The Things They Don't Tell You...


Okay – I’ve wanted to sell a book for years. I’ve worked with a mentor, joined my local RWA chapter, taken classes, gone to conferences, read books, and most importantly, wrote and submitted my work.

I’ve had a modem of success. I’ve sold short stories and essays. Their contracts were one page. The hardest part has been chasing down the checks.

Last month, I sold my first full length manuscript to Crimson Romance.

Two weeks later, I sold a novella to Lyrical Press.

My to-do list has tripled in size. I've already read, signed, and tried to comprehend the legal contracts (thank God for those law classes in college.) Now, I've got manuals to read and digest on how to set up an author marketing plan. I’ve got style sheets and edit guidelines for each publisher. I’m starting to set up a blog tour for my June release.

And as of Monday, I’ve got edits for both books to complete by early April.

Ack!

I’d been flying along on a sequel to The Bull Rider’s Brother. Wanting to get the manuscript done so I can submit to my editor. Because we all know, the money for e-books is in the back list. And I still have to write the backlist!

Everything Tuesday morning came to a screeching halt while I tried to re-organize my schedule to make sure my edits were done timely (and to the best of my ability.)

So new words have gone on the back burner for a few weeks. Exercise (except my scheduled classes) is getting put off. Television watching and reading is especially on my NOT to do list.

But it’s all worth it.

Check out a blurb from my novel The Bull Rider’s Brother coming in June from Crimson Romance. I've got it plastered on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/lynn.cahoon

So, New Kid Readers, what have you been working on this week? Have you ever had to choose between good and better?

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Writing History: Places

This week I am shoving aside my usual angst to delve into one of my favorite subjects: research.  I read and write historicals partly because I am fascinated by history.  I was a terrible history student, however, because I was hopeless at remembering dates.  Instead, I would get into the story--what did they eat, what kinds of houses did they live in, what did they speak, who were they?

Given this interest, it probably comes as no surprise that I am obsessed with Ancestry.com.  I have used it and other sources to trace one branch of my family tree back to the Norman Invasion, and possibly beyond, although when you go back that far you have to take everything you read with a fairly large grain of salt.  In exploring that branch, I came across the website of The National Archives of the United Kingdom, and on a whim, I entered some names into the search engine.  I found a story from the early 15th century involving kidnapping, forced marriage (of a 9 year old!), theft and political intrigue, all featuring one of my esteemed--ahem--ancestors at center stage.  It’s so captivating that despite my utter lack of previous interest in the medieval period I am itching to tell it.  Eventually.   

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my research with you.  If you are interested in British genealogy or inclined to write historical fiction set in Britain, there is a wealth of information (and possibly inspiration) here.  If you’re not, it’s just fun to spend some time exploring.  I thought I would start with places, and will discuss other sources in future posts. 

Maps

I love maps. I read them for fun, and I wish I had more wall space in my office so I could hang more of them.  Here are some great sources for historical maps:

Maps and more maps from 1300 to 1922.

The Gough Map of Great Britain (also known as The Bodleian Map) is the oldest surviving road map of Britain, dating from around 1360.  The map itself is extremely hard to read, but it is being deciphered by researchers at Oxford University, and thankfully they have put their work online for the rest of us.

Medieval Maps of England and Europe

Greenwood’s Map of London, 1827. 

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html is a fabulous source of maps you can purchase, dating from 1843 to 1996. 

http://www.metaldetectorshop.co.uk/shopping_cart/index.php/maps/c_65.html has reasonably priced maps for purchase, from the Victorian period.  They also have maps of Roman Britain.  They do not, apparently, ship to the United States, although I haven't yet tried begging.

John Snow’s map of London from 1859

The Booth Poverty Maps of London from 1898/99, with a modern map of London for comparison.   This site is truly fascinating; it gives you a wonderful feel of neighborhoods and their character. 

The National Archives purports to have over 6 million maps in its collection. 

Another great source for maps is British History Online. 

Credit for links to the Victorian maps goes to Beth Henderson, who is currently teaching a class on Victorian and the Edwardian history for the Northeast Ohio chapter of Romance Writers of America.   Thanks, Beth!  

Images of Places

I'll deal with historic homes in another post (I thought about including them in this one, but it got really long), but here are some sources for photos and other images of historic places:

The National Trust is a great source for information on historic places, especially if you have the good fortune to be able to visit them in person.  They also have links to quirky things that might make interesting additions to a novel, like walks with ancient trees and "silly walks" featuring places with crazy names, including the "Kiss me Arse steps" in Cornwall.

