Pins and Posts of 2012

New Year's Day. Hmmm. This is probably a good time to reflect on the lessons of 2012 and make resolutions for a happy, healthy, prosperous 2013. Instead, here are some of my favorite posts on Facebook and Pinterest.

Writers get this.

Someone also wrote: "Writer's block is when our imaginary friends stop talking to us." Hate it when that happens.

I thought this inspiring and hereby resolve to step outside my comfort zone more often in 2013, to go places I've never been and try new things. Zip lining, anyone?

A 86 year old woman once told me she felt 35 inside. She wore stylish clothes, traveled, had lots of friends of all ages. This made me think of her and what I learned from the way she lived her life.

Mystery solved:

 Another great one for writers and readers. This week I spent many hours in Paris, the British Virgin Islands and Wyoming without ever getting on a plane.

And this was just so delightful, I had to share. Anyone who has ever had a Lab or known one, knows it is just dead on!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2013! Anyone have resolutions, thoughts or humor to share?

DEYROLLE 2012

Director Wes Anderson at Deyrolle before the fire

On a cold and rainy January day seven years ago, my husband and I were wandering around Paris when a curious little garden shop caught our attention. Inside we found an assortment of tools, books and clothes but nothing remarkable enough to carry home to Texas.

As we were about to leave, the clerk told us there was a premier étage and pointed to a stairway at the back of the shop. Not wanting to be rude, we climbed the steps expecting more of the same and were stunned by what we found—a grand suite of rooms full of hundreds of stuffed animals posed as though they had frozen in mid-action when our feet hit the top stair. Like many before us, we had discovered Deyrolle, the cabinet de curiosités.

Under normal circumstances, I might have found all the taxidermy somewhat appalling, but there was something so charming and playful about the way the animals were arranged, I fell in love with the place and every creature in the extraordinary menagerie. I couldn’t help thinking, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if whoever owns this place could bring these animals to life when no one was around?”

That man became Adrien Durand, the hero of the paranormal romance novel my agent has out on submission. Since then I’ve returned to Deyrolle many times, and have taken friends and family to visit my favorite place in Paris. Sadly about three years ago a fire destroyed most of the second story and with it hundreds of animals lovingly collected over more than a century.

The fictional place I call La Maison d’Ermonie has taken on a life of its own in my imagination—a fantastical world that is more real to me than the place that inspired it. I shouldn’t have been surprised this week when the somewhat reconstructed Deyrolle no longer held the enchantment of the original, but I was. Surprised and disappointed. The animals were no longer posed playfully and the whimsy has been lost. Change is inevitable but I still mourn the loss of a grand dining room set for dinner with a guest list of zebras, a donkey, a lion, a water buffalo and a goat presided over be a magnificent stuffed horse I named Maurice.

Have you ever revisited an old haunt or a literary shrine only to find time had stolen its magic? 

TOW WITH BACKSTORY

On Saturday I attended Northwest Houston RWA's Lone Star conference  where JamesScott Bell imparted his wisdom on the craft of writing fiction. At one point in discussing dialogue he warned, "Don't use dialogue to have your characters dump backstory. It's boring and real people don't talk like that." Unfortunately, on Sunday evening I learned Mr. Bell was wrong.

After a successful shopping trip at Katy Mills Mall, at closing my husband and I returned to his SUV to go home and discovered the gear shift was stuck in park and was determined not to budge. The owner's manual was no help in solving the problem so we gave up and called our insurance company's road-side assistance number for a tow. Now I'm not saying all tow-truck drivers are unscrupulous bottom feeders, but the last time Steve got towed, the driver took his car to his own lot instead of the mechanic and held it ransom for 2 days. In other words, we weren't too enthusiastic about being 25 miles from home and at the mercy of whoever showed up.

As it turned out a polite young guy arrived within a half hour and got the SUV onto his trailer with impressive efficiency. Somewhat relieved, my husband and I got into the cab for the ride to the garage that services his vehicle. Being a friendly sort, I commented that satnav systems like the one the driver had stuck to his windshield must make his job easier. Big mistake. The driver, let's call him Joe, launched into a story about how he'd been ripped off when he bought what he thought was a new Garmin and discovered it had 134,000 miles on it. After confronting the store owner, he got a more expensive brand new one and was quite pleased with himself for coming out $80 ahead. 

Without further encouragement (for once I didn't ask questions), he told us he'd been driving tow-trucks since he was 17 (he's 24 now) and used to have one of his own, and that's about the time I knew we were going to get way more information than we wanted. "I lost everything," he said, "when I went to prison." 

That was definitely a TMB moment--Too Much Backstory.

