Loren Rhoads's Blog, page 62

Tips for the 21st Century Writer

Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writerby Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Unlike so many books about writing, this one is primarily about *how* to be a writer. Everyone knows that a writer writes, but what does a published author do once the book comes out? How do you ask other writers for help? How do you maintain an online presence without pissing people off — or being so frightened of pissing people off that you mute yourself? How do you deal with envy of other writers’ triumphs? How do you deal with failure — or success?

I found so much food for thought here that I was only able to read the book in small chunks, pausing in between to absorb and consider what I’d read and how it applied to my “booklife.” One thing I wish he’d spent more time is the period six months after a book comes out. I mean, I understand the flurry of events and interviews after the initial publication, but what does a writer do after that first storm has passed? How long is it okay to send out review copies? How do you keep your book in print?

Still, there was so much material here that I expect I will need to read it again when my next book comes out. These are lessons that might need to be studied over and again. I’m glad to have them all in one place.

I really do recommend you get a copy for yourself, if you’re serious about writing and publishing.

My Bookish Bucket List

My life’s work in printed form.

Inspired by John Guillen’s blog Write me a book, John!,  I present my bucket list of all things book-, writing-, or reading-related.

I’m going to diverge from John’s example by including some of the things I’ve already accomplished as a reminder to myself that I can accomplish these things, if I put my mind to it.

1. Meet Ray Bradbury.

2. Ask Richard Matheson to sign The Legend of Hell House.  (I couldn’t find a nice edition of it, so he signed I Am Legend for me instead.)

3. Visit Mary Shelley’s grave.

4. Meet Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

5. Meet Poppy Z. Brite.

6. Hear Neil Gaiman read in person.

7. Buy Mary Roach a drink.

8. Read A Game of Thrones before WHC 2017.

9. Ask George R. R. Martin to autograph The Armageddon Rag.

10. Find my books on the shelves of the Library of Congress.

11. Finish revising The Death of Memory finally.

12. Travel to Whitby and write at the bench overlooking the graveyard.

13. Go to the National Steinbeck Center.

14. Try the hot springs at Esalen.

15. Do the Dashiell Hammett tour of San Francisco.

16. Read at Writers with Drinks.

17. Become New York Times bestselling author.

18. Actually win a Bram Stoker Award.

19. Visit Poe’s grave in Baltimore.

20. Have a book I’ve written translated into another language.

21. Have a book of mine made into a movie.

22. Go to BEA.

23. Join another writers group.

24. Read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

25. Read Slaughterhouse 5.

26. Speak at a Death Salon.

27. Reach my goal of reading 50 books in a single calendar year.

28. Ask John Crowley to autograph Little, Big.

29. Speak at an Association for Gravestone Studies conference.

30. Join SFWA.

31. Publish a story in Fantasy & Science Fiction.

32. Make a book out of the Cemeteries of the Week.

33. Sell a story to Ellen Datlow.

34. Get another monthly cemetery column.

35. Do an Amtrak writing retreat.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Room

 

I think this is the first photo challenge I’ve done from the prompts on Word Press — for this blog, anyway.  This is my office in an unnatural state: picked up.  When they announced the prompt, I got inspired to actually put stuff away.

My office is tiny, but it’s all mine.  Originally, we used it as a breakfast nook, but when my daughter was born, it became the nursery.  Once she was big enough to climb out of her crib, I gave up the back bedroom for her and moved into the nook.

Two years ago, we had a desk built it.  It has six filing drawers (four of which are full of cemetery stuff).  I chose the color of the walls and the project boxes, then painted everything myself.  The built-in corner shelves are kind of a work in progress, but the left side shelves are all nonfiction: blogs, travel notes, my memoirs.  The right side shelves, which you can’t see in this picture, are the fiction:  As Above, So Below; The Dangerous Type books, and the Alondra books.

That lovely piece of “stained glass” in the window was painted by Suzanne Dechnik, one of the contributors to Morbid Curiosity magazine.  It’s acrylic on glass and called “Death and the Maiden.”

Below that, you can see a little gargoyle peeking out.  That’s the first award Morbid Curiosity won, dating way back to Death Equinox ’98.

The other telling detail of my office is that you can see five to-do lists in this picture.  There’s my daily list, my weekly list, two relating to my blogs, and the list of essays I need to submit this month.  If only writing things down got them finished faster.

I really like my office when its tidy and minimal like this, but it never stays that way.  Really, all it needs is for me to write tomorrow’s Cemetery of the Week.  Then the desktop will be covered with opened books, miscellaneous printouts, random ephemera, and vintage postcards.  I’ll write until I fall into bed, and all the flotsam will lay there until I make time to tidy up again.

As I was writing this, my muse came by to sit on my notebook.  This is the Lady Nocturne, serving as a paperweight.

Nocture, my muse

You can participate in the Weekly Photo Challenges, too.  Here’s the link back to this week’s challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/room/.

