Samantha Bryant's Blog, page 40

Beginnings and Endings: My Curiosity Quills Story

Four and a half years ago, I signed my first book contract. I was so happy! The first step in the fulfillment of a dream. Validation of my work. Lisa Gus, the head of the company, was flattering about my work and seemed really enthusiastic about the possibilities for it.

The company was Curiosity Quills Press.

I'd done my due diligence with research. Always a good idea to google anyone you're considering working with, and for presses, definitely look at writer protecting information sites like Writer Beware.

I also knew one person (an online writer friend) who had worked with them and he had a good experience. The contract was clear and, based on my limited knowledge at the time, I thought it was fair. So, I wasn't duped or stupid. I did my best to make a good decision.

Things were good for a couple of years. My first book came out timely. The editing was decent. I liked my cover. Sales were steady if not quit-your-job fabulous. Royalties were paid in a timely manner. Communication was prompt and responsive. I received support for marketing with things like graphics creation and special pricing for events.

There was talk of some film rights. I was led to believe an audiobook was in the works.

I saw my second book in the series into print with the same company, wrote a between-the-books novella for a multi-author collection, a side story collection, and then the third novel. All this between 2014 (contract signed) and 2017 (third novel released).

As early as 2016, I started to see signs of trouble. 
Because of delays on the cover art, I had a book launch party for book number 2 at which I had no actual copies of the book to sell. Those same delays kept me from being able to get pre-publication reviews and guest posts on bigger name sites because I couldn't send the information and copies required in time. 
Everyone at CQ was super apologetic, and I rolled with it, taking it as a one-time fluke. 
It wasn't. 
With the release of the second novel, we had agreed to make some changes to the first, correcting some surface errors that weren't found before publication, adding an indication on the cover that it was a book one, now that there clearly was more to the series, and changing the end matter to advertise other books in the series. 
We went through the whole process and I went merrily on my way, assuming they'd done as they said they would. 
They didn't. 
I didn't find out for months because I order my print copies in large quantities, so it was a long time before I ran out of copies of book one and ordered more. I was heartbroken when I opened my new box of books and saw that NONE of the promised changes had been made. 
When I called them on it, the changes were made, but no satisfactory explanation was ever given for why it hadn't happened months earlier, when it was promised and agreed upon. 
After that, I moved more cautiously. 
Communication was slowing. I'd ask questions and wait more than a month for an answer, sometimes having to nudge again to get it. (Earlier all responses had come within a week). 
The editing process for the third book was protracted and difficult, and resulted in copy that didn't satisfy my own standards. I asked for and was granted additional passes by other eyes, which meant more delays. 
When I saw the cover for the third book, I had to send it back and remind them that the character that was portrayed on it was Hispanic, not white, so the skin tone was inappropriate. Seems like my publishers ought to have known that already, and conveyed that information to the artist. CQ had always prided itself on diversity in its catalogue. 
I didn't have a book launch party for the third book at all, worried that I'd have no paper books in hand again. Turned out to be a legit worry, as the paper copies were delayed, and, when they finally arrived, they looked terrible. The colors were muted and it didn't jump off the shelf at all. Very different than the vibrancy of the digital edition or the previous two books.

It took months and months to get anything better. No offer was made to compensate me for author copies I'd purchased that looked terrible. No, "let us make this good" like I had expected. The explanation I was offered was that it was technical issues related to CMYK printing.

I stayed civil, but I was livid. Why was this my problem? Shouldn't the publisher have communicated that kind of information with the artist and gotten a cover that would print well? The final version was improved, but still doesn't look nearly as vibrant as the first two covers. I did my part. They didn't do theirs.

