Sharon Spencer Schlesinger: NaNoWriMo

Sharon Spencer Schlesinger: NaNoWriMo: What am I doing blogging when this is National Novel Writing Month? For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is almost self-descriptive. A whole bunch...

NaNoWriMo

What am I doing blogging when this is National Novel Writing Month? For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is almost self-descriptive. A whole bunch of writers, new and experienced, attempt to complete the first draft of a novel in November. I think if you finish on time, and upload 50K words, you get a tee shirt.

Obviously everyone isn't going through writer hell just for a tee shirt. It's just a great way to power through a story. Because it's fast tracked, your subconscious is given free reign and your inner editor doesn't have time to build massive walls out of writer's blocks.

In this, my maiden voyage, I'm fortunate to have a co-pilot (we'll refer to her as G) to act as some wind beneath my wings. Plenty of nights I have stayed past quitting time at my computer simply because I didn't want to  try and sleep with G in the lead, word count wise. Today is the 11th day of NaNoWriMo and I'm pleased to report I've banked 21K toward a novel entitled Far Enough. It started out as a character driven story of a young alcoholic girl who hits an elderly man with her jeep and runs away.

Now, the characters have hijacked the story line and introduced a mystery element. But I'm still going to stick with my projected ending no matter what they say.

Sharon

Beat Sheet or Scene List

No matter what you call it, beat sheet or scene list, it's  a wonderful tool to structure a manuscript. I've read three books on writing in the last two weeks. All three suggest the writer create a list of scenes or 'beats' for everything that drives the story forward. I finished a 68 scene list for my woman's fiction, Layla Bunch. It's very visual and colorful and it fits on one page (the print is a size 8 font, and it's just large enough to read without a magnifying glass). The colors come in because I made each plot line in the book a different color.There's room for time/date, the mood of the scene, and a separate color column designating acts 1,2, or 3.

You might think it's confining and cramps creative flow, but it does the opposite. I can see the scenes in my mind, and if I need to switch them around, it's an easy cut and paste of a single line. The book is so clear in my mind, I know that the draft I am writing will be much the better for this bit of planning. It won't prevent me from going off on a left field creative jaunt, but I'll be able to assess the damage/value of that deviation pretty handily.

Don't be afraid to mess around a bit with your creative paradigm. Every writer must find that creative sweet spot somewhere between total creative anarchy and anal obsessive planning.

If you write, how do you manage the process?

Sharon

A Writer's Room

The room I write in is a spare bedroom converted to a 'writer's room'. If I'm an example of any other writers, it is a constant battle to keep this space orderly. It's true much is stored on computer files, but there are printouts of chapters or entire manuscripts, journals filled with observations, yellow pads of notes, index cards of scenes, books on craft, magazines on craft, rejection slips, etc. I spend most of my waking hours in this room. It is the place I go to upon awakening, the place I leave from to go to bed. If it were not orderly, I would be frustrated, because the creative process is disorderly enough.

Anyone who has ever written a novel knows that it is a multi-headed hydra that must be wrestled to the ground over and over again. It slips from your grasp and if you don't live in an orderly world and can call on the aids you have developed to maintain that order, it will be hard to pin the hydra and announce some sort of victory.

Sharon

The 90 Day Novel

Most novels are between 80,000 and 100,000 words. The book I'm reading this week is called The 90 Day Novel by Alan Watt.  If you follow the formula laid out in the book, you will have completed a first draft of a novel of that length in 90 days.The first 30 days are spent getting to know the protagonist and antagonist on whom your novel will be based. Out of this exploration, a story will be suggested. Story or plot is driven by the characters you conjure up.

There are a series of short writing exercises in the book for you to follow that allows you to flesh out the characters you have imagined. You may have an idea for a plot at the outset, but The 90 Day Novel tries to discourage attempts at pinning anything down prematurely.

This may sound like voodoo. Why not just sit down and start writing? Most new writers do that. I did on my urban fantasy series, and I'm suffering editing pains and weak story lines that end up in left field from that approach. I've been using the exercises to build a more robust protagonist in my current manuscript, and darned if it isn't helping with the story itself. The mental exercises  led me to new avenues that I hadn't thought of previously.

The book is downloadable on your Kindle, or you can actually attend one of Alan's workshops. He is located right here in LA.

Sharon

What Do You Regret?

I read a study about what people regret when they are faced with their own mortality. At the end of the string of their days they were asked what they wish they had done differently.