I was interviewed on Smashwords

The ebook of Sins of the Sirens – which published the first story about my succubus Lorelei — is available on Smashwords.

In conjunction with that book, there is an interview with me about my influences and some history on how the story was written on Smashwords.  You can read the interview here:  https://www.smashwords.com/interview/LorenRhoads

Are there any questions I missed?  Anything you’d like to know more about?

The Weekly Morbid

It’s been a good week around Chez Morbid.  My thoughts have been popping up all over online.

First off, Western Legends published my admission of the scariest cemetery I’ve ever visited, the island of San Michele in Isola.  Here’s the link:  http://westernlegendspublishing.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/island-of-the-dead/

Then Wicked World kindly published an essay revised  from Wish You Were Here about visiting the English Cemetery in Florence:  http://wickedworld.net/uncategorized/permanent-florentines/

Finally, Nienke Krook, the Travel Tester, interviewed me for her Vintage Travel Memories series.  Here’s the link: http://www.thetraveltester.com/travel-memories-loren-cemetery-travel/

Oh, and I was also on the Charred Remains show on Blog Talk Radio last night.  You can listen to the podcast here:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charred_remains/2014/06/08/charred-remains-night-of-storytellers

If you’d like to win a copy of my novel As Above, So Below, there’s still time.  Here are the details.

Win a copy of As Above, So Below

Beelzebub from de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal

Just a reminder: I’ll be reading a tasty tidbit about the succubus Lorelei and Thodos the Fiend from As Above, So Below on Charred Remains on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 6 PDT.  Here’s the link if you want to tune in — or catch the podcast later:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charred_remains/2014/06/08/charred-remains-night-of-storytellers

In connection with the reading, I’d like to give away a copy of As Above, So Below.  It’s the story of Lorelei, the succubus who sets her sights on Azaziel, one of Heaven’s Watchers on Earth.  Aza turns the tables by possessing Lorelei with a mortal girl’s soul — and all Hell shows  up to watch the exorcism.

How can you get your hands on that?  Well, my friend, I’m glad you asked.  The book is available in paperback and ebook from:

Amazon
Kindle
Nook
Black Bed Sheets Books

Or you can win a copy right here on this very blog by telling me who your favorite demon is.  Tell me where you heard about him or her, what movie she was in, or where you read about him first — and, if you know, how said demon can be vanquished.

May the best demonologist win.

I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday.

Podcasting fascinates me

Through the unholy power of Facebook, I’m going to be on the radio tomorrow night.  Char of the Charred Remains show on Blog Talk Radio put out a call for writers who wanted to be on her show Saturday for a Night of Storytellers.  Everyone is going to read a short excerpt of their latest book — and a lot of people will be doing giveaways.  You can tune in here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charred_remains/2014/06/08/charred-remains-night-of-storytellers

I’ll unveil my giveaway here on this blog tomorrow.

Because of the time difference, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to read live on the show, so I pre-recorded as excerpt of As Above, So Below.  My recording set-up is really crude:  I recorded it in my bedroom on my phone as a Voice Memo.  My husband Mason helped me import it into Audacity — which I haven’t used in ages — and I edited it this afternoon.

I wish I did sound editing more often, so it was less intimidating.  I can’t figure out what purpose doing more recording would serve, though.  I’m not ready to commit to doing my own podcast yet.  I would like to record some of my stories, though, and put them up for people to listen to.  Just have to figure out the time to do it.

And I’m wondering about the visual aspect of that kind of storytelling, too.  Does it make sense to make a video of me reading the piece, even if all you see is me in my house, occasionally glancing up from a manuscript?  I hate the Youtube videos of dancing book covers while the author reads.  I’m not sure any visual is necessary at all, but will people listen if it’s just me reading?

No grand conclusion tonight.

Be that as it may, I’m excited about being on the radio tomorrow.  If possible, I’m going to call in, but either way, Char has my excerpt ready to go.  You should check the show out.  As I said, there will be a bunch of giveaways, some live on the radio during the show and some on the show’s Facebook page.

If you won’t be around tomorrow evening, you can listen to the podcast at your leisure anytime.

Please drop by Morbid Is as Morbid Does (this blog), if you’d like a chance at winning a copy of As Above, So Below.

I’ll let you know too if I decide to record any more podcasts.  Have you got a story you’d like to hear?

Writing in Cafes: the Most Important Meal of the Day

I tend to go to cafes for breakfast these days. I’m out in the morning, dropping my daughter off at school, so it’s easiest to swing by a cafe and get some breakfast and write. You know it’s going to be a good day when you get some good words down first thing.

Breakfast is a tricky and personal thing, though. I want something fairly small that I can eat left-handed, since the pen is going to be in my right hand.

For a long time, my favorite breakfast was a muffin, but those don’t seem as ubiquitous as they once did. Then I went through a scone phase, but scones are usually too big or not big enough, too sweet or too dry. My favorite scone at the moment is the oat apple scone at the Mercury Cafe: fresh, filling, and beautiful.