He explained he'd gone to prison for five years when he was 19 and had been out for six months then proceeded to give us an account of his present employer who was name Ahmed, his weekly paycheck of $250 (although he use to make a lot more than that before he went away), his rent of $465 a month and his annoyance that his girlfriend refused to get a job. At that point the girlfriend called his cell and we heard a lot of apologies, all starting with "Baby,..." When he hung up, we thought--hoped--the personal revelations might be finished but, no. 

To be fair, I imagine some people would have asked him why he went to prison and I'll admit I was curious. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he gave us the gory details--a fight backing up his brother who'd been jumped by seven men that left a guy "hurt bad." This was on the job back when Joe was doing repro work--something he doesn't do anymore. Seems that big money had its downside, and AAA and insurance company road-side assistance is safer. What a surprise. 

Eventually we arrived at our mechanic’s garage, the SUV was unloaded and Joe headed home to his unemployed girlfriend and a late dinner. I thought about what Mr. Bell had said about dribbling in backstory and only telling the reader what he or she needs to know to understand the story. Did we need to know Joe’s backstory to get our car from Katy to Houston? Absolutely not. And yet it added an element of tension and suspense a silent ride would have lacked. And somehow I think that would have been just fine with us. 

Life In the Abstract

My husband and I were invited to some friends’ house on Sunday to view paintings by the prominent Texas artist, Dorothy Hood. My husband has long been an admirer of her work and informed his art collector friends when he learned a significant number of important large paintings were coming up for sale.

Along with the gallery owner, there was a woman present, Susie Kalil, who has made it her mission to “give Dorothy her due” as an important American artist. Susie knew Dorothy and now has access to all of her personal affects which she is using to research a book not only on Dorothy’s art but also her colorful life in preparation for a major exhibition at the South Texas Institute for the Arts. And this is the part that struck me—those personal effects include journals chronicling her entire adult life in detail, letters to and from some of the most prominent artists and writers of the 20^th century (she kept carbon copies of the letters she wrote), poems, photographs and sketches that tell the story of the woman behind the art.

As Susie talked about Dorothy’s time in Mexico City in the 1940s which was an intellectual and cultural center not unlike Paris in 1920, I wanted to read the journals and letters for myself to see through Dorothy’s eyes her circle of friends which included Spanish novelist Luis Buñuel, Mexican painters Miguel Covarrubias and Rufino Tamayo, American playwright Sophie Tredwell, German-born artist Mathias Goeritz, Spanish surrealist Remedios Varo and English-born surrealist Leonora Carrington a good friend. On occasion, she stayed at the house of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo—who wouldn’t read her accounts of those flamboyant figures?

Later she married to Bolivian composer, Velasco Maidana, and together they moved to Houston where she became a prominent figure in the art scene with work in museum collections all over the world. And through it all she recorded her travels and the people she met and maintained her friendships through long, personal letters.

I have to feel a little sad that journals, hand written letters, printed photos and other tangible items are being replaced these days with blog posts, email, telephone calls and digital photos that may be lost as software changes and technology advances. We’re told nothing is ever lost on the internet, but can it be found, examined, assembled to recreate a picture of a vibrant, creative life? Are we losing personal connections now that email and texts have replaced phone calls? Has television replaced conversation and interactive activities?

Don’t get me wrong—I love technology as a convenience in my business and personal life but I also mourn the fast pace that allows us to shortcut the thoughtful communication and introspection for personal journals and handwritten correspondence. I wonder what record will be left behind of our lives in fifty or a hundred years. Maybe this is the question every generation asks.

Do you still write letters or keep a journal? To you call or email? 

Hooked on Homeland

Last Friday I bought the DVD of the first season of the TV series HOMELAND having heard about it several months ago on NPR but totally unaware of all its Emmy nominations. Since we don’t have TV, the only way we watch shows is on DVD and usually view the episodes back to back--so far I’ve seen the pilot through 8 and am hooked.

The elevator pitch? Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody is rescued from captivity in Iraq and  returns home eight years after going missing. Carrie Mathison, a driven CIA officer, suspects he might have been “turned” by a notorious terrorist leader and is plotting an attack on America.

An intriguing premise, huh? What’s fascinated me about this series is the writing—more specifically the characters. As writers we’re told “If the reader believes the motivation, they’ll believe anything the character does.” We’re also taught that the reader needs to empathize in some way with the protagonists or they’ll put the book down. The writers of Homeland have created seriously flawed and ambiguous characters—not just Carrie and Brody, but most of the cast—and given them motivations that make even some crazy behavior believable if not acceptable. For example, Carrie has an undefined mental illness that she’s self-treating with meds she gets from her sister. Her sister pleads with her to go for medical help and she refuses because the diagnosis would end her career as a CIA agent. Not a good reason, but an understandable motivation.

Nick is a fascinating character because it’s nearly impossible to get a valid read on him. Clearly he’s not a good guy, but is he a terrorist? Would he destroy his family, his country in the name of Islam? As the story progresses, it takes turns and twists that startle the viewer and mislead Carrie, maintaining suspense and tension with character shifts and revelation rather than the heart-stopping action of a series like 24.

