Focus! Focus! Focus!

{ August 15, 2012 @ 2:40 am } · { General Writing }
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Tuning out the world.  Ever try writing a really big scene when someone is making too much noise?  It’s so bad you can’t hear yourself think, let alone focus on the scene.  This is an opportune time to work on writing under pressure.  When life is getting in the way of your writing it is a good time to take a minute and work on blocking out the white noise of the world.

 

Today, on my break, which is only 10 minutes long, I am trying to squeeze some writing in between my Mountain Dew and Newton’s Thin Cookies with a room of grouchy women gabbing about this problem or that.  Hmm…  Not usually a big deal, but the scene I am trying to write amongst this grumbling group is the first love scene in A Call from Heaven, my new Sci-Fi book.  Wow.

 

What do I do?  Take a swig of Mountain Dew, a deep breath and tune the world out.  Eugenia has waited 15 months to make love to this man, and no amount of screaming children, pressing deadlines, or polite conversation is going to stop her.  I put myself in the mind frame of my character who has just been reunited with the only man she has ever had such a burning passion for, and on paper, I make love to him.

 

Pulling it together under pressure is a skill learned by all great writers.  Whether it is a deadline, noises from construction, screaming children, or even a room full of old women, authors have to learn to pull it together, focus on the scene, and stay in character.  Just because the world is racing around you as you are trying to write doesn’t mean you can let it affect your characters, in their world the focus is all on them.

Life Saving Tool

{ August 13, 2012 @ 4:03 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Really no one knows that I work in a financial institution as my day job.  Normally I don’t mention it or talk about it a lot because it doesn’t mingle with my writing career.  However, I had a pearl of wisdom I wanted to share from my experience.  I work for a credit union, which is a little different than a bank, and most people don’t know that or understand that it is a very important difference.  Credit Unions are non-profit organizations, they have a board consisting of members that approve changes based on the best decision for all members.  Banks on the other hand are in business to make money, not necessarily a bad thing, but they have a board of share holders who make decisions based on the most profitable decision. 

 

By now you are probably wondering why I bring all of this up, well in the financial world we have some four letter words that aren’t exactly nice for us or the members we serve.  Fraud is the biggest, and while I realize it is actually a five letter word, it is one that can have devastating effects on our members.  I talk a lot about the marketing I do for my books and most of everything I do is online, from buying my business cards to paying for online ads, so I am ever vigilant about keeping my account safe.  One way I protect myself, and my bank account is with a pre-paid debit card.

 

I know as a self-published writer I have been leery of setting up my own sole proprietorship or LLC, just because I don’t know what the tax ramifications would be, and as of now, I am not really making money on my books because I am still trying to build a following.  So that leaves me in limbo, not wanting to give out my personal account information and not wanting to open a “Doing Business As” account.  Solution?  I got a prepaid debit card from the credit union where I work.  I am able to have direct deposit to it and use the card for whatever I need online or anywhere else without having to worry about my account.  Who would have thought a little piece plastic with a Visa logo could ever have given me peace of mind?

A Celebrity In Your Own Mind

{ July 29, 2012 @ 1:22 pm } · { General Writing }
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Are you a celebrity in your own mind only?  I think this is a phase that all self-publishing authors probably go through, especially with their first book.  You have to understand, we authors dedicate so much of our time in a novel that we think it is an instant success, unfortunately, that isn’t how it works.  Sometimes the fact that books don’t start flying off the virtual shelves is extremely upsetting.  It’s important to understand that just because you published your books, doesn’t mean that anyone else knows it.  YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM!!!

As a self-publisher, you are your own agent, publicist, marketing department, and publisher, that being said, getting your name out falls squarely on your shoulders.  Most authors are fairly introverted, so it is hard for us to be shameless self-promoters, but it is also incredibly important.   How do you get the word out?  Well, that is a question I am still trying to figure out, but I have some ideas.

- Use community events to distribute materials.  This is a great way to meet new people, and pass out business cards.  I have found that it is best to have to types of business cards, one that has generic information about your books and no personal information, and one that you give to new networking contacts that has your contact information.  Why you may ask?  People like reminders.  At community events, as you talk to people, they like your to give them something to remind them of what you were talking about.  Unless you have a separate phone number and address for your writing, it is a good idea not to give it out to random people.  BE SAFE!  When you meet new networking contacts you want them to be able to get a hold of you, so those are the individuals you want to have your personal information.

- Community Libraries and Chat rooms.  Get your name out there.  This may be one of the few times in your life that you want everyone talking about you.  Community libraries are reader rich environments.  It only makes sense that you would target and contact libraries in your area to help you promote your books.  If you have contacts at the library, use them, if not contact the library and talk up your books.  Play the local author card!  People love feeling like they knew you when.  They want you to be the next James Patterson or Stephanie Meyer.

- Get Familiar with the Internet.  If you are self-publishing you have to know some about getting online and digging out the information you need.  This is so important.  Don’t be afraid to join new groups, social media outlets, and look for new opportunities.  It is great for everyone where you live to love your books, but does anyone else know your name?  Twitter and Facebook are the easy ones, but what about a website, or a blog?  Websites and blogs take more time to keep up with and maintain, but are so worth it.  Your blog and website are a must.  When people search your name what will they find?  Nothing?  Not good.  When your readers are looking for you, they should be able to find your presence online.

