In Praise of . . .by Jenny Jensen
February 19, 2019 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen tagged as googling, Internet, promoting, readers, research
A simple Internet search can become a journey down the rabbit hole. A phrase or a word catches my eye, I click and find myself wondering down a path light years from the original intent. I was looking for info on clay pot cooking and got entranced by all the entries about things people are in praise of. Not sure how I got there, it’s a Google thing, but I couldn’t look away; all those heart felt testimonials extolling an incredible array of individual passions.
I was delighted by a man’s elegant praise of Velcro (who could argue with that?), an oratory on the simplicity of the ten penny nail (it really is an elegant and useful item), a poetic discourse on the play of sunlight on soap bubbles in the kitchen sink (I’ll take her word for it). The essays in praise of the rubber band, the sound of a child’s heartbeat in a quiet moment, the meditative smell of a crackling fire on a cold night all touched a universal human note—and I asked what I am in praise of.
Answer: writers. I write in praise of writers. I work with authors. I know something of the blood, sweat and tears invested in the books that are my passion to read. Writers are people with such a strong drive to tell stories they dive into unchartered waters and do it—despite the requirements of life. Writing is a full time occupation for a rare few. For most, the act of putting pen to paper is precious time carved out between client conferences, parenting, shift schedules, basic survival—the business of life. Amazing, praiseworthy.
Every book began as a spark in the mind of a writer. Might be an event, or a word overheard or grandmother’s lace collar that ignited the spark. With trial and error that spark becomes a premise to be populated with characters and action and goals. With more trial and error a burgeoning universe grows into a draft. More trial and error—okay, call it what it is—revisions and rewrites. Then more of same. Finally, a deep breath and first cautious preview. Writers group, spouse, beta reader, editor; it doesn’t matter who, the writer bears their soul. Feedback is absorbed (emotionally, technically, inspirationally), and it’s back to revise and rewrite, until the whole tough process results in the best effort of the writer.
That journey from idea to finished book is praiseworthy enough. That it’s just the beginning of a new sweaty effort is a fact. A book isn’t alive without readers. Reaching those readers is the next act. Even with a traditional publisher every writer has to promote their work — a fact even more vital for Indie authors. How else can the reader find your book among the 1100 new postings per day? Nothing makes me sadder than to have a client hang up their keyboard after publishing because sales are few to none. These are wonderful books, I know they are, but the author made no effort to promote. No one found the work. That wonderful book never stood a chance.
The investment of writing a book is a labor of love. Promoting and selling the book is just hard work. The effort begins with well-chosen genre categories and killer key words. An educated approach to pricing techniques, a website, blog and social media are promotional gold. Reviews are essential; consistency is key. Every author must invest the sweat equity needed to allow people to find their book. Fortunately, hundreds of Indie pros share promotional know-how, experiences and techniques on line, a lot of it free.
When I have found that ‘just right’ book I can snug up the Velcro on my slippers, hang my troubles on the ten penny nail, drain the supper dish soap and with the kid sit before the fire and travel wherever those pages take me. I am in praise of writers.
A Tucker Story by Rebecca Forster
February 15, 2019 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as Dogs!, inspiration, Pets, Rebecca Forster. writing
When the phone rang at 4:44 my husband answered. I sat up in bed and waited. Whatever news was to come, it wouldn’t be good. Tucker, my son’s dog, had died.
Ten years ago at Christmas time, against my advice, he got his then girlfriend a dog. The lady in question was not a homebody like my son, and I didn’t think she would like the responsibility of a dog. Still, poor as he was, my son wanted to get her this gift. Somehow he hooked up with a man in an alley who handed him a dog. He in turn proudly handed the pup to his girlfriend.
A few weeks later, the girl was gone and the dog was back. I advised my son to give him away. He couldn’t afford another mouth to feed. What if the dog got sick? What would the little thing do all day in a studio apartment while my son looked for work? Thankfully, my wise counsel fell on deaf ears, and Tucker became part of our family.
That dog grew from a terrified little mutt to a self-confident, joyful, loving pet. It took a year of patience and love for my son to convince Tucker that no one would beat him, no one would abandon him, and everyone would love him.
Tucker was polite. He waited patiently for everything – a walk, a treat, a cuddle – and showed gratitude for small kindnesses in a million little ways. Never a crotch-sniffer he spent weeks attacking mine, befuddling us all with this new behavior. I was diagnosed with uterine cancer a few weeks later and once I was operated on, he never did it again. I think that was a Tucker miracle.
