A-ha!

Start the love of books early

As part of my "other life" I am involved with Writers and Books, a literary center in Rochester, NY and this month everyone is celebrating the "If All of Rochester Read the Same Book" events. No matter the topic, readers from across the area come together and share their love of reading when they attend events, readings and eventually the big wrap up with the "Meet The Author" dinner event -- the dinners are topical events based on the location of the book -- in this case -- it is a Moroccan feast.

The "If All..." event always gets me thinking of the pleasant hours I spent reading to my children when they were little. It was one of the most cozy times of the day, snuggling down under the covers, flipping pages in a dimly lit bedroom -- this video brought back those memories.

When you are thinking of your own reading material, pick up a book for your kids. Hey, mine are 15 and 22, they may not want to snuggle down under the covers but I can always "force" them to sit on the couch and listen to a line or two from a book or magazine I am reading... at this stage, I will take what I can get! lol

Here's a fun little video from Kevin at BloggerRelations to check out.

The right tools

Many times I sit and ponder if I would be more creative with a journal, curled up in a comfortable chair, pencil clutched in my fingers writing away or if I can get more done (with less internal editing) simply by sitting with my fingers on a keyboard.

When I first started out I worked at a newspaper and the hardest thing for me to do was sit down in front of the keyboard sweating blood, trying to get my article filed before deadline. I had been so accustomed to taking my leisurely time with my jottings -- meandering along from beginning to end.

It took me a few months to be comfortable "writing on the fly" and I found that I was able to do it IF I had the lead sentence in my mind before I sat down. Once that perfect (or almost perfect) first sentence was prepared, the rest of the article flowed and because I type so quickly, I get much more done when behind a keyboard and I also find that my internal editor takes some time off. The reason the internal editor may slink away is because in my twisted reasoning, putting something on a compute document doesn't really seem "permanent" (even though I have the auto save set for every 10 seconds!). Putting pen to paper, for me lately, seems indelible -- the words are out there for all the world to see (even if it is only for my eyes) and it is like something I can't take back once I've written it down. It's more labor intensive to erase than it is to hit the backspace key.

So, what is your favorite tool? Does your writing output improve with one or the other?

Breaking it down

I was listening to my local NPR station the other day and they were talking to the creators of SMITH Magazine and the "six word memoir" project they had started and I was fascinated listening to peoples' stories. Some were laugh out loud funny others gave me pause because they were either sad or really gave me an a-ha! moment.

The project was born from the legend that has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

While I am too wordy to write my memoir in six words or less, the idea of it has been rolling around in my head since I read about it. It is a challenge I will pass along to writers in the groups that I lead. The six words can be used (I think) to either write your own life story or even to succinctly describe a book project you are working on. Everyone hears about the elevator speech you should have prepared in the event you run into an editor in an enclosed space (please, though, not the restroom!).

Try it. Take the idea you have for a book, memoir, novel, nonfiction project and try to break it down to its most basic parts -- six words... try ten words if you need it. Think about it, though, if you know what your book is about in such minute detail, you really have your focus narrowed down and you are ready to begin writing!

Building a buzz

Writing a book is only half the work. Once you are done, then the real work begins... spreading the word and getting people to read the words you labored over.

Sandra Beckwith, a good friend of ours here at A-ha! is hosting an online book publicity workshop. It starts February 4, so there is no time to waste.

Sandra says, "Got a book coming out you want to hype? Has your publisher’s publicist moved on to other projects? Do you have a book in stores that you know deserves more media attention than it’s getting? Are you working on a proposal that would benefit from a better understanding of what you can do to promote your book? You need 'Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz.'"

The class is taught by Sandra Beckwith, a recovering award-winning publicist; publisher of the free e-zine Build Book Buzz; and author of three books, including two on publicity  topics. 

·        How to create a book publicity blueprint you’ll be excited about

·        The single secret most authors don’t know about generating ongoing media exposure

·        The most effective and cost-efficient publicity tactics

·        How to generate buzz online using virtual book tours and other techniques

·        Radio and TV producer hot buttons

·        How to bring an energizing new level of creativity to your publicity efforts

Students receive instructional materials and resources and complete weekly assignments that help them discover how easy it is to create book buzz. Student interaction on the forum enhances the learning experience by offering fresh perspectives and new ideas for all participants while instructor guidance and input takes your work to the next level. A free-for-all Q&A corner lets students get answers to questions not covered in the course materials, making this a highly-personalized learning experience for nonfiction and fiction authors.

Registration is $179.

Registration is limited to 20 students.

Register at http://www.buildbookbuzz.com/workshops/book-publicity.htm; send course inquiries to Beckwith at [email protected].

