E-publishing doesn't mean you're going it alone.

Good morning!

"Fresh Ice,"  my newest novel, is in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment.  At least it feels like that.  All authors feel that way when they have to depend upon others to get their books published.  Traditional authors feel that way as they wait for word from their agent or editor for edits, release dates, all of that.

Self publish/e-pub authors set their own timetables.  I've known for some time that "Fresh Ice" was going to come out in 2012, toward the end of the year.  (I know, I thought Spring, but let's be real:  this is me we're talking about.)  E-pubs don't have to wait for an editor to give them galleys and release dates.

That doesn't mean e-pub authors work alone.  Not even close.  Right now, I've got no less than four people working on different aspects of the book, and I haven't even sent it to the formatter yet.  My new cover artist, Kim, is creating an image that is going to be beautiful.  My critique partners, Linda and Kelly, are painstakingly pointing out areas in the book that need strengthening and editing.   And my beta reader-Paula, well, I'm hoping she's reading and enjoying the book.  I never know until she hands it to me.

Just because we "do it on our own" e-pubbers should never think we are doing it "alone."  It still takes a team to put out a book.  The difference is that the author is the captain of that team.  It's more than a little scary, when you think about it.  E-pubbers rely heavily on the opinions of critique partners and friends.  I'm blessed to have a really great team.  I trust each of these women with a precious pearl...my work.

Friends, if you are considering e-pubbing, you are still going to need a support team.  Yes, ultimately, you're doing this on your own, from start to finish, an e-pubbed author gets to move forward without fear of rejection from above.  That might seem like a great thing...but sometimes it's very scary.  For me, "Fresh Ice" was a terrible book at the start, and my critique partner Linda let me know it.  Thank heavens.  She has been a critical member of the team to get the book to the point it's at right now.  Kelly, Kim, and Paula, all super important as well as we move this beast into the final stages when I can turn it over to 52 Novels formatting and get the thing out there for the world to judge.

So no, I don't get rejection letters anymore.  I get sternly worded critiques and neatly printed margin notes instead from people I trust, from people who, in the cases of Kim and Kelly, I've never even met in person, but who know me very well through my work.

E-pubbing is not a lonely road.  It's not a solo journey.  It is, however, a real test of your ability, as an author, to find the right people to help you reach your goals.

No go forth and WRITE!

Writing rules we rebels might just be able to break!

Good morning!

For the past several weeks my critique partners and I have been debating over various rules of writing. Grammar, sentence structure, how many spaces to put between sentences, all of these things have come up for debate.  English, I have always said, is a ridiculous language when you really look at it because English, especially American English, is sort of a soupy mess when it comes to rules of spelling, pronounciation, and grammar.  Hence, even well educated  (and yes, I am an English major with a degree in Education, so call me a geek) people such as my two lovely critique partners and I get mired in the muddle of our language.

So today I give you a really interesting article from my friends at Online Colleges.  I'm not saying this ideals are the final say in the debate, I'm just saying, Kelly and Linda, I think all of our pet grammar issues are listed!  Whoo hoo!

So, enjoy!

17 School Writing Rules You Need to Unlearn in the Real World

We have some good news for English class haters: some of the rules your teachers drilled into your brain are absolute hooey in the real world. Who really says “an historic”? And personally, we love starting sentences with “but,” “and,” and “or.” Read on as we explore these and 15 other school writing rules that really don’t have a place in modern writing. English teachers, you have our apologies.

1. Writing endlessly to get your point across:

   As school progresses, we go from small paragraphs to 50-page papers in college, but more doesn’t necessarily mean better. In fact, in the real world, it’s much better to get your point across in a concise way.

2. Sentences can begin with And, But, or Or:

   This classic English class rule has become obsolete, as people have ignored it so much that hardly anyone observes it anymore. It may not be completely professional, but it’s widely accepted and a great way to get your point across.