The most common regret?

That they had not taken more risks.  

What are we afraid of? Why don't we reach for the brass ring, try something magnificent. So what if we fail? At the end of our days we may regret we failed,  but at least we won't  regret we didn't try, and wonder what the outcome might have been.

Sharon

Would you Like to be a Public Speaker for Susan G. Komen?

I heard once that most  people feared public speaking more than they feared death. Is it about vulnerability? The fear of looking foolish? If we can speak to one person, why can't we speak to six or six hundred?. Is it that there are strangers in the audience? Would we be less afraid if everyone in the audience was a friend or a family member and thus would be more forgiving?

This I do know, if you face your fears often enough, they shrink in size and become manageable. So, if you're fearful of an audience hanging on your every word, I have an offer you shouldn't refuse. Become a voice for Susan G. Komen. Learn to speak to groups of people about the importance of early detection of cancers, and explain why supporting Komen will lead to a cure.  And in the process, battle your own fear of public speaking.

On August 13, 2011, the LA County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen will hold a training session on how to stand up and be heard on the important issues concerning breast health. Be a vocal advocate for a disease that devastates women and their families in frightening numbers.

Comment on this post and I will respond with the details of where the training session will be held.

Sharon

Should We Be Concerned About the Debt Ceiling Debate?

During the hay day of credit card largess, it was a common ploy for the credit card companies to extend your credit limit. Did that mean you were obligated to charge more? Of course not. Did most people take advantage of the additional credit? Yes they did. Will the government take advantage of the opportunity to borrow more if the debt ceiling is raised. Probably. Remember, the government is made up of people just like  us.

Reaching our debt ceiling is not the same as defaulting on our debt. When you reach the maximum on your credit card, what do you do? You stop spending. You have no choice. But what about this threat that our credit rating will be lowered and consequently it will cost more to borrow money, not just for the government, but for all of us. No loans for small business to expand and hire more employees. Sorry, but hasn't that been true since the economic crisis began? Has anyone mentioned that our government's biggest creditor, China, has already lowered our credit rating as of  last year?

Personally, I say a pox on both of their houses, Republicans and Democrats alike. Are they just trying to divert our attention from the fact that the economy still sucks? That people are still out of work in large numbers, and that the  housing market is flat.

You may say that I don't get it, that I'm simplifying the issues. Hey, what can I say, I'm a little bit simple.

Sharon

Take a Friend to the Gym

I am fortunate that my two daughters are devoted to a healthy lifestyle. We all belong to Spectrum in Thousand Oaks, a behemoth of a gym. With encouragement from my daughters, I joined  the gym at the  beginning of this year, and effectively turned my health around through a program called the Greatest Challenge. Now, to remain in good health, besides eating a healthy diet,  I meet my daughters on weekend mornings for a horrific workout. I go on my own to the gym two or three more times during the week.

When you write, or spend hours in front of a computer screen for other reasons, you don't move, your body is hunched over, your shoulders and neck cramped, your circulation stymied. You know it, you can feel what it is doing to you. I  know how hard it is to step away from the computer, but if you don't, the quality of your life will erode over time. Life and movement are intricately inter twined.

So when Spectrum sent out an e-mail with the scientific studies quoted below, I thought I would share the info with you.

A new study has found that healthy friends could be the best way to keep fit. A study of 3,610 Australian women, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, found that physical activity and healthy eating behavior were both strongly affected by social contacts. In other words, if your friends are doing it, you are more likely to be doing it.


Researchers from Deakin University surveyed women between the ages of 18 and 46 for the study. They said the importance of social environmental influences on health-promoting behaviors such as exercise and healthy eating has been increasingly recognized. Their new study is one of the first to illustrate the link between social support and a health-focused lifestyle.


Those women who moved in healthier circles were in turn more likely to eat well and get more exercise. The researchers suggest that healthy behavior may be contagious.


Sharon

Do You Make Lists?

I'm an inveterate list maker. I don't remember  how old I was when I became a list maker, but I was pretty young. For years I would make lists that required a 48 hour day to complete. If something didn't get finished, it would roll over  to the next day. I started to do the easier things on the list first, because I could get more things done and the list would grow shorter, not easier to complete, just shorter. Then I realized that the things that didn't get finished tended to be my priority items, because they took a greater effort or time commitment.

