Melissa Lenhardt's Blog, page 7

PALO DURO promotional website up for your perusal.

 

Palo Duro Canyon

For those interested, I’ve created a promotional page on my website for PALO DURO. There you will find the book summary, character descriptions, information about the setting of the novel and research references. Plus, beautiful pictures of Palo Duro Canyon that I took on a research trip four years ago with my in-laws.

Fall New Release Reading Challenge – 9/16

First, last week’s book.

The Children Act by Ian McEwen was an excellent choice to start the challenge. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, it makes me want to revisit Atonement. Like Atonement, I had trouble starting The Children Act. McEwen would get the story moving with dialogue and action then immediately slow down for back story or long descriptions of past cases heard by the main character, Judge Fiona Maye. Once I understood his rhythm, and started to grasp Fiona as a character, it was smooth sailing. Excellent book. Highly recommended.

This week.

Well, I figured there would be weeks like this. There are at least six books I want to read, each drastically different. Last week, Laura Miller wrote an article, “Why Today’s Most Exciting Crime Novelists Are Women,” and put Broken Monsters by Lauren Burke on my radar. Then there is the non-fiction book, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein about capitalism and climate change (though it is disqualified because of length, I’m tempted to waive my rule to read it), the paperback release of Jessamyn Ward’s non-fiction bestseller, Men We Reaped, The Paying Guests by Sarah Walters and Sway, a young adult novel by Kat Spears about a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac.When I sat down fifteen minutes ago, I was sure to choose Love Me Back, a debut novel by Merritt Tierce which is getting some accolades. Maybe I’m hearing so much about it because it’s by a local author.  Regardless, it sounds fascinating. I mean come on! How am I supposed to choose?

So, I’m not. This will be a game time decision when in Barnes and Noble. Whatever I don’t choose, though, will go on my Goodreads to-read shelf.

 

A Fall New Release Reading Challenge Because I Love Setting Ridiculously Ambitious Reading Goals

It’s fall, which means crappy Dallas football, pumpkin bread, long shadows, cooler evenings and busy season in the publishing industry, i.e. a bunch of blockbuster, literary and eagerly anticipated fiction and non-fiction books are released. Not only am I in a reading slump of epic proportions, one of my three goals this year was to read more widely and, I have to confess, I haven’t lived up to that goal even a little bit. Because I know the only way to bust through this slump is to set a ridiculous goal I will kill myself trying to achieve, I will choose a book, fiction or non-fiction, from the current week’s releases to read and review. Okay, maybe review. My critical thinking muscles have gone soft. Here’s hoping there’s a book this fall that will fix that.

You may be thinking, “A book a week? How is that ambitious?” and you have a point. What’s difficult in this challenge is me choosing only new releases. I usually wait until a solid consensus has been reached about a book before I dive in. This is like seeing a movie before checking Rotten Tomatoes. Here I am, living on the edge.

HERE BE THE RULES. OKAY, GUIDELINES

Alternate between fiction and non-fiction as much as possible.
Read literary and mass market fiction, two genres I tend to avoid.
Re-issues are acceptable; example, the 25th anniversary edition of The Alchemist.
Paperback releases of last year’s books are acceptable as well, otherwise I’ll have to take out a loan or turn tricks to fund this ridiculously ambitious challenge.
No books over 500 pages. A book a week is challenge enough.

THE FIRST BOOK

The Children Act by Ian McEwan. I’ve never read McEwan before. Unless you count starting and abandoning Atonement. The Children Act has two things going for it; it’s 240 pages and literary.

 

 

Like this idea? Feel free to join in.

Checking in on my Summer Reading Goals

Three months ago tomorrow I posted a Top Ten Tuesday list about what books would be in my backpack. With the passing of Labor Day summer is over in everyone’s minds if not on the calendar, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit my summer reading goal and see how I did.

The Verdict: Better than I thought but not as good as I hoped. 

My summer reading slump didn’t help.

What I Read

The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maas – This continues to be a work in progress, but I did make progress on it so I’m counting it.

Ashenden, or The British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham – a Reading Hitchcock post about this is coming soon.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway – Hemingway’s genius is pretty well regarded as a certainty but I’m not so sure. This story was so similar to events in his own life that the publication of the novel ruined friendships. Not that Hemingway cared. Hemingway’s style may be brilliant, but his creativity and imagination aren’t.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – This was far and away my favorite book of the summer. I let someone borrow it but I can’t remember who and the thought I’ll never get it back gives me sweaty palms. I didn’t manage to get to Landline but I will, hopefully this fall.