In the Facebook group for authors and other members of the CQ team, I started to see more and more problems of this sort. People not getting paper copies months and months after their digital release. Covers with errors, including even a misspelled title! Conversations with other CQ writers I knew were full of worry and consternation. 
Communication got slower and slower. By 2018, there was one woman in the office who actually responded when you sent a message. She'd say, "I'll ask Eugene," and then you'd listen to the crickets chirp until you sent another nudge and another and another. Getting any kind of answer to any kind of question was now taking multiple months. 
There was all this vague and confusing talk about a new endeavor called WishKnish that sounded entirely fishy to me. 
2018 was also the first time I didn't get paid when I was expecting to. It was happening to others as well. When I wrote and called them on it, I got paid, but it happened a couple of more times before the year ended. Some folks still haven't been paid for work they've already done and sales that were already made.
I had a bad feeling in the base of my stomach every time I thought about Curiosity Quills by this point. 
Another writer friend who runs in the same circuit of conventions I do and was also published by Curiosity Quills had taken his rights back. Everyone in the business I talked to said that these were some very bad signs and I should do the same to get out while the getting was good. Other writers shared their horror stories about having rights caught in limbo when companies folded. 
I hesitated. Curiosity Quills had given me a break when I had no readership, with my debut novel. I'm a loyal person. I didn't want to jump ship if this was a rough patch and things were going to get better. But I began to talk quietly with other small publishers I'd gotten to know over the last few years. I knew I had at least one publisher who was interested in taking on my work if I left. I held onto that thought as a life raft. 
Things continued to go downhill, not for me personally since I didn't publish anything with them in 2018, but for many others. I stopped writing the series and spent 2018 writing something else entirely. I worried this would hurt the momentum of my sales and my series, but I didn't want to give Curiosity Quills any more of my work until they showed they'd do well by it. 
They didn't show me that. In fact, things looked sketchier and sketchier by the day.
So, in October, I did it. I asked for my rights back. 
I was expecting a struggle over it, which was probably part of why I hesitated all those months. The contract asked for kill fees and I was worried I'd have to get a lawyer involved to show how they had breached the contract already and shouldn't gain from my work. My other job is teaching, which doesn't pay well enough to make legal fees a casual consideration. 
To my great relief, my rights were granted painlessly with pleasant words wishing me well in my publishing journey. To my even greater relief, Falstaff Books signed me right away, and agreed to get my books re-released in early 2019. 
In December, I learned that the company had not paid that nice woman who still responded to messages since October and that she had left the company. I began to feel like I'd jumped ship just in time. (click here for the Writer Beware article). Author after author, including their biggest names and most prolific writers are leaving. I'd be surprised if the company doesn't entirely fold here quite soon. 
The worst part about the ending of this story is what feels like unprofessional and disrespectful behavior of the company towards me and the other writers. They've been ghosting the entire group. They stopped responding to emails, private group messages, DMs, and even public social media callouts.
Failure happens. Companies fold. Endeavors fail. Partnerships end. But there are good ways and bad ways to handle that. Curiosity Quills did not show well in the end. 
I'm so sad that what started as a grand adventure has ended with me feeling like I have an especially lousy ex-boyfriend who didn't have the balls to end it properly and let us both move on. 
I'm so glad I got out when the getting was good. I hope my fellow Literary Marauders all find safe havens for their work, too, as this continues to fall out. 

IWSG: Questions I've Been Asked

It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy and networking.

If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

The awesome co-hosts for the January 2, 2019 posting of the IWSG are Patricia Lynne, Lisa Buie-Collard, Kim Lajevardi, and Fundy Blue Be sure to check out what they have to say, too.
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OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question:What are your favorite and least favorite questions people ask you about your writing?

Honestly, I'm still thrilled when anyone expresses interest in my writing at all. I'm happy to answer the same questions about where my ideas come from and what my writing process is like and who my characters are over and over and over again. It doesn't get old.

I'm feel fortunate to have the chance to be on panels, teach classes, and give interviews to talk about my writing life and my books.

Repetition doesn't faze me. I take the same attitude I do in my middle school classroom when I'm teaching how to conjugate the verb SER for the hundredth time: it's okay to reinvent the wheel; that's how people learn to invent.

The experience is new for each learner/listener/reader even when it is no longer new for the teacher/writer/presenter.
My favorite questions are the sort that come from readers who really "get" my work. When they ask something insightful or express curiosity that stems from having read some of my work.

Early on, when the first book came out, I remember a reader who noticed that there's a bit of symbolism going on in some of the powers my Menopausal Superheroes develop, like the woman whose life was weighing her down being the one to take flight, or the woman who prided herself on her thick skin developing skin so thick it was bulletproof.


When she asked me about my intentions in doing that and how Linda/Leonel's gender change fit in, I just about exploded from within with light. If it's possible to fangirl over a fan, that's what I was feeling.

On the other side, some questions are meant to hurt and I've run into a few.

They're less fun.

Digs and put-downs disguised as questions are the worst, especially when you're in public and have to find a way to deflect without making yourself look bad with something you say, responding from hurt or anger. (This is why we never write back or argue with bad reviews, too, BTW: just don't!)


I run into a fair number of people who pull faces of disgust over the word "menopause" and say something like, "Why would you do that?" as if I just suggested we sauté a nice chihuahua for dinner.

I don't waste a lot of emotional energy on people who are not coming from a good place and have a few pat responses akin to, "I'm bored by all the muscle bound bohunks in the genre and wanted to write about interesting people." It probably doesn't win me any converts, but I wasn't going to sell to folks like that anyway.

On better days, I do a little better and say, "Why not?"

But really, you can ask me (almost) anything. I'm not that shy, and after 23 years in the classroom, I'm nigh-impossible to embarrass. And if you ask me about my life of words? You're gonna make my day.

My Year in Words

2018 was the first year since I launched my author life in earnest in which I did not publish a novel. I think that's why, here at year's end, I feel like I'm waiting for something. That could also be because I'm also literally waiting for something though. :-) (See November for what we're waiting for).

