Resources

What kind of resources are helpful to a fledgling author and how do you find them? I've stumbled upon some really great resources at the bookstore by accident. They are "Forensics, A Guide for Writers," and "Police Procedure and Investigation." My brother, the lawyer, almost salivated when he saw the title of the latter book and he works with corporate litigation.

Another book I've collected is "From First Draft, A Writer's Guide to Cohesive Story Building." I do have to admit I haven't used this book. It seemed too much work to me. Guess I'm learning there's more to writing than just putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

I had two unexpected discoveries as I cleared out more clutter from my sunroom. The first was a book entitled, "RWA Online Presents 12 Steps to Publication." This book was a timely find as I needed to learn about writing a synopsis. There was a chapter on just that. The second discovery was a six-audio tape series, "Writing and Selling Your Novel, A Live Workshop with Jack M. Bickham." Imagine my dismay to find the first tape is missing from the set. Bummer.

So, armed with all these resources what do I do? Place them on my bookshelf until needed or start studying? Originally, I just put them away on the bookshelf. With the submission of a manuscript to publishers, I think I'd better make time to study some of these books along with time to continue writing.

Old Endings

I was reminded of Patti's recent "incoming Presidential" message and, as we left yesterday's wonderful event at Kathy Schafer's lovely home, I was reminded of her grace and enthusiasm for leading LCRW into a new decade.

With that in mind, I would like to thank you all for allowing me to serve as president for these past 4+ years. We certainly had our moments, some good, some less than. I learned a lot and hope some of you did also.

I wish all the very best as you travel your individual paths toward your dreams, whatever they may be.
Kat Doran

Just call me Pinball Brain

Does the title have you guessing? I hope so. Let me elaborate here.

Lately with the stress of life as the mother of three young adults who don't drive, part-time restaurant hostess and now waitress for two evenings, I feel my life's control slipping away from me. One case in point? I missed my blogging obligation yesterday.

Between taking a short morning nap, working the lunch hour and the returning to waitress the evening shift, I didn't get much of my planned work completed. I didn't have enough time to make dinner - it doesn't help when I don't plan it ahead of time. The laundry still sits (it's only mine and I'm not running out). The powder room didn't get its weekly clean either.

I can say that I've got a manuscript ready for submission to a second publisher - the publisher I've dreamed of writing for most of my life. My first try at a synopsis turned out to be the back-of-the-book blurb. Now, after confering with my critique friends, I've got a decent synopsis, a query letter and the first few chapters ready to go. Of course, I couldn't get my husband to understand the need to keep working on it. He thinks that since I have the work in one place, I can sit on my hands and wait for a response before working on anything else. EEKKKK!!! Do they ever get it? I think mine's only going to get it when I can show a sale.

To top it off, today's list hasn't been completed either. Maybe that afternoon appointment wasn't necessary today. Then again, it was and I do feel better for having it. So, the list piles up. With a commitment tonight, when am I going to get things finished?

Do you think it would help if I got to bed at a reasonable hour and didn't have a need to take that morning nap? Probably. Will I be able to do it tonight? It doesn't look like it. Have to drive all the way out to Charlotte and pick up my van from rhe repair shop.

I think one of the events that have tipped the scales toward the feeling of my brain being a pinball in my skull was the near misses I've had with deer for the past three days. Every day I have encounter a deer running in the path of my car, my heart stops beating and my nerves stretch tighter and tighter. My body feels so strung out it's hard to fall asleep.

Someone suggested I try not to drive at night. I responded, "How will I get home from work?" Answer - "Husband?" My response? "Yeah, right."

So you get the drift. I hope this blog is entertaining as well as a warning to others not to let their lives get to this point. Why do I want to stop the pinball?? The holiday season is upon us, my favorite time of year, and I don't feel festive. I want the season to go away. So NOT me. Thanks for letting get this out of my system.

Time

Why is it when the days get shorter, my time seems to shorten as well? There seems to be no end to the list of things I need to do and no time in which to do it. Even my writing has suffered.

I started the NaNoWriMo challenge on November 1 with the full intent to finish. Things went well for the first two weeks. Now, according to the stats tab on my NaNoWriMo page, I won't finish the 50,000 challenge until Jan. 15. How sad is that?

