Beginnings, Endings, Betas and the SPCA

Wow. What a year. Many significant milestones: a 75th birthday, a couple of 50s; and a 30th wedding anniversary. Throw in a couple of out-of-town concerts and work-related travel, and we were gone more than we were here, which meant for a lot of fun visits with family and friends. Toss in a couple of hospital stays for me, and it was a well-rounded year, that's for sure.

On the writing front, I sent one manuscript off to an editor, and another out to Beta Readers. Sadly, none of the Betas got back to me (which does a real number to one's confidence. Fortunately, I've been in this business long enough to learn to soldier on). The editor, on the other hand, did a great job, and I've been reworking MS with her insights in mind, with a mind to publishing this year. I also want to get the sequel out (and in a twist of fortuitous fate, just yesterday I had an offer from two people willing to Beta read, so I sent it off to them today. Fingers crossed!), so that is my work-toward for 2018.

When not completing final polish or revisions, I'll be completing the third book in the above series, My Forever Love, featuring Maggie and Joe. I'll also be researching cover artists (or Photoshop) and developing a publishing plan and schedule, among other businessey things. I'm looking forward to it, to stretching my wings and expanding my knowledge and skill-set.

In the old days (pre-Amazon), writers working towards publication finished manuscripts and mailed query letters to editors and agents, seeking someone willing to take them, and their work on. It could take months, if not years, to find an agent or editor willing to take on a new writer, and more months if not years for that book (or a different one if the first failed) to actually make it to print. That's still true for many writers. For others, those who choose to self-publish, it's quicker.

Self-publishing offers a certain freedom traditional publishing does not. It's also brutally challenging.

Trad published writers have, as part of their royalty-paid publishing contract, no upfront costs to have in-house editors scar up their manuscripts; copy-editors proof the final version; proof-readers ensure the first few rounds of edits and copy-edits missed nothing; cover artists to create covers to House specifications; publicity arms to market the book; distributors to get it into the hands of readers. Self-published authors can get all that help, too. Provided they can afford it.

That is the biggest challenge self-pubbed authors face: upfront costs. Which is why Beta Readers are so valuable.

Having a few sets of different eyes on a manuscript before it goes off to an editor means an author has an opportunity to work out the worst of the kinks and confusion, before having to pay a professional editor to slash, dice, and dissect a manuscript. The less work an editor, and then copy-editor, has to do, the less expensive it is for the author. Betas are Golden. They see the manuscript in its fledgling form; their opinions/initial impressions/keen eyes and bewildered "huh?"s offer authors a chance to see the book as others see it. Not as the author sees it.

By the time I'm ready to send a manuscript to a reader, I've stopped seeing the problems. Otherwise I wouldn't send it. I'm too close to the story, to the characters, to the structure. I can't see the forest for the trees. I'm like the Crazy Cat Lady who doesn't notice the litter box odor permeating the house or cat hair festooning every level surface; I see only my precious kitties. Beta readers are the SPCA.

They come in, and wrinkle their nose, mutter "yuck" as they step on and around fresh and dried hairballs; collect saucers of hardened wet food and sour milk to be disposed of. They notice the big Tom lounging in the fruit bowl and skittish kitten squirmed between the fridge and wall. They see the fleas hopping in the carpet, and yellow stains on the wall where that big Tom cat marked his territory. They're the first line of defense in Cat Justice. Editors are the prosecutors. Readers the Judge. And Jury. The End, is just the beginning of a manuscript's journey. Just as 2018 is a new journey for all of us.

Whatever 2017 was like for you, may 2018 be better. May you put into action a plan to achieve whatever your heart dreams of. May good people fill your life. May you be a good people in other people's lives. May you dream a dream, and make that dream happen.

Dream.

Plan.

Execute.

Achieve.

Be who you know you're meant to be.

Be awesome.

Deborah

There is no advancement to him who stands trembling because he cannot see the end from the beginning. ~E.J. Klemme

Oh Don't You See

A number of people have shared with me in recent weeks how they've struggled over the last few months to feel optimistic, energetic. I've been one of them. We all agreed that the prolonged rain and cold and lack of sun played a big part. But another large player in our overall mood this winter has been the ongoing chaos in the US following the Jan 20th election, chaos that this week appears to be escalating toward war with North Korea.

