Reaching Readers

We writers are a strange bunch to say the least. Introverted by nature, we isolate ourselves while putting inner most thoughts on paper. When it’s time to submit, we email. If we socialize, it’s with other writers, because they ‘get’ us.
But, there comes a time in every writer’s life when they get published. This is when that writer is thrust out of their cocoon. You either turn into a lovely butterfly and soar, or you get eaten alive.
Sadly, most get eaten alive. Writers often lack the skills to promo. Why? Because we would rather stay in our comfort zone, faceless behind a computer or try to promote to other writers.
At every writer’s conference, tons of writers are selling and signing, to other writers. Why not take a pile of your books to a local book club. Discuss your book. Share your passion. Tell them why you had to write this book. Turn them on to your book.
Talk to your local librarian. Set up a night where you can speak to the public. Call Wegmans. They’ve been hosting book signing for local authors.
Start your own Fan Club on Facebook. No one has to know.
Think out of the box for a book signing location. A vampire book? How about a midnight event at Jay’s Diner. Trust me. I’ve seen the late-night crowd at Jay’s. A baseball romance, I’m sure you’d find fans at Frontier Field.
At an upscale retirement community you would have a captive audience. An audience that loves to read! There must be a dozen of those places in Rochester.
Your thoughts?

The thrill of writing...

I miss it when I haven't felt it in awhile. But of course, that's my fault. It usually means I haven't been writing in awhile. :)

I'm talking about the thrill you get as you write, the shivers of excitement, the fluttering belly, the adrenaline rush...

I remember times sitting in Starbucks and writing longhand and my hand almost going faster than my brain. Keeping the writing legible was an issue.

Recently I was going through some old stuff (I mean oolllllddd - from high school) I found in my parents house and came across a manuscript I wrote. 300 or so handwritten pages. It was a romance...of course. And it was about my friend Cindy and her love...'Sonny' (remember Don Johnson's character in Miami Vice?) I have yet to read it but I will. I can't wait to see what it's about (I don't remember) and how bad (or good) it is.

I also wrote a book about me and Corey Hart (I'm soo dating myself), and at least one episode of Remington Steele - which I've yet to find. I remember sititng on my bed writing, back then, and it was better than any artificial high.

When I think of something new, a new plot twist, a new conflict etc. - it's so very exciting.

Gotta get back to my drug...

Thank you all.

Fellow writers. I know it is not necessarily my turn to blog, but I would like to thank all the members of LCRW for the lovely flowers sent to me this afternoon. I missed several times I was to blog as I was in the hospital. So, again I would like to thank you all for your kind consideration. It was not a fun visit. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.
Write On !!
Dee

Stranded

Are you tethered to your computer? Ever wonder what would happen if you were without it?

My computer froze and died on me over the weekend. I knew it was running out of drive space and asked for and external hard drive for my anniversary present. The response to my request was to find out what was taking up the 130+ GB. Neddless to say, I hadn't finished accumulating the info when an automatic download crashed the system.

Luckily, I received an iTouch for Christmas and I can access the Internet with it. Hence this blog entry. However, it also means I can only access what I have stored online, which is only mail archives. My mss are on a flash drive, thank God, but now I'll have to borrow someone else's computer (there are 4 others in the house) to get to them.

I tweeted my frustration and was surprised to receive a response from Jenni Holbrook. She told me she wrote her first book longhand. So, I think I'll take her advice and get this first mss down on paper so I can finish it. Who knows, hardcopy may still be the safest method to store writing for accessibility.

Promotion

On varies Loops I have been on, I have noticed a reoccurring thread about what writer's do in promoting. Everything from Blog tours, Twittering, Myspace, and Facebook pages. One lady talked about winning a contract by promoting. She said for months she was everywhere, on all social internet avenues to the point she wasn't sleeping. But she won the contest and the contract however, she didn't have any creativity to write or to promote her own work once it was ready.


My question is how do you as writer's promote your work? It's something in the back of my mind as I am writing my current piece. As an Examiner, my articles get the most views with word of mouth, via email, Twitter, and Facebook. Should we get onto fan sites in our specific sub-genres and comment on things we research... How far should we go? What is good promotion, needed promotion to sell fiction?

Free at last

Hello, I speak to you at the rim of a very dark deep barrel of pain. I am not fond of April any longer. This month so far has been the pits. I went to visit my daughter in Chicago, fell, broke three ribs,punctured my left lung. Then until this past Monday spent it in the hospital. I do not recommend this type of vacation. I was so sore when it was time to drive home I could not. Casey my oldest daughter drove me back and then took the train home after I was settled in the hospital.
However friends I did meet my goal the site is up www.foxpawpress.vpweb.com. Please visit and tell me what you think. I realize I have missed several postings but in the hospital I was unable to post. Looking forward to seeing you all on Sat.
Stay well and turn on the damn light.
Dee

Good Intentions

Good intentions. We all have them. Yet, are they realistic? My goals for this month were to blog more, as well as writing committed blogs here and to work more on my office.