Even the secondary characters are three-dimensional. Brody’s best friend and wife had fallen in love a couple of years before Brody’s return and the friend was the only father figure his children knew. This makes the family dynamics and relationships very complicated. Carrie’s boss is struggling with the disintegration of his marriage because of his career and yet can’t let go of his involvement in national security. There are no heroes in this series—only all too flawed human beings who are either trying to do good or bent on destruction. The fun is we aren’t quite sure which is which until the writers show their hand.

Has anyone else seen HOMELAND? Is there a series you especially like or find fascinating that you would recommend? 

SHARING THE RIDE

Last evening I drove with three writer friends, Sarah Andre, Jo Anne Banker and Kay Hudson to the release party for Shana Galen’s WHEN YOU GIVE A DUKE A DIAMOND. Hosted by Katy Budget Books, it was a wonderful event with champagne, cake, chocolate dipped strawberries and goodie bags filled with signed historical paperbacks, booksmarks, “real” diamond rings, body jewels and chocolate. 

I wish I could say we arrived promptly at 6:00 when Shana began her talk, but we didn’t get there until well into the Q&A. Given we’d driven an hour and a half in rush hour traffic, our tardiness was forgiven. Why, you may ask, did we drive that far and that long on a Monday night for a book signing? Because that’s what friends do. And many of the writers I’ve met through my local RWA chapters are indeed my friends.

And we weren’t the only chapter members to show up. Sophie Jordan, Ana Walker and Nicole Flockton were also there. After the signing, Sarah, Jo Anne and I took Kay out to dinner for her birthday. Sometime in the evening we remarked that if it wasn’t for writing and RWA, the four of us would never have crossed paths, and yet we’re sharing a journey non-writers find it hard to understand. Who in her right mind spends thousands of hours, years of her life in front of a keyboard pouring her heart and soul into a stories that may never be published? Yup, we do. Who subjects themselves to harsh criticism by contest judges, agents, editors and, if we’re lucky enough to get published, reviewers in pursuit of a career? We do.

Family and civilian friends support us, but after a couple of years with no books out on the shelves, they wonder if we’re crazy, lazy or delusional about our writing ability. Our writer friends understand the piles of rejections, the early manuscripts tucked under beds, the disappointment when our agent can’t sell a story we both love. They also share the triumphs of a contest win, a “full” request, an offer of representation from an agent, a book contract, and the release of a new book and a new series. One writer friend, Pat O'Dea Rosen, even agreed to be a part of this blog! 

My writer friends and I would never have met in our real lives for a thousand different reasons (age, geography, work, lifestyle, just to name a few) and yet they have become some of the most meaningful relationships in my life. In no other profession have I experienced the generosity, the willingness to help a newcomer along, the encouragement and empathy I have with these women. To all my writer friends I say—Thank you! You’re the best!

Google, the verb. We all do it.

After Pat's post Friday about her Klout score, I had to find out just what this Klout thing was. To no one's amazement, mine is very low. So I Googled myself to see what came up. Surprise, surprise the first pages contained my blog posts, Amazon book reviews, RWA activities and literary agency profile mixed in with genealogy sites about someone's great-grandfather Lark Howard born in 1896. Apparently Lark is more common as a male name than female. Who knew? It wasn't until page 10 that my day job company profile appeared which was much further on than I'd expected.

I then went to Google images which turned out to be more interesting. Of the first couple dozen, 9 were actually me. Several other photos I'd posted on this blog (travel pics, Kay, Sarah, Dee) and one was Pat O'Dea Rosen. A Lark Howard who looks like George Carlin on a really bad day was busted in Arizona on several occasions and multiple mugshots of him popped up (he was wearing different clothes so I know there were several arrests).

All this Googling got me thinking about the multiple lives so many writers have. Those of us lucky enough to write full-time may write under a pen name to suit out genre. Others have more than one name for other reasons. Historical writer Eloisa James is a Shakespeare professor named Mary Bly who for years hid her author identity from her students. A wonderful paranormal author friend is an emergency room doctor who took a pen name because she shares her real name with a porn star (not a good thing when readers are looking for your website). A few months back an English teacher was outted in Pennsylvania as the author of erotic romances under a pen name, outraging some parents who called for her dismissal while students defended her. Those of us who have two professional identities under the same name can find ourselves facing some awkward questions when those online identities intersect unexpectedly.

I know a lot of people are horrified to learn how much information is online about them. Those of us who use the internet to promote ourselves as writers are often more aware of what we're putting out there and control the content more deliberately than casual social media users.  Still, I can't help but wonder what my clients might think if they search my name in the vast cyber data-dump and find this blog or my profile as a Prospect Agency author.