However, many of the delays are of my own making. Parts of my life have gotten out of control and makes for difficult times at home. I need to take some time to sit down and re-evaluate what I want and what I need to do. This goes for my writing too.

My goal for January is to submit my current manuscript to one of the major publishing houses within the next month. I really don't want to have to put a buck in the kitty for not making that goal. HeHe. The one thing I will not do is overtax myself to achieve that goal. To that end, my head is beginning to ache. Must mean it's time to go to bed.

Movies That Have Changed My Life

On this Thanksgiving night, feeling quite sorry for myself because I was unable to visit family due to the chest cold of the century that's left me sounding like Pat Butram from the old Gene Autry movies, I tried to recall the responses I made while recently guesting on an author's blog: List the movies which have changed your life.
In no particular order of importance, they are:
Veronica Guerin--an investigative journalist looking into a brutal gangster refuses to back down and pays with her life. Cate Blanchett is a wonder.
The Official Story--an Argentinian film which won the Oscar for best foreign language film in the late 80's, concerns a teacher who believes her 5 year old adopted daughter may be the child of one of Los Desparaceidos out of the Dirty War. The ending is sad and powerful and thought provoking.
Every Mother's Son--Helen Mirren pre-Jane Tennison and HRH fame, battling the IRA and domestic terrorist Bobby Sands for his legendary hold over Catholic youth in Northern Ireland. Shows the futility of hunger strikes against no-prisoners approach of the British crown.
Major League. Appreciated by baseball nuts everywhere, it got lost in the cracks when another little ditty known as Bull Durham was released soon after. This one showcases the early work of Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Dennis Haysbert and Rene Russo--as well as the perennial thinking woman's hunk: Tom Berringer. Plus, it made me laugh.
The Stoning of Soraya M. Male Chauvinism is alive and well in many parts of the world.
The Killing Fields. There's a reason why this salute to courage and perseverance captured more than one Oscar--and John Lennon's Imagine only enhances its magic.
Defiance--starring Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig tells the true story of two brothers in Belarus who saved hundreds of Jews, keeping them in the forests for years [literally] while carrying out their own campaign of terror against the Russians and Nazis.
The Sandlot. A coming of age flick about a group of boys playing sandlot baseball. Very funny, and very quotable as in for-evv-ver.
The Quiet Man.Who doesn't love John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara? I visited Cong and nearby Ashford
Castle where a few scenes were filmed and sat on a ledge of the monument across from Cohan's Pub [which really isn't a pub but a 'gift shop']. Ireland really is as beautiful today as it was nearly 60 years ago when this movie was made.

I hope your holidays were lovely and restful and hack-free.
Kat

No Thanks

I know this is the time of year we are supposed to give thanks but . . .
Sometimes it’s best to say “No thanks.”
Common sense tells us to say “No thanks” to that second slice of pumpkin pie. And then, there’s that other plate called life. We tend to heap that one pretty high, too.
It’s hard to say no to the people we care about. Juggling family, work, and friends is not easy. Taking on too many commitments never ends well.
So this holiday, I hope you can find the strength to say, “No Thanks.” Carve a little time for yourself and enjoy.
Happy Thanksgiving!

New Beginnings

As I take on the responsibilities as the new President of Lilac City Rochester Writers, I'd like to thank everyone for their support. I will work hard to be worthy of it.

To that effect, I'm making sure I get my blog in a little early. I'm presently in Philadelphia. My daughter has her quarterly medical-study check up at 8:30am tomorrow morning. We need to get back to Rochester before 5pm tomorrow because I have picked up the 5-8 shift waitressing at the restaurant where I'm the lunch time hostess. Needless to say, I'll be too beat after my shift to blog.

NaNoWriMo is almost over. I'm behind 15,800 words. According to my stats, I won't be finished with the 50,000 words until Christmas Day. Ugh! Didn't really want to know that. Oh well, I can't complain. At least I have 19,000 words written I wouldn't have had if I hadn't started the challenge.