He slept at my feet while I wrote, was underfoot when I cooked, followed me everywhere until my son came into the room. Then it was clear that Tucker’s heart belonged to him. The love between this rescue dog and this young man was glorious, and gentle, and kind, and loving, and caring. They were friends. They had each other’s backs.
If you think about it, all of us who write are striving to tell a Tucker story. In his little life there was drama and character building, joy and pain, courage and excitement, goals to be met, laughter to be shared and tears to be shed. If we as authors could weave a story one tenth as full as this dog’s life, our books would never be forgotten. So tomorrow when I sit down to work, I will remind myself to write a Tucker story even though I might shed a few tears along the way.
Romancing the Research by Christopher D. Ochs
February 13, 2019 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as Bethethem Writers Group, Christopher D. Ochs, Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, Research for Writers
Christopher D. Ochs is this month featured author. Christopher D. Ochs‘ foray into writing began with his epic fantasy Pindlebryth of Lenland: The Five Artifacts, recommended by US Review of Books. Several of his short stories have been published in the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group and Bethlehem Writers Group anthologies and websites. His latest work is a collection of mirthful macabre short stories, If I Can’t Sleep, You Can’t Sleep.
His current literary projects include: short stories in Firebringer Press’ next entry in their Eternity anthology series, an e-book prequel novella for Pindlebryth of Lenland, a YA speculative fiction novel My Friend Jackson, and of course, the second novel of the Pindlebryth saga.
Chris has too many interests outside of writing for his own good. With previous careers in physics, mathematics, electrical engineering and software, and his incessant dabblings as a CGI animator, classical organist, voice talent on radio, DVD and anime conventions, it’s a wonder he can remember to pay the dog and feed his bills. Wait, what?
Romancing the Research
The Joy of Research – “Research?” The very word sends some people diving for the nearest foxhole, or leaves them with an expression akin to that of having swallowed castor oil.
Not me – I’ve always enjoyed learning new topics. It’s even better as an author, because my research is focused on that which I’m already interested. (An unfortunate side-effect is that my mind is filled with decades of clutter and trivia that cries for attention at inopportune moments!)
Method – For better or worse, here’s my approach to the task of research.
I begin my journey with that miasma of questionable reliability – the internet. Its convenience outweighs its pitfalls, so long as one uses it solely to gain general knowledge and build a list of potential authoritative sources. My usual go-to stepping-stones are Wikipedia followed by Google. At the risk of repeating myself, I only use them to suss out general information and pointers to refine the scope of my search.
My second level involves confirming any suspect information against a trustworthy online encyclopedia (e.g. Britannica) or reliable fact-checking sites (e.g. Snopes, Factcheck, Politifact, etc.)
Once I have a clear vision of topics on which to focus, I head to the library. Yes, Dear Reader, in this electronic world, there is still no substitute for paper. That’s just the Facts of Life. Not everything is available on-line, and that often includes the book you need.
Examples – Over the past two years, I’ve published nineteen short stories in various venues. While most were “speculative fiction,” they nonetheless covered a broad range of topics, characters and backgrounds, locales and eras. As an author, I have a responsibility to inject a reasonable level of verisimilitude into my Tales of the Weird – otherwise the story fails miserably. When said story leads me into an area where I have little experience, I hit the books – with relish!
Allow me to relay two recent experiences that demonstrate my own “joy of research.”
While searching for a description of the environment of a tuberculosis sanitorium, I selected Betty MacDonald’s memoir “The Plague and I.” To get the lowdown on girl bullying, a librarian friend recommended “Queen Bees and Wannabes” by Rosalind Wiseman.
In both instances, deadlines and other pressures force me to approach the research in a rush. My original intention was to hastily skim one or two chapters and glean the absolute minimum for a believable story. However, in both instances I ended up devouring the books cover to cover. The narrative of MacDonald’s battle with tuberculosis was so compelling, and the content of Wiseman’s research into the dynamics and psychology of teenage girl bullies was so captivating, that I couldn’t put either of the books down.
I believe my stories were the better for it – if I had hurried through the work, I would have missed much of the minutiae needed to flesh out my own characters, and imbue them with realistic motivations and reactions.
Caution – With all that being said, writers should not use research as an excuse to avoid writing.
During my time in the world of engineering, I often encountered the phrase “the paralysis of analysis.” The same is true in the writing world. An author must resist the temptation to dive down the endless rabbit hole of related topics and “what-if’s.” Otherwise, the writing is never started.
