NaNoWriMo

Yes, I know it's half a year away and I need to finish THE DEATH OF ART first, I have already started some initial research for the novel I hope to write in November during National Novel Writing Month. (I think that's the correct title.) It's going to be an overcoming adversity tale involving a race car driver. So, it will be my first venture into general fiction.

Plus, while I was returning home yesterday from a brief vacation, I listened to the first book in the Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I love that series. It is wonderfully written, witty, fast-moving and descriptive. And, of course, it is in first-person.

So, again, I am toying with writing my November book in first-person. It is limiting, I think, but will allow me to explore my hero's interworkings more closely. Writing in first-person will definitely be outside my comfort zone but I'm not certain that is a good thing in this instance. I have six months to decide, however.

Anyway, racing. The driver will have a horrible accident near the beginning of the book and will have to fight to regain his confidence, both physically and mentally. That will be the challenge. That challenge will be the bad guy in the book. My hero will face stiff competition and challenges from people but his greatest challenge will be himself.

I have been reading up on racing and racing cars, which I already love, and have contacted a former driver I used to know who works for a racing team in town. I am hoping he will be able to provide me with a lot of the technical aspects of racing. The story won't be that technical, since it will be targeted to a general audience, but I will need to be solidly grounded with a technical understanding of racing, racing cars and racing drivers.

So that is my current plan for something to do in November. But it will depend on whether I finish DOA. I first need to concentrate on that.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Feeling good

I am having the most wonderful birthday today. I am visiting a friend -- it's Spring Break for my youngest and we are on a family trip -- and I am alone, sitting with my laptop and feeling energetic.

I am looking forward to the next group of scenes in my novel, THE DEATH OF ART, and can hardly wait to get at them. So good stuff is going on.

I have gotten tons of good wishes from friends, family and colleagues today. It's why I love birthdays. People make much of you and, if you are lucky, will leave you alone to do stuff you like. Like write.

It's a good day.

Now if I can only figure out how to kill a guy off without too many clues. Some small clues would be good, though.

As you can see, I am in a playful mood and have been plying around with the fonts. But enuf of that, I gotta get back to work.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy my birthday and don't give up on writing.

A fellowship

I shipped off an e-mail to an editor at a publishing house earlier this week. I know, I know. They don't accept such e-mails from unagented, unpublished authors like me. But what did it cost me? Nothing, except the hours I anxiously spent pouring over my synopsis, and the guilt I felt for snapping at my wife for changing part of one paragraph.

So, like I said, not much cost. (Crap! I should have bought some flowers earlier this week.)

But I sent the e-mail because I had a slight in with the editor, whom I have never met. Another editor suggested I write her. I did. And now I wait. It's been a couple of days but it's only an e-mail. How long should it take?

I was excited that first day, checking my return e-mails several times. Nothing. And then today I faced the stark reality of querying. I may never know. She may never reply. And that, in itself, will be the reply. Rejection via silence.

Gosh, I hate this.

Also on Monday, I mailed off an application for a two-day writer's fellowship in early May. It is sponsored by the Midwest Writers Workshop. I got the application post marked on March 23, which was the deadline. I hope I get the fellowship.

The application required a one-page synopsis of a work in progress, plus roughly 1,000 words from the WIP. Those chosen must bring 20 pages of their work in progress and a laptop computer to the workshop session.

Since I already have more than 100 pages done and would be nearing the end of my novel by early May, that shouldn't be a problem.

I think THE DEATH OF ART has a strong storyline and good characters, but getting some expert help, particularly before the first draft is completed, would be good.

I also have sent out two queries this week. No rejections, however. Yet. I sent out a slew of queries in early and mid-February. I think I have only heard from one of them. Should be getting about that time, however.

I know an author from an online forum who got three rejections yesterday, including one from a query he wrote nearly a year ago. And it was insulting. Rough day for him.