There isn't a lot many of us can do about that. Not with this administration that seems to have its ear to a completely different ground than the one most of us are living on...

Diversity? LGBT? Tolerance? Health care? World peace? Environment? It's like they all time-traveled here from the 1750s and have no concept of what any of those terms mean. Fortunately, there is a strong force of intelligent, wise, and compassionate people trying to educate them.

People are marching on the WH, and protesting through out the world. Lawyers, and Mayors, and Governors, and other concerned people are fighting irrational and divisive EOs. People are speaking out on Twitter and Facebook. Some are donating to the ACLU, Meals on Wheels, and National Parks, organizations either actively fighting, or in imminent threat from, orders fired down from on high. And don't even get me started on the Russia thing.

In short, this new administration has stirred up a whole world of ugly. And a whole world of amazing unity and strength of purpose dedicated to preserving and protecting not only USA's Rights And Freedoms, but the world's. Lately, in me, the continual barrage of negative news coming out of the WH has stirred up an ear worm: Oh Can't You See, by The Police, only in my mind I changed the opening lines.

Today, in the spirit of procrastination, and I Need To Make Myself Laugh Before I Cry, I rewrote and re-titled the song. Same tune. You're welcome to sing along...

Oh Don't You See

                                                         by Deborah

Every law you break

Every decision you make

Every FL trip you take

Every good thing you raze

We'll be watching you

Every EO you sign

Every single lie

Every tweet let fly

Environmental protection let die

We'll be watching you

Why can't you see

We're a democracy

How our poor hearts ache

With every misstep you make

Every false allegation you raise

Every Russian friend you've made

Every tear you fake

Every heart you break

We'll be watching you

Since you've been Prez, we've lost the faith

We miss 44 even more when we see your face

We plead for Reason, someone wise to take your place

This world's gone cold, needs a happy change

And oh, btw, we're not going away

Oh don't you see

You should be impeached

How our poor hearts ache

With every day you stay

Every missile strike

Every health care assault

Every travel ban

Every single fault

We'll be watching you

Every…

Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy. ~Vauvenargues

Tuesday Wisdom

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. ~Irish Proverb

So true.

Deborah

The End is only the Beginning...

This week's been about "finishing". Finishing All That Matters, the sequel to Everything That Matters. Finishing reviewing Beta Reader comments and typo/spelling error notes on ETM and tidying it up for submission. Finishing my "library". Oddly enough, it is the library I am--currently--most excited about.

Refuge...research area; a place to be, or be productive. How about you? Do you have a special place to read, or if you're a writer, write? If you're a writer, are you, like me, on the quest for publication, or busy juggling publishing demands? Please share in the comments!

Deborah

Every noble work is at first impossible. ~Thomas Carlyle

Did it!

I finished the edits on Everything That Matters (working title). At least I believe so.

I still have to print off another hard copy and review, ensure I did not miss any nits found by my daughter, or miss--or double-up-on--chapter numbers, headings, etc., but as far as the heavy work goes (as in, rewriting the majority of the first two-thirds of the book) I'm done. And I owe it all to my daughter, and the A to Z Challenge.

My daughter--who is a tough critic, known for tossing novels with misspellings or implausible storylines--actually like this version. She's read other versions. She did not like those versions. But this one...this one she said dragged her in and held her, all the way to the end. That is a much bigger achievement than you might believe. My daughter is smart, well read, and not afraid of The Truth, which is why I asked her to read it. I knew she wouldn't blow daisies up my...

Daughter's "thumbs up", and tackling the challenge, gave me the confidence, impetus, and consistency I needed to work through distractions and insecurities to The End. I even forwent the Canucks game tonight--first game of the first round of playoffs--to finish the edits, not that I have anything to regret. The Canucks lost. And I won. *happy dance*

Of course, I have no idea what the future holds for my novel, or for me, and that's okay. All that matters is I keep moving forward, one hip-gyrating dance-step at a time!

How about you? What are you celebrating today, or this week? Who do you have in your corner, willing to toss darts, or confetti, as necessary? Please share. I have extra confetti, and the darts are safely stored away.