Movies and books

This weekend, armed with tissues, I made my way to the theater to watch Atonement. If you haven't seen it, I won't ruin the ending... but I will tell you that tissues will likely be mandatory!

What I really liked about the movie - as a writer -- is that it was told from the point of view of the author. It was supposed to have been her memoir with the title relating to her trying to atone for a horrible wrong she had perpetrated when she was 13 years old.

It was interesting to see the flash backs and flash forwards then find out at the end, it was being told from by the author to a television interviewer. It was fascinating and was my first exposure to any works of Ian McEwan and now I am hooked.I will likely go to the bookstore this weekend and pick up a couple of his novels -- including Atonement. I'd like to see how it compares and contrasts to the movie. 

As I sat in the theater, my writer's mind was going in directions that I hadn't anticipated. I was "reading" probably much more into what was in the movie than was showing up on the screen. Hey, by the end, I was giving it a happy ending!

The bottom line, I think, for any writer out there, it is easy to take an innocent situation and turn into into something fraught with more meaning than it originally had -- it's a great way to liven up a piece of prose -- whether fact or fiction.

Why not look at a situation in your life and see if you could change it and turn it into "something more."

It's all material

I was surfing around this afternoon trying to come up with an idea for a post and came across Barbara Abercrombie's website and read her latest post on how chaos is material.

I sometimes wonder if people think they can only write when "all is right and sunny in the world." If I waited for that to happen, I would never get any work done. As Barbara points out, even in the midst of chaos and a health scare with her husband, life goes on and honestly, it is all material for a novel. Who knows, maybe you could take the chaos in your life and drop it into your characters' lap and see how he or she reacts. Will you have them react as you did? Will you have them handle the situation the way you "wish you would have handled it?" Things to ponder when building a character.

My family has come to realize that whatever happens at home is fodder for my weekly column. Sometimes I will change the names to protect the innocent, but for anyone who knows us, they can figure out who did and said what to whom! lol

I have simply become a fanatic about keeping a notebook close at hand and even though I know I shouldn't, if an idea strikes me while I am driving I will jot it down. Believe me a brilliant idea will vanish in a puff of smoke before the traffic light changes.

There have even been columns that I have written that have sparked more ideas after my parents have read them. Those ideas and conversations are the stuff that books are made of. So remember, the next time you are in the midst of chaos -- whether happy or sad -- it is book material in the making.

Author Extravaganza

It's that time of year -- holidays are upon us and everyone is frantically searching for that "perfect gift." I know, for myself, even before I became a writer, I cherished autographed books. I still have books in my end table at home that are autographed -- some personally to me, others that simply have the authors' name in the front -- and I can't bring myself to get rid of them.

It's not that I think someday this author will become famous and I will be able to make a mint when I sell it on e-Bay, but just because I have a fascination with not only the written word, but with those individuals who have their written words published.

Hey, there are still days when I lie in bed with a tattered copy of a Victoria Holt gothic romance or a Kathleen Woodiwiss high seas romance, stuff it under my pillow and imagine if I concentrate hard enough I will come up with an idea as good as theirs were. It hasn't happened yet, but who knows... Actually I have many ideas, some of them good, some of them not so much. Other ideas simply need time to marinate and hopefully a subplot will drop itself into the middle and my book will finally be able to take on a life of its own.

This year, though I have the thrill of participating in the local Author Extravaganza at Lift Bridge Books in Brockport. I will be among the close to 30 local authors who will be featured. I will be there with my baby name book, my friend Charles Benoit will be there with his mystery series, there will be poets and other genre writers there -- and I will be mingling with the best of them!

I realize that every month that I publish another issue of my magazine, ByLine, that I am realizing one of my dreams -- self employment in the field of writing! But, being part of an event in which I can possibly sign one of my books for a reader, or purchase a book from one of my friends and have it signed, is just about the best gift I can give myself this year.

So, if you are looking for a gift idea -- I say, there is nothing better than an autographed piece of reading material! If you are an aspiring writer look for local book signings or author events and attend one. The writers are happy to see readers show up and I have yet to meet a writer who won't attempt to give an answer to the question they are most asked, "Where do you get your ideas?"

Reading is, well, necessary

I was speaking to a group of high school students recently as part of a career day at my daughter's school. As part of my talk I asked 1) what the kids wanted to write/what field of writing they were looking to pursue and 2) what kind of books/print material they read.

The answers to the question of what they wanted to do "when they grew up" came fast and furious but when it came to the question of what books they had read or were reading... there was silence. I felt as if I had been sucked into a vacuum as I waited for the answer. Finally, one boy in the room held up a Terry Goodkind novel to show what he was reading. The others, well, reading apparently doesn't figure into their lives! I was astounded.