These are hard lessons to learn, but once you get the idea, it is worth it.  Don’t be distressed when your sales are slow to take off, it just means your work isn’t done.  The book is available, but now you have to get your name out there!!!

Writing Good Sex

{ July 8, 2012 @ 8:17 pm } · { General Writing }
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I have been told I give good sex… scenes.  I am pretty shy and conventional so the sex scene did not appear until my third book and was not, at first, an easy thing for me to write.  However, in A Silent Descent sex was essential.  I was writing about a young girl just discovering her womanhood and getting married.  She has a passionate marriage and leaving the sex out left a hole in the story, so it was a case of “toughen up buttercup”, and write the scene.

Whether you choose to write sex into your book or not, writing believable sex scenes is a skill every writer should have.  Why? Because the old advertising adage “Sex Sells” is true, and writing good sex scenes means knowing what your characters like.  In A Silent Descent there are three separate sex scenes and the key to making a good scene, is making them in character and believable.

Hand Check-  You only have two hands, and in most cases, so do your characters.  It is important that you know what each part of your characters’ bodies are doing and why.  Don’t be elusive and afraid to write what is going on, your characters want to know, it is part of the fantasy.

Your Characters Aren’t Snakes-  It is really important to remember that no human being is truly spineless, that is to say, unless your character is a circus contortionists, there is no way your sex scene is taking place in a crawl space or other unreasonably tiny space.  And another thing, position, position, position.  Make the position your characters are using match the environment.  You can’t do missionary in a swimming pool, someone will drown.

Stay in Character- Although giving a blowjob while hanging upside down on a trapeze sounds like a good time, it probably doesn’t fit your character.  If your character is quiet and shy, they are not going to break out into an erotic strip tease the first time they have sex with someone.  Do this and your reader is going to go “Whoa, what just happened?”  While surprise, shock, and awe are sometimes good, not when your readers are expecting a sensual scene and get a shocking eye-full of hard-core porn.

Finally, have fun with it.  Writing a good sex scene is fun.  Loosen up, shake off some of your Victorian morals, and let it all hang out.

* Just as a side note, heavy, chunky, thick, characters do not lose fifty pounds just because they are involved in a sex scene, it goes back to believability.   These characters like a good sex scene too, don’t shy away just because the characters are all models.

 

 

Who Knew Writing the Novel Was the Easy Part???

{ July 8, 2012 @ 3:22 pm } · { General Writing }
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I just finished my fourth novel, Old Man River, and my website.  The writing has become the easy part of being an author for me.  I have so many ideas for new books that I eager to work on the next one, but each book has to have its own time.  Each story takes as long as it takes, some come more easily than others, and therefore take less time.  It is really important to let each story develop as it chooses.  You can have the idea, the plot, and the characters in mind, but when you start forcing the book the characters start acting uncharacteristically and become unbelievable.  Knowing that I don’t control the characters, that they really are their own people, has made writing the easy part.

If writing is the easy part, getting people to spend their hard-earned money on my books as opposed to other authors is the hard part.  Marketing was the part that I was not prepared for.  I spend as much time working on Facebook, Twitter, www.devinepub.com, and this blog as I do planning my books.  It would probably be easier if I had a publisher and an agent that I paid to do the marketing for me, but I don’t.  Really my sales couldn’t support having a staff like that, and therefore, I am on my own.  I have a very good marketing friend that has helped me immensely with social media, networking, and advertising.  She is amazing at doing the most with a small to almost nonexistent budget.

So my advice to other authors is to realize that just because you have written a book that you are in love with doesn’t mean it is going to be a best seller from day one.  Once is the novel is done, that was the easy part, not you have to figure out a marketing plan, how to reach the desired target group, and why they should read your book and not someone elses.

Take the song (Rap) Superstar by Cypress Hill to heart.

Website

{ July 3, 2012 @ 3:04 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Devine Publishing now has a website!!  www.devinepub.com  Check out the Self Publishing page on here for some of the things I have learned over the last year.  Which, by the way, Devine Publishing turned one on June 5th, and for a first year, I think we are doing pretty amazing.  We have three ebook titles released on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, we just started our first website, and we got our first negative review, which I was happy to get out of the way.

Since there is a page here about the new website, and then, the website itself, I will start with turning 1.  Who knew a first birthday could be so exciting.  The year went so fast that I didn’t even realize it had been a year until all of my wonderful followers on FB started wishing me “Happy Birthday”.  I was confused because my birthday is October, actually October 8th, that’s why I used that day for the “Anniversary Killer” in Across the Bridge, it was easy to remember.  When I got home from work my husband said, “Happy Birthday Punkin, you’re company is one.”  That is just one of those days that I will remember forever.