Deborah

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much ~Helen Keller

X is for Xenophobia

So close to the end of the A to Z Challenge...letter X today...

Xenophobia = Chauvinism, intolerance, racism, prejudice; it makes or breaks character, and fiction. 

Martin Luther King Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Norma Ray, the suffragettes, gay men and women...past and present examples of real-life individuals and groups fighting for recognition, respect, and the same rights persons of other colors, genders, or marital status, enjoy. And whether we like it or not, xenophobia is necessary to certain types of fiction, in particular historical.

The men and women of earlier eras did not think and behave, or experience the same privileges we do now. In Canada, women have had the right to vote in federal elections for less than one hundred years. 1918 was the year the Canadian Government passed the Women's Franchise Act. American women had to wait a little a longer--August 26, 1920 to be exact. In Britain, women gained a partial victory when women over thirty-years-of-age who met minimum property qualifications were granted the right to vote; their younger, and less affluent brethren had to wait another ten years to achieve the same entitlement. And though it's unlikely any of the women old enough to cast a vote in those initial election years are still alive, their victory is relatively recent when measured against centuries of recorded human history; and antique privilege when held up against the existing fight for gay marriage and against racism and religious persecution.

So, when writing fiction, whether historical or contemporary, do your homework. And don't always play nice.

Good fiction, especially historical fiction, contains elements of bad behavior and politically incorrect policy; don't be afraid to write it like it was. When reading historical fiction, please, resist the urge to judge character behavior, thought, and language against today's standards. What we value now was not necessarily valued then, just as our accomplishments and failures of today will no doubt be some future writer or reader's head-shaking research of bygone days. And if you want to read excellent fiction where historical fact is seamlessly weaved into great story, check out Diana Gabaldon. She's truly one of the masters of historical fiction.

Deborah

Our ignorance of history makes us libel to our own times. People have always been like this. ~ Gustave Flaubert (1860-1880)

O is for October (and Opportunity)

It's Letter O day in the A to Z Challenge (and I bet, because I'm so late posting, you thought I forgot. I didn't, just a busy, away from home kind of day.) Now, on to today's O-word, October!

Why October when it's almost six months away? Because October means, Surrey International Writers' Conference!

The Surrey International Writers' Conference, or SiWC as it's more fondly known, is the first writers' conference I attended. It's where I met amazing people who, like I, loved words, all sorts of words, including O-words like omniscient, obstreperous, obstacle, obstinate, ochre, origami, orga—you get the idea. It's where I met Diana Gabaldon, and from her, learned that the only way to write a novel was to write it. No magic wand, no faery dust, no Oz behind the curtain, just bum glue.

Bum glue?

The stuff that sticks your bottom in the chair so you can write. Don't worry if it's not perfect. Don't agonize over what your mother/father/sister/aunt/neighbor might think if you right _that_, just write. No excuses. No need to set aside large chunks of time. Twenty minutes in the car waiting for the school to let out, thirty minutes at swim lessons, ten minutes before the dryer buzzer sounds—the words accumulate, and eventually scenes form, chapters manifest, and eventually, a full-fledged book takes shape. Considering she had three young children and a full-time job as a university professor and still managed to finish the 300,000 word novel that started it all (Outlander for those of you unfamiliar with her fantastic books), I had to believe she was on to something. So I went home, put aside my excuses, stopped revising the same seventy-pages I had fussed over for over a year, and in the next year, pounded out a thousand pages. A thousand, messy, beautiful, amazing pages, hard evidence of what I already knew in my heart—I was an author.

Not, I wanted to be an author. Not, one day I was going to be an author. But, I _was_ an author. If the damned thing never saw the inside of a publishing house or bookstore, I was an author. I had authored a book. Me. Little ol' me had written beginning to end and the burgeoning middle that connected the two. I was an author. And I owed it all to October, SiWC, Diana Gabaldon, my husband (who kept four kids amused when I was otherwise occupied) and me.

So, here's to October, and here's to SiWC. Here's to Diana, persistence, and to husbands that love without condition. Here's to writers, and books, and the people that read books. Here's to O, and the Opportunity to give credit where credit is due.

