begin the service by explaining we were in “ordinary time,” that time in the church’s calendar between major holidays, when nothing special is going on. And I had the seed for my story, “The Pietà in Ordinary Time.” I had no idea it would be a story about a mother contemplating suicide after the overdose death of her son.

While planning for another vacation to California, I went into the Post Office to fill out that card “Authorization to Hold Mail” while I was gone. As I wrote down my name and address, it occurred to me, “What if the Postal Clerk, who knows which residences are empty and for how long, were to pass along that information to a gang of local thieves so they could plan their burglaries?” Thus was born “The Yellow Card.” While on that vacation, we went into a wine-tasting room in Healdsburg and were served by a young woman named Chiara. Chiara is now the Girl Friday in my Driftwood Mysteries.

A game-changer for me, which led to both a short story and a novel, was my participation in Art on the Edge, a weekend in Lincoln City devoted to local artists, who open up their homes and studios so visitors can witness them in action. My wife and I stopped in the studio of an artist who does wildlife watercolors for textbooks and museums. She showed me a picture of a Rough-skinned Newt and asked if I knew anything about the animal. I told her that when my kids were young, they would catch them. They’re a common salamander, dark brown on top and brilliant orange underneath. They move in such slow motion that a sloth is a speed demon compared to them. She responded, “But did you know they’re the most poisonous creature in North America?” I was flabbergasted. Of course, I Googled the little critters as soon as I could. When I did, I learned that their skin and ovaries contain tetrodotoxin, the same neurotoxin made famous by fugu, the delicacy prepared from Japanese Pufferfish. Who knew? I also found a story (that I later learned is apocryphal) about three hunters who were found dead at their Oregon campsite with no evidence of foul play. Investigators discovered that a Rough-skinned Newt had fallen into their coffee pot! And there was the germ of my story “Eye of Newt,” about a biology professor who commits the perfect murder.

That short story was actually a sequel to my novel, Seal of Secrets, and it was written at the request of friends who wanted a little more information about the characters after the rather abrupt ending of that book. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the story would also be the prologue to my next novel, Woman in the Waves, which had its own unusual start.

In January of 2018, I was on the beach in Lincoln City with my daughter’s family. We were gathering agates, most of which seemed to be right where the waves were breaking. We would run down to the water’s edge, grab a handful of stones, and run back up the beach before the next wave caught us. We’d look through what we picked up and keep any agates. It was only after we got home that I realized how dangerous our agate hunting had been. Fall and winter are notorious for “sneaker waves,” a deadly Pacific phenomenon that takes lives every year. I imagined, “What if a beachcomber were to witness a young woman swept out to sea by a sneaker wave? And what if she were wearing a wedding dress?” And believe me, at the time, I had no idea that the murderer in “Eye of Newt” would be the villain in this piece.

My latest novel, Dungeness and Dragons, is no exception. The seed was the tragic loss of the crabbing boat Mary B.II in a terrible storm in January of 2019. Of course, in my story, the loss of the boat Johnny B. Goode is not an act of God but an act of murder.

As I said, I start with an idea and try to follow where it leads. My biggest joy in writing happens when my story reaches “critical mass.” Suddenly, my characters come alive. They start saying and doing things I hadn’t anticipated. I’m sure you could say it’s just my subconscious at work, but the experience is wholly other. I feel at the mercy of my characters, and for me, it’s a thrill ride like no other.

That’s the creative side of my writing process. The not-so-fun side is the editing, and that starts with developmental editing. What works and what doesn’t? Is there a logic to the story? Are there plot holes big enough to drive a truck through? Are the characters internally consistent? Does the dialogue sound real or artificial? Has point of view been properly maintained?

At this point and throughout the process, I find it essential to have a critique group. These are writer-friends I trust to give me honest feedback on my project. We meet monthly, and each of us takes about half an hour to read a portion of our work aloud while the others follow along with the hard copy each has been given. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of this aspect of my writing process.

Along with developmental editing comes the more structural kind of editing—copy editing and proofreading. This is where I look for grammatical errors, typos, and the like. Are the verb tenses correct? Have I repeated a particular word or phrase too soon? Have I forgotten an article or word, or doubled another one? Here beta readers shine. Although I understand most beta readers only do developmental issues—the big picture—I am blessed to have some who will spot this nitpicky stuff and tell me about it. Bottom line: other eyes have to look at my work. I give them nothing less than a third draft, so I’ve already gone over the work at least twice.

The final phase for me is proofreading a physical copy of the book. Paper pages are different from digital ones. I see things in the book that I don’t see on the screen. And I have yet to hit the “Publish Now” trigger with only one proof copy under my belt. I’ve always had to correct my manuscript, re-submit it, and then get another paperback proof.

As tedious as this whole process can be, I feel it is absolutely essential for my credibility as an author. Nothing turns off a new reader sooner than initial pages with grammatical or textual errors. Those kinds of mistakes condemn independent writers to being labeled “amateurs.” That’s a handle I would rather do without.

 

Other posts in this series by this author:

https://authorwilliamcook.com/blog/   “Reading to Impact Your Writing (And Can Watching Movies be a Business Expense?)”

www.conniejjasperson.com   “Advice for New Writers” April 5-11.

 

Watch for the next post in the series by this author:

www.joycereynoldsward.com/blog    “The Author Community”  April 19-25

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William Cook moved to the Pacific Northwest from the East Coast in 1989, and worked for a total of 37 years as a mental health therapist until his retirement in 2011. He splits his time between writing, babysitting for his 15 grandchildren, and sneaking off to mid-week matinees (when theaters are open!). The Kindle edition of his latest book, Dungeness and Dragons: A Driftwood Mystery, is available now for pre-order and will be published on April 24. Find all his books at:

https://authorwilliamcook.com/

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