Here's a look back at 2018 in Samantha's Writing Life: the author events, the words written and revised, the works released, and the books read and reviewed. Given that it was also a year in which my daughter graduated high school, my husband changed jobs, my other daughter started middle school, two people I cared about died, and I took on a new course in my already jam-packed teaching day…I feel pretty good about these stats.

January: 
Events: Illogicon, Taught "Write Your Novel, Part I" for Central Carolina Community College.
Wrote: 35,410 words
Revised: 34,099 words
Read and Reviewed: 2 books

January feels so long ago now that it's a dim memory. I do know though, that I had picked back up in earnest on my WIP: Thursday's Children, a young adult near-future dystopian. That New Year's rush of enthusiasm and commitment kept me going at a good pace for a while.

This book has taken me longer to write than I expected (I'm still working on it in December, which means it's been about 18 months). I'd been spoiled by how much quicker it can be to continue with an established world in a series rather than creating a whole new one, but I'm still happy to be creating something new. Staying on one project too long can be stultifying.

February:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of War and Peace, Mysticon
Wrote:  27,266 words
Revised:  24,733 words
Read and Reviewed:  3 books

Mid-way through February I lost momentum on the novel. I still wrote every day, but I was cheating on my novel with short stories and blog posts and things that I could complete with a slightly scattered focus.

Conventions are great fun, and a great way to get the word out there about your work, but they do also take a fair bit of time: prepping for your panels and events, social media promotion, and the three days of the convention itself are a pull from whatever else you might have used that time for.

This could also have something to do with the fact that I was the cookie mom for my daughter's Girl Scout troop and February is the height of cookie season…

March:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Wrote:  28,475 words
Revised:  17,834 words
Read and Reviewed:  5 books

I read a lot in March. It was a "filling the well" sort of month. My momentum on the novel was low. Really, I only tinkered with it, revising a few thousand words and only adding 274 new ones across the entire month.

My publisher was imploding and I was worried about what this meant for my Menopausal Superhero series. I was dreading the confrontation that was coming about breach of contract and rights. I got the flu and part of me wonders if I got it in part because of the emotional stress weakening my reserves.

My support groups were so important in March! They kept me moving forward because I had commitments to uphold: promised chapters, stories, critiques, reviews, or blog posts. When you hit a rough patch, it's good to have friends and colleagues to keep you going.

April:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of Catch-22, Ravencon
Wrote:  25,791words
Revised:  20,856 words
Read and Reviewed:  8 books

Another month where I started strong on the novel, but fizzled on momentum halfway through the month.  The month included a convention (see above: TIME) and there was a lot of personal life to balance with my writing life: one of my daughters and I both have April birthdays.

When I look back on what I got done in April, I see that my structures served me well. I had planning meetings, networking events, and critique sessions booked in advance and there's nothing like "But I promised" to get me working even when I don't feel like it. I'm very much a "keep your commitments" girl (Thanks, Mom and Dad), so I still wrote every day. It's obvious I was still hiding from the work though when you look at how many books I read.

Ravencon was a highlight. It's a well organized convention and I've enjoyed both my sojourns there as an author guest. This year, Chuck Wendig was there as a the author guest of honor. I managed to introduce myself without making a total ass of myself and we even had a nice conversation about parenting. His munchkin is still quite little, whereas I was preparing to send one to college, so we talked about how weird that is.

May:
Releases: Pen and Cape Society's The Good Fight 4: The Homefront
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of  True Grit ,  Free Comic Book Day at Atomic Empire
Wrote:  29,955 words
Revised: 11,139  words
Read and Reviewed:  7 books

May is always hard on schoolteachers. Testing begins and all the work of the past year is called into account. Everyone is exhausted and a little mean, especially the other adults. (see my thoughts on why May should be optional)

Add to that a daughter taking four AP classes and two Honors classes who is about to graduate high school and is managing college and scholarship paperwork alongside a part time job and you have an idea of the tenor of our home life in May. My poor husband! (He's still here in December, so he must really love us).

The new release helped. "Coming Out as Leonel" is one of my favorite Menopausal Superhero shorts that I have written and I was happy to have a chance to get it out to a new audience. (You can get it for free by signing up for my newsletter, BTW). Leonel is a crowd favorite character. Seeing your work in print is always validating and motivating, too.

I made NO HEADWAY on the novel at all in May. 300 words revised one afternoon. I guess so I could still tell myself I was working on it?

I did, however, write a new short story that had been on my backburner for a good long while, and was really pleased with how it came out. "Late Bloomer" is one of my Shadow Hill stories (a series I work on between larger projects, weird stories that all take place in the same suburban neighborhood, suspiciously like the one I live in). The story is out on submission right now, so we'll see if it finds a good home.

I also did a fair amount of journal writing, which is useful to me when I'm going through rougher times. Getting it on paper (on into a document) seems to let me set it aside and focus where I want to.

June:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of A Wrinkle in Time ,  ConCarolinas
Wrote:  24,485 words
Revised:  29,360 words
Read and Reviewed:  4 books

So, I survived and made it to summer break. The girl graduated. The other girl became a middle schooler.

