Lena Horne has died at 92. I thought the woman was immortal, but maybe she is anyway.
We all think of her from this clip singing Stormy Weather back it the forties.
However, we saw Lena Horne perform in London in the 80s, and she introduced this song by saying that, back when she first performed it, she'd has NO idea what it was about or how to perform it. Then she went on to show how much difference fifty years of living and learning makes.
Here is a later performance of Stormy Weather, very similar to the one we saw (performed as a medly with "If You Believe.")
Daring to live life as a full time writer, with or without success.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Day 2 - 4228 Words in The Return of the Flamingo
I got through the tough gaps and pushed on through to the end of Chapter 3. I also had some very good ideas for the big gaps later on, and I noted them ALL down.
Running Total: 8328 Words.
8328 / 75000 words. 11% done!
In Today's Pages:
(George, suspicious that the missing child may be inside, has burst into Karla's house. She grabs the nearest weapon at hand -- a garden flamingo with a yo-yo tied to the beak -- and follows him inside.)
And thus armed she went in to beard the lion.
She crept into the living room as if there might be a dozen men around. Even though there was only the one and she could hear his footsteps as he moved and paused and finally came trotting down the stairs. She instinctively crouched, ready to run.
He came into view and saw her crouching there, brandishing the bird, and he sighed deeply and faced her.
"I apologize, Ms. Marquette, for bursting into your house."
"Breaking into my house."
"But a child is in danger."
"He's not in dan...ger." Too late, she realized she had just admitted that she knew where Elias was, or at least how Elias was. She clamped her mouth shut and brandished the flamingo.
"I'm not here to harm you or threaten you."
"Then get out."
"I need you to hear what I have to ... say ...." He drifted into silence as he finally seemed to notice the flamingo. He looked slowly along the length of it and down at the swaying yo-yo, and he paused to chew his lip thoughtfully.
"Are you threatening me with a flamingo?" he said at last, as if he were not quite sure.
"Yes," she said firmly.
"A plastic flamingo."
"And a yo-yo."
His eyebrows went up, but he didn't smile, but he also didn't look patronizing. Just puzzled.
"I understand the yo-yo. It makes a decent weapon, I suppose. But why is it attatched to the bird's beak?"
He might have been just trying to engage her in conversation, but he did look curious. She kept looking him straight in the eye, chin tucked in so he wouldn't see she was shaking.
"Because it's funny," she said in her best, flat, dry Clint Eastwood impression. You know what funny is, doncha punk? she thought, but she said, "Do you watch cartoons?"
"No...." he said slowly, looking even more thoughtful than before.
"If you haven't seen Fantasia II, you wouldn't get the joke," she said, and then she couldn't help but add, under her breath, "Philistine!"
Running Total: 8328 Words.
In Today's Pages:
(George, suspicious that the missing child may be inside, has burst into Karla's house. She grabs the nearest weapon at hand -- a garden flamingo with a yo-yo tied to the beak -- and follows him inside.)
And thus armed she went in to beard the lion.
She crept into the living room as if there might be a dozen men around. Even though there was only the one and she could hear his footsteps as he moved and paused and finally came trotting down the stairs. She instinctively crouched, ready to run.
He came into view and saw her crouching there, brandishing the bird, and he sighed deeply and faced her.
"I apologize, Ms. Marquette, for bursting into your house."
"Breaking into my house."
"But a child is in danger."
"He's not in dan...ger." Too late, she realized she had just admitted that she knew where Elias was, or at least how Elias was. She clamped her mouth shut and brandished the flamingo.
"I'm not here to harm you or threaten you."
"Then get out."
"I need you to hear what I have to ... say ...." He drifted into silence as he finally seemed to notice the flamingo. He looked slowly along the length of it and down at the swaying yo-yo, and he paused to chew his lip thoughtfully.
"Are you threatening me with a flamingo?" he said at last, as if he were not quite sure.
"Yes," she said firmly.
"A plastic flamingo."
"And a yo-yo."
His eyebrows went up, but he didn't smile, but he also didn't look patronizing. Just puzzled.
"I understand the yo-yo. It makes a decent weapon, I suppose. But why is it attatched to the bird's beak?"
He might have been just trying to engage her in conversation, but he did look curious. She kept looking him straight in the eye, chin tucked in so he wouldn't see she was shaking.
"Because it's funny," she said in her best, flat, dry Clint Eastwood impression. You know what funny is, doncha punk? she thought, but she said, "Do you watch cartoons?"
"No...." he said slowly, looking even more thoughtful than before.
"If you haven't seen Fantasia II, you wouldn't get the joke," she said, and then she couldn't help but add, under her breath, "Philistine!"