How many of you who were at the meeting yesterday have taken what you learned from Chris Isaac and implemented it on Facebook? I have included the link to my new business page. It's slow going, but I'm suggesting my writer friends to it. Some of you may have already received the posts. It's different from friend requests. The link will bring you to the page and you may click 'like' and under the profile picture there is a link to 'add to my favorite pages.' This link should allow you to receive all the updates from this page.

Let's work together this coming year to promoting our group and ourselves.

Evolution

Evolution. What does that word mean? To me it means re-creation, restructuring, rebuilding. My writing is undergoing a re-creation. Book number two and three are going off in a different direction than I originally intended. The changes are for the better, so much that when I finish writing a scene I get all excited. Chills run through my arms and I get that rush when things gel just right.

My writing has gone through a form of restructuring as well. I'm trying to go about my writing in a more formated way, instead of by the seat of my pants. What did I know about character development? Nothing! What is a turning point? Darned if I knew.

I was talking with my son last week about what I was learning about these two writing structures and he laughed at me. "We learned that in third grade,Mom," he says. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't remember learning it in third grade or any grade for that matter.

Maybe I'm a slow learner or a late bloomer, but at least I'm making progress. I'm pleased with what I'm creating now and can't wait to get to the endings. Who knew plotting could be so fun!

Rochester Children’s Book Festival 2010

Rarely do writers of one genre get a personal glimpse into the professional lives of another, but that happened to me on Saturday. I was invited to attend the Rochester Children’s Book Festival because THE PERFECT FAMILY is geared to teenagers as well as women. Though the venue wasn’t right for me, I learned a lot about a genre of writing I knew little about.

First, this is a big deal! Forty-one authors and illustrators, representing a myriad of publishers sold books to about 4,000 people. That’s right, the big hall at Monroe Community College was filled with a steady stream of people from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The buyers were teachers—lots of them—and parents who happily brought their kids along. It was so much fun to see the little ones point out a book or rush over to an author they loved. They got stickers, hugs and personal drawings. The kids were in heaven. As a former English teacher, it did my heart good to see them so fascinated at a reading event. Also in attendance were sales representatives making invaluable contacts with the authors. Populating the tables were paper mache figures of characters in the book, big posters and smiling authors. Some people were walking around with puppets based on the books. Also offered were presentations and readings given every hour by the authors in attendance. Kids seemed to flock to these.

I was interested in the diversity of books, too. Some had hard pages with pull outs, some were thick tomes of fiction for middle grades, some curriculum supplements. I sat next to one author, Elizabeth Sullivan Falk, who was a fourth grade teacher and wrote her books on colonial America and the underground railroad because she couldn’t get that kind of material to use in her class. Then she found an educational publisher to put them out.

Second, the event was put on by the Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators, a group of 70 people, both published and unpublished. The former signed their books while the latter operated as volunteers. This is an active group who attracted authors for the event like Jane Yolen and Linda Sue Park. There were numerous Caldecott and Newberry winners, as well as those of other awards. The scope of the thing was so big, it took tons of work –one of the co-chairs told me the planning takes a year.

Last, I found several similarities among children’s books authors and those of my genres, romance and women’s fiction. Some were ecstatic about their publishers and agents, some had complaints about the same, some were looking for agents, some wanted to switch genres, all had stories about their path to publication.

I’m so glad I got a look at this special world of children’s books. It seems to be flourishing, too, as the sales had to be through the roof. So, kudos to the Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators!

Kathy Shay

Not Your Granny's Angel

Author JR Ward has done it again--convinced this hard core romantic-suspense and political thriller reader, and sometimes writer, to pick up a fantasy in "Covet".
I actually set out to read "Crave", the latest release in Ward's Fallen Angel series, but realized to really appreciate the continuing hero, Jim Heron, I probably should read "Covet" first. Duh.
After about 10 pages, I'm thinking . . . maybe this series isn't totally fantasy. It is about angels, though these guys are not the guys with wings and built like Charles Atlas from my Baltimore Catechism days. These birds come with tattoos, multiple body piercings, drive Harleys, and drink beer like Prohibition is about to be reinstated. And a few of them, and the lost souls they are charged with saving from one of the seven deadly sins, have extrasensory powers.
Totally cool.
Filled with Ward's usual unremitting sarcastic humor, 'Covet' is real tough to put down.
I give it a hands up.
Kat