I enjoyed that side step into short stories in May, so I stayed there all of June as well, revising old stories and writing new ones. By the end of the month, I had written 7,128 new words of fiction in short stories and revised another 29,360. That feeling of finishing things is addictive, I think. It's definitely one of the appeals of writing shorter things.

Working with a friend, I built a database of what was available for submission with the intention of getting my work back out there in submission. After all, no one will publish stories that just sit on my hard drive. You've got to submit work to see it published!

That meant that I still stayed stuck on the novel though. I didn't check in on it at all during June. Not even a token afternoon of editing like I'd done in May.

ConCarolinas was contentious in 2018, and I waffled until the last minute about whether or not to keep my commitment to go after some controversy surrounding one of the scheduled guests and his behavior towards other panelists and con go-ers. He ended up not attending, and I ended up having a great con, both in terms of sales and networking, and the controversy remained low-key, at least in my presence.

I was on several panels with Seanan McGuire, the author guest of honor, an experience which only deepened my admiration of her work. I gifted her the last print copy of Going Through the Change I had with me when she expressed interest, and I'm hopeful that she might even read it someday :-)

July:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of The Good Earth , Con-Gregate, my yearly Writers Retreat
Wrote:  34,832 words
Revised:  15,303 words
Read and Reviewed:  2 books

Thank goodness for writer's retreats! My critique group has, for the past few years, scheduled a few days away from home in July for writing. We rent a house together, share meal planning and prep, and write and talk about writing, enjoying the respite from our other responsibilities.

This year, we went to Pelican House at the Trinity Center in Morehead City, NC, a place where I have taken writing retreats solo before. I love it because the meals are prepared for me and there's a lot of lovely setting to explore when you need to clear your head.

This is where I found my footing in my novel again. I'd been reading Gabiela Pereira's DIY MFA , which is a great collection and analysis of a variety of advice surrounding writing process and productivity. There's a technique she suggests called scene cards. I've never been an outliner, but I thought it couldn't hurt and might help, so I gave it a go. I wrote about it more detail in this blog post. But the TL;DR is: it worked! I started moving forward in the story again.


August:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of The Grifters
Wrote:  21,201 words
Revised:  16,286 words
Read and Reviewed:  2 books

So, 21,201 might not look that impressive when I just said that I found my footing in the novel again, but 3,225 new words and 16,186 revised words on a project that had all but stalled felt wonderful! I worked on it steadily, too. A little each day, with real progress on over half the days of the month. Thursday's Children was back on the road to becoming a completed novel.

August also came with a bit of an ego bump, just when I needed it. A magazine found me and sought me out for an author interview. That "out of the blue" stuff is the best! I definitely appreciate it when friends and colleagues notice and promote my work, but part of me thinks they only do it because they like me, as a person. So, it's personal rather than professional recognition. When it's a stranger, it's easier to believe that they honestly admire the work.

September:
Events: Ravencon 13.5
Wrote:  26,512 words
Revised:  13,355 words
Read and Reviewed: 6 books

Spring 2018 had been rough in terms of time management and I decided that going forward, I would do fewer spring events and show a little respect for the demands of my day job and family as well as my own physical and emotional limits. So, I was thrilled when Ravencon added a .5 event, a smaller convention in September. I signed up right away and had a wonderful time! 

Since some of the bigger name authors who travel the same convention circuit I do weren't there, I got to feel like a bigger fish in the pond than is typical. The whole convention had an intimate feel that was right for my comfort levels as an introvert faking comfort with public events.

September was also good for forward momentum on Thursday's Children, with another 2,378 in new words added and 13,355 in revisions. Revisions in my case often means serious expansion of a skeletal scene or structural re-arrangement, so those 13K words are not to be sneezed at as window dressing or surface edits. They are real progress.

October:
Releases: "The Girl in the Pool" a daylight ghost story in Off the Beaten Path 3 ; "Ashes" a southern gothic demon lover tale in Beyond the Pane
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of Les Misérables, Conapalooza, Real Life Ghost Stories
Wrote:  36,444 words
Revised:  0 words
Read and Reviewed:  3 books

I didn't work on my novel in October.

The difference was that it was intentional.

A friend of mine does a flash fiction challenge each October called Nightmare Fuel. She provides visual prompts and the participants write flash fiction to go with each. I've participated for a couple of years now and I find that the story-a-day format is a great refresher, a sort of vacation from the work of writing to remember that it's fun by playing with work that I'm not applying as much pressure on. (You can view the stories I wrote for the challenge here).

More than once, these play-pieces I've begun for Nightmare Fuel have grown into something I saw published, which goes to show that leaving yourself space to play can be good for your work.

I also wrote 31 blog posts here at Balancing Act in October, each celebrating an aspect of Halloween. Once in a while, it's nice to just let my inner fan girl squee about the things she loves, you know.