Here's the method I finally arrived at that satisfies my need to be slightly anal, and also address the priorities I have developed over my life time. I no longer put things on my list I know I am going to do anyway. If I have a doctor's appointment, I don't put it on my list. It goes on my calendar so I won't forget, but it doesn't go on my list.

The main priorities in my life are my family/friends, my health, my writing, my home, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In the morning I consider those priorities and ask myself what  I can do today  to serve/promote those priorities. The rule is to address each one of those priorities every day in some way. It's a rare day that I don't complete the tasks on my list. If I have spare time, I just circle around and write a little more, clean out a drawer, call one of my children, kiss my husband, take a walk, work more on a Komen project.

Try it, you may find your life less stressful and more productive.

Sharon

Sing for Us Sharon

I am a reluctant singer. I don't even sing in the shower. When I was a kid, I had to sing whenever company visited.  I hated it so much, I would feel sick to my stomach until the performance was over. I developed a vibrato when I was nine or ten and my parents took it as a sign that I could sing. So, whenever my aunts or uncles would visit, or even if we went to one of their houses, I would be asked to sing. I always knew someone would ask sooner or later, and until the request came, I couldn't eat anything, just waiting.

"Sharon, sing for us."

 I would look at my parents, and they would be smiling, nodding their heads to encourage me. I don't know if they ever knew how I hated to sing. They gave me singing lessons and I learned to sing O Sole Mio in Italian, and some other songs I don't remember. Finally the singing teacher suggested I take piano lessons instead. My parents must have been disappointed, but I wasn't.

Sharon

Can you Write More Than One Book at a Time?

It's probably not a great idea, but I found that when one book seems to be dragging its feet, it is helpful to have another WIP on which to focus  attention. Then, when I go back, I seem to have caught my breath and can move ahead with renewed energy. All the while I've been away from book #1, my subconscious mind is still trying to break the impasse. Never fails to work.

One must show a little restraint however. It's tempting to pick up a new idea, or a new character and run with it. Everything seems shiny and new. There are no loose plot threads, the characters haven't taken over the insane asylum yet,  and no pesky critique partners have had an opportunity to tell you  'the sky is falling'.

So, I'm working on the first book in a series of three, an urban fantasy entitled The Energy Collector, and a woman's fiction work called Layla Bunch. They are as different as night and day. Maybe the only reason working on two pieces at once works  for me is that they are two different genres, and different markets. Also, the urban fantasy  has been edited and re-edited, with a first draft completed for the second book  in the series ,  and  35,000 word of a the first draft completed for the third book in the series. Layla Bunch is still in first draft status with only 10,000 words. So they are differentiated by where the two books stand in the creative process. I just re-read this paragraph. I'm really working on four novels at once, aren't I? Now that's crazy. Do you think I am a little ADHD?

Each writer must come up with their own work patter/process. No cookie cutter options when it comes to creativity. No wrong or right, either. So, strike out on your own and develop a methodology that works for you so you can write the best novel possible. Geez Sharon, four books?

Sharon

C. S. Lewis

I told you that you might be surprised at what I'm currently reading.

 C.S. Lewis is best known for the Chronicles of Narnia, but did you know there is a prequel that explains how Narnia came to be, and how the evil witch ended up there? It's a sweet little story. I decided to read it because a reviewer of my urban fantasy series thought my writing was reminiscent of Lewis. I don't see it, but regardless, I enjoyed the book. Lewis has a phenomenal way with characters and setting. A bit tongue in cheek. Reminds me a bit of Charles Dickens.

There is a religiosity about C. S. Lewis's work. He was a well known christian, and the following quote sums up his platform.

' The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him'

Sharon

—Mere Christianity

Outliers

There's a best selling book on the market. I haven't read it, but I heard about the theory.


The title of the book is Outlier.  I'll use Wikipedia' definition, "An outlying observation, or outlier, is one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs. 


Outliers are individuals who have focused long enough on an activity to become expert at it. The authors of this book talk about the "10,000-Hour Rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.


So, for example, assuming it takes 4 hours to play 18 holes of golf, you would have to play 2,500 individual rounds to become expert, or about 48 years if you played once a week. (Of course by that time, even if you were an 'expert', your age would start to add strokes to your game, and you probably wouldn't be on the pro-circuit.) Anyone who is a golfer is going to jump all over my example.


The point of all this is, I am not an outlier in any aspect of my life, and in some areas, I am the antithesis of outlier. (I wonder if that's an inlier?) At my age, to become expert at something, I better spend about 12 hours a day which could put me in the outlier range in a little over 2 years. I'm trying to become an outlier in the craft of writing novels, so I think I'm about half way to learning how to be an outlying novelist.  