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Query Exercise and Contest
I almost never hear about online writing fest and contests (such as the Bad Girl Blogfest I entered the other day) until it is too late to enter. (Except for this one, which sounds time and brain consuming, and I need to commit all of that to my current Dare.) So I'm passing it on.
On the Public Query Slushpile Blog, they're running an experiment on how differently each writer handles a similar premise. In this case, he has set a political thriller premise, and each participant will write a query and five pages based on it.
If it sounds interesting, check it out at:
http://openquery.blogspot.com/2010/05/query-me-this.html
On the Public Query Slushpile Blog, they're running an experiment on how differently each writer handles a similar premise. In this case, he has set a political thriller premise, and each participant will write a query and five pages based on it.
If it sounds interesting, check it out at:
http://openquery.blogspot.com/2010/05/query-me-this.html
Day 1 - 4100 Words for a Decent Start
I made it to my real goal of 2500, and my mental goal of 4000. But today wasn't as easy as I'd thought. We had an end of semester gathering, which was fun, but lasted longer than expected (and was more mentally taxing that expected too - we played games, and of course none of them could be easy).
Tonight sleep; tomorrow, better.
Running Total: 4100 Words.
4100 / 75000 words. 5% done!
In Today's Pages: George makes a bargain. Karla makes an unusual recommendation.
Tonight sleep; tomorrow, better.
Running Total: 4100 Words.
In Today's Pages: George makes a bargain. Karla makes an unusual recommendation.
Friday, May 7, 2010
May Dare - Finish The Book!
Tomorrow I begin the final push on the work in progress.
About the Work:
The Man Who Did Too Much is a cozy mystery suspense with emphasis on the humor.
Description: George Starling, former International Man of Intrigue, is retired. In limbo. Waiting in a small town in the middle of nowhere for the woman he rescued to recover enough to know whether she loves him or not. When he gets the call to check out the report that a missing prince was spotted in the company of a local woman, he almost turns the job down. But his girlfriend insists he take it. Perhaps she knows he's drowning.
Karla Marquette is a small-town movie-obsessed spinster, who was just doing a favor for a friend when she took care of that little boy for a weekend. Now, suddenly, she's dealing with thugs, break ins, and this guy in a trench coat with a funny accent and no sense of humor.
All Karla knows is that her friend is not a kidnapper. All George knows is that Karla Marquette may have the secret to life.
The Goal:
This is a hybrid dare. The plot is complicated enough that I need to revise what I've got so far in order to finish it - so I will be re-typing the whole thing from start to finish as I write the new material. Therefore the daily goal is high.
About the Work:
The Man Who Did Too Much is a cozy mystery suspense with emphasis on the humor.
Description: George Starling, former International Man of Intrigue, is retired. In limbo. Waiting in a small town in the middle of nowhere for the woman he rescued to recover enough to know whether she loves him or not. When he gets the call to check out the report that a missing prince was spotted in the company of a local woman, he almost turns the job down. But his girlfriend insists he take it. Perhaps she knows he's drowning.
Karla Marquette is a small-town movie-obsessed spinster, who was just doing a favor for a friend when she took care of that little boy for a weekend. Now, suddenly, she's dealing with thugs, break ins, and this guy in a trench coat with a funny accent and no sense of humor.
All Karla knows is that her friend is not a kidnapper. All George knows is that Karla Marquette may have the secret to life.
The Goal:
This is a hybrid dare. The plot is complicated enough that I need to revise what I've got so far in order to finish it - so I will be re-typing the whole thing from start to finish as I write the new material. Therefore the daily goal is high.
- 30 Days - from May 8 to June 7
- 75,000 words total, or until done
- 2500 words per day average
A Great Synopsis a la YouTube
Ahhhh! A friend just sent this Lego version of the original Star Wars trilogy.
It's amazing how all the important details are included.
It's amazing how all the important details are included.
The Bad Girl Blog Fest - Casey Keeps The Gun
I am participating in the "Bad Girl Blog Fest." Writer bloggers are posting scenes featuring a bad girl. The deadline is the end of the day today. Since I only just found out about it, I couldn't write something specifically for it. But I did have something that I've been working on, so I decided to join in.
This is from Have Gun, Will Play, a novel for my Mick and Casey mystery series about a pair of very young, recently married gunslingers. Mick and Casey have escaped from the badguys with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a bag of toys belonging to a kidnapped girl. Mick (the narrator) has lured one of the bad guys into the stable where Casey is hiding, in hopes of an ambush....
* * *
I left the door open as I went in, so he could sneak in after. Casey wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not that you'd see her if she didn't want to be seen, but she didn't show up when he came in and saw me. Had she got what I intended? I couldn't imagine she'd missed it. Casey wasn't one to give up on a chance for ambush--not even if I hadn't meant it.