Conapalooza was fun, if light on sales. They're new, in an area of the country where there aren't that many conventions and geek-centric events, so I think they'll continue to see growth in upcoming years. A highlight was hearing my sister do her first public reading of her work. Yep, writing is contagious y'all. Watch out, or you might catch it, too!

The big news was that the tension with my publisher resolved. I asked for and received my rights back without struggle or animosity. I'm so relieved!

November:
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of To the Lighthouse, Local Authors Book Fair
Wrote:  27,828 words
Revised:  28,723 words
Read and Reviewed: 2 books

I jumped back into Thursday's Children with both feet on November first and made steady progress all month, adding 7,162 new words and revising 20,723.

I also made a big push on submitting all those short stories I worked on earlier in the year, which including a bit of revision time on those as well. All in all, I made 17 submissions in the month of November. For comparison, I submitted 0-1 pieces all the other months in 2018.

The Local Authors Book Fair held by my local Friends of the Public Library was a great success. I sold a fair number of books, made some new writer friends, and had a great day.

I signed with a new publisher! The Menopausal Superhero series will soon be re-released and carried by Falstaff Books, of Charlotte, NC. I'm so pleased to have signed with Falstaff. Everything I know of them is positive, and I expect to be treated fairly and expand my readership under their auspices. I'll share publication dates and information as soon as I have it!

Knowing that my books are in a stable home has me excited about the series again and I expect to get back to that long-stalled fourth book in the series in 2019.

December: (numbers as of December 21)
Releases: Tracing the Trails: A Constant Reader's Reflections on the Work of Stephen King
Events: First Monday Classics discussion of Little House in the Big Woods
Wrote:  23,172 words
Revised:  8,756 words
Read and Reviewed:  4 books

December has continued the positive trends started in November, with steady progress on the novel and continuing to get my work out there on submission. A few rejections came back and I just immediately turned those puppies around and sent them seeking a home somewhere else. 
A writing partner, Nicole Givens Kurtz, and I have sent out proposals for our nonfiction teaching book On Teaching Speculative Fiction and I'm feeling hopeful that we'll find a good home for our work. 
A nonfiction essay I wrote about Stephen King's collection of short stories, Nightmares and Dreamscapes (especially Dolan's Cadillac) was published in Tracing the Trails,  a labor of love from a long-time writing friend and my nemesis on the Magic Spreadsheet, Chad A. Clark. 
I feel as though I'm ending 2018 on a positive and productive note that will carry me into 2019 full of hope and energy. So despite the rollercoaster feeling of the year, I'm glad I got on the ride!

What I Read in 2018

A lot of the things I read in 2018 weren't written in 2018 or even in the 2000s or 1900s at all. I help facilitate the First Monday Classics Book Club at my library with another author-friend, James Maxey, so some of the older reads on this list stem from that group, though not all of them. We read a lot of good stuff this year. The one that will probably linger with me longest is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, though I also loved reading A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and revisiting A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.

My neighborhood book club seems to select a lot of nonfiction, which I really appreciate because, while I usually find I enjoy nonfiction, I seldom choose it for myself. Our most recent read was Educated by Tara Westover, which I found fascinating for its insight into a world I usually only see in the aftermath on the news. My favorite, though, was Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Storm in History by Erik Larson. It was especially apropos in a year when two hurricanes swept my home state of North Carolina. 

There are a few things here I read to support other authors, friends and colleagues or just people I agreed to help out with reviews for whatever reason. My favorite of these was Transference by Kate Jonuska. It's a superhero novel, similar to my own in that acquiring superpowers is not necessarily regarded as a boon, but more as something the character now has to deal with.

Others are just things I've been meaning to read for a long time. I spent some of my reading time The Woman in Black by Susan Hill was FABULOUS. It was amazing how the tropes were turned on their ears simply by casting our ghost-seeing-character as a Victorian man rather than a woman.
this year on gothic romance and horror because the next book tapping on my shoulder to write is a gothic romance and I wanted to steep myself in that lovely dark brew in preparation.

Among general fiction, things I picked up just because I wanted to, I enjoyed Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series 1 and 2 the best. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet has been described by some as "rainbows and unicorns space opera", which I think they mean as an insult.  The series definitely has a very positive outlook rather than the usual angsty grimdark we see in space opera, so it's different, which I think is the best thing about it. I enjoyed it for the exploration of cultural dissonances that would naturally arise when different kinds of aliens live and work together. The sequel, A Closed and Common Orbit , is an exploration of what constitutes life, through the eyes of an AI character. Thought provoking, and still, in the end, about love and friendship.

Goodreads says I've read 59 as of today (I'm writing this in the first half of December), but it's looks like they are counting Kill the Farm Boy, which was a DNF (did not finish) for me (it felt like it was trying too hard to me, and I didn't find it funny as I had hoped), so we'll say 58. I've got one in progress I'll finish soon, and two more I expect to finish in December. So, I'll probably finish my year at 61 books read. I set my goal at 52, one per week, and usually can exceed it, without having to pile up on short reads at the last minute, thanks to the magic of audiobooks that let me read while I handle the mindless minutiae of domestic life.