Do your initial block of research, enough to get the draft done. Then polish the draft with refined research, tracking down only those “what-if’s” that the story and characters dictate.
Now get thee to a library!
Books by Christopher D. Ochs
Teaching SEO Marketing and Author Brand to Writers At SoCalCWC 2019.
February 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as Author Brand, Faculty, SEO Marketing, Teaching, Writers' ConferenceI’m super excited to announce I will be teaching for the first time at a writers’ conference in June this year. The SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference will be held at Hope International University in Fullerton, CA on June 20-22, 2019.
I will be teaching two workshops. My topics?
- SEO Marketing for Your Website
- Developing Your Author Brand
And I’ve been given a cute social media button to announce that I’m faculty on my website and social media. I thought it would be fun to add it here, too.
What is the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference?
This is what is listed on their website:
Whether you’re a new writer or you’ve been in the industry for a while, you’ll find a wonderful community of writers at the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference.
- Meet with and learn from top-name professionals who will share their insights and expertise from their work in the Christian publishing industry, including agents, acquisitions editors, and best-selling authors.
There are several topics that attendees can learn about, but to help you find out more, take a look at their websiteor Facebook Page.
Did I tell you I’m excited? I am a little giddy about sharing my knowledge and experience with others in a way that I hope will be helpful. I’ve been waiting a while to have this opportunity. I also will have time slots for people to sign up and meet with me one-on-one for advice or input. I wonder if anyone will be interested in hearing what I have to say?
Whether you are a screenwriter, fiction, nonfiction, memoir or teen writer, this conference has something for you. The morning is filled with continuing sessions in a specific topics such as platform, editing, screenwriting, memoir writing, fiction, and nonfiction. There’s even a special section just for teen writers. Each morning session builds on each other throughout the three day conference.
Then there are also individual topics in the afternoon workshops in areas including; publishing, the writing life, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, specialty and marketing.
This is where my two classes fit.
In the Developing Your Author Brand class, I plan to help attendees figure out what their brand is or at least narrow down options to help them decide later. And how to develop that brand with your target audience. We will brainstorm applicable content for future use and introduce apps that can help create posts for social media and websites. I’m hoping to have it be a hands on class, where people can actually make something on their laptop during class they can use right away.
For the SEO Marketing for your Website workshop, I will go over what is SEO and why it is important, how to use search engines to find strong keywords and how to create strong SEO with your photos and text (and the steps to do it). We will brainstorm content ideas and create one item from your list.
Years ago when I sat in on my first writers meeting, I had an interest to want to teach a workshop. But I felt at the time like I didn’t have anything to offer, especially because I didn’t know much about this industry. How would I ever have enough experience to provide knowledge and inspiration to both published and unpublished authors?
Well, it turns out I can use my knowledge in my 20+ year career in marketing. The only thing I didn’t have, was an understanding of the publishing world. Yet.
Fast forward five years and I’m ready.
I’ve had several years’ experience in creating my own website and evaluating other author’s pages, as well as practicing different theories and formulas and working with experts in the field. And I’ve learned that what comes naturally for me, may not be natural for other writers. But it doesn’t have to be scary. Thus, this is where I can help.
This year, the conference is in its third year. I wrote about the first year in my blog, What Do You Do At a Writing Conference? Since I’ve been involved from the beginning, I’ve made such wonderful friends and have learned something new each year I’ve attended. It’s the perfect place for me to get my feet wet as a new faculty member. I can’t wait!
Valentine’s Day is for my Instagram short story “Virgin Kiss” by Jina Bacarr
February 11, 2019 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Chekhov, kiss, romance, Valentine, Valentine's DayValentine’s Day is Thursday — a time for romance, chocolate and . . . kissing.
But what if your first kiss was just plain awful?
Meet Riley Murphy. She’s a kissing virgin, waiting for the right guy to come along. Until she joins the Drama Club at Holywell High and has to kiss the class dweeb on stage in front of the whole school on Valentine’s Day.
Virgin Kiss is a short story I wrote that I’m serializing in 1-minute segments.
I’m inserting my video intro here and Parts 1-5 of my story (which will be completed on Valentine’s Day). Check back for the entire story as I update this post every day including V-Day!
Virgin Kiss Instagram 1-minute posts (text on audio is included in IG comments). I hope you enjoy my time travel trip back to high school!
Just added Part 6:
Part 7 of Virgin Kiss (you can read the text from the audio on Instagram in the comments section)
Part 8 of Virgin Kiss
Part 9 Virgin Kiss
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