3. Waiting for a prompt:

   In school, you’re handed assignment after assignment that spells out exactly how you should approach your writing, but in the real world, rarely do such prompts exist. Learn how to figure out what to write and find the confidence to decide what you want to put into it.

4. Long paragraphs:

   Chances are, you were taught to construct paragraphs with topic sentences, supporting evidence, and small conclusions, but that’s just too long for the real world. You can better keep the attention of your audience by limiting paragraphs to three sentences at the most.

5. Editing happens all at once, at the end:

   No one’s saying you can’t give your work a once-over before sending it along, but if you’ve got a lot of ground to cover, it might make sense for you to edit as you go, rather than all at once. Fixing problems and having clean copy to work from can make it easier to move on and write the rest of your work.

6. Not ending sentences with a preposition:

   Sometimes, you just have to end your sentence in a preposition. A good rule to remember is if you can remove a preposition and the sentence still makes sense, you need to cut it out. If not, keep it. For example: “What did you step in?” needs “in”, but “Where is it at?” could stand to lose the “at.”

7. Avoiding incomplete sentences:

   Sentences do not have to be complete. They don’t even always have to have a subject, verb, and object. Quick, punchy sentences can help add drama and make a point when used sparingly. Journalists violate this one all the time.

8. Big words are better:

   In school, there’s a good chance you really wanted to show off your vocabulary, using the biggest words you could find. But in the real world, no one’s impressed. Simply use the best word for the job, and keep it natural. Big words that don’t fit naturally can make it sound like you’re overdoing it.

9. An historic writing rule:

   The British came up with the rule to say “an historic,” instead of “a historic.” This is due to the Cockney accent that often drops the “h” sound and makes “historic” sound like “istoric,” a word that starts with a vowel and should be preceded by “an.” But in America, we say “historic,” and it sounds incredibly pretentious to put “an” in front of it.

10. Avoiding first person:

    Schoolteachers are quick to point out that “I” has little to no use in formal writing. Without this rule, commonly self-obsessed teen writers with plenty of personal opinions are likely to use an endless string of “I”s. But in real life, “I” does have its place. You shouldn’t make yourself the subject of every sentence, but allowing yourself to come through in your style is occasionally acceptable.

11. Slang is a big no-no:

    Although traditional grammar rules frown upon slang, everyone uses it. Informal communication is usually a perfectly fine place to use (tasteful) slang, but be careful to leave it out of more formal or official pieces.

12. Don’t use adverbs:

    Adverbs have been so misused over the years that most grammar professionals encourage writers to avoid them altogether. But adverbs do have a place in writing, when used properly.

13. Alright is not all right:

    This alternate spelling has been shunned in the grammar world, but alright is perfectly fine. Although the two different spellings may have different meanings to some people, there’s nothing wrong with using the word itself.

14. Sentences can’t start with “however”:

    Despite what your ninth grade teacher may have told you, it’s perfectly fine to start your sentences with however, as long as you’re using it properly. If it’s followed by a comma, and meant to stand for “nevertheless,” however is acceptable at the beginning of a sentence.

15. Possessive words ending in an “s” don’t need another “s”:

    This rule is somewhat controversial, as there are two style manuals that have opposite views. The Chicago manual requires an apostrophe and an s, but AP leaves off the extra s. The style that you follow can be modified to your personal preference or that of your business.

16. Avoid contractions:

    In formal writing, contractions may seem out of place, but how often in normal conversation do you pass them up? When writing emails, blog posts, and other informal correspondence, contractions are perfectly fine to use.

17. Avoid profanity:

    Another rule that just feels awkward in the real world, leaving out profanity can be a fun rule to break. Believe it or not, profanity does have its place in real world writing. Although professional publications are best left without cuss words, you’d never say “the excrement hit the fan.”

Be Thou Gentle, oh Critique Partners!

Being a critique partner and having a critique partner is vital to the writing process.  I am so blessed to have my dear critique partner, friend, and fellow author Linda Schmalz.  She understands the delicate balance between being too harsh...and not getting the point across.  (Probably why Fresh Ice is taking so long...and why it will be most excellent when it finally is done!)