I didn't see him but I could feel him behind me as I went past the row of stalls and stable clutter. I slinked on by the wall of gear and glanced back. He was there all right.
Casey wasn't at the back door either, so I scooted out into the alley, and around to the carriage house. Still no Casey.
He wasn't hiding any more as he followed me in. I could see him resting his hand on his gun. I scrambled off to the other end of the carriage house. I didn't want to lead him upstairs to our hideout, so I scrambled around a carriage, and found myself facing him on the other side. He had just drawn his pistol. I put my hands up, and gave him a nervous smile.
"You're a hard man to lose," I said.
"Hold still," he said. I did, but it didn't matter, because that's when Casey swung down from the top of one of the carriages. I saw her arm swing.
CRACK!
She hit him just behind and above the ear, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.
"Damn!" I said. "What did you hit him with?"
She held up a leather bag--a bag of marbles that had been among the toys. That was where the crack came from. It was the marbles, not his skull. I bent over him. He'd gone down hard, but he wasn't quite out. I rolled him over to get his gun. Casey grabbed it away.
"Give it to me," I said.
"No."
"You already got the marbles and a knife," I said. She held out the bag of marbles to me. I didn't take them. "Come on, Case."
"No, I got it. I'm the sharp-shooter. I back you up. I need a gun."
"You aren't that good with a pistol."
"Am too."
I sighed and took the marbles. Then I remembered and I straightened up to look at her.
"Wait a minute," I said. "You already got a gun. You got your boot gun."
"You want it?"
"No."
She shrugged. I sighed and held out my hand, and she squirmed around to get it while keeping an eye on him. She handed it to me; a little one-shot derringer, with no range and maybe enough power to get through a leather vest if it wasn't too thick. I took it and stuck it in my pocket. She was right. I was the one up front and talking, so I probably could make better use of it.
* * *
Later tonight I will continue with my regular blog posts. (In the meantime, you can check out some published Mick and Casey short stories at Mick and Casey Mysteries.)
This is from Have Gun, Will Play, a novel for my Mick and Casey mystery series about a pair of very young, recently married gunslingers. Mick and Casey have escaped from the badguys with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a bag of toys belonging to a kidnapped girl. Mick (the narrator) has lured one of the bad guys into the stable where Casey is hiding, in hopes of an ambush....
* * *
I left the door open as I went in, so he could sneak in after. Casey wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not that you'd see her if she didn't want to be seen, but she didn't show up when he came in and saw me. Had she got what I intended? I couldn't imagine she'd missed it. Casey wasn't one to give up on a chance for ambush--not even if I hadn't meant it.
I didn't see him but I could feel him behind me as I went past the row of stalls and stable clutter. I slinked on by the wall of gear and glanced back. He was there all right.
Casey wasn't at the back door either, so I scooted out into the alley, and around to the carriage house. Still no Casey.
He wasn't hiding any more as he followed me in. I could see him resting his hand on his gun. I scrambled off to the other end of the carriage house. I didn't want to lead him upstairs to our hideout, so I scrambled around a carriage, and found myself facing him on the other side. He had just drawn his pistol. I put my hands up, and gave him a nervous smile.
"You're a hard man to lose," I said.
"Hold still," he said. I did, but it didn't matter, because that's when Casey swung down from the top of one of the carriages. I saw her arm swing.
CRACK!
She hit him just behind and above the ear, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.
"Damn!" I said. "What did you hit him with?"
She held up a leather bag--a bag of marbles that had been among the toys. That was where the crack came from. It was the marbles, not his skull. I bent over him. He'd gone down hard, but he wasn't quite out. I rolled him over to get his gun. Casey grabbed it away.
"Give it to me," I said.
"No."
"You already got the marbles and a knife," I said. She held out the bag of marbles to me. I didn't take them. "Come on, Case."
"No, I got it. I'm the sharp-shooter. I back you up. I need a gun."
"You aren't that good with a pistol."
"Am too."
I sighed and took the marbles. Then I remembered and I straightened up to look at her.
"Wait a minute," I said. "You already got a gun. You got your boot gun."
"You want it?"
"No."
She shrugged. I sighed and held out my hand, and she squirmed around to get it while keeping an eye on him. She handed it to me; a little one-shot derringer, with no range and maybe enough power to get through a leather vest if it wasn't too thick. I took it and stuck it in my pocket. She was right. I was the one up front and talking, so I probably could make better use of it.
* * *
Later tonight I will continue with my regular blog posts. (In the meantime, you can check out some published Mick and Casey short stories at Mick and Casey Mysteries.)