What I Didn’t Read

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy – The YA New Release bookshelf faces the door I walk into at Barnes and Noble. Every time I walk in, I look for this book. When it’s not there, I move on inside and choose something else. I’ve searched for it a couple of times and haven’t found it. One day I will and I will buy it.

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler – I bought this in May but keep moving past it on my bookshelf. I guess I’m not in the right frame of mind for it yet.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – I’m definitely not in the right frame of mind for 800 page literary fiction novel.

Silas Marner by George Eliot – Ugh. Tried, hated. Might try again. Might not.

The Smoke at Dawn by Jeff Shaara – I totally forgot about this book.

Whack Job by Kendel Lynn – I’m embarrassed I haven’t read this one since my friend is the author! Another one I can’t find at Barnes and Noble. Will have to break down and order it from Amazon.

 

Author Q&A: Arianne “Tex” Thompson talks ONE NIGHT IN SIXES and her superhero alter ego. Plus, a GIVEAWAY!

 

Today on the blog, I’m welcoming one of my Workshop peeps and debut author of the rural fantasy ONE NIGHT IN SIXES, Arianne “Tex” Thompson. During the day, Tex is a master teacher for an academic and tutoring prep services company. In her free time – which you’ll see she doesn’t have much of – she’s a regular at libraries, writers’ conferences and conventions, as well as being the editor for the DFW Writers’ Conference website. And, she writes, natch!  Somehow, with everything she has going on, she found time to answer a few questions about her alter-ego, time management skills, and the future of her hero, Appolosa Elim.

 

Okay, when I Googled your name to get to your website, I discovered a DC Comics superhero named Tex Thompson. I know I’m totally showing my comic book, superhero ignorance here, but I had no idea your nickname came from a superhero. I mean, it makes sense, of course. As Truvy from Steel Magnolias would say, “There’s a story there.” Spill. How did you get your nickname, and what made you decide to use it in your pen name as well as your given name?

Would you believe that I didn’t actually know about Tex Thompson the DC character?  Thompson is my maiden name, and “Tex” was the pronounceable part of the AOL screennames and message-board handles that I used to play online games, lo these many years ago.  As for how that particular virus mutated and spread offline – well, you know that feeling you get when you walk into the DFW Writers Workshop to read for the very first time?  That kind of sweaty, queasy, five-out-of-six-on-the-Pepto-Bismol checklist terror?  That was pretty much it.  I decided that I could handle getting my life’s work eviscerated by a roomful of strangers – but not without a secret identity.  So Bruce Wayne became Batman, and I became Tex – and you know, I think it’s worked out pretty well!  (Except for that third-string superhero guy.  Mark my words, Google – I WILL UNSEAT HIM.)

I wish I’d thought of the secret identity before reading at workshop. Maybe it wouldn’t have taken me six months! Have you ever gone to a con dressed up as superhero Tex Thompson? And, if there was a Tex Thompson superhero movie, who would play your doppelganger?

You know, I am actually a really terrible cosplayer!  If I don’t look pretty much exactly like the character, I’m usually too nervous to even try (which is why my one and only cosplay alter ego so far has been the exquisite Pam Poovey, who is not only my body double, but everything I aspire to be.)  I tell you what, though: if I ever get to be in the movies, I’m going to ask Robin Weigert to channel her Deadwood-edition Calamity Jane and get in there for me.  She can drink, fart, cry, cuss, nurse the sick, bury the dead, kill a man, and love a woman – and if those aren’t superpowers, I don’t know what is.

Rumor has it you started writing ONE NIGHT IN SIXES in high school. Tell me about the genesis of Appaloosa Elim’s story and it’s journey to publication.