Another interesting site to browse is Geograph Britain and Ireland, which aims eventually to have photographs of every grid square of Britain and Ireland.   A lot of them are remarkably unattractive photos of highway overpasses, but there are a few historic gems too.

The English Heritage website has hundreds of thousands of photographs of English places, including detailed architectural photos and some period photos from the 1850s.

Naturally over the last few centuries the names of places have changed. A good resource is the  Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, by Anthony David Mills (Oxford University Press, 2003).  (There is also a Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, published in 2011, if you prefer that august institution.)

There is an astonishing amount of information available, once you start looking.  And so I leave you with one of my favorite places in Britain to inspire you:

Durham Cathedral. 
(c) FreeFoto.com


Until next time, happy exploring.

Marin

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It’s Not Like Other Jobs

I think the one thing I didn’t realize when I switched into “professional writer” mode was that this job isn’t like other jobs. For a lot of reasons. Some of them are obvious.
I knew when I started that I wouldn’t have to go to work at an office. And that I could spend my days in my jammies (Hell those were two of my reasons for switching). Also, I got to spend more time with my kids. I also sort of got the idea that I was the only person responsible for my work  and getting it done without a bitchy boss standing over my shoulder.  I also knew that this was creative work instead of analytics and that meant that the goal setting and the productivity was going to be different.
All of those things are true and if you don’t know them up front consider this your wake up call.

Now, here are all the things I didn’t know:

1.)   1.)  Promotion and social media are going to take up a metric shit ton of your life. Learn it, live it, love it.
2.)    2. ) Not everyone in your life is going to be ecstatic for you but you’ll be shocked at some of the people who are.

3.)    3,) Your first draft and the draft that gets published? They may not look at all similar.

4.)     4.) As an author you’re going to need to also be: a social media expert, a website administrator, a video director, a publicist, a diplomat, a linguist, a contract lawyer, a tax accountant, a psychologist, and your own worst enemy some days because you will have to crack your own whip.

       Know those things now at the beginning and learn to not only do them but do them well. And learn it before you ever start querying publishers. Get on twitter. Get of facebook and goodreads. Get some followers. Tribe build on blogs. Build yourself a website and make it look better than something a fifth grader put up. Polish yourself up to a professional shine. It makes a difference not just to publishers but to how you feel about yourself.
     
     If you do all that and accept these things from day one, on day 2000 and something you’ll find that your headaches have been far fewer and your stress level is far lower than mine was and some days still is as I try to play catch up from behind. 

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The Clean, The Dirty and The Writer: Part Deux


So, last month I said I'd take two weeks to clean my house and get my energy back in alignment.  My BFF laughed at the two week window saying I was seriously underestimating the time needed to undo what I have already wreaked.  Result: more butt-hurt.  He was right… sigh.

It is NOT this bad!
I have made some really good strides though.  Half of my living room is clean J  Yes… it really is that bad. I know it's sad, sad day when it takes images of hoarders to make me feel better about my place. But, the upswing of my cleaning endeavors is that my energy is definitely feeling better and I am continuing the good work begun.  Maybe by summer it will all be clean and I can even maintain it.  

Oh – and I bought a new Dyson vacuum, so that's inspiring me to get in there and suck up dirt too.  Is it pitiful that I'm super excited about my new vacuum?  I wonder.

One good thing that came from all of this, besides my spanky new vacuum, is that I got a job editing a book, so now I am diligently working on that.  I may not be writing yet, but at least I'm making money.  All good.  I like editing and I'm good at it, so why not. I do attribute the new and improved energy to getting the paying gig, so, I really will continue to clean.

I didn't keep the journal either – epic fail.  But, here's the new update anyway.  Professionally: I'm still writing a couple hundred words a week at best, and I'm still not sure where my story is going, but I am working hard at the editing job.  Physically: I have more energy and am getting more done, but let's face it I will always love naps.  Mentally: I feel less overwhelmed although I have my moments, and I definitely feel less defeated by it all.   Personally: My love life is still great, and my family is still pretty good although we are all recovering from nasty colds.  The nasty cold did put me in bed for three days – almost over it now. 

So, in conclusion – I am still advocating for a clean work space at a minimum (living space too if you're up for it).  A little dust may be fine but mountains of clutter less so.  And isn't about time for Spring cleaning? What say you?

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Short Success - a redo


Last month I presented for my RWA chapter (Go MORWA) on writing the short story. So I thought today we'd talk about my seven steps to short success.