Starting With A Bang
On Saturday I will start the final push to get my current work in progress, The Man Who Did Too Much, done. There are some gaps, and some areas I need to replace and rework.... so rather than try to figure out how to keep the word count straight, I'm going to retype from scratch. I have about 60 thousand words now (a lot of it redundant or wrong) and I expect it to end with about 75 thousand.
Therefore the goal will be 2500 words a day, new or revised. I hope to finish on June 7, but I'll just go until it's done.
The essay I read in Cut To The Chase today was "Explode Out Of the Blocks." It was about pausing and preparing for your day so you can really get started with a bang. This is, I think, my favorite of the tips from this business productivity book, because it acknowledges two things: one is how important it is to get off on the right foot if you want an endeavor to go smoothly. The other is that to get started right, you do have to spend a little time vacuuming the cat and sharpening pencils before you can settle in.
The equivalent bit of advice I got when I was screenwriting was a director who advised young filmmakers that the most important thing you can do to get a film production going is set a date to start. Yes, you do have to research and prepare and futz around, but to really get going you have to set a date.
For my preparations today, I sat down and wrote a list of 28 questions that need to be answered in my book. I hope to make that list longer before I go to bed.
Tomorrow I will ponder the answers to those questions. And I'll post my formal "start the dare" post.
Therefore the goal will be 2500 words a day, new or revised. I hope to finish on June 7, but I'll just go until it's done.
The essay I read in Cut To The Chase today was "Explode Out Of the Blocks." It was about pausing and preparing for your day so you can really get started with a bang. This is, I think, my favorite of the tips from this business productivity book, because it acknowledges two things: one is how important it is to get off on the right foot if you want an endeavor to go smoothly. The other is that to get started right, you do have to spend a little time vacuuming the cat and sharpening pencils before you can settle in.
The equivalent bit of advice I got when I was screenwriting was a director who advised young filmmakers that the most important thing you can do to get a film production going is set a date to start. Yes, you do have to research and prepare and futz around, but to really get going you have to set a date.
For my preparations today, I sat down and wrote a list of 28 questions that need to be answered in my book. I hope to make that list longer before I go to bed.
Tomorrow I will ponder the answers to those questions. And I'll post my formal "start the dare" post.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Be Brave, Be Fair, Do Good Work
I wasn't going to blog today, but I saw a topic on agent Nat Bransford's forums that intrigued me. Someone asked about what makes a person good. Of course, just defining the word "good" could involve a whole lot of disagreement - but to me whether you're talking about a real person or a fictional character, it all boils down to the title of this post.
Be Brave, Be Fair, Do Good Work.
An interesting character will at least strive for two of these. A less interesting character can at least be redeemed by just one (especially if they achieve it in spite of obstacles).
Waging an effective struggle to be courageous, fair and competent makes a character worthy. It's not necessary to fully succeed, and certainly not necessary to easily succeed, but with an honest and earnest drive to achieve those three things, you don't really need anything else.
Be Brave, Be Fair, Do Good Work.
An interesting character will at least strive for two of these. A less interesting character can at least be redeemed by just one (especially if they achieve it in spite of obstacles).
Waging an effective struggle to be courageous, fair and competent makes a character worthy. It's not necessary to fully succeed, and certainly not necessary to easily succeed, but with an honest and earnest drive to achieve those three things, you don't really need anything else.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Red Herrings Must Lead to a Truth
To a dog, a stinky old red herring smells awfully interesting. Drag one across the path of a beagle or bloodhound, and he'll follow it rather than what he's supposed to follow.
And that's where the term "Red Herring" comes from in a mystery. People tend to use it to refer to any suspects who turn out to have not done it. But as a writer, I think it's much more useful to think of it as any clue or element that leads the detective - and audience - astray.
If we're going to write a mystery, it's important to mystify. And to properly mystify, you have to let the audience feel that they know something. If everything is a complete puzzle, and they know nothing, the audience will only be confused and bored and likely never follow the trail.
A red herring has to fascinate the reader. It's got to be nice and stinky and distracting and full of all kinds of great information.
I think, more importantly, that a red herring has to be more than a trick of the trade. We're not just mystery writers, we're storytellers. And in a good story, nothing is wasted and everything is relevant.
So above all, a red herring must pay off. It must lead to good information for the detective, and the reader. For one thing, the reader will not feel that her time has been wasted when she finds out the truth. For another, it gives the reader respect for the detective, if the detective overcomes both the lure and the failure of a red herring, and wrestles a triumph out of it.
So the fact that the butler was behaving so suspiciously only because he was having a fling with the daughter of the house must lead to the revelation that the daughter, on her way to the assignation, saw a blue car pull away from the grange an hour earlier than anyone knew. And it may also cause some other alibi to crumble, or reveal a motive.