Where would you focus your attention to become an outlier? Do you have an activity or an area where you would like to excel? 


Sharon

Can We Find a Cure for Breast Cancer?

Does that mean the development of a vaccine that will prevent an individual from ever having breast cancer?   Would there have to be lots of different vaccines because there are multiple types of breast cancer? Would there be a pill or a machine that would nullify cancer cells, or disarm them somehow? What will a cure look like? And when will it happen?                


When a normal cell divides, the cell's DNA is copied more or less perfectly. But each division of a cancer cell brings about new changes in the DNA. So a drug might be able to kill some but not all of the cancer because each cell is a little different. 


Another problem is inherent in the ability of a cancer stem cell to hide. Chemotherapy might effectively kill an entire tumor, but cancer stem cells might evade the drugs and cause a relapse of the cancer years later. In a sense we cure breast cancer today. The problem is when somebody is diagnosed with breast cancer, we can't tell that woman that she is cured, until she dies at 95 of something else. So, we know we cure breast cancer, but we never know if any one particular person is cured at any one time.


So where does this leave us?  We are without a cure that we can point to, and women are dying everyday. Does that mean we give up? We can't. We made a promise to end breast cancer forever. 


Sharon

My College Professor Told Me I Should Become an Economist

That college course began a love affair with economics. I never followed my professor's advice, but I never stopped being passionate about the subject. Maybe because I realized early on, that economics drives just about every decision we make, every action we take.  We have finite resources, and how we choose to allocate them is what economics is all about.

If I buy one dress instead of another based on the price of each dress, it is an economic choice.  My behavior is informed by my choice which is based on the finite resource of my bank account or credit card limit.

Don't worry that every Friday's blog is going to be wearisome. I hope to explore theories about economics I have developed over the years, and hopefully bring the subject to a discussion level where we can talk about practical things.

We are in a particularly bad place right now economically because of the choices we have made on an individual level as well as on a governmental level.

So let's explore and see where we can take this discussion. I welcome input on this one, because I am in no way an expert, just an interested student of the subject.

Sharon

What Does it Take to Lose 55 Pounds

If I had to sum up in a single word what it takes to lose a lot of weight, and keep it off, that word would be acceptance. Oh certainly, determination is an important word too, but acceptance is what finally made the difference for me.


I had to accept the fact that I had to eat in a very proscribed way for the rest of my life, or I would never lose the weight I needed to lose, and most definitely would not keep it off. It's like being an alcoholic or a drug addict. They know that they can't have just one, or a little of anything they are addicted to. It simply leads to more. So I changed my mind set. I can't live to eat, I must eat to live. What that meant for me is, no added salt, no sugar, no simple carbs, very little fat, no processed food. This diet isn't for a day or a month, it is for the rest of my life. 


Giving up salt was the hardest part of my diet. I don't even cook with salt, and I eat almost no processed foods. Food is bland without salt. I try to substitute fresh  herbs,  rice vinegar and mustard, but salt, oh how I miss salt. Sugar comes from fruit, oil comes from nuts and salmon, and carbs come from oatmeal in the morning. 


Here's an interesting little bit of news:

Healthy Lifestyle Tip: Fabulous Fiber Take two people of the same age and height; one is normal weight, the other is overweight. What accounts for the difference? Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin studied the dietary intakes of 100 people, half in each weight category. They found that diets were similar in consumption of sugar, dairy products and breads, but different in fiber intake. The normal-weight people ate 33 percent more dietary fiber and 43 percent more complex carbohydrates than the overweight group. Source: medicalnewstoday.com Fiber-rich foods are generally low in calories and fats, yet they’re bulky enough to provide a feeling of being full. Here are some ways to increase your fiber: Jump-start your day. For breakfast choose a high-fiber cereal – 5 or more grams of fiber per serving. Opt for cereals with "bran" or "fiber" in the name. Switch to whole grains. Look for breads that list whole wheat, whole-wheat flour or another whole grain as the first ingredient on the label and with at least 2 grams of dietary fiber per serving. Experiment with brown rice, wild rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta and bulgur. Mix it up. Add pre-cut fresh or frozen vegetables to soups and sauces. For example, mix chopped frozen broccoli into prepared spaghetti sauce or toss fresh baby carrots into stews. Add high fiber fruit such as pears, raspberries, strawberries to salads, cereal, yogurt, salsas or as a topping for any dessert. Get a leg up with legumes. Eat more beans, peas and lentils. Add kidney beans to canned soup or a green salad. Eat fruit at every meal. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears and berries are good sources of fiber. Make snacks count. Fresh and dried fruit, raw vegetables, low-fat popcorn and whole-grain crackers are all good choices. An occasional handful of nuts are also a healthy, high-fiber snack. Source: mayoclinic.com Next week I'll share what the weight loss has done for my health. Amaaazing! Sharon