The other great thing that happened this year was my first negative review.  I was worried, really worried, about how I would take the first bad review I got, but I smiled when I read it because I appreciated that person’s honest opinion.  I read online that you should never respond to a negative review, that it was best to just pretend it didn’t happen.  Well, that’s all well and good, but that’s not me.  I decided that I would respond, but I wasn’t angry, I was thankful, I wasn’t hurt, I was impressed by the brutal honest, and finally, I wasn’t bitter.  My friends said, “Did you take it down?”  Well, you can still find it on Amazon under Ring Around the Rosie.  The commenter didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.  It is a sick, sad story, and I can’t spell.  So if you want to leave me reviews, I am happy to have them all, and I might just respond, even if everyone tells me it is a terrible idea. :-)

11. Word of the Day

{ April 25, 2012 @ 2:20 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Hoarding-  I wasn’t sure what word I was going to do today, until I turned on Hoarding: Buried Alive.  I do not understand the hoarding condition.  As I watch this show, I wonder how someone can stand for it to get that bad, but listening to some of the people talk, I understand their depression.  I have chronic depression, and it wasn’t until the last year that I began to understand everything that entails.  When my own doctor started talking about the effects and problems caused, I burst into tears because for so long I had all these problems I didn’t understand, the feeling of extreme exhaustion was probably the worst, and to hear other people describe it, is hard.

Hoarding is a disease where people stockpile stuff.  I will, of course, put a description below from a source that I find online.  I try to use credible sources so there isn’t misinformation out there.  This is from the mayo clinic, the exact website is http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hoarding/DS00966.  From their sight you can get symptoms and treatments.

Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions.

Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But many people who hoard don’t have other OCD-related symptoms.

People who hoard often don’t see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives.

10. (?) Word of the Day

{ April 24, 2012 @ 2:47 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Obviously I am losing count of what number Word of the Day we are on, so bear with me.  Today’s word is inept.  This word says to me “foolishly ineffective”.  I like to use this word to describe the police detectives in my book when they are being out smarted by the serial killers.  The actual definition is below as provided by http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inept.

in·ept

Definition of INEPT

1
: lacking in fitness or aptitude : unfit <inept at sports>
2
: lacking sense or reason : foolish
3
: not suitable to the time, place, or occasion : inappropriate often to an absurd degree <an inept metaphor>
4
: generally incompetent : bungling <inept leadership>
— in·ept·ly \-ˈnep(t)-lē\adverb
— in·ept·ness \-nəs\noun

Examples of INEPT

  1. He was completely inept at sports.
  2. He made an inept attempt to apologize.
  3. Not only does the post have a narrow mandate, covering such sexy subjects as nuclear waste and solar energy, but the secretary presides over the most inept bureaucrats in the land. —Franklin Foer, New Republic, 3 July 2000
  4. The real hackers have an understanding of technology at a basic level. … The rest are talentless poseurs and hangers-on, either completely inept or basic criminals. —Bruce Schneier, Secrets & Lies, 2000
  5. To Cornelius, the White House travel office must have seemed—as it would have to any of the others who had served on the tight ship of the campaign’s travel operation—an appallingly inept … operation. —Peter J. Boyer, New Yorker, 15 Apr. 1996
  6. [+]more[-]hide

Origin of INEPT

Middle French inepte, from Latin ineptus, from in- + aptusapt

First Known Use: 1542

9. Word of the Day

{ April 22, 2012 @ 2:55 am } · { Uncategorized }
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ATV-  ATV is my word of the day today.  It is actually an acronym ( I think) for All Terrain Vehicle.  I chose ATV today because I spent all day on one, actually learning to ride one and becoming licensed from the ATV Safety Institute.  It is kind of funny that I have been riding them ever since I was old enough to sit  on the gas tank of my dad’s three wheeler while he popped willies and rode down the road.  It was a challenge for me today because I was dealing with another massive headache (because I am giving up pop) and I was driving a full clutch, when I normally ride a semi-automatic.  I am used to shifting, but not having to grab the clutch.  I was able to speed shift a few times, not using the clutch that is, but it still wasn’t as good as just being able to shift without thinking about it.

Definition of ATV from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atv

First Known Use of ATV

1969

8. Word of the Day

{ April 21, 2012 @ 12:45 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Bonfire-  This word comes from Chad again, who actually looked at me today, like I am supposed to know, and said, “Why do they call it a bonfire?”  Really? So I suggest googling it, because as we all know I love google, and if google doesn’t have an answer no one will.  So what does it say?  A lot.  Bonfire is possibly derived from a Celtic tradition called bone fire, where they burnt the bones of animals to ward off bad spirits.    My idea of a bonfire?  Well that’s easy, about twenty friends, some lawn chairs, a couple cases of beer, and some good music.

Where Did the Word “Bonfire” Come From and Why Is a Large Controlled Fire Called a Bonfire?

On June 24, or St. John’s Day, early Britons lit chains of huge fires to support the diminishing sun.

These fires were fed with the clean bones of dead farm animals and were called “bone fires,” which evolved into the word “bonfires”.

There were bone fires, wood fires, and a mixture of both wood and bones was called a “St. John’s fire”.

The name was given, naturally, to the fires that burned heretics at the stake.

A large, controlled fire is commonly called a “bonfire”.

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