This is basic stuff, but it can be easy to forget or overlook when you are wrestling with all the layers and complications of a good whodunnit. Red Herrings are not just distractions, they are pieces of the puzzle.
In the meantime today was a really hellish day at the day job, and my favorite Cantonese restaurant would not answer the phone, so I didn't get to have any Three Cup Chicken as reward. I consoled myself with a bag of potato chips, a container of sour cream and a bag of double-chocolate Milano cookies, and watched Chuck on Hulu with my cats.
I think, though, that I shall take tomorrow off from blogging. (Unless I come up with some really interesting thing to say.)
And that's where the term "Red Herring" comes from in a mystery. People tend to use it to refer to any suspects who turn out to have not done it. But as a writer, I think it's much more useful to think of it as any clue or element that leads the detective - and audience - astray.
If we're going to write a mystery, it's important to mystify. And to properly mystify, you have to let the audience feel that they know something. If everything is a complete puzzle, and they know nothing, the audience will only be confused and bored and likely never follow the trail.
A red herring has to fascinate the reader. It's got to be nice and stinky and distracting and full of all kinds of great information.
I think, more importantly, that a red herring has to be more than a trick of the trade. We're not just mystery writers, we're storytellers. And in a good story, nothing is wasted and everything is relevant.
So above all, a red herring must pay off. It must lead to good information for the detective, and the reader. For one thing, the reader will not feel that her time has been wasted when she finds out the truth. For another, it gives the reader respect for the detective, if the detective overcomes both the lure and the failure of a red herring, and wrestles a triumph out of it.
So the fact that the butler was behaving so suspiciously only because he was having a fling with the daughter of the house must lead to the revelation that the daughter, on her way to the assignation, saw a blue car pull away from the grange an hour earlier than anyone knew. And it may also cause some other alibi to crumble, or reveal a motive.
This is basic stuff, but it can be easy to forget or overlook when you are wrestling with all the layers and complications of a good whodunnit. Red Herrings are not just distractions, they are pieces of the puzzle.
In the meantime today was a really hellish day at the day job, and my favorite Cantonese restaurant would not answer the phone, so I didn't get to have any Three Cup Chicken as reward. I consoled myself with a bag of potato chips, a container of sour cream and a bag of double-chocolate Milano cookies, and watched Chuck on Hulu with my cats.
I think, though, that I shall take tomorrow off from blogging. (Unless I come up with some really interesting thing to say.)
eBook Experiment Update
I know I promised more writing theory posts, but I'm tired, and I got my "Ice House" video from England, and I spent the evening watching it.
It was good, but as with any adaptation, some things felt rushed, and others left open to interpretation. (Like in one scene, when McLoughlin insists that Catrell really is a lesbian when another cop says he has discovered that she actually sleeps around with lots of men -- is he defending her reputation? I swear he is, even though he pretends he still being a bigot.) I need to read the book before I can really comment I think.
In the meantime, I'll update you on the eBook Experiment.
The Wife of Freedom is now selling several copies a day. I don't have exact figures because Amazon put the April figures in limbo when it became May, and I'm told that they will reappear in the archive data in a few days. But I can say it's Amazon ranking these past few days beats every Agatha Christie novel I've looked at this week. And most of Donald Westlake, and the backlist of some of my favorite current authors like Archer Mayor and even Robert Crais. Yeah, those are all backlist but... Wow!
Of course, it's also priced much lower, and still has zero reviews or ratings.
The Adventure of Anna the Great has sold a few copies, like WoF did at first. I have done even less to promote it, although I'll fix that later.
I am considering putting my Mick and Casey mysteries up - even the novel. I was going to save all real mysteries for marketing in traditional publishing, but the more I see going on, the more concerned I am that things are changing too fast. I don't want to sign any first contract in this climate. Not until standards for erights and prices shake out. I don't think that will be long, but it makes me hesitate.
I'm wondering if Mick and Casey might serve not only as something that seems really suited for the current ebook market, but also as a better test than the scattershot books I have been putting up.
I figure that it would be good to have some real healthy experimentation under my belt going into any negotiations I might have when I market The Man Who Did Too Much.
It was good, but as with any adaptation, some things felt rushed, and others left open to interpretation. (Like in one scene, when McLoughlin insists that Catrell really is a lesbian when another cop says he has discovered that she actually sleeps around with lots of men -- is he defending her reputation? I swear he is, even though he pretends he still being a bigot.) I need to read the book before I can really comment I think.
In the meantime, I'll update you on the eBook Experiment.
