Monica Stoner
Member at Large
Feel like you’ve had enough Olympics to last at least four years? Had your fill of water cooler discussions about quarter point deductions or spiking the ball? Really tired of references to Olympic goals and ideals, relating to writing? Yeah, me too.
But bear with me, because this one has stuck better than any landing. Actually, it’s not about the Olympics specifically. It’s a commercial.
Surely you saw this commercial, seems like it played at every break. A variety of athletes worked out, and the voice over listed everything they had not done in preparation for the Olympics: no dessert for two years, hadn’t seen the latest movie, and what I really remember was “haven’t read that book everyone’s talking about.” I don’t know about you, but not being able to read seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.
Obviously not to someone who has a goal in sight and a deadline to meet. Their goal is to be bigger, stronger, faster, better than anyone else in their sport, and to be at their peak at the Olympic Games. To achieve that goal, they’re willing to forego what most of us think of as our inalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of the ultimate fried food.
Aren’t we fortunate we only have to give up some of our time to write more? Granted those who don’t work out regularly add inches to their body as well as words to the page. But the analogy is still valid.
Sacrifices need to be made in pursuit of any goal worth achieving. We can’t go to every midnight movie or every holiday sale and sometimes we’re going to miss that neat town event, because we’re chasing dreams and building characters. We try to maintain a good social life but the fact is time we might be spending with our real friends needs to be spent with the friends we create.
Is it worth the effort and sacrifice? After all, only a very small percentage of those who qualify for the Olympics stand on the medal podium. And those people represent a minuscule number of those who tried out and failed, or who didn’t even make the trials. Of the many writers hunched over their keyboards instead of spending a lazy afternoon in the malls, how many will see their names attached to a published book, whether digital or in print?
Well, a lot more than those who gave up their dreams to do something else. And that is the real lesson of the Olympics.
Having gotten back on track with those dreams, Monica Stoner, writing as Mona Karel, has two books published and more on the way.
As some of you know, I still work part-time at Fullerton Public Library as a substitute librarian. My job is to sit at the Information/Reference Desk, now casually labeled the “Ask Here” desk, and answer patrons questions.
The other morning, a patron came in looking for books by an author I’d never heard of. We didn’t have any of her books in print or as downloadable books, but the woman told me she had read the first book in a paranormal romance series read it and was hot to read the next. She’d gotten the first book as a Kindle freebie, so I went to Amazon and discovered that the books were indie published. Apparently, the author in question, H.P. Mallory, had been such a success with her two indie series, she now has a contract with Bantam for more books in the series.
This all reminded me of Stephanie Laurens’s Keynote Speech at the recent RWA conference. She talked about how the publishing industry has changed and is in the process of changing. The writing process is the same; the reading process is the same; but the distribution system has been upended. Authors now have more options than ever before, including going directly to the reader. If you missed the speech, it’s at Laurens’s website.
There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “May you live in interesting times.” which is sometimes taken more of a curse than a blessing. Whatever you may think of the changes in the publishing industry, you can’t deny that we are living in interesting times.
Linda Mac
Linda McLaughlin
aka Lyndi Lamont
Twitter: @LyndiLamont
Even Sleeping Beauty wouldn’t have gotten a wink of sleep at the RWA 2012 Conference in Anaheim near Disneyland. I didn’t. I was as busy as the Mad Hatter running from workshop to workshop and shooting video. Lots of video. 12 GB worth. That’s 12 billion bytes as in billion.
This week I’m going to spotlight three of my favorite RITA award winners, beginning with OCC’s own TESSA DARE!! Super congrats, Tessa, well deserved.
Tessa Dare, winner of the RITA for “A Night to Surrender” — her thank you to her hubby is beautiful.
Joanna Bourne’s wonderful tribute to teachers everywhere in her RITA speech for “The Black Hawk”
And here is the video everyone is talking about…
Ann Aguirre’s RITA speech for YA “Enclave” including her now infamous “interpretive dance.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, like Snow White’s dwarf, Sleepy, I’m…going to…take a nap…zzzzzzzzzzz
Best,
Jina
Everyone I know is going to get a jar of Spiced Nectarine Jam for Christmas this year. Again. They have for past four years.
We have a dwarf white nectarine tree in our backyard. About four years ago it started going crazy producing fruit. One year my husband, who prepares and freezes the fruit for my jam making (bless him!) saved all the pits. He had harvested FOUR HUNDRED nectarines!
Even total strangers have received the gift of Spiced Nectarine Jam. Last year I filled 25 jars; I’ll do that and more this year. Three more batches to go!
The nectarines are positively, absolutely Organic. No spray. No fertilizer. Hardly any extra water. (My husband isn’t exactly fond of gardening.)
Since it’s hard to send jam via the internet, I thought you might like the recipe. The jam’s really yummy.
4 Cups prepared fruit
7 ½ Cups sugar
1/4 Cup lemon juice
1 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves & allspice
1 packet of Certo
Combine fruit, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a large pan. Bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add packet of Certo. Stir to cool and skim foam for 5 minutes. Pour into jars. Use either self-sealing jars or cover with melted household wax. (This recipe can be used for Spiced Peach Jam.)
Happy jam making….
What do you preserve from your garden?
Char……
Montana Love Letter, Love Inspired, 10/2012
Home to Montana, Love Inspired, 3/2013
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