It is truly a long and sordid tale!  And anyone who really wants to is welcome to hear the whole thing, visual aids included.  But here’s maybe a shorter, neater, cleaner way of saying it: I did indeed start writing a book when I was in high school, starring a guy named Elim.  He was a horny, goofy, sword-wielding idiot, because the anime I watched was full of horny, goofy idiots, and the fantasy I read said that fantasy heroes were kickass sword-guys.  And that didn’t really change until I grew up, got an education, got to see some of the world, and decided that what I really wanted to write about were people we don’t get to see as often – the ones who might be relegated to villains or sidekicks or victims, or who are just plain not included.  So even though all that’s left from that original 11th-grade novel are a few character names and traits, this does in many ways feel like the same book – because for me, the process of writing (and rewriting, and rewriting!) this one single thing over the past 15 years was also the process of figuring out what I really cared about, and what I wanted to contribute to the world’s bookshelf.


Where does Appaloose Elim go from here? Tell me everything you can about the sequel! You’re website very slyly slipped in a “s” at the end of the word “sequel,” I noticed. Is SIXES going to be an epic on par of Game of Thrones? Harry Potter? Narnia?


Oh my cheese, no!  Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing but love and respect for the folks who can pull off a ten-book saga, but I don’t have those chops (yet!)  One Night in Sixes is the first third of a 300,000-word megastory I wrote from 2007 to 2010.  Medicine for the Dead is the second part, tentatively scheduled for March 2015 – and Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll have a name and a publishing date for Part 3 soon afterward, which will finish the story.  I tell you what, though: as much love and sweat has gone into building this particular fantasyland sandbox, I *definitely* mean to revisit this world and some of these characters.


Full disclosure: I read your Appearances page on your website then promptly took a nap from exhaustion. When do you find time to a) write, b) read. More importantly, what are you reading now?

Well, here is a shameful secret: I am TERRIBLE at time management.  I feel like I’m always doing everything badly and at the last minute.  So my TBR pile looks like a giant, dusty game of bar Jenga, and my book revisions are two months behind schedule, and I have so many emails rotting in my inbox, it’s like a digital zombie apocalypse.

And speaking of zombies and what I’m reading now, LET ME TELL YOU:  Daniel Bensen’s New Frontiers has completely eaten my brain.  It’s a story about near-future Earth, where aliens have come in and done to us pretty much what Europeans did to indigenous Americans – and here to try and save our species is Harry Downs, an “exo-erotic diplomat” (aka interspecies gigolo), who’s convinced that one good orgasm is all it’s going to take to get humanity an equal seat at the table – or, you know, at least keep us from being enslaved and/or eradicated by the alien gangsters currently strip-mining the Amazon.  It’s basically Men in Black with a Debbie Does Dallas twist, and you are going to SCREAM in frustration when I tell you that not only is it not available in bookstores, it still needs a publisher!  (He’s got the agent part handled, fortunately.)

But as schlocky as it is for me to take up page-space here with an unpublished work, whose author is a friend of mine, the point that I really want to make is this: as a reader, every time I get bored and cynical and start to feel like I’m drifting on a sea of been-there-done-that books, I find something that totally pushes every one of my buttons, feels dazzlingly smart and fresh and relevant, and fires me up all over again.  I LOVE that feeling.


I don’t know about you, but I have books I re-read on a regular basis. I call them comfort reads. Do you have a book(s) like that or are you one of those weirdos who only read a book once and think, “That’s that! On to the next book!”?


Ha!  Would it redeem me at all if I told you that I didn’t actually *mean* to be a one-time-only weirdo?  To tell you the truth, what I’ve noticed happening is that I actually have TWO piles these days: Books I Want To Read, and Books I Want To Have Read.  The former is pretty much the same as it’s always been.  The latter is made up of important new releases in my genre, “touchstone” books (things like The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones that are too big to ignore), and books that are assigned reading for my tutoring students.  As long as those lists are, going back to a book I’ve ALREADY read feels like an unfathomable indulgence.  I tell you what, though: whenever the nightmare-clowns find me or I’m up at 3 AM with a bad case of the pork sweats, the Calvin and Hobbes books always come out again.  I definitely hear you on the importance of having comfort reads close to hand.

For a chance to win a signed copy of ONE NIGHT IN SIXES, leave a comment below.
 

The border town called Sixes is quiet in the heat of the day. Still, Appaloosa Elim has heard the stories about what wakes at sunset: gunslingers and shapeshifters and ancient earthly gods whose human faces never outlast the daylight.

If he ever wants to go home again, he’d better find his missing partner before they do. But if he’s caught out after dark, Elim risks succumbing to the old and sinister truth that lives in his own flesh – and discovering just how far he’ll go to survive the night.