What's the funniest, most surprising or most shocking item you've ever turned up when you Googled yourself?

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Would he be more handsome if his name was Ryan?

I’ve always had a thing about names so when I came across a piece from NPR called Baby Names: The Latest Partisan Divide?,  I couldn’t resist reading it. Apparently people in the conservative Midwest choose more creative and androgynous names like Paislee, Liberty, Rykan and Scottlynn for their children while New Englander’s favor traditional names such as Evan, Elizabeth, Rachel, Abigail and John. Hmmm.  An interesting study.

As a writer I think a lot about characters’ names before committing to them because I know how important it is for the reader connect with the persona I’m creating as quickly as possible. If my heroine is strong and adventuresome, Molly or Tillie won’t communicate those traits. An alpha-hero can be Will, Jake or Roarke but not Billy, Walter or Elmer.  A lot has been written about how names affect peoples’ reaction to a person. The BBC asked, “Would he be more handsome if his name was Ryan?” over a picture of George Clooney. Archibald Leach was certainly more attractive as Cary Grant and Betty Joan Perske was much sexier as Lauren Bacall. Would Tom Cruise still be a star as Thomas Mapother IV? And, yes, there’s a website with celebrities’real names if you want to see more. 

Historical author  Shana Galen wrote a great blog post about naming characters  where she said, “The author also has to choose a name she can live with for six months. If my archenemy is named Gabrielle, I’m not going to want to write that name a dozen times a day.” Good advice! She also warns that difficult spelling and pronunciation.   

If you want to know what names were popular in the United States when an American character was born, the Social Security website lets you search the most popular names by year.    This site can eat a lot of time, but it’s also fascinating to see how the popularity of names changes. Dorothy, Betty and Joan were common in the 1930’s, and disappeared from the list in the 1950’s when Linda, Susan, Barbara and Nancy hit the top 20. By the 2000’s, none of these girls names appeared in the top 200. On the other hand, Michael has been near the top of the boys’ names list since the 1940’s, and James and William have never dropped off. Does this data fascinate anyone else?

So what names do you respond to positively or negatively? Are there any that would turn you off to a character or book instantly? Any that would create instant rapport?

WISDOM -- I TAKE IT WHERE I CAN GET IT

I'm attending a non-writer business conference this week. The organization is a consortium of some of the most innovative and successful people in their industry. Yesterday I attended a session where the speaker addressed the challenge of staying motivated over a long and often difficult career. Some of his advice hit home to me as a writer.

• Visualize what could be and don't let anyone tell you your dreams are impossible.
• Do what you do well regardless of what everyone else is doing. Following the herd will only lead to mediocrity.
• Focus on the things that take you closer to your goal and let go of things that merely suck your time and energy.
• Keep things in perspective. Avoid getting too low when things get rough, it'll get better. On the other hand, don't get carried away celebrating your victories because tomorrow you need to suit up and perform again or lose your momentum. 

No matter what path someone takes, apparently the map to success and happiness are pretty much the same. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

COMMISSIONS OR OMISSIONS--CONFESS YOUR SINS

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” --Walter Inglis Anderson

I read this quote the other day and the same evening my husband commented that one of his clients was suffering paralysis through analysis.  It got me thinking about the balance between weighing ones options and acting on a decision.  The pondering of every possible alternative to find the perfect solution—which almost never exists-- can lead to nothing happening at all.  On the other hand, snap decisions made with too little deliberation may miss details that affect the success of the final outcome.  You can see the dilemma. 

A personality profile test my company use to give was designed to tell us which prospective employee would commit sins of omission and which sins of commission. In other words, it identified who would screw up through what they didn’t do and who would screw up through what they did.  To no one’s surprise, I fell into the latter category. Hey, it’s easier to apologize than get permission, right? 

I thought about how the two personality traits relate to writing. Some people dive in and start writing with little more than a protagonist and a vague premise—Lee Child and Nora Roberts have been very successful and prolific with this approach. Other authors begin with detailed character descriptions and plots that act as a chapter by chapter guide to what needs to go on the page. Both methods have merits and disadvantages recognized by pantsers and plotters alike. 

Unfortunately, there usually comes a point in a story (or several points) where a writer gets stuck. In my case, I know where I’ve been and where I’m going but flounder on the page in front of me. Some people call this writer’s block, others writer’s hell. Analysis only makes the anxiety worse. Staring at the scene brings no solution. Going for a walk or having lunch, reading a book or watching a movie may distract but the hurdle still looms in the back of my mind, nagging and insisting I suck. Yep, welcome to my Sunday afternoon. 