Step One – Research your market. I can’t stress this enough. Before I submitted my first story, I read several issues of the magazine, highlighting the story, looking at what worked in a story, what POV the author used, and most of all, the tone of the story. With Women’s World, the tone is critical. They don’t love tortured, conflicted heroines. And I sent them my share of those types of stories.

I went to my local library, pulled every copy of the magazine I could find, then wrote out a paragraph of when the story was published and what the story was about. My published short in August was a plumber, reunion story. What I found was my themes were close to what they were publishing. That’s good and bad news. If they just published a cooking class story in October, my cooking class story probably wouldn’t find success until some time had passed.

Step two - Don’t give up. I know many authors, published authors, who have tried and failed to sell to Women’s World. There are a lot of reasons a good story doesn’t sell. It could miss the positive, upbeat tone the magazine is known for. It could have been the right story, but they just bought a story like it. When I looked at six months of stories, I was amazed at how many were ‘close’ in theme as the ones I’d sent in. Keep writing, keep submitting. That’s the only formula for success I know.

Step Three – Write tight. If nothing else, writing an 800 word story is an exercise in writing and editing to the bone. Do I need this sentence? Do I have filler (like, just, back) words? Can I punch up the verb to cut out words? Writing for other markets where you’re paid by the word, then going to a short, short like the Women’s World stories? You’re working your writer muscles. And if you really want a challenge? Write a mystery for them. 700 words including the solution.

Step Four – Another way to exercise your writing muscles is to try new venues. Writer’s Digest and The Writer both run annual contests. As does Family Circle and Redbook. Cheerios is even on the contest bandwagon with their Spoonful of Stories contest. And you can enter literary contests or just send your story to a literary journal. Want to try a new genre? Mystery and science fiction magazines are publishing new authors all the time.

Step Five – Find friends. There are several yahoo loops I’m on just for the conversations, including the WWwriter’s (Women’s World) and Truewriters (the confessional magazines.) Both of these loops keep members informed about upcoming opportunities, timeframes, and issues with the magazines. In addition, there’s at least one blog out there on writing for Women’s World (http://womansworldstyle.blogspot.com/ ) Kate actually teaches classes in the ins and outs of developing your stories. At Nat’l’s in Florida, I met several True writers and have kept in touch, even if they aren’t writing for the magazines anymore.

Step Six- Expect rejections. You can’t win if you don’t enter. And you can’t sell if you don’t submit. But every story you leave sitting on your computer instead of taking the risk to send it out is being

rejected. By you. Don’t reject yourself. Let others. Who knows, the one story I sold, I thought would never sell. If I’d decided to not send the story, I would have lost out on a great publishing credit.

Finally, Step Seven – Celebrate your success. I told myself when I sold to Women’s World, I’d buy me a new pair of shoes. I sold, and didn’t buy the shoes. Writing has a lot of opportunities to question

yourself or question your sanity. Don’t forget to celebrate even the little things. When a loopmate told me my story was on the grocery market shelves, I headed out into the night and bought five copies.

When the checker looked at me funny, I explained, I’d wrote the story on page 82. Me.

This year, I’m goaling to write 12 stories. I've already written and sent two. Who’s going to join me?



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I Still Love My First Story

Whatever happened to that first manuscript you completed? If you’re like most of us, it’s languishing in an obscure folder in a forgotten corner of your computer. Well, I pulled mine out recently, and thought I’d look it over. I love the story, the hero and the heroine, and I’d hoped I might be able to resurrect them.

Wow. The perspective four years can bring. The contest judges had been right after all. It was front loaded with backstory. Although I recognized that, cutting it was still tough. The sad secret is--all those extra scenes I axed? I still like them. So I salvaged them in a “Leftovers” file. Heck, I’ve got lots of material for future stories.

Not only was the beginning heavy on backstory, the book was way too long by today’s standards. Originally it came in at 105,000+ words. But after I finished it the first time, I trimmed the count down to 102,000. Now it ends at about 95,000.

That means I had to excise an entire subplot because there just wasn’t room. That’s okay. I hadn’t intended for that particular one to grow so large, but I liked the characters so much, they took on a life of their own. So although they won’t appear in this story, they will be alive and living in another, very soon.

Looking back, I realized how much I have learned over the last four years. Of course, the book may never see black and white of print. But even if it doesn’t, I’ll always love my first story. And I’ll never think a hero quite as strong, commanding and misguided, nor a heroine quite as spunky as these. They were my friends and companions for months as I began this journey of writing. They’ll always be my favorites. But don’t tell the other children; I wouldn’t want their feelings hurt.