The Wife of Freedom is now selling several copies a day. I don't have exact figures because Amazon put the April figures in limbo when it became May, and I'm told that they will reappear in the archive data in a few days. But I can say it's Amazon ranking these past few days beats every Agatha Christie novel I've looked at this week. And most of Donald Westlake, and the backlist of some of my favorite current authors like Archer Mayor and even Robert Crais. Yeah, those are all backlist but... Wow!
Of course, it's also priced much lower, and still has zero reviews or ratings.
The Adventure of Anna the Great has sold a few copies, like WoF did at first. I have done even less to promote it, although I'll fix that later.
I am considering putting my Mick and Casey mysteries up - even the novel. I was going to save all real mysteries for marketing in traditional publishing, but the more I see going on, the more concerned I am that things are changing too fast. I don't want to sign any first contract in this climate. Not until standards for erights and prices shake out. I don't think that will be long, but it makes me hesitate.
I'm wondering if Mick and Casey might serve not only as something that seems really suited for the current ebook market, but also as a better test than the scattershot books I have been putting up.
I figure that it would be good to have some real healthy experimentation under my belt going into any negotiations I might have when I market The Man Who Did Too Much.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Attempting a "Blog Hop"
I don't usually participate in internet memes and things like that. (For instance, anything that smells like a chain letter I won't do. I don't like "pass it on" pressures.) But a Blog Hop sounds interesting, if I understand it correctly. Basically it's an "opt-in" blogroll that appears on any site that carries the code.
However, I'm not sure I've got this right, so if a list of blogs doesn't appear below this text, I screwed up.
(Edit: Ah! I understood the blog hop itself okay, but I misunderstood the point of THIS blog hop - which was for people who participated in a blogging challenge last month called "Blogging A to Z". I will leave it up for now, though, because it was an interesting challenge, and might be of interest to my readers.)
However, I'm not sure I've got this right, so if a list of blogs doesn't appear below this text, I screwed up.
(Edit: Ah! I understood the blog hop itself okay, but I misunderstood the point of THIS blog hop - which was for people who participated in a blogging challenge last month called "Blogging A to Z". I will leave it up for now, though, because it was an interesting challenge, and might be of interest to my readers.)
Know When You're Not Needed
There's a really great business productivity book that I just love. It's called "Cut To The Chase" by Stuart R. Levine, and it's a collection of 101 essays - each about two pages long - about how you can streamline your work and processes in business. While a lot of the essays are really specific to managers, I find that somehow they all can relate, at least on a metaphorical level, to the writing life. I use it like the I Ching - I'll open it to a random page and read the essay of the day as a bit of wisdom to ponder.
Today's essay was "Know When You're Not Needed." It was about letting your employees handle things on their own and not obsessively attending all their preparation meetings and such. But when I take it back to the essence, it actually was pretty timely for me. Here's why:
I am seriously tired tonight. Partly because the Day Job is rising to a crescendo, and partly because I've been on a creative binge. And partly because I've been trying to turn this week into a mental vacation by reading and schmoozing on a lot of blogs and forums.
Silly me.
I am tired, and I am now part of a thousand cool conversations I'll never keep up with. That didn't quite work the way I planned.
Of course it's never a waste to wear yourself out running around the internet and schmoozing, because it's good for promotion and networking. And golly I did have a sudden burst of sales on one of my ebooks, and a few more subscribers and followers here and there.
But would it have been worth doing specifically for promotion? No. The return on investment here is pretty low. But that's to be expected. That's how networking works. It's not so much an effort in, progress out kind of expense. It's more like overhead. Or dues. You have to put the time in, and it's really great if you enjoy it, but you've also got to keep a handle on it because it's non-productive, and it's never ending. It's a great time and energy sink.
Furthermore, though I'm pretty sure the new subscribers are due to my running around and making new friends, I'm positive that the burst of ebook sales is not. Not directly.
The reason the ebook started selling was because it was listed on a blog as a 99 cent special. Now, how it got on that blog could be due to all my networking, but I think it really got there because earlier I had announced it as a 1.99 special on a forum announcement topic. And the owner of that topic saw the price change on her own and moved it to the cheaper list, which was then perused by the blog owner. It all came from one effort on my part.
So all that busy-ness was not really needed to have the success I had this week. All I needed was the right effort in the right place. No need to kill myself trying to put more effort in to get more results out.
At the same time, it is worth putting in that schmoozing effort in general. I learned about the forum from schmoozing on the Amazon discussion groups, and I learned about the bargain book list from schmoozing on the forum itself. You do need to put in some of that background effort. It's just not necessary in a specific "to do list" kind of way.
So generally you are not needed in schmoozing circles. Where you are needed is at your keyboard, producing good writing, and working on necessary promotional items, such as your pitch. Don't let useful things wear you out and take time away from the really necessary things.