Needless to say, my good intentions went right out the window. First there was Easter and two dinners in two days with two different families in two different cities. The next weekend I ran a conference in Ithaca. I went a day early to make sure things ran smoothly (went in thinking the event would be a huge bust, and was pleasantly surprised). On Sunday, instead of coming home I took my daughter to Philly for medical visit. Came home Monday only to go to a funeral in Binghamton taking my folks.

So my time blogging and working on my office went right out the window. The bright spot of good intentions is there's no deadline to accomplish them. There's still time to make good and I'm starting right now by completing my obligation in blogging. The moral of this message? Don't let life stop your good intentions. Look at interruptions as temporary roadblocks and work around them until the road is clear again.

I Spy

Inventing characters involves skillful observation. Next time you’re in a coffee shop, food court, or stuck in a boring meeting, look around. I bet there’s a whole cast of characters waiting to be discovered.
Pick a subject and covertly jot down as many details as possible. Any unusual mannerisms? Is that hair color real? What does their posture say about them?
Later, go through your notes. Do you have the makings of a hero? Dreamy steele-blue eyes, dark wavy hair, crisp pressed trousers.
A loveable side-kick? Food stained T-shirt, backwards turned baseball cap, deep tan with mahogany eyes.
Or do you have a villain? Shifty eyes, chewed finger nails, and a shaggy uni-brow.
There are ton of characters just waiting to star in your next novel. Now get out there and find them!

Living in the Moment by Kathryn Shay

I recently read Eckhart Tolle’s book, A NEW EARTH. In it, he discusses why people tend to think about the past and worry about the future. He’s very concrete about why we do this, and also about how to live in the present. It’s a cliché, really, telling ourselves to appreciate the here and now. But I believe it’s the key to happiness. I liked the last part of the book best because the author does give good suggestions on how to be in the moment. We should approach everything we do by 1) if we don’t like what we’re doing/have to do, to accept it and just do it because it’s a necessity of life. If we can’t abide by that then we should get out of the situation. My first thought was he never changed a messy diaper, but then again I guess accepting that distasteful task is part of being a mom or dad. Or 2) we should enjoy the moment, stay in it, and appreciate it. I think staying in the moment is the key. How many lunches have you eaten and not really been there with the food because you were thinking about the next thing on your agenda? And finally 3) to do what you’re doing with enthusiasm, which usually means you like what you’re doing and you do it to reach a goal. I think this is where writing comes in. An author can be really enthusiastic while writing and want to finish the book, not to get on to the next thing, but to send the manuscript out so people can read it. Tolle calls it enjoyment with a goal.


It’s always been amazing to me that many writers talk about how hard the act of writing is for them, using the words excruciating, mind-bending, depleting. They say they sit at the computer from 8 to 5 and don’t enjoy it. I wonder why they do it. Yes, I know people have to make a living and take jobs that aren’t fulfilling so they can earn needed money. Though teaching was a vocation for me, and I took great pleasure in working with the kids until the day I retired, I knew teachers who hated the profession and were miserable. I felt bad for them, as I do others who are stuck in jobs they abhor. But it’s mindboggling to me why anyone would choose to be a writer if it was so difficult for them. I guess I’m lucky in that I’ve had two careers, both of which I’ve loved.

On a related note, I have a little Yorkshire terrier named Hattie. Every morning when one of us goes down to get her out of her crate, she runs outside to do her business then rushes back inside and bolts up the steps. She catapults into the master bedroom and hurls herself onto the bed to greet whoever didn't get up with her. She licks and nuzzles as if we've been gone for weeks, not overnight. It’s a joy to watch, and a joy to have her in our lives.

My husband remarked later in the day that he wished he was more like Hattie. He wished he'd bound out of bed ready to start each day with that kind of enthusiasm. He wished he greeted his loved ones as if he hadn't seen them in a long time, even if it had only been eight hours since he was last with them. He wished, basically, that he saw the day as something bright and shiny each time he opened his eyes.

Hmm, who knew Eckhart Tolle and my little Yorkie had so much in common?

Written by Kathryn Shay

ASDF JKL;

I learned to type more than 20 years ago on a standard typewriter. I hated it. Absolutely hated the class. It was so hard to remember the keys and train my hands...and NOT LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD!!!

BUT that class was the best class I ever took. I use the skills I learned in that class every day. (Even right now.)

From an electric typewriter I moved on to a keyboard.

In college I had this machine that looked like a large keyboard and it had this little screen about twice the size of a search window (yes, very small). It had I think four different storage areas (kind of like fm1 fm2 am1 am2, on a car radio.) I could type in a paper and save it. I could go back and forth reading over what I wrote in that tiny window until it was done. (And hope to God the electricity didn't go off or something horrible like that while I was typing away.)

In the 'computer lab' at SUNY Geneseo, there were a bunch of computers set up in a room as well as a bunch of dot matrix printers. Remember those? Fun, fun. Remember fixing paper jams in those? Or trying to fix them when the holes got out of alignment? Good times.