How, I asked them, can you be a writer if you aren't a reader? How would you know "good" writing from "bad"? Would they skim the titles in the NY Times bestseller list to see what they "should" be reading? Do they have opinions -- good, bad, or indifferent -- about the titles that appear. Let's face it, "good" books are subjective. I have tried to read some NYT bestsellers and barely made it past chapter one. But, the point is, I do read. I explore words.

What kind of writer would you be if you didn't have something to compare your works to? How do you learn to break the rules of writing if you don't know subtle ways of breaking them and, more importantly, why to break them?

Whether you read blogs, books, or newspapers, feeding your brain a daily dose of words, phrases, cliches, or simply awful prose is a way to 1) expand your own vocabulary and 2) avoid writing that is horrible. (Who hasn't heard, or read about "It was a dark and stormy night..." Sure it works for Snoopy,  but in "real" writing, unless you are using it as a joke, avoid it at all costs. If, however, you think you have the absolute worst opening line, then by all means submit it to the Bulwer Lytton awards... oh yeah, you don't read, so you wouldn't know a bad line if it jumped off the page and bit you.

My words of advice, for those who read them today(!) are, read, read, read -- it will make you a better writer. Mark my words.

A writers' strike!

I first heard about the writers strike when I was reading the Sunday paper. No biggie, I thought, I still have my printed words, right? Wrong! If this strike goes on for too long – actually I think another day or two, and I will no longer have Jon Stewart. Without him where and when will I get my daily “moment of Zen”? Most likely I won’t.

            

In a perfect world, I would be able to miss David Letterman too because of the strike but he is on too late at night for me to ever have been able to stay awake to catch his famous “Top 10” list. Okay, as a disclaimer, I only catch The Daily Show with my buddy, Jon, at the 8 p.m. time slot – again too late at night to catch the real, live episode.

            

It will be a few weeks, I heard before the soap operas like General Hospital are effected by the strike – if it lasts that long. No loss for me as I haven’t watched them in ages. I think the last time I did, Luke and Laura were celebrating some anniversary or another and I switched it on by accident a few years ago (maybe it was a week or a month, who knows) and they were celebrating another anniversary. Wow, they really need to get new actors and storylines as I remember watching their tortured love story when I was in high school.

            

While the talk of the writers’ strike is all the rage right now as in “Oh my gosh what will we ever do!?” I would like to remind people there are things to do other than watch television. True, my family wouldn’t believe that I know that, especially when it comes time for “Pushing Daisies” on Wednesdays or my sitcom marathon on NBC Thursdays, but truly I can find other things to do. I could read my towering stack of magazines, catch up on the books I have had to purchase in the past year but never find time to read. I might even find more time to get some writing done. Truly, if I actually sat down with a log of how much time I waste in front of the television, I could likely have written several novels. It is scary to think of how much mindless time is spent in the pursuit of... what? watching what someone else has written? Hey, I could have written that! should be the thought in every writers' mind each time they pick up a book, magazine or watch a television show.

So, for now, I will likely still watch the shows while they are "fresh" and not reruns but if they go into reruns (which, for my writing life wouldn't be a bad thing) I will pick up the laptop, plant myself on the couch and do my own writing. How about you?

Do You NaNo?

Well, here it is, almost National Novel Writing Month (So named by founder Chris Baty, author of No Plot, No Problem) and while most people consider NaNoWriMo for those fiction writers out there, I can't see any reason why any writer with a book inside him or her can't participate.

I have had a "street smart e-mail (etiquette) book" in me for quite some time but never seem to get around to doing anything with it. So this year, I have committed myself to participating in -- and completing -- the whole month of November and at the end I will have a 50,000 word rough draft of my work.

This year, I am so committed to the month that I have joined up as a Municipal Liaison for the Rochester, NY area.

Who knows, maybe you have had a book idea in your head but have put it off waiting for that "perfect" moment, when all of the stars align, the laundry is done, the dog is walked... you get the picture. For years I have waited, and believe it or not once those chores are done, there are dishes to be washed, floors to scrub, and children to taxi around... the "perfect" time to get your words down on paper -- whether fiction or non -- will never come.

So, for 2007, I have made my perfect time be from November 1 to November 30. I will meet up with my co-ML Robin and we will motivate the writers who gather for our kick-off, the write-ins, and the thank goodness it's over party! Why not make November your time to get that book idea out of the ether and down on paper? (The Nano site even has a place to track your word count -- nothing like a little accountability to keep those fingers moving!)