Today's essay was "Know When You're Not Needed." It was about letting your employees handle things on their own and not obsessively attending all their preparation meetings and such. But when I take it back to the essence, it actually was pretty timely for me. Here's why:
I am seriously tired tonight. Partly because the Day Job is rising to a crescendo, and partly because I've been on a creative binge. And partly because I've been trying to turn this week into a mental vacation by reading and schmoozing on a lot of blogs and forums.
Silly me.
I am tired, and I am now part of a thousand cool conversations I'll never keep up with. That didn't quite work the way I planned.
Of course it's never a waste to wear yourself out running around the internet and schmoozing, because it's good for promotion and networking. And golly I did have a sudden burst of sales on one of my ebooks, and a few more subscribers and followers here and there.
But would it have been worth doing specifically for promotion? No. The return on investment here is pretty low. But that's to be expected. That's how networking works. It's not so much an effort in, progress out kind of expense. It's more like overhead. Or dues. You have to put the time in, and it's really great if you enjoy it, but you've also got to keep a handle on it because it's non-productive, and it's never ending. It's a great time and energy sink.
Furthermore, though I'm pretty sure the new subscribers are due to my running around and making new friends, I'm positive that the burst of ebook sales is not. Not directly.
The reason the ebook started selling was because it was listed on a blog as a 99 cent special. Now, how it got on that blog could be due to all my networking, but I think it really got there because earlier I had announced it as a 1.99 special on a forum announcement topic. And the owner of that topic saw the price change on her own and moved it to the cheaper list, which was then perused by the blog owner. It all came from one effort on my part.
So all that busy-ness was not really needed to have the success I had this week. All I needed was the right effort in the right place. No need to kill myself trying to put more effort in to get more results out.
At the same time, it is worth putting in that schmoozing effort in general. I learned about the forum from schmoozing on the Amazon discussion groups, and I learned about the bargain book list from schmoozing on the forum itself. You do need to put in some of that background effort. It's just not necessary in a specific "to do list" kind of way.
So generally you are not needed in schmoozing circles. Where you are needed is at your keyboard, producing good writing, and working on necessary promotional items, such as your pitch. Don't let useful things wear you out and take time away from the really necessary things.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Next Dare and the First Chapter
I'll be starting the run to finish/rewrite the work-in-progress next weekend. However, it's really catching fire right now, and I'm itching to go.
It's the last week of the semester now, and I just won't have time to do what I want, but I figure I'll create a seven-day Prep Dare to get me ready. The goals will be to get down good notes on all the ideas popping up in my brain, as well as to read the existing material. Maybe scribble some scene snippets.
And to get the ball rolling, you can Click Here to Read The First Chapter of The Man Who Did Too Much.
I could use some cheerleaders. And though comments are always nice, you don't even need to comment to cheer me on. Thanks to modern hit counters, I KNOW when you silent little elves are visiting.
In the meantime, more theory posts coming up, like the difference between various mystery and crime genres, and applying some business productivity tips to writing. Also definitions of various kinds of critique.
It's the last week of the semester now, and I just won't have time to do what I want, but I figure I'll create a seven-day Prep Dare to get me ready. The goals will be to get down good notes on all the ideas popping up in my brain, as well as to read the existing material. Maybe scribble some scene snippets.
And to get the ball rolling, you can Click Here to Read The First Chapter of The Man Who Did Too Much.
I could use some cheerleaders. And though comments are always nice, you don't even need to comment to cheer me on. Thanks to modern hit counters, I KNOW when you silent little elves are visiting.
In the meantime, more theory posts coming up, like the difference between various mystery and crime genres, and applying some business productivity tips to writing. Also definitions of various kinds of critique.
A Good Alpha Reader Should Be Prized Above Cookies
Yesterday I mentioned my Alpha Reader, and how we disagreed on the interpretation of the end of that video clip I analyzed on Tuesday. Our tastes don't jive one hundred percent. Maybe seventy-five percent and the rest of the time, we're at ninety-degree angles.
And this is part of why she is such a great Alpha Reader. She can see and understand what I'm trying to do, but she also comes at it from a different angle so she can show me things I can't see.
We've known each other online for about twenty years (met on the old GEnie network) and have never met in person. I think I posted something about Rupert of Hentzau, the sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda, and she replied "I cried my eyes out over Rupert of Hentzau!" and we were fast friends. She's an experienced and generous writer, who mentors dozens of others while struggling to keep at her own work and look after her family.
She's so busy, but she has never once begged off reading something of mine. She's always been a cheerleader, and if necessary a nudge. And what's really cool is that she can set me back on the right track without reading much of the work at all. A lot of the time I just post a snippet on a forum where we both are members, and she finds it and gives me exactly the direction I need.