Meanwhile, my friends at Online Colleges sent me this list of not so constructive criticisms.  It's good for a laugh and a forming a new appreciation for your own critique partners! 

Enjoy!

There is a kind of unwritten rule among writers that you don’t criticize colleagues’ work too harshly, because they understand just how hard it is to produce great pieces. And yet, over the years handfuls of famous writers have taken huge exceptions to this rule, often with harsh but hilarious results. Some of them expressed their opinions in letters that have been included in their biographies, and who knows if they intended for the world to know of them. Either way, of the ones that are out there for all of us to enjoy, here are 10 of the best literary smack-downs ever recorded.

1. "Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked?"

   Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner are two titans of American fiction, but apparently they weren’t each other’s biggest fans. When an interviewer asked Hemingway if it was true he brought along a pitcher of martinis to his writing area, he replied, "You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes — and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one." For his part, Faulkner said of Hemingway, "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

2. "A formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a cold pudding of a book, a persistent snore in the next room, most aggravating to the insomniac!"

   Vladimir Nabokov is no hack writer. Two of his works are listed on the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels list. So when, in a 1967 interview, he decided to give his two cents on writing legend James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, it was no surprise that he did it quite expressively. "Finnegans Wake‘s façade disguises a very conventional and drab tenement house, and only the infrequent snatches of heavenly intonations redeem it from utter insipidity."

3. "Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’."

   You know it’s a good put-down when it prompts the recipient to sue you. That’s exactly what Lillian Hellman did when author and critic Mary McCarthy dropped that line on her on national television. Hellman sued for libel to the tune of $2.5 million, quite a sum in 1979. Unfortunately for her, by filing the suit McCarthy then had to prove Hellman had lied in her memoirs. When Hellman died before the case ended, McCarthy said, "I didn’t want her to die. I wanted her to lose in court."

4. "It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death."

   Mark Twain’s insults could make a list in themselves, but he was particularly unfond of author Jane Austen. Twain claimed in a letter to a friend that he could read James Fennimore Cooper (another writer he famously loathed) "on salary," but not Austen. In another letter he said reading Pride and Prejudice made him wish he could "dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

5. "A sack of the sheerest trash"

   Thomas Carlyle was a popular writer in the Victorian era, noted for his retained Calvinism despite his abandoned faith. The combination made for a man Samuel Butler quipped had fortunately married the perfect woman so that there would be two miserable people instead of four. But fellow Victorian writer Anthony Trollope had a much harsher take on Carlyle’s work, saying the eight shillings he had spent on Carlyle’s book were "very much thrown away." Carlyle’s "trash" was proof to Trollope that the man "who was always in danger of going mad in literature … has now done so."

1. "A more sententious, holding-forth old bore, who expected every hero-worshipping adenoidal little twerp of a student-poet to hang on his every word I never saw."

   Extra points to James Dickey for using the word "twerp" in his put-down. In an interview in 1972, the Deliverance author was asked if the poetry of Robert Frost, one of the most revered and well-known poets in American history, had impacted him. Dickey’s colorful response was that if anyone ever saw Frost’s influence on one of his poems, he would "take that particular work … shred it, and flush it down the toilet, hoping not to clog the pipes."

2. "Is it all a practical joke?"

   Samuel Butler was an established author and translator in his own right, but in criticizing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe he took on one of the most well-respected writers in history. Forty years after Goethe’s death, Butler wrote that he had been reading one of Goethe’s works and that he thought it was "the very worst book" he had ever read." "I cannot remember a single good page or idea," he said. "Is it all a practical joke?"

3. "That’s not writing, that’s typing."

   Jack Kerouac spoke to a generation of Americans with his writing in books like On the Road. His style of prose was free flowing and unfettered and appealed to young people at a time when they were tired of feeling restricted by society. But Kerouac’s prose was apparently a little too loose to suit Truman Capote, the rock-star author of In Cold Blood. Capote’s clever zinger implied he thought what he did and what Kerouac did were two different professions.