Over time most writers develop their own methods to break through the block—the last resort, the desperate effort to climb out of the morass. Mine is WRITE OR DIE. In Kamikaze mode. With dire consequences. I take a deep breath, get into the zone (setting and POV character’s head), click start and type like the devil himself is after me. My typing skills are horrible but in Write or Die only forward momentum counts. No time for analysis or picking the perfect word. No time to worry about varying sentence structure or not re-using favorite words again and again. The only thing that matters is the characters’ journey, the story unfolding and not having the screen turn red or my laptop scream at me.  The action of writing, getting imperfect words and sentences down on the page, relieves the anxiety and frees my mind to be creative. As for the typos, and crappy writing…oddly, it isn’t usually all that bad. It turns out my subconscious is  a much better writer than I give it credit for. My typing, however, still stinks! 

So tell us, are you an omissions or commissions sinner? How do you break through blocks and make decisions? 

FAT DOG TO ROAD TOWN IN 48 HOURS OR LESS

Most writers I know need to do research about places, people, historical events, legal issues and about a zillion other subjects that come up as we make our way through a story. One of the easiest ways to find answers is the internet—yep, Google is my friend—although not everything posted online is reliable. When delving deeper into a subject, books are a great resource and libraries a treasure trove of valuable information. There are times, however, when we need more specific insight into a hypothetical situation that only an expert can provide. And that’s where personal interaction is critical.

My critique partner, Sarah Andre, recently had some legal questions pertaining to her romantic suspense, LOCKED, LOADED AND LYING. The letter of the law, she learned, totally screwed up the basic premise of her plot. When it looked like a major re-write might be necessary, an attorney she spoke to told her there were times when reality did, indeed, allow for the events in her story to happen. This man’s input gave her expert insight she would never have gotten from the internet or a book and made her premise believable.

I love asking people questions about subjects dear to their hearts. Often the answers are not what I expected and even send my story in an unexpected direction. My work in progress, SHADES OF THE DEEP, takes place in the Caribbean—primarily the British Virgin Islands—but it’s been years since I lived in St. Croix or sailed the BVI. Between the internet resources and Google Earth, I’ve been able to refresh my memory and see how some of my favorite places have changed.

But I was stuck. I needed to know how long it would take my hero to sail from Fat Dog Island--a made-up place near St. Vincent—to Road Town, Tortola. I contacted an old friend who has bareboated in the Caribbean for years and asked him. The reply I got was 46-48 hrs. His elaboration, however, brought the trip alive:

Could be faster if wind is up; slower if it is down.

Could be slower if there are nuisances getting out of Kingstown or into Roadtown; probably not a big factor since both are clean shots.

Distance = 370 – 390 nm, depending on route, rhumbline vs. island hop.

Sail set = close reach (winter) – beam reach – broad reach (summer), depending on time of year

            All good sail sets for comfortable voyaging

Good sailor, 60 ft sloop or cutter or ketch, solo, should make 8kn comfortably.

200 nm in a day is a really good day for a 45 ft boat, but your boat is bigger and the course is a fast sail set.

I would recommend modified island hop.

Basically, from St. Vincent , get offshore quickly, setting course for near St. Kitts (west side).  Then straight shot from St. Kitts to Roadtown, missing all the Anegada reefs encountered if you went via St. Maarten.  Plus, St. Maarten à Roadtown is downwind and slower. 
Sail on west side of all the islands, 10-20 nm offshore.  That will minimize turbulence and disorganized seas from being too close to land and minimize wind shadow from tall islands.  At the same time, islands in the distance to the east (visible at range of 10-20 nm, will give visible markers of progress and a safe haven to run for if needed.

Let me know if you need more detail or sanity checking.

I’m a good sailor and knew these places, yet I’d forgotten so much of what it takes to make the sail. What he wrote brought back so many vivid memories I can now draw from. His insights have given me inspiration, a voyage to plan and some serious daydreaming to do. And now I know Bodie can make it from Fat Dog to Road Town in 48 hours or less. Thanks, JB!! 

HELP! WHO MOVED MY GENRE?

Several years ago I attended my first Romance Writers of America meeting. The lovely and generous Colleen Thompson introduced herself and asked what I wrote. The question threw me. It should be obvious since I was there that I wrote romance. “But what kind of romance?” she asked. I was baffled. There were different kinds? Yep. Within a few months I determined I wrote contemporary single title, or at least that’s what that first 200,000 word mess was…sort of.

Over the last few years I thought I’d gotten the whole genre thing down. My second manuscript was a romantic suspense, my third and fourth are paranormal romance. Or at least they were until yesterday when I read a Barnes and Noble Review interview Eloisa James did with Lisa Klepas about her new release, RAINSHADOW ROAD. Eloisa is one of the most prominent romance writers in the industry (not to mention a Shakespeare professor!) and Lisa Kleypas is right up there with the best of them. Here’s the paragraph that startled me:

 Rainshadow Road is a deeply moving romantic novel, but it's definitely not a "paranormal" romance.  Your heroine, Lucy Marinn, has the ability to change glass into living creatures, so the shards of a broken ornament turn to "living sparks," a dancing procession of fireflies, for example.  In a paranormal romance, the heroine herself might change shape, though generally into a member of cat family rather than a firefly, but a shape-changer has presumably lived with her feline self for most of her life.  Within the context of the world of the romance, her abilities are normal. 