My usual breakfast is a sesame bagel with humus, especially if I’m going for a long walk. A bagel sticks with me, so I’m not shaking by lunchtime. My favorite hummus comes from Java on Ocean, but it’s not good writing food. They make the hummus in the cafe, then sprinkle it with dried herbs and drizzle it with olive oil. It’s flavorful and rich and gets all over your fingers as you eat. The search for the perfect writing breakfast continues.

When is the best time for you to write?  Are you a morning person or can you grab a quiet hour over lunch?  Or are the quiet evening hours most productive for you?

Writing in Cafes

I started writing in cafés in the early 90s. The café was called Radio Valencia, on the corner of Valencia and 23rd.  It closed in 1995, after two fire trucks racing with sirens on collided and came through its front window. (Here’s the story. Here’s a photo. Language is NSFW.) The space is Beretta now, but it’s been a series of other things in the interim.

In those days, Valencia  Street during the day was pretty much no man’s land.  There was a gay bar called the Crystal Pistol where my friends hung out at night, but other than that, the street was lined with sleepy taquerias and dusty fix-it shops. I wouldn’t have come to the neighborhood at all, except that my friend Christine lived there (until her house burned down from faulty wiring).

Radio Valencia was an oasis. It was bright and sunny. The owner would create playlists of music that he liked and wanted to introduce people to.  Each table had a little card listing the songs and artists. Whenever the staff changed the music, the waitress would come around to each table and change the playlist card.

Christine had read Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, in which she advocated writing in cafés as a way to shake things loose.  Christine and I had met in a residential writing program the year she turned 18, then she’d come out to camp on my sofa in the Castro until she found herself a place to live.  At the time she suggested writing in cafés, we’d known each other five or six years.  We didn’t know if we could write side by side, but it was worth a try.

I found the whole process of having a date to write extremely useful.  If I knew someone would be expecting me, I could get myself out of the house and into a mindset to work.  The agreed-upon schedule was that we’d gossip from the time we sat down until we finished our lunches, then we’d open our notebooks and work until we couldn’t sit still any longer.

The process taught me a lot.  I learned about paying table rent:  if you plan to sit for a long time, you buy more than a cup of coffee and you tip well.  One day when we were writing in Just Desserts on Church Street, the staff got tired of everyone hanging out.  They put the “That Girl” theme song on repeat.  It was funny for the first 5 or 6 times.  After everyone left but us, Christine went up to buy us both cookies and request the song again.   We all sang along.  Then she and I got back to work and the staff left us alone.

It took me a while to work up to being able to write alone in a café.  Now that’s a large part of my process.  I do all my editing over breakfast with a cup of tea at my elbow.  I draft essays.  I make lists.

Still, I miss meeting up with a friend to write every week. There’s something about having someone waiting to sit quietly across the table from you that concentrates the mind wonderfully.

Making Home: Home Pages for Authors

I’ve been updating my website again, my namesake lorenrhoads.com. I think it’s been six months since I did the last overhaul and things had gotten dated again.

Part of my problem is that this site is so complicated. I wanted to have one place that would encompass my fiction (my true love), my nonfiction (my calling), my editing (a totally different skill set), my photography (the skill I’m still mastering), and performance (the one thing I feel passionate about teaching).

I also want the site to do things that I rarely saw other authors’ websites doing: I wanted it to have a photo of me that interviewers could download if necessary. I wanted it to have a bibliography, so if anyone ever needed one, the information would already be gathered together. I wanted it to have information on all of my books: descriptions, reviews, ordering information.

I wanted all those things because I put together the convention booklet the year that World Horror was in San Francisco — and no writers I worked with then had those things pulled together. Everyone had to scramble around to give me what I needed. It was frustrating for both of us.

So today I was fussing over the pages, making sure the links work and that everything is pretty. And I realized that the different pages have slight variations in layout…

Then I decided that the pages of this website are like rooms in a house. Just as the kitchen has a different layout and purpose than the bedroom, the Fiction page and the Photography page do not need to do the same things. They don’t need to look the same. No one is likely to compare one to the next, other than me. I feel better now.

However, there are still a couple of pieces missing:

* I’d like to put together a page about the class I’ve taught on performing your work in public. It’s a subject I feel passionate about and I’d like to get some more gigs teaching it.

* I’d like to figure out a way to include some short sample bios. I have a different bio when I submit a cemetery piece than when I submit straight nonfiction or travel essays or a personal essay. I have different bios when I submit science fiction or an Alondra story or one of Lorelei’s stories. I’d like to make the information easy for someone to find, say, if they’re going to lift a bio to put together a con booklet.

* I’d also like to find a place for people to report broken links to me — maybe on the Contact Me page?

* I’m toying with the idea of making a different header image for each page, too.

What do you think? Have you seen any particularly well-organized and intriguing authors’ websites?