4. "My answer hath been, would he had blotted a thousand."

   Shakespeare is a sacred cow in literature today, but he had his detractors in his own time. One of those was the poet and playwright Ben Jonson, who wrote several popular satires and had a wide influence on the genre. It seems Jonson was considered to be on the slow side when it came to writing plays, and he may have slightly resented Shakespeare’s ability to churn them out. "I remember, the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare that in his writing (whatsoever he penned) he never blotted out line," Jonson said in his book Timber, or Discoveries. "My answer hath been, would he had blotted a thousand."

5. "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing."

   Hopefully you’ve already read Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, because this quote contains a spoiler. "Little Nell" is the heroine of the story, a young girl whose parents have died and whose only family in the world is her grandfather who raises her. Sadly, little Nell dies after a long journey to a village to live with her grandfather as beggars. Sad, of course, unless you’re Oscar Wilde, the notorious wit and author of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Apparently he wasn’t "buying" the tragedy of the story.

It's a happy day for this writer!

Hello all! 

So I've been absent lately, but with good reason.  I've been slaving away at the second draft of "Fresh Ice," and I've just sent the final chapters to my dear critique partner.

It's exciting, getting to this point.  I like this point. This is when writing is fun.  Gone is the stressful "blank pages" stage, when you have no clue who your characters are, or what they're going to do.  Gone are most of the dead end chapters, the pages of pointlessness.  Instead, you know your characters so well, you're the puppet master making them dance.  (And then if you sit too long on a book, the characters make you dance.)

I'm also excited because I finally found a cover artist, I hope. She's tackling the cover for this book, a cover I have seen so clearly since the first time I pictured a cover for the book.  I hope she can manage it for me.  I'm confident she can!

Not the new cover.

So it's a happy day for me.  I toasted myself with a glass of Pinot Noir, and now I'm going to tuck myself on the futon and watch a movie of some sort until I fall asleep.  Hubby is in the next room, and I don't want to disturb him, but my eczema is flaring  (I've neglected pretty much everything in the past week to get this draft finished) and I don't sleep well when that happens.  So, I'll find something calm on Netflix, lotion myself up, and drift off blissfully, dreaming cover art and release dates.

Today I love being a writer!

Lemonheads are everywhere! Here's a hug! Now ignore them!

Good morning!

Several years ago I sold Partylite candles and gifts.  It was a direct sales job I ran parties in people's homes.  I was actually pretty good at it.  My unit leader, a woman who was full on into selling Partylite full time, often said, "Don't let the lemonheads get in your way."

What she meant was that any time you undertake a new endeavor, there are going to be people out there who want to discourage you.  Maybe they mean well, like they don't want you to get hurt.  Maybe they have no confidence in you and think you'll make a fool of yourself.  Maybe they just don't believe in what you're doing.

It was true when I sold candles to middle class wives and it's true now with writing:  Lemonheads are everywhere.  When you tell someone you are a writer, the reaction goes one of a couple ways:

1)  They try to look impressed and ask what you've had published.  This will then lead to you trying to explain how you haven't had anything published YET or that you have, and it's digital only, OR that you've e-published and they can only get the book online. 

2)  They stare at you, unable to formulate a response and wind up coming out with something like:  Wow, that's interesting.  And do you make money doing that?

3)  They look at you and say, "Really?  You?  You're writing something and you expect us to read it?"

It's that third thing I want to really address right now because the first two are just products of well meaning people not understanding the process.  They mean us no harm.  That third one, however, can...and often does...come from the most unexpected, cruelest sources.

Friends, relatives, fellow writers.  You know, the people you'd THINK would support you.

It's happened to me, and it is shattering.  Your core is broken, and you question your ability to do pretty much everything. 