What's happened to your first story? Do you still love it as much as you did then?

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Ready, Set, Sleep

As I write this, it is almost 2:30 in the morning.   I am often troubled by insomnia, the kind that keeps me from falling asleep, sometimes for hours, while thoughts circle around in my head like a dog chasing its tail.  I have a lot of reasons for lack of sleep, I suppose.  I have a stressful job, and as I am my own boss, every single aspect of that job--from getting the work done, to how to pay the bills, to keeping the clients happy--is my responsibility.  As a rather introverted and conflict-averse person, being a lawyer may not have been the wisest career choice for me, but until I sell the book I haven’t finished yet and can pay the mortgage by writing (I can dream, right?), I’m stuck with it.

Which brings me to the book, and another reason for insomnia.  I recently shared the first chapter with a critique partner, a total stranger I was fortunate enough to find on on AgentQueryConnect.  Sending my baby out into the world to be judged was very scary, but I figured that I am never going to get anywhere unless I actually let someone read my writing.  My CP was a great introduction to the world of critiquing.  She offered gentle criticism as well as encouragement and just the right amount of praise.

While this was probably an unintended side effect of her critique, seeing my work through another's eyes made me realize that the book as it is written is a non-starter.  It occurred to me that this is likely why I haven’t been able to finish it.  Although I love the basic premise and the characters, the book is riddled with inconsistencies, and okay, some really bad writing. 

So I decided it’s time to start over.  Although I could sit down and begin the rewrite without much preparation, that didn’t get me very far the first time.  I am not a plotter--outlining bores the crap out of me and I can never stick with it anyway--but I realized that I do need to be more organized.  This week I put together a notebook with character profiles and pictures, and filled another binder with nineteenth century maps, a timeline, and research on period houses, clothes, carriages, horses.  I am putting all my reference books, which at the moment are strewn all over the house, in one place next to my desk.  I probably ought to clean my office, but that might be too much to hope for. 

Ready, set, write.  Maybe some sleep first, though?

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The Great, Dark Secret Behind Writing No One Wants To Tell You

You know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about various things writerly and I was recently emailed and asked about what I thought on the whole Kiss of Death plagiarism scandal thingy. My first response was “oh crap another one?”

If you haven’t heard by now, a former member of the Kiss of Death chapter of RWA was caught out on plagiarizing other people’s books. Her first excuse was that she put the book in the wrong folder on her computer and accidentally thought it was her’s. O-kay. I’ve misplaced my copy of BabyCakes Makes the Classics a few times but when I found it I’ve never suddenly thought I was an allergen free baker and had just forgotten it. Next, she got caught with more plagiarizing and she came clean. Admitted to being a thief, resigned her position with KOD and RWA and slunk away, losing a lot of people’s respect and probably quite a bit of her own.

So why does this matter? And why does it affect you? Or me? We don’t plagiarize. We know better (If you don’t nod along and take notes—stealing other people’s work is bad). But it got me thinking about someone I knew in grad school who did get caught plagiarizing. An entire dissertation. Possibly a more stupid act than an author plagiarizing a book. Why? 1.) Because academic departments are really small groups of people. Really small groups of people. And they read each other’s work. So you can’t get away with stealing someone else’s stuff. You will get caught. Quickly. 2.) It’s a career killer. Ten years of college, down the tubes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars gone. And no chance of ever coming back from it because you are now persona non grata in the academic scene. In academia plagiarism is like murdering a child, mutilating them and then doing weird satanic rites with the body parts. One of those things you can’t come back from. EVER.
I remember asking this person as they were packing up their stuff and leaving in disgrace: Why? You had to know you were going to get caught. So why?

Their response? Because it was very very big and very very scary and I just sort of froze and all I could think was What If I Failed? What If I Couldn’t Do It?

And I think that’s the thing we don’t tell ourselves as authors or new authors getting into the game. Writing is a scary job. You are putting a very real piece of yourself out there for people to not only see but to judge. And occasionally you are going to fail and oh God it’s going to hurt. And it will hurt all the worse when it comes from a friend.