So, the count:

Classics: 17 (I count classics of speculative fiction as well as literary fiction here)
Nonfiction/Memoir: 12 (Frederick Douglass, I counted as classic memoir, so counts twice)
Fiction: 30
Not bad for the crazy-busy year I've had. How was your year in books? What did you read that I should? Did we read anything in common this year? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

Slowing Down for Snow Days

Time, it seems, has sped faster with each year of my life. Most days are so stuffed that at the end, I fall onto the sofa feeling like I've been run over. It gets to me after a while, even when the things my day is stuffed with are all pleasant and fun. 
I get frazzled and grumpy if I don't get to slow down, appreciate, and reflect often enough. 
Writing is good for that. It's a quiet, solo activity, reflective and thoughtful. But there are times when even that is not enough to reset my equilibrium. 
But, as I write this, I'm on my second snow day, with the possibility of yet another one coming. The timing couldn't be better. Thank you, Mother Nature! 
My house was well stocked with yummy things thanks to our Chanukah preparations. Our power stayed on, so we could enjoy the full gamut of entertainment options we've gathered over the years. We had enough wood for fires and all four Bryants were already at home when the weather hit. 
As a group, the Bryants finished some lingering projects for school, cleaned up, caught up on laundry, baked, slept extra, played games, read, played in the snow, petted the dog and told him he's pretty, and just sat and talked beside a fire with cocoa. 
Even the husband who still had to work, because his work can be done from home, got to sleep later, avoid driving, eat warm food prepared with love, and enjoy better breaks during his day. 
We didn't run any errands, do any shopping (except maybe the clicky kind: online), visit anyone outside of walking distance, or attend any events. 
I'm glad the weather forced us into a little quiet time just as we needed it. All of us are the better for the lull. 

IWSG: Five Objects in Your Writing Space

It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

The awesome co-hosts for the December 5 posting of the IWSG are J.H. Moncrieff, Tonja Drecker , Patsy Collins, and Chrys Fey! Be sure to check out what they have to say, too!

December 5 question - What are five objects we'd find in your writing space?

So, I had to laugh when I saw the question this month because I literally just posted about making a writing space for myself LAST WEEK. I'm so excited about having a "room of my own" at long last! I totally don't mind talking about this some more.

Our house didn't really have an available space that I could claim solely for writing until the beginning of this school year, when the eldest left for college. Since then, I've been transforming the room that had been the youngest child's bedroom into an office for me.

It'll be a slow go. Remodeling takes time and money, two things I am perennially short on, since the two things I do for a living (teaching and writing) both pay rather poorly, at least in dollars.

But I am already using the space in its transitional phase and am thrilled to show you five objects from my writing space.

First, there are plants. I've never been particularly good at raising house plants, but I love having pieces of nature around me, so I'm trying to raise some house plants in my new space. I can breathe better when I'm among plants (literally and figuratively). They calm me with their silent beauty.

The room has a large window with good light and so far my three botanical guests are thriving. I have some purple Wandering Jew transplanted from my outdoor plant before the frost killed it. Since I'm vaguely Jewish myself, and a bit of a wanderer, this purple leaved beauty seemed a natural choice.

On her last visit, my mom got me a Christmas cactus. It's beautiful! And hard to kill, or so I'm told.

Lastly, I have a red begonia purchased from the kids in the gardening club at my middle school. Our science teacher is a wonder with plants and I get the benefit of that with inexpensive plants that our shared students have had a hand in. 

The view out the window right now is of a back yard full of fallen and falling leaves and winter-baring branches, so I've got a taste of Mother Nature out there, too. Sitting in here the other night when it was raining was an absolute joy.

Second, is Franklin. He's my compart-amus: a hippopotamus foot stool, with a hidden compartment.

He holds my tea on his flat back, my post-it notes and pens inside, and sometimes my poor achy feet at the end of the work day.

Occasionally my dog has been known to cuddle up to him, too.

I spotted him online and knew he was the right blend of useful and whimsical to make my office feel like my own space. Isn't he cute?

Next is my Irish shawl. I'm at that phase of life where my temperature gauge is unreliable. I go from hot to cold and back again in endless cycles that can make it hard to stay physically comfortable and focused on my words.

I'm a fan of shawls rather than jackets or sweaters. They are flexible, letting me cover whatever part of me might need covering at any given moment. They're beautiful and soft, making me feel feminine and glamorous even if I'm wearing my Punisher tee shirt and holey sweatpants underneath.

When I was earning my Master's from Bread Loaf School of English, I was fortunate in that I was able to spend a summer semester at Oxford. I admired shawls like this one, but didn't have the budget to buy one.