When I was work shopping my second novel, "Lies in Chance"  my writers group was very patient.  We affectionately called it "The Stupid Novel"  and most of the comments were very constructive and made the book what it is today.  (While there aren't a lot of reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, they are very positive.)  One person, however, someone I thought would be most supportive, spent quite a lot of time telling me how this book was never going to be publishable.

Perhaps that person was right, since I did publish it on my own.  However, this is the same person who became loudly critical of my work the minute I sold my first book, Dream in Color, to Wild Rose Press.  (Again, not a lot of reviews, but they are all very positive. You should really read my stuff!) 

Ultimately, the relationship ended, and the parting volley from this person destroyed my confidence in myself on all levels.

Some years later, it still hurts.  But it's something I have to work through because I do have two novels I'm marketing out there, and I am working on another novel and a three book humor series.  I also hold a full time job, have two demanding teens at home, and a house and husband.  So the reality is I either let this one lemonhead take over my brain and end the thing I love doing the most, or I battle through it, put down my own insecurities, and move forward.

We writers, all of us, we understand that this isn't an easy life.  And while it would be nice if the difficulties came from people other than those closest to us, that's now how life works always.

So let me encourage you, my writer friends...ignore the lemonheads!  Listen to those you truly trust:  Your writers group, your critique partners, your beta reader.  You are going to chose your own path when it comes to publishing.  We live in a wide open world now and publishing is both the most difficult it's ever been,. and the easiest for us unknowns.  Don't let someone who is on a different path break you down because of what you chose to do with your writing career.

And if you ever need a virtual hug or pat on the back.... you know where to find me!

Now go forth, buy my books, and WRITE!

Puzzling over a critique.

Good evening. 

A good critique partner is vital to anyone who is serious about writing.  I know people who are in big critique groups, and I've tried that, it doesn't work for me as well as having one critique partner I truly trust.

My critique partner is my friend Linda Schmalz who is herself a published author.  Her books are wonderful and you should read them, by the way.  The thing I love about Linda's critiques, and those of you who have critique partners know what I mean, is that she's gentle, but firm.  I've had partners in the past who have told me, "This is terrible.  Why are you even bothering?"  And I've have partners in the past who say things like, "well, it's not my cup of tea, but if you like it keep working."

Neither is helpful.

But Linda is one of those rare critique partners who manages to be nice while getting her point across.  Take, if you will, my current work in progress; Fresh Ice.
The first time I sent chapters to Linda, she informed me that the story was terrible, the characters were terrible, and frankly, there was no way I could continue writing it.

But she said it so nicely.

Now I've finally, after two years, finished the first draft of Fresh Ice, and Linda, who has been very interested in the story up until now, just dumped a big bowl of ice water over my head.

Izzy:  Don't let the pink skirt fool you
This lady is tough!

"They've been on a date for a third of the book, " she tells me in an email.  "We get it, they love each other.  Can we have some conflict, please?"

Quinn...isn't he ever so dreamy?

As writers, we get so wrapped up in our characters.  And while we want our characters to suffer...because that's why we became writers in the first place, to make the voices in our heads suffer...we also want that happy ending for them.  So yes, Quinn and Izzy  have, in this first draft, gotten several pages of self indulgent fluff conversation from me.  Mostly because I can hear Quinn in my head and frankly, I'm in love with him.

But the bit about creating more conflict was a good point.  A book...and this is any book other than a cook book maybe, isn't worth reading if there isn't conflict.  If there were no conflict every story would be, "Once upon a time, everyone lived happily ever after."

Snore.

So Linda's completely right.  While I have a wonderful villain in the beautiful and deadly Serena...I don't use her enough.  Which is a shame, because she's a lot of fun to write.  And let's be honest:  Izzy, my heroine, has a lot of people she could be bringing in for conflict and resolution.  (Mother issues anyone?)

So I've got a weekend ahead of me, and puzzle piece writer that I am, I'm working on a scene.  I don't know where it's going to fit in the final product.  That's the fun part about writing puzzle piece style:  I write a ton of scenes, and then sort of put them together.

All I know is, Linda is going to love this!