I know, I’ve been there. I recently submitted what I thought was a great contemporary novel to my editor—who I adore—and she came back and said ‘eh, maybe not. Let’s give it a really big revision and then try again.’ I was crushed. Destroyed. Ate two pints of Ben and Jerry’s in my pity party. Then I looked at what she said and realized you know what? She’s right. She saw holes I didn’t. She saw holes my beta didn’t and those holes are big enough to sink this story. Now I’m tearing it apart to start a completely new rewrite.
Is it scary? Hell yes. Because all I can think is what if this book isn’t good enough? What if I’m not good enough? But I’m rewriting it anyway and hoping for the best. Because it’s a story that lives in my heart. And that’s what we have to do as writers that is so terrifying. We have to open our hearts and let other people in. Even if we fail a time or two or a dozen.

So don’t be too harsh on those people who have been caught plagiarizing. Sure they deserve some contempt and some disgust because what they did was wrong. But at the same time have some sympathy too. Writing’s a scary job and we all have that moment where we want to flinch and hide our hearts and our stories from the big bad world. But we don’t, we make the decision to push forward. These people just made the wrong decision and now they’ll have to pay for it but I can’t help thinking that in the end they made the decision out of fear.

Be Fearless. Be Bold. To quote Dr. Who, Go Be Magnificent. You deserve it. 

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Six Sentence Sunday

What is Six Sentence Sunday? Or what is #sixsunday?

Ever wondered? Ask!
I've heard a lot of people asking that lately. I think, the more connected the writing community becomes through social media, the wider spread some of these individual events have potential to create. Generally, my rule is, if you don't know what something is, ask, and someone will answer. Well, today, I'm answering.

I've been participating in Six Sentence Sunday for about a year, in various capacities. It's both a marketing opportunity and a chance to discover new books and new authors.

Basically, the way it works is, if you're an author or an aspiring author and you have a blog, you go to the Six Sentence Sunday website sometime between Tuesday and Saturday. You sign up on the list for the following Sunday, and then your name shows up on the list.

Use your social media!
Then, you go back to your blog/website, and put up a post for the week. Pick six sentences from a book you're writing (or have written) and put them in a blog post. Make sure it's at the top of your blog on whatever Sunday you've signed up for, and that you put a link back to the main Six Sunday webpage.

On the Sunday, people come to your blog, you go to the blogs of other people. What I like to do is go to the Six Sunday website and go through the list, clicking on every name. Sometimes, I read a book I like that's available for sale and I buy it. Sometimes I just am entertained for awhile. It depends on the week and who I click on. There are a few people I visit every week because I think they put up good excerpts.

Additionally, I suggest that you use your social media (Facebook, Twitter, blog, newsletter) to direct people to the #sixsunday phenomenon. Especially your readers, if you have them. It's a great opportunity to sample some fantastic writing.

~ Rebecca Lynn

What about you? Have you ever participated? Are you participating this week? Let me say one thing about NKotWB: We never fault a writer for asking questions. So if you have them, feel free to ask them!

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Today my ADD is showing


I've started this blog three times now.

First blog you're not going to get was on a successful writer's on line group I'm on. Hi lalalas!

The second blog was going to be talking about the upcoming GH announcements and the secret life of contests. Then the contest police showed up at my door and confiscated my hard drive.

Now I'm writing on my husband's computer (just kidding, honey) and looking around my office at the mess I call my desk. I'm leaving in a couple hours to drive to my nephew's wedding in York, NE.

So I thought I'd talk about some good things (writer things) that have happened to me in the last two weeks.

First, I got a long awaited check. (Insert happy dance here.) Now just two more to go.

Then I found out my YA novel is going on to the second round of Amazon's Breakout Novel contest.

I received my contributor's copies of a magazine and my story is a cover story. (April True Confessions - I Broke My Unborn Babies Heart - Wishing for a Girl was My Biggest Mistake.)

And I signed a contract to publish The Bull Rider's Brother with Crimson Publishing. Available at all fine e-pub sites coming June 2012. (I really hope I get to keep my title...)

When I read the email I asked my co-worker if I was dreaming. He offered to pinch me. :) This is my first go round at selling a full length manuscript so I'm excited to work with my editor (love saying that) and doing all the other steps in putting out a quality product.

So - it's been a good couple weeks. Busy. I've been fighting the plague. But good, none the less.

It's your turn. What's been happening in your world? Or give me your best wedding story. I think that's going to be my next post.

I'll be responding as soon as I reach the hotel in Nebraska.

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New Kids on the Writer's Block is a group blog. We are ten writers who banded together to go through the process of publication as a community. We're pre-published (for the time being), and are open with our process. Please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for stopping by, and welcome!

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