Often she will just say "looks like you nailed it" or something like that, but many conversations between me and the Alpha Reader go thusly:
AR: Good pace, I think you're close, but I just didn't like the part about the fish.
Me: The fish? But that part's the whole reason I'm writing this! I mean, everything else is just an excuse to write the fish part.
AR: I'm sure it's just me.
Me: (pondering in concern) Hmm. I wonder. Are you a fan of Great Fish Bestseller? Or Fishy Tales Sitcom?
AR: Oh, no. The book jacket turned me off on Great Fish Bestseller, and I just couldn't get into Fishy Tales.
Me: Then that's probably it. I love both of those, and I know you don't like things so scaley. Not that this is scaly, but I suppose it is underneath.
AR: See, it is just me! ... But you know, it would probably work for me if it was a Dolphin.
Me: You know, I like dophins, but I just couldn't make it work. Dophins breathe air, and I can't find a way to get air into the scene without throwing it off.... Maybe I'll just rearrange the whole book in this other way so that the fish shows up later and has more context.
AR: That sounds great.
Me: (after some cogitating) You know what would really work? A porpoise! It's actually perfect. Much better than a fish. It has all of these things that fit my theme and tone, especially the need for air!
AR: (with no hint of sarcasm) That's brilliant! I never would have thought of that!
Okay, this doesn't just happen sometimes, it happens, like, every time. I should learn.
To find a really good alpha reader like this takes time and patience. You need someone who knows more than you do, at least about your biggest blind spots, but you also need someone who knows you and your goals - who trusts that maybe you DO want the fish. And of course, they probably need to be a fellow writer, who understands that fragile "early draft" time when you hadn't quite got your vision fixed down, and can be easily thrown off.
The only way you are going to find such a person is by exchanging manuscripts with a lot of beta readers. After a while, you find you build the relationship you need with some of them, and you can get useful info out of fragments and bouncing ideas off them.
And this is part of why she is such a great Alpha Reader. She can see and understand what I'm trying to do, but she also comes at it from a different angle so she can show me things I can't see.
We've known each other online for about twenty years (met on the old GEnie network) and have never met in person. I think I posted something about Rupert of Hentzau, the sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda, and she replied "I cried my eyes out over Rupert of Hentzau!" and we were fast friends. She's an experienced and generous writer, who mentors dozens of others while struggling to keep at her own work and look after her family.
She's so busy, but she has never once begged off reading something of mine. She's always been a cheerleader, and if necessary a nudge. And what's really cool is that she can set me back on the right track without reading much of the work at all. A lot of the time I just post a snippet on a forum where we both are members, and she finds it and gives me exactly the direction I need.
Often she will just say "looks like you nailed it" or something like that, but many conversations between me and the Alpha Reader go thusly:
AR: Good pace, I think you're close, but I just didn't like the part about the fish.
Me: The fish? But that part's the whole reason I'm writing this! I mean, everything else is just an excuse to write the fish part.
AR: I'm sure it's just me.
Me: (pondering in concern) Hmm. I wonder. Are you a fan of Great Fish Bestseller? Or Fishy Tales Sitcom?
AR: Oh, no. The book jacket turned me off on Great Fish Bestseller, and I just couldn't get into Fishy Tales.
Me: Then that's probably it. I love both of those, and I know you don't like things so scaley. Not that this is scaly, but I suppose it is underneath.
AR: See, it is just me! ... But you know, it would probably work for me if it was a Dolphin.
Me: You know, I like dophins, but I just couldn't make it work. Dophins breathe air, and I can't find a way to get air into the scene without throwing it off.... Maybe I'll just rearrange the whole book in this other way so that the fish shows up later and has more context.
AR: That sounds great.
Me: (after some cogitating) You know what would really work? A porpoise! It's actually perfect. Much better than a fish. It has all of these things that fit my theme and tone, especially the need for air!
AR: (with no hint of sarcasm) That's brilliant! I never would have thought of that!
Okay, this doesn't just happen sometimes, it happens, like, every time. I should learn.
To find a really good alpha reader like this takes time and patience. You need someone who knows more than you do, at least about your biggest blind spots, but you also need someone who knows you and your goals - who trusts that maybe you DO want the fish. And of course, they probably need to be a fellow writer, who understands that fragile "early draft" time when you hadn't quite got your vision fixed down, and can be easily thrown off.
The only way you are going to find such a person is by exchanging manuscripts with a lot of beta readers. After a while, you find you build the relationship you need with some of them, and you can get useful info out of fragments and bouncing ideas off them.
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