Whaaaa? By this definition neither SHADES OF PARIS nor SHADES OF THE DEEP  are paranormal! My characters have psychic abilities and their world is strongly influenced by made-up science. Sure, some of the antagonists use Voodoo-like magic, but nobody shape-shifts, drinks blood, or enjoys/endures any version of immortality.

The interview goes on to label RAINSHADOW ROAD magical realism, a new concept to me, but that’s not the point. In the publishing industry we constantly hear agents and editors talk about where to place a book in the marketplace and on the shelves, and now I’m wondering if I even know my own genre. Are my stories contemporary romance with psychic elements? Romantic adventures with psychic characters? I’ve heard Jayne Ann Krentz describe her Arcane Society series as romantic suspense with characters with psychic abilities.  No mention of paranormal.

I’m not alone in puzzling over genre. My critique partner and good friend, Sarah Andre, finaled in RWA’s Golden Heart contest in the Romantic Suspense category but has been rethinking whether her story is technically a suspense because the main characters are solving a murder mystery through most of the story and are not in immediate dire peril. 

Genre labels wouldn’t be important of they didn’t create agent, editor and reader expectations that impact contracts and sales. How can my agent pitch my work to editors if we don't know what genre it is? As writers we write what we love, but, as professionals who want to make a living writing books, understanding where our stories fit in the marketplace is becoming more and more important as genre lines blur. 

What do you write? Has genre expectations impacted how you market your work? If you’re a reader, what do you think of when you hear paranormal romance? 

5 Ways to Build Your Portfolio and Earn a Living Writing

Today we welcome our guest, Brittany Behrman, who will share her tips on how to earn a living writing--either as a full time career or as a day job while working on your novels.

The writing industry holds a certain uniqueness: while many fields are filled with employees who are only working for a paycheck, more often than not, those who aim to spend their lives writing are doing so because they possess a passion that won’t allow them to ever stop writing (the dream of a huge publishing deal doesn’t hurt either!) While it’s a blessing to be able to make money doing what you love, a field full of people who love their job makes competition a little steeper.

As you’re pushing toward your big break, how are you supporting yourself? There are ways to supplement your income without taking away from the time you spend writing. In order to earn a position in the writing field, either full time or freelancing, it takes a strong portfolio and widely developed experience writing for publications.

I’ve put together a list of the five tips that helped me create a collection of samples to show employers my talent and devotion to writing; tips that eventually landed me a full-time job. Taking the time to concentrate on these five areas will put you on the path of securing freelance gigs or full-time employment writing.

I’m honored to have the opportunity to share my tips with the readers of Reading, Writing & Rambling. I hope they help you as much as they helped me in earning a steady income while improving the skills used to cultivate a manuscript.

Click here to read the five tips:  https://www.ecollegefinder.org/pdfs/ecf_5wayswritingjob.pdf

About the author: Brittany Behrman began her writing career prior to college graduation reporting for her school’s newspaper and contributing to two sponsored blogs. Since earning her B.A. at Rutgers University in Journalism and Media Studies in 2009, she has spent the majority of her time freelancing and bouncing around the job market. In her tireless search for a writing position, she perfected these five tips and is now approaching her one year anniversary writing full-time for the Performance Marketing Agency, DMi Partners, and an education portal for online colleges, eCollegeFinder.org

THE INEVITABLE SH*T AGENTS AND EDITORS SAY

Ah, agents and editors...how many of us wish we knew what really happens when writers aren't around? Pat found this "enlightening" video and I thought it would be an amusing way to start off the week. Anyone have writing news today?

MAKING HEADWAY--WRITE OR DIE!

A couple years ago one of my favorite historical romance writers, Shana Galen, talked at a WestHouston RWA  meeting about the writing life and making it work. She mentioned a writing productivity application from Dr. Wicked called WRITE OR DIE that forces you to write by providing consequences for distraction and procrastination. In short, slow down or stop typing and screen turns red and your computer starts yelling and making rude noises at you. 

I love this software! Not everyone does. 

At one time I was national marketing director for commercial architecture and interior design firms.  Much of my job was generating multiple, complex proposals on very short deadlines. Simultaneously. Without adequate staff. Many a night I cranked out page after page of persuasive prose in the interest of landing highly competitive, multi-million dollar contracts projects. I learned a secret about myself—I’m at my most creative late at night and under intense pressure. During the day with plenty of time  think, re-think, strategize and consider, I could produce a darn good product. Eleven o’clock at night with one day left to Fed-Ex that sucker off—my mind came alive and the results were brilliant. Those were the times, we rarely lost. 