And for you writers out there, SiWC's writing contest recently opened to submissions. Fiction is judged and the significant cash prize awarded by Diana Gabaldon herself, and the amazing, and multi-talented Jack Whyte. Details on the conference here.

D.

It is the essence of genius to make use of the simplest ideas. ~Charles Peguy

K is for Kismet

K is today's A to Z Challenge letter, and today's theme: Kismet.

From Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary:

Kismet (kis´met, -met, kis´-), n, fate; destiny. Also, kismat (kiz´mət, kis´-), [1840-50; Turk, Pers qismat, Ar qismah division, portion, lot, fate, akin to qasama to divide].

Kismet, as a word, has existed since the mid-19^th century; I suspect kismet as a concept has existed much longer than that.

Fate. Destiny. Lot. Portion. A belief that coincidence and random exist only in that they fulfill a fated outcome. My novel is built on this premise, perhaps because I believe in the concept, having experienced a number of events I initially perceived as unfair, or tragic, that later proved to be, as Oprah might describe, "aha moments", or, as I refer to them: the slap-upside-the-head I needed to redirect my focus, and realign my life-trajectory in keeping with my purpose, and core-values.

I won't wax-long on the events that nudged—and in some cases head-butted—me in a different direction than I thought I wanted, or believed was the logical, loved-one-approved course; suffice it to say some of them hurt. A lot. Others were less immediate and injurious, external issues and internal inconsistencies too-long ignored, that eventually rose up to slap me down. And from the ground, you have a great, all-encompassing view of what's important—if you roll on your back, and look up.

That is the theme in my novel, Everything That Matters…love, born out of tragedy…because sometimes what at first blush appears a tragic happenstance, leads to something wonderful; a life reimagined, and better than might have been experienced had the tragedy not occurred.

Here is a moment when the heroine in my novel is offered a different perspective to her belief that she is a victim of circumstance:

Excerpt, Everything That Matters, copyrighted material...

Father Ramirez patted Dianna's hand, beamed up at her. "I'm glad he brought you here," he said.

"Mr. Douglas?"

Father Ramirez glanced skyward. Dianna arched her eyebrows, looked around the compound. Compared to her arrival, it was a portrait in serenity.

Chickens clucked as they clawed and pecked at the hard-packed earth, geese honked softly as they waddled to and fro like long-necked Centurions, their black beady eyes alert for intruders; the sow dozed in a hollow dug from the earth alongside the Hacienda, seemingly unfazed by the squirming pink mass of piglets crowded between her fore and hind legs.

Mr. Douglas emerged from a low-roofed barn leading Sonny, Mateo behind him with the saddled roan; a pair of small dogs, one white and one brindled, trotted behind them. The door of the Hacienda opened, and Luisa came out to stand in the shade of the porch, Lazaro hooked on one round hip. The rest of the children loitered near the gate, presumably waiting to say goodbye. Dianna looked back at the tiny cleric.

"You think God brought me here?" she asked.

He smiled.

She shook her head. "I am here," she said, "because of choices other people made." She looked at Mr. Douglas.

"There is always choice, hija," Father Ramirez said quietly. "Even if alternatives are painful or unsavory, they are within your power to choose."

She frowned, her gaze on Mr. Douglas.

Had she chosen him?

Kismet or coincidence? I know what I believe; what do you?

Please share in the comments.

D.

It is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity. ~Frederick Phillips

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

J is for James Lee Burke

Today's A to Z Challenge letter is J, and today's topic, James Lee Burke.

By far, one of my most revered authors is James Lee Burke. His talent is unmatched. His novels poetic. His characters memorable.

I don't recall how I stumbled upon his work, I am only glad I did. If you've not read his work, please do. I promise; you will not be disappointed.

Here's a brief excerpt from his biography found on his webpage:

Before becoming a full-time novelist, Burke earned a MA and a BA in English, and "worked as a landman for Sinclair Oil Company, pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college English professor, social worker on Skid Row in Los Angeles, clerk for the Louisiana Employment Service, and instructor in the U. S. Job Corps."

A remarkable writer, hard-working man, and a fabulous role-model.

D.

The most important single influence in the life of a person is another person…who is worthy of emulation. ~Paul D. Shafer