But my mom--champion of thrift and yard sale shopping--found one for me at an estate sale, which I have treasured and cuddled ever since. 

Fourth is my planning chart. After reading parts of the DIY-MFA book by Gabriela Pereira earlier this year, this lifelong pantser decided to try a kind of outlining.  (Gasp! Shock!)

Ms. Pereira calls this technique "scene cards." For each scene, you make a card (I used color coded post-it notes: orange for Kye'luh; green for Jason; and gold for Malcolm, my three POV characters; and pink ones for revision or other random thoughts I don't want to lose) and record four pieces of information for each scene/chapter:

a title for the scenethe major playersthe actionthe purpose (structurally)I gave this a go at a summer writing retreat, making a descriptive outline of what I had already written by the seat of my pants, and using it to identify holes and make plans for the rest of the book. I was stuck big time, and I figured it couldn't hurt. 
It's really helping me visualize the work. And finally having a wall of my own that's not in the middle of family traffic is a delight because I can hang my chicken-scratch mess up and not feel bad about leaving an eyesore for others. 
Lastly:  my lamp. 
Another great thing about having my own writing space is having control over the light. 
I like soft, warm light, generally not blaring down on me from above. I get enough bright, painful lighting at school, thanks. 
This lamp is a creation of my Mom and Dad's. He wired the metal tropical fern sculpture for electricity and she affixed the Tiffany-esque light fixture atop, combining several of my favorite things into one unique piece to light my writing space and remind me of the love and support my family gives me in these endeavors.
So even though I still have remnants of the Disney princess border, an odd pink stripe that was left when I removed the moulding, ugly carpet that came with the house, and cutesy flowered wallpaper, the room already feels welcoming and right. I've found renewed productivity having my own space. 
What's in the space where you create? What do you wish you could have? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

Making A Room of My Own

I officially have an office now, guys. Since September, the smallest bedroom, formerly inhabited by the youngest kid has been my office. It's not painted or furnished as I'd like yet, but it's a room that's mine. It's been a good sixteen years since I had a designated writing space and I'm so excited!

Ever since I realized that sending a kid off to college was going to make this possible, I've been plotting. Here's my kit of plans for the room:


I already have a few things. Some plants sitting on folding tables. I've got a great couple of oddball lamps (thanks, Mom!). I've purchased two things: the comic book spinner rack I bought early this year even though I didn't have a place for it yet and last month: my hippo stool.

My hippo foot stool is the bomb--his name is Franklin and since he has a compartment inside him, he's a compartamus.



Other things I'm making do with right now until time and money coincide to let me do better.

We removed the Disney princess banner that came with the house and pulled off the weird low-level moulding that I guess was meant to affect wainscoting. We removed the crappy old blinds and child-pleasing draperies, leaving me an open unadorned window that lets me watch fall leaves fall in my back yard. I'm using a futon and a chair coopted from other parts of the house for now.

It'll be a slow process, turning it into my own space, but I can already write in there and that's already so good for my head space! It's lovely to just leave the book I was reading open and not worry that it's in anyone's way. It's wonderful to stick planning documents to my walls! It's great to close the door!

Do you have a room of your own in your home? A designated space for your projects and creations? What's the best part of it? Or what do you dream of doing to make it perfect?

Thankful for my Writing Life

I have dreamed of being a writer since I learned to read and figured out that someone WROTE that story I just read.

And while you can't yet find me on a NY Times Bestseller list, I've been beginning to make a living from my words, an experience that still makes me giddy inside each time I consider it. I *am* a writer, a real one by nearly anyone's definition. w00t!

So in this season of Thankfulness, here's a few things I am thankful for in my writing life.

1. The support of my family. Any creative endeavor takes time and energy, so it's important that those around you who also need your time and energy have your back. My husband, my daughters, my parents, my sister, my in-laws, my aunts and uncles and cousins, and even my dog allow me the space I need to create and have worked alongside me to make my events successful. They are proud of me, and help me do this as guilt free as a woman can be. I'm a very lucky girl.

2. The writing community. As I've found my path in writing and in selling my work, I've made a lot
Me with fellow Broads of Broad Universeof friends and developed relationships with people who have mentored me, directly helped me, or just listened to me when I needed it.

Some are formalized relationships, through organizations like my critique group: WIP (Works in Progress), the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the Women's Fiction Writers Association, The Pen and Cape Society, and Broad Universe.

Some are just folks I met on panels or at events.

But most of the people I have encountered in this business have been kind, generous, and patient. More proof of how lucky I am.

3. A measure of success. Guys, people WHO DON'T EVEN KNOW ME have bought my books. Some of them even LIKED them. Once I even won an award.

That's such a boost. I mean, I would still write even if no one at all ever read my work. I need to tell the stories. Writing is how I process life.

But that feeling when someone else "gets" what you've done? It's one of the BEST THINGS EVER! (and getting paid? That's a relief!)