Wife, Mother, Writer, Reader, Ice Cream Lover

A post on Book Riot (my new favorite website about books and reading), The Reasons I Don’t Read: Causes of the Dreaded Book Slump, hit home with me this morning because I am in a book slump. In fact, I’m so bothered by my book slump it made the list of things that are pissing me off that I bombarded my poor husband with on Tuesday.

I’m procrastinating.
I’m not writing.
I hate our gym.
I can’t lose weight.
I haven’t lost myself in a book in months.

I won’t bore you with talk about the first four because they are all on me and things I could fix if I put my mind to it. Though, in my defense, our gym isn’t a gym, but a rec center with all the weird little quirks that comes with that. That place pissed me off from the word go with their weird childcare hours (at a crucial time in my life when working out was my only avenue to sanity), stupid rules and the fact it didn’t have a water fountain on the workout floor. I mean, come on. What the hell kind of design is that?

*takes a deep breath*

Anyway. Reading. I talked to writer friends about this last night at happy hour.

And, can I just stop down right here and say how amazingly awesome is that I’m having happy hour with writer friends? Slowly but surely, I feel like I’m a part of a larger community, an industry, that I’m a professional. Crazy how much I missed that.

Anyway. Reading.

I can’t read a novel without analyzing it from a writer’s point of view. Without thinking,

“Oh! I should do that!” or

“Good God! I would never do that!” or

“Oh my God! Do I do that?” or

“If I did that, Workshop would cut me off at the knees.”

Let me tell you, it sucks the enjoyment right out of reading.

“Come on, Melissa. Not reading isn’t the end of the world.”

To that I say, “You obviously aren’t a reader.” It is the end of the world. I love reading. It’s who I am. Reading has educated me, comforted me, angered me, inspired me. One of my biggest joys in life is recommending a book to a friend and that friend loving it. It’s a Twitter descriptor – wife, mother, writer, reader, ice cream lover – the last of which explains #4 up there. It’s not like reading is a bad habit I need to kick. In fact, it’s something I have to do to be a good writer.

Therein lies the problem.

I haven’t been picking up books that grab my interest, but books I feel like I should read, specifically mysteries.

Here’s a little quirk of mine: I write mysteries but I don’t read a lot of mysteries. In fact, I write mysteries that I want to read. Fodder for another post.

As a result, instead of focusing on enjoying the story, I’ve been over-analyzing the text, the writer’s style, how it differs from mine, what I can learn. In the last six months, reading has become homework and no one likes homework. My writer friends suggested I should get completely out of my genre which is, of course, the common sense response and one I should have seen myself, and would have if the other four issues up there hadn’t sent me spiraling into irritation overload.

Will I continue to analyze everything I read. Probably. I fear it is the curse of being a writer. But, I still believe there are books out there that I will lose myself in, that I will forget to think of scene structure, tension, dialogue and plot. There’s only one way to find it.

Keep reading.

 

My Path to Getting Published Blog Tour

My workshop friend, Brooke,  started this pretty cool blog tour idea in a post for Carve Magazine. I volunteered to participate, though I am not going to tag five people. Feel free to post about your own path on your blog.

1.    Where are you on your publishing path?

I signed a contract with Skyhorse Publishing last month. My debut mystery novel, STILLWATER, will be published in hardback in October 2015.

 

2.    How long has it taken you to get there?

I started writing ten years ago. I attended my first writer’s con in 2012, I signed with an agent in 2013 and signed a publishing deal in 2014.

 

3.    What’s your journey looked like thus far?

My mentor, Mark, told me recently I have done this whole publishing thing by the numbers. Finishing a book, getting an agent, getting a deal. It sounds like it was easy and painless and, if I’m honest, it probably has been an easier journey than many or most writers go through. Why? I don’t know. It’s not because I’m good at pitching or write a clear, gripping query letter. In fact, I’m pretty terrible at pitching and query letters. Don’t even ask about synopses. My success has been a mix of talent, luck, perseverance and the confidence that, no matter how long it took, I would get published.

 

4.    What’s your future look like?

NYT Bestseller, baby! At least, that’s the dream. Isn’t it every writer’s dream? Realistically, I want STILLWATER to sell well and for the second book to be picked up. I want the historical fiction novel my agent is submitting to publishers in the fall to be picked up. But, most of all, I want to continue to write, for people to read and enjoy my work.