I’ve tried to analyze why turning to WRITE OR DIE works for me. Most of the time I’m a fairly slow writer, considering every word and sentence, every nuance of character and scene as I go. As soon as I click the Write icon on the WRITE OR DIE screen, my conscious brain checks out in protest and my subconscious kicks in. Words pour out, stampeding in typo-ridden lines across the screen to keep the dreaded shift to red at bay. Every time the flow falters, panic inspires a desperate effort to drive on and up my game. Another twist, a hook, a character rebellion that proves my subconscious does indeed have a clue about how this writing thing works. And when the time is finally up or my word goal achieved, I cut and paste the lines into the WIP and begin to edit. 

Oddly enough, most of this writing is surprising good. Editing is required, but not as much as I’d expect. And if I’m stuck, WRITE OR DIE is always the kick my butt needs to get back on track. Maybe NaNoWriMo works the same way for some people. I’ve never had the time or motivation to attempt the grueling schedule, nor could I sustain the pace over so many weeks. Instead, I love the adrenaline rush of kamikaze writing one productive hour at a time. 

When are you your most creative? Do you have any tools or secrets that take your writing to a next level?

A PASS BY ANY OTHER NAME

I got an email this week from my wonderful agent which began “Just a quick update to let you know that Editor X passed on SHADES.” SHADES is the manuscript we have out on submission. She named the editor, of course, and kindly used the phrase passed on rather than rejected. I was disappointed but the email included a nice note from the editor complimenting voice, premise and characters, and explaining why it didn’t quite work for her. In other words, she sent a lovely decline.

I’m no novice at handling rejection although I was lucky enough to connect with my agent before the “didn’t love it” letters piled too high. Still, sending your baby out into the world for a thumbs up or thumbs down from professionals who see hundreds of submissions a week is scary. And the funny thing is, the more you understand publishing, the clearer it is that the competition is steep for those book contracts and nothing happens quickly.

Which is why I love this clip called REJECTION from BLACK BOOKS. Bernard is so wonderfully arrogant and clueless, and yet his reaction to rejection isn’t totally foreign to those of us who have gotten one of “Those Letters.” And Dylan Moran is marvelous.

So what do you do when you get "a pass?" Rant & rave? Make a martini? Use naughty words? Confess. We're all friends here.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM DEXTER

I’ve been struggling to finish reading a thriller by a very successful and popular author. The premise is brilliant, the plotline suspenseful and intriguing at every turn and yet I’ve read four other books since I started this one. Why? I’m curious about how the catastrophic situation is resolved but I couldn’t care less if the good guys win or not. For that matter, I don’t care who lives or dies. The characters, as noble as they may be, are secondary to a clever plot.

In contrast, the television series DEXTER takes a serial killer working for the police in forensics and creates a highly flawed character that we care about. We know Dexter kills his victims in a gruesome ritual and yet his personal struggle to function within society given his damaged personality touches a chord. No one would condone what he does, but as his past and present unfold, we care about him because he has a code of ethics—screwed up as it is—and something in him touches a universal apartness. 

Some of my favorite characters from literature are the ambiguous heroes—Jean Valjean, Heathcliff, Mr. Rochester—those tortured souls we don’t know whether to admire or hate. I’ll take Rhett Butler over Ashley Wilks any day. Scarlett O’Hara over the saintly Melanie. Flaws are interesting, human. And most people read to take a journey through someone else's eyes. "Witnessing" interesting events without the emotional connection never has the same impact.

Sometimes a story is told on too grand a scale to be interesting. Sometimes a disaster is too massive to be comprehended. As a writer, getting the balance between personal and universal is never easy. Too small and a story is dull, too big and it becomes overwhelming. The difference between the successful and not-so-successful book always comes back to the characters for me. Give me characters I love, and I can overlook a hole or two in the plot.

Who are your favorite literary characters? What makes them unforgettable for you?

SHARING THE WISDOM OF TWO LONG HAUL WRITERS

On Saturday I had the good fortune to hear a presentation called The Marathoner’s Guide to Writing: Staying in it for the Long-Haul without Losing Your Perspective, your Patience, or your Mind. Two of my favorite authors, Colleen Thompson and Kerrelyn Sparks, talked about what it takes to be successful as a writer over the long haul. These two women have had long, enviable careers but both have overcome some serious setbacks over the years. So what advice hit home with me? 

• ·         Keep a balance between the needs of the marketplace and the needs of your muse. Unless you enjoy what you’re writing, you won’t stay in the game long-term.
• ·         Keep criticism in perspective. Some people will love you, some will hate you. Don’t let either have too much influence over you.
• ·         Honor your own pace and talent. Colleen quoted Joni Rodgers on this one: “You’re an orchard not a factory.”
• ·         Continually strive for improvement.
• ·         Don’t be afraid to blaze a new trail.
• ·         Don’t compare your journey to the careers of other writers. We’re all unique and our paths will be different.