In the lab we even had instant messaging - or it's forefather (this must have been before Gore invented the internet). You'd sign on to this program, pick a college, and be randomly assigned to a student to chat with at that college. I have no recollection of a single one of those persons, but I remember the excitement and mystery surrounding it. It felt a little scary. Almost like something from a movie...I'm watching you...

Then in the early 90's I got AOL on my first computer (a 486 I think) I was in my apartment I shared with a friend, in my room, at my desk, and boy oh boy was that exciting! The first time I hooked up to the World Wide Web. Like I was transported out into the world, travelling to a different place, part of a huge group of people all having a party that not everyone was invited to.

The internet is still pretty exciting. You feel like you've entered a live place.
This is the regular world, outside, the trees, the roads, the cars etc. And the internet is the global world. This is where everyone is. This is where it's at! My day is almost not complete unless I log on at least once.

I like it. I like being connected. I like being able to communicate with YOU, almost whenever I want.

I think about the writers who only had typewriters. When I do, I think of Steven King and my next thought is of Jack Nicholson in the Shining and his huge stack of paper.
"All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."

Poetry

Last night I went to a local creative writing workshop held in Greece B&N. It was a smaller group than normal, probably because it's Poetry Month and our exercise was in Poetry. I have to admit, the terror swamped the inner writer in me as I thought of writing poetry. But Pat, who is Kim's mother made the exercise understandable and worth while. I can actually see applying the creative process to my own writing.


The exercise was on Metaphors. Metaphors are and not like. You don't say ran like a deer... you would say he is a deer.

The exercise was tremendous in learning how to relate you thoughts into deeper thoughts. We tackled emotion related to noun.

For instance her first example was a sentence:
I am cold.
I am a .....(fill in a noun.) snowman, ice cube....

We did the following emotions: greedy, angry, frustrated, pretty, sad, and happy. The varies responses were humorous and on point.

Then we took the process further, by breaking down the noun into feelings about the noun.
For instance: the noun... writer. What are the first thing you think of when you think writer?

pen, ink, pain, passion, slow, timeless.....

Afterward we took the process further and broke down the descriptive words into thoughts related it the words.
Pen-fountain of words; ink-blood of the story, pain-torture of failing, passion--bursting elation...

The final step was to take our descriptive phrases and words and create a short poem to describe the original emotion without stating the emotion.

I must say when I completed the project I thought I had a jumble of words, but this morning I reread my poem. And maybe I shouldn't have worried about writing poetry. The piece wasn't half bad for a first draft. And the process helped me dive into the five senses of writing, describing the emotion behind the words making a flesher thought. We all strive to get to that fleshy, meaty part of our characters and writing, this is just a tool. So here’s to learning something that makes your inner writer scream in terror and want to run away. Sometimes you got to try poetry.

Labyrinths, Who Knew?

Walking a labyrinth is said to be a healing experience. For thousands of years, people all over the world have been finding peace and creative energy by walking the circular paths. According to theory, when one walks in a circle, our minds slow down and we naturally meditate.
After a little research (www.labyrinthsociety.org >labyrinth locator,) I was surprised to find so many labyrinths in the Rochester area. Most are open to the public and free of charge. We walked the labyrinth at Tinker Nature Park in Henrietta and found it to have a very calming effect.
Break away from your busy, stressful schedules and take a relaxing slow walk on a labyrinth. Breathe deep, unwind, let your creative side take over and see where it leads you.

THE CONTEST IS OVER . . .

Except for the nitty gritty details like making sure each entrant received at least 3 score sheets and marked up manuscript pages for each entry, determining the order of the finalists; awarding prizes to same and the honorable mentions.

The scores were incredibly tight. 10 entries scored more than 139 out of a maximum 150 points. 24 scored between 120--139. 24 scored less than 120 points.
I imagine someone would say this is a bell curve, kind of heavy at one end.

We had some great entries, some very interesting, some less so.
One broke every rule and yet scored 143 points!!!

In the end I wonder if we'll do this again. If we do, we must have far greater commitment from the LCRW members.

Kat

Happy Easter

Veering from my standard style blog, I like to just day I hope everyone was able to get outside and enjoy the near ninety degree weather today. As the season of reflection comes to an end this weekend, let us be thankful for all we have. I'm thankful for my family, my lifestyle, my friends, my ability to write and a new birthday.

Write your heart...

As an editor and a reader for The Wild Rose Press, I've seen many, many different types of books come through the doors. I've seen books written I just know the author's trying to push through because the topic is what's 'in' right now. Or trying to do a twist on a popular theme. Now in theory there's nothing wrong with this. However, if you aren't writing your heart, or your passion, it shows on paper. It's lifeless, or cardboard. Flat characters.

Or crazy ideas... Things that may make even the most prolific romance reader cringe in horror.

My first book is not ready for prime time publishing. But I think about it all the time. I love the hero/heroine. I still love the story. And I'm sure at some point I'll take it out, dust it off, and give it a rewrite.
I am trying to get published. But I need to remember too, to write my heart. Otherwise, what's the point?

For those that are multi-published, I wonder if this is hard to do?