Top Ten Tuesday: To Read or Not To Read?

It’s Tuesday, which means I can use the prompt from The Broke and the Bookish to keep my blog from getting covered in cobwebs. This week’s list is Top Ten Books I’m Not Sure I Want To Read — basically any book that has you going, “TO READ OR NOT TO READ?”

1. Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Picketty – I want to read this but I generally only make it 10% into business/self-improvement books before I’m bored out of my mind.

2. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – A book about “a rumination on the nature of art and appearances” doesn’t entice me to tackle a 784 page book, especially when I have its cousin sitting on my bedside table, waiting for me to finish.

3. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – the aforementioned cousin of The Goldfinch, i.e. literary doorstop with a partially obscured painting on a tan book cover. I started The Luminaries but I too easily set it aside for me to hurry back to it.

4. Moby Dick by Herman Melville – Poor Moby Dick. It will never get off of my To Read or Not To Read list, I fear.

5. William Faulkner – He may be brilliant, but he’s a slog.

6. Middlemarch by George Eliot – another English language masterpiece I didn’t connect with.

7. John Green – Was so unimpressed with The Fault in our Stars I doubt I’ll ever pick up another one of his books, especially when a common criticism I hear is his books are startlingly similar.

8. Outlander Books 6-8 – I blew through the first five books one after the other years ago when I discovered Gabaldon. I loved her writing, characters, history and scope. But reading one after the other burned me out on the world. I would need to re-read the first books before tackling 6-8 and I’ve no doubt the same thing would happen. Luckily, the Starz adaptation is brilliant.

9. Game of Thrones Books 5 and Beyond – Started and disliked book five. Immensely. Maybe more than The Fault in our Stars, which is saying something.

I’ll stop there. It feels weird, wrong even, to write a post about books I’m not going to read. Still, blog content!

What books do you vacillate on?

News So Big and Monumental, This Subject Line Cannot Contain It. Let’s try anyway: My book is going to be published!

After ten years and hundreds of thousands of words, I finally get to write this simple, but monumental sentence:

STILLWATER will be published by Skyhorse Publishing in October 2015.

Woo-hoo! It’s been a long, somewhat frustrating process. But, the end result couldn’t be better. We’ve found an editor and publisher who are as enthusiastic about Jack, Ellie, Ethan and Stillwater, Texas, as I am. I can’t wait to work with the Skyhorse team.

I’m sure y’all have lots of questions, which I will be answering over the next 14 months as we progress in the publishing process. The most important information is THERE IS GOING TO BE A PHYSICAL BOOK IN BOOKSTORES WITH MY NAME ON THE COVER IN 14 MONTHS!!

If you would have told me when I first sat down at a computer and wrote a sentence that I would have a publishing contract in ten years, I would have said, “What’s a publishing contract?” Last night, I dreamed about practicing my autograph on my dust-covered dresser. I’m sure Freud would have a field day with that dream.

Thanks to all my family for understanding when I zoned out for hours, thinking about my book. For the times I would cry out while driving carpool when I broke through a story problem. For Mark for mentoring me and being the first one to really believe I could do this. For my friends for their support and encouragement. See, every time I said I couldn’t do something because I was writing, I really was writing.

Stay tuned. October 2015 will be here before you know it.

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Blogging Confessions

From The Broke and the Bookish – Top Ten Blogging Confessions

I always have big ideas and plans to post regularly on my blog but invariable don’t follow through with them. Lately it’s been because I’m busy doing writerly stuff that needs to be done if I want to get published.
Each blog post takes 30 minutes at a minimum. Usually over an hour. (This one had taken five hours, but ice cream had to be made.) That’s a lot of time to dedicate to something I’m not entirely sure anyone reads and/or enjoys.
Building a following on a blog is hard work. Does it reap the benefits touted by proponents of Platform Building? Magic 8 Ball says, “Ask again later.”
I used to religiously write book reviews but now can’t seem to put into words why I liked a book or disliked it. I think I’m out of practice and if I made myself write them, it would come back. The problem is time. Book reviews take even longer than a general blog post.
I don’t read or follow as many blogs as I should.
My favorite all time blog post is One Mile Ahead.
Of the ten most popular posts, seven are about The Mentalist.
I do not talk politics on my blog.
Nor do I talk about religion.
I didn’t think I had blogging confessions. Turns out, I had nine.