As in any creative field, Kerri pointed out that it often takes years to be “an overnight success.” Talent alone isn’t enough if you don’t do the hard work. The writers who have stuck in the game for the long haul have regrouped and reinvented themselves when their market or publisher tanked—something that happened to both Colleen and Kerri early on. But they didn’t give up no matter how many curves the industry or life threw at them.

Some days it’s hard to keep perspective and keep believing in yourself and your talent. On those days, remember how far you’ve come, the lessons you’ve learned on your journey and the people who have offered you a hand. Keep trying—it doesn’t guarantee you’ll make the New York Times Bestseller list, but you’ll never know if you could if you quit. 

Pat passed this on--a bookish video to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! Click here. (Sorry I couldn't manage to embed it.)

EPIPHANY FROM THE DIET WARS

Last summer I decided it was time to get serious about a slimming regime (aka a diet) that I could incorporate into my lifestyle and maintain long-term. Three years ago, my husband totally changed his diet from a horrorshow of unhealthy fare to low-carb, non-processed, sugar- and starch-free nutrition. As a result he lost 50 lbs and has kept if off ever since. Although I lost weight and gained energy on the same foods he ate, it wasn’t as much and I often let myself stray.

I tried to analyze why I had a much harder time losing and maintaining than he did, besides his being a guy, and I concluded there was a major difference in how we respond emotionally to “diets.” For a slimming diet to work for me, I need hard, fast rules so I don’t have to make judgment calls. He, however, is miserable with rules and does better with an eating philosophy, especially if it’s one he formulated for himself. Once I discovered the right combination of rules and choices for me, I managed to get to my goal within a few months.

This epiphany got me thinking about writing. Over the years I’ve attended lots of how-to writing workshops—how to plot, how to add tension, how to market yourself, how to write a bestseller. The best instructors tell you upfront “This works for me. It may or may not work for you.” Others, however, are happy to inform their audience, “This is how you do it and it works if you do it this way.” And when it doesn’t work for me, does that make me a bad writer/person/student? Nope. Someone else’s rules will not make anyone a great writer. True, learning craft is essential, but without the je ne sais quoi of inspiration and hard work it only goes so far.

In my daily life I use rules to avoid spending mental energy on mundane decisions, but in my creative life I know I have to fashion my own path and not be afraid to try a bunny trail now and then. As craft becomes more automatic with experience, I try to focus on freshness, originality and emotional impact. At times I give myself permission to write crap knowing my laptop has a delete key that will be used liberally on the next draft. That's fine. To quote Nora Roberts, "You can't fix an empty page." And some of the very best writing breaks a whole lot of rules.

How about you? Do you like rules, guidelines, boundaries, or are you more comfortable with limitless freedom to do whatever strikes your fancy?

THE HELP – The Long and Winding Road to Publication

With movie version of THE HELP highly visible during this awards season, I thought about its road to publication. When I read Kathryn Stockett’s story of writing THE HELP  and finding an agent, I was awed by her tenacity and faith in her story. My own luck in connecting with my wonderful agent seemed miraculous by comparison. As I read, however, I was struck one paragraph in particular:

“After rejection number 40, I started lying to my friends about what I did on the weekends. They were amazed by how many times a person could repaint her apartment. The truth was, I was embarrassed for my friends and family to know I was still working on the same story, the one nobody apparently wanted to read.”

I’ve been working on a manuscript for over four years. Sure, it’s been out on submission for a few months, but I re-wrote the story three times and revised extensively many, many more. I don’t even count the initial drafts or all the editing along the way. When I signed with my agent two years ago, I never imagined I had two major re-writes and a lot of revising to do before she was confident it was ready for submission. And all that time my friends and family kept asking if I’d sold my book yet. Even the other writers in the local RWA chapters looked at me askance when I said I was still re-writing.

While I didn’t go so far as to lie to my husband and sneak off to write, I was embarrassed that I was still working on That Story. As much as I believe in what I wrote, I avoided talking about it with everyone except my critique partner and my husband because I was sure the world was bored hearing about a novel that never seemed to be finished. It didn’t matter that it was “finished” in my mind a half dozen times. I understood that until it sold, my writing would never be more than a time-consuming hobby to my friends and family.

Kathryn Stockett’s success is an inspiration to any aspiring author. But for me, the feelings she had and the long, lonely journey she was willing to make—and share with the world—reassure me that the only failure is giving up on something you truly believe in and love. I'm not giving up on my writing and one of these days I may even mention to friends that I’m working on a follow-up story. Or maybe not.