Somersaults In the Spring

When I was almost nine, I came home for lunch on a Fall day and crawled into my bed.

My Mom came into my room, "Why are you in bed?"

"I don't feel good."

She put her hand on my forehead, "You're very warm." I didn't leave my bed again until the following Spring.  I had rheumatic fever.

Some nights I would dream of a thick pot of something that looked like Cream of Wheat. A big wooden spoon stirred it around and around.  Then I would wake up, and my Daddy would be sitting by my bed, so I knew the fever was back again.

It's hard for a nine-year-old to stay in bed. I wanted desperately to get up. Sometimes, when my Mom would take my temperature, I would put the blanket over my head so I could shake the thermometer down, hoping I could make it be normal. She never said anything, just suppressed a smile, and made me stop burrowing in the bed clothes until she was satisfied she had an accurate reading. My Mom did  something for me, for which I am forever grateful. She lugged home shopping bags full of books from the library. That's when I learned to love to read. There was no television in our house then, and books were my only way to leave the bed I was sentenced to occupy.

Every other day Dr. Gibbs would come to our house to check on me. "How do you feel?"

"All right. Can I get up now?"

He would shake his head, "Turn over." I had to lay on my stomach, pull my pajama bottoms down and he would give me a shot of penicillin. He was a rumpled  sort of man,  his clothing and his face looked like they needed to be ironed. His voice was gruff, but I was never afraid of him. He told me once that if I did a somersault every day for the rest of my life, I would  be healthy. I thought it would be wonderful to do a somersault on the grass outside our house. I lived in a twin bed, so there was little room to practice a somersault.  I determined that I would start somersaulting as soon as I was free.

Every morning my Daddy would make scrambled eggs for me. I had to eat in bed on a little tray table. Whenever I  couldn't finish my breakfast, I would dump the left-overs in a box of toys that was underneath the skirted dressing table next to my bed. One night I heard a scratching under the dressing table and I screamed.

Daddy came running, "Sharon, what's wrong?"

I could hardly speak, I was so frightened. I was curled up at the foot of my bed as far as I could get from the scratching under the dressing table. "Daddy..." I pointed wordlessly.  He found my stash of left over eggs and a small mouse in the box. He didn't say anything, but I felt terrible.

Finally, one day in May, on my ninth birthday, my Daddy said he had a surprise. Mom brought in a new dress and laid in on my bed, and took out some underwear and socks from my drawer. She helped me dress. My shoes no longer fit and she slid my slippers on my feet and then she stood and held out her hand. I felt anxious, I didn't know what was happening. Mom lead me out the back door where Daddy was standing beside a metal lawn chair. It had an arched red seat and back and white arms and legs.

"You can sit out here in the sun for an hour every day," Mom said.

"But you have to stay in the chair," Daddy added.

I just looked at the green grass, thinking of how I would somersault everyday for the rest of my life.

What I Learned by Admitting I'm a Dummy

I learned a lot this week by reading my Writing for Dummies book. Maybe the most important thing that I learned is that writing a novel is very formulaic. The rules are strict, but talented writers bend, break and ignore them all the time, but if you're fairly new at the game, or if you have more than 100 rejection slips papering the walls of your writing area, maybe you need to understand the rules and formulas.

If you don't write, or read, but watch drama on TV, here's an interesting bit of insight I can share. Most stories are built around a three act structure.

Act 1 – The first quarter of book or TV show where you set up the background, ends with a major disaster. This is where the main character commits.

Act 2 -  The second and third quarters of the book or TV show, deals with the main character trying to achieve her goal while running into one road block after another, with each quarter ending with an even worse disaster

 Act 3 –The last quarter ties up all the  lost ends and includes the climax  (resolution). Did the main character win or lose, or maybe neither?