Someday I hope to be only a writer, instead of a writer with a day job and too little time, but in the meantime, I'm grateful for how far I've gotten and hopeful for the future. Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving for those who observe, and a great day to everyone!

Guest Post: Kristen Brand: Superheroes as Metaphors

It's my pleasure to welcome Kristen Brand to my blog this week. Kristen writes superhero, too, and we've recently "met" on the internet. She's the author of Hero Status, a novel I'm 3/4 finished reading and that I'm really enjoying! If you enjoy my Menopausal Superhero books, I think you'd enjoy Kristen's work as well. 
Here's her guest post on Superheroes as Metaphors:
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You’re running late for a date with the girl of your dreams. You’ve got errands to run, a demanding boss who won’t stop contacting you on the weekends, and to top it all off, the Vulture just started attacking Downtown, so you’d better put on your costume and swing over to stop him.

We’ve all been there, right?

Well, maybe not that last part, but most of us can probably related to being pulled in five different directions by vying responsibilities.

At a glance, superheroes don’t seem all that relatable, what with their incredible powers, idealized/sexualized bodies, and often otherworldly origins. It can be hard to see ourselves in billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, who sneaks out of charity fundraisers to don a cape and cowl and beat up murderous clowns. But many of us can sympathize with having a loved one hurt by violence and feeling the burning need to do something about it.

And I doubt anyone reading this grew up on Themyscira (though if you did, could you tell me how to get there?), but we may recognize that feeling of leaving home for the first time, filled with wonder at the outside world, only to realize it’s filled with some terrible people and can be just awful sometimes. (But we have to carry on and try to make it better anyway).

The X-Men are a metaphor for prejudice and discrimination. Captain America is the perfect vehicle to explore the dichotomy of loving one’s country while fighting to fix its problems. Ms. Marvel is so popular in part because of how the title uses superheroes to address a number of social issues. As decades come and go and culture shifts, superheroes have stood for any number of things.

But boil them down to their most basic concept, and superheroes are about making the world a better place. There’s something appealing about that idea, that if you were bitten by a radioactive spider or secretly had alien DNA, you could use your powers to help people and truly make a difference in the world. Because face it—the world could really use some help, and it would be nice if all problems could be solved by flying really fast and punching a masked villain in the face.

Every year, there are articles saying superheroes are on their way out, that the market is oversaturated and there are no new stories to tell. I’m sure that will be true someday. Nothing lasts forever, after all. But as long as the genre keeps addressing meaningful themes in a way that resonates with its audience, I think it’s here to stay. Superheroes are about a lot more than epic, city-destroying fights with villains.

Don’t get rid of the fight scenes, though. That’s the fun part. _________________________________________
About the Author

Kristen Brand is a comic book fan and all-around geek. She writes novels with lots of action, witty banter, and a bit of romance. You can find out more about her work at kristenbrand.com, or check out her first novel, Hero Status, about a superhero who retired and married his arch-nemesis.

IWSG: Evolution of Creativity

It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life. 
After you see what I have to say, be sure to check out the rest of the hope and our excellent co-hosts: Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor,Ann V. Friend, JQ Rose, and Elizabeth Seckman!
The November 7 question - How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?
I've been a writer since I learned how to write. Maybe even before that, because my drawings always had stories to go with them, even when I didn't know how to make letters yet. I was one of those kids that would make house guests grin tensely at my mother and say, "My, she certainly is creative, isn't she?" with a little nervous wobble in their voices. I guess not everyone was ready for gruesome ghost stories from a squeaky four year old. 
Luckily, my mom got it. She has a creative bent, too. And a leaning towards the weird and macabre. (like daughter, like mother?) She supported my endeavors, keeping me in paper, pens, bound books, and later in computers and printer ink. More importantly, she didn't try to tell me that my creations were inappropriate. I know now that I was very fortunate. A lot of young creatives don't meet with that same kind of support. 
My childhood creativity was half self-expression and half a desire to evoke a response from adults in my life. Whenever I felt strongly about something, you can bet I was going to write a firmly worded letter or a maudlin and melodramatic poem. If something I wrote got a gasp of surprise or a belly laugh, I'd feel like I'd won. 
As I grew into adulthood, writing became a coping mechanism. A lot of this was writing I would never show anyone, but writing that was really a kind of thinking and reflecting. 
Writing it out was cathartic, and helpful sometimes for organizing my wayward thoughts into a coherent understanding of my own feelings.  I still wrote all the time, but I wasn't seeking an audience for most of it. It was private. Almost a secret. 
I started lots of things and finished almost none. 
After a few years where I didn't write much at all (too much life in my way), I found my way back to writing while dealing with a bout of postpartum depression. Somewhere in there, I came full circle and writing became again what it had been for me as a child: half about self-expression and half about connecting with an audience. 
I think that's a long-winded way to say my creativity hasn't evolved at all. I just rediscovered what I once knew instinctively and claimed it again. Me and Pablo Picasso, huh?