The novel I'm working on right now is in the women's fiction genre and is titled Layla Bunch. The other skill a writer must master is the art of boiling a complex story down into a single sentence of 25 words or less. At first that seems impossible. But I managed a 17 word description of Layla Bunch. What do you think?

An ailing widow takes in a homeless woman who suffers from memory loss due to a traumatic past.

Does it make you want to read the book?

Sharon

I'm Reading a Dummies Book

There I said it. Not only am I not smarter than a fifth grader, I'm a dummy when it comes to writing. After over 60 years of reading nearly non-stop, I thought I was qualified to write. Sorry, not true. However, if I hadn't put those years in, perhaps I wouldn't be able to write at all.  At least I can write badly.

The Writing for Dummies book is an MFA in a box. I know, just from this one book, that I've probably improved my skill level at least 30 to 40%. I'm using what I've learned to plan my latest WIP (that's work in progress), Lalya Bunch, which is turning out to be a vast improvement over my first three books.

I'm sorry I ordered it on Kindle.  I wish I had a physical copy so I can dog-ear the pages and write and highlight more easily. Yes, you can set bookmarks and highlight text on a Kindle, but it's not as visual.

But, if you are a writer without confidence or would like to try to write and are willing to admit you are a dummy, there is no better starting point to learn about how to plan and structure your work.

I promise next week I'll tell you what I am reading for fun. You'll be surprised.

Sharon

A New Direction

I thought a long time about what this blog could/should be. Now that I'm so old and my kids don't listen to me so much anymore, I thought about all the things I know, and wondered who I could tell. So I revamped this blog to cover a number of topics, and if anyone is interested in any of the subjects I'm going to write about, tune in on the flavor of the day that interests you.

 Sunday, because it's such a neat day (don't you love Sundays? they always seem crisp because they start a whole new week, and most of the time, you can do what you want on Sunday) is carte blanche. If anyone wants to guest blog on any topic on that day, let's do it. Just send a comment that you would like to opine on a given subject, and I'll take your words from an e-mail and paste them up here for the world to see. (Granted, it's a small world, but, it'll get bigger.)

Otherwise, if no one wants to guest blog, I'm just going to do an Andy Rooney thing.

I have five computers, three desk tops and two lap tops. I also have an extremely smart phone, but I'm not counting it in this abundance of electronic power. Of course I don't use all these computers, but they sit all around my writing room, waiting for me to boot them up, like the bench of players at a basketball game. They're just waiting to be called in to score.

I could take some of these loyal players to one of those recycle places, but what secrets of mine are left inside those boxes? Are there some of my old manuscripts (I keep those too) hidden in the depth of those mysterious drives, even though I think I erased them? Are they really gone? What about indiscretions of one kind or another? Can you remember everything you told your computer? I can't.  Maybe I'll hold on to all of them a little longer.

Tomorrow is book day. What are you reading?

Sharon

I Have the Luxury of Time

Time is a luxury, ask anyone who thinks there are not enough hours in the day. Have you ever met anyone who had  spare time? Probably not. Yet we have all the time there is. I don't have more time than you, and I don't mean span of life, I mean hours in the day.

If you could do anything you wanted to do, what would it be? For me it's writing. I work on writing and the business of writing 12 hours a day,  7 days a week. When I say I have the luxury of time, I mean that I can do what I love for twelve hours every day.  I could spend even more time writing if I wanted, but there are other things I like to do too. Most of the time I don't have to do something I don't want to do. That's what I mean by luxury of time, spending it however you would like.

I didn't always have the luxury of time, because of the choices I made. I chose to be a workaholic most of my life, first in the corporate world and then in my own businesses. I can't rewrite those choices,  but I am going to make certain that I  am very careful of this most precious commodity for the rest of the time I am given.

Sharon

Everybody is Telling Me Something DIfferent

A writer must be prepared to market his or her own work.  Even if a publisher decides to publish your work, the publisher still expects the author to do the heavy lifting.  They'll get you into Barnes & Noble (as long as they're around), they'll book you on a tour (which you have to pay for) and they'll hopefully get a review or two printed.  Then, you're pretty much on your own.

So, start a blog, they say, collect fans interested in your work, they say, build a buzz, a following, some fans, some connections, some mentors, tweet and repeat. They say all of this.   OK, OK!

So I started a blog, but now I find that you're supposed to write about something else besides your writing.  No one is interested in what number draft you're on, which agent sent a rejection notice, or how frustrating the whole process is.  Or even what the process is. So, what should I blog about that will make people line up to read my blog, when all I really want them to do is read my book?  Is that ass-backward?

Any ideas?

Sharon

I Finally Think I Know

the genre where my writing resides.  I was agent hunting again today and came across a blog that I thought was intelligent and thoughtful by a Michael Bourret, an agent with Dystel & Goderich.  In reading about what he was looking for on his agency's web site he mentioned that he really was passionate about non-fiction, even though he was interested in YA (young adult fiction) so I read about what the other agents at the same company were looking for, hoping for a better match for my books.

All of this prodding and poking, revising and researching, is how I spend my days lately.  My agent is out there; he or she just doesn't know I'm here.  One of the difficulties, at least for me, has been to describe where my writing fits.  If I can't describe the genre, how can I identify who is looking for me.  When I came to the bio for a pretty young girl who lives in Brooklyn no less (I wonder if she ever shopped in any of my stores? That would be an interesting coincident, yes?) she mentioned she was really interested in 'magical realism'.  Huh?  What is that I asked Wikipedia?  Bingo, I ran around the house like a crazy person.  The glove fit!

This is a quote from the long entry describing magical realism.  "Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend to create a realistic atmosphere that accesses a deeper understanding of reality.  The story explains these magical elements as normal occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the 'real' and the 'fantastic' in the same stream of thought."

At least I think I know,

Sharon

Submissions # 6 & # 7

Protocol demands you send out a query to a literary agent and then wait for a response for whatever time they tell you it will take for them to get to your query.  Of course, some won't respond at all; in other words, silence is not golden, it's a kiss off.

Response time is generally from four weeks to three months, or never. If I followed the rules, I would be able to query anywhere from four to twelve agents a year. So far I've cheated by sending seven queries out in 2 months. You're supposed to confess if you've sent out multiple inquiries. Does that mean that the target agent won't read your submission?  I am generally law abiding and rule following, but I'm also impatient.  And, I'm old.  How much time do I have?
 
So last night, I sent out two queries, one right after the other. I did some research, so I wouldn't pester an agent that was looking for a cookbook with my 'speculative' fiction. Nevertheless, Donald Maass who is a renowned teacher of the craft and has his own agency,  and Naomi Akolekar from Spencerhill Associates both received my query.  Naomi received three chapters as well.  Every agent has a different list of requirements, and woe unto you if you send too much or too little.

Sharon

I Finished Draft #9

Notice I didn't say the final draft.  It's harder and harder to keep plowing the same field. But every time I go back over The Energy Collector, I find another rock I missed the last time around.  Yet that's what is required.  What a relief to sit back and say, at least for today, it's finished.

Am I Done Yet?

It's not over til it's over.

What I'm beginning to realize is that you're never finished. I would imagine even after a book has been published, an author wants to scream - give me back all 50,000 copies! I have one more change I want to make! Do you ever want to stop tweaking your creations?  I know I still try to tweak the most important of my creations, my children. Stand up straight, honey. Don't frown. He's not right for you. And on and on.

Same with these books. I can't stop and I can't let go. Maybe rewriting your book is a substitute for not being able to rewrite your own life. Are the people in novels our alter egos? Probably. Karen my soul mate and main character in three books is a lot of the things I want to be. For one, she's thin; another, she is fearless, another, she has a lot of hair.

Today I finish the final draft of The Energy Collector, again. Tomorrow is another thing.

Sharon

Eyeballs on Your Manuscript

I don't have any editors in my family, or authors, or publishers or English teachers.  But I do have very bright children and grandchildren who like to read.  You may have some resources like that available to you too.  Ask them to read your manuscript.

Of course you know they will either be too kind, or too critical.  But this is what getting some eyeballs on your manuscript will do for you:  identify typos; point out inconsistencies;  clarify weak story lines, just for starters.  By the questions they ask you may realize where you have more work to do.

My daughters just finished reading the  latest draft of my first novel, working title, The Energy Collector.  They had good suggestions on pacing, inconsistencies and incomplete story threads.  And they caught stupid mistakes too.  For some reason, when I want to type quick, I've been typing quit.  What's that about?  Is there a message there?  Forget about it!  I'm not going to quit.  The trouble with Word is that it will notify you of  misspellings, but not usage errors.  Don't give an agent or publisher the least excuse to throw your beautiful manuscript down in disgust.

Tomorrow is literary agent day.  Oh goody.

Sharon