I'm going on vacation soon. And so, if i can find the peace and quiet, I might get some writing done. Bad thing is that I will miss my Sisters in Crime meeting and the meeting with the critque group. It will be the first meeting I have missed since joining in January of last year.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. And keep writing.

The passing of a writer, II

I had another topic in mind for today but I just heard, sadly, that a fellow writer died several days ago. Her name was Pamela B. Levinson.

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/41619432.html

I didn't personally know Pam. We met through a writing group online. But I found her to be funny, kind and loving. Her online comments showed a witty, likeable person who loved writing and who was open to providing suggestions and getting them.

We talked about where she lived in Villanova, which is on Philadelphia's Main Line, and Kensington, where she worked in the city. (It's funny, really. The Main Line is the location of one of my favorite films, A PHILADELPHIA STORY, with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and Kensington was the birth place of Dr. Albert Barnes, who is the subject of my current work-in-progress, THE DEATH OF ART.) Kensington and the Main Line can be as different as night and day. But she moved between both everyday.

She also moved between the analytical and the creative everyday, from the world of accounting, which her job required, to the creative, which her writing required.

Pam finished her first novel, IT'S ONLY WORDS. And though it is unpublished, portions of this wonderful piece can be found on CreateSpace.

She put a wonderful voice into the world. It is silent now. And it will be missed.

Thanks for reading. And like Pam Levinson, keep writing.

Another contest

Two years ago, I entered the annual writing competition sponsored by Writer's Digest, which, in my view, is one of the best magazines ever. After I updated it, I entered LOSS OF CONSORTIUM in the screenplay category. (CONSORTIUM is about a young woman who sues her husband's employer, which is a newspaper, for $50 million for the loss of conjugal rights.) It was a light romantic comedy. If ever produced, it would be good on Lifetime or another network marketed toward women.

I didn't win. However, I was awarded an honorable mention, which was better than I expected. I got a certificate.

CONSORTIUM was my first and only full-length screenplay.

I was in the middle of DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL, which, of course, is now titled A MURDEROUS DISPATCH, last year at this time and didn't have time to enter the competition. But I decided to enter this year, although I am hip deep in THE DEATH OF ART (DOA).

I thought of entering a short story I originally wrote a number of years ago about a young mother who needed a break from her busy life. And while I can't remember where I put the story, or the short-film screenplay adaptation I did of the story, I remember enough of the story to start it over again.

But then, just last night, I came up with another idea. There are 10 categories in the competition and I can enter more than one. But I would certainly enter the memoirs/personal essay category.

There are a number of short personal essays I have written over the years about events in my life, particularly those involving my daughters. (Meeting six-year-old Jessie and her mother years ago in a Barcelona market. Riding the rails overnight between Paris and Luxembourg. Ericka's first trip to the doctor. Going to JFK for George. THREE TIMES. Ericka and Michelle's first flight alone. My first trip to the drugstore to get "supplies" for one of my daughters.)

But the story I am leaning toward is an expanded version of something I blogged about this month. My first pitch session. While I have written about those other things, the pitch session, and the details surrounding it, are the freshest in my mind. Plus I enjoy the story. The ending wasn't exactly what I wanted but, at a time when I was having a major battle with despair, it was uplifting.

So that is my plan. I could change my mind. The deadline isn't for nearly two months. And I have that funny story about when Angela and I misplaced one of the children for about 15 seconds. But the pitch session, if rewritten well, should do well. At least, that is my hope.

Now I have to get back to DOA.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

I'm out

I'm out!

A little sad, of course, but today is another day to get on with it, to remember how I felt after my pitch session and to keep writing.

An early start to the day

I'm up early today. It's March 16, the day the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award quarterfinalists are announced. It's been six weeks since I enttered the contest and the same amount of time since I have heard anything official from the organizers.

I have generally been pretty calm about the whole affair. I check the discussion boards and often comment. Judging from those who have been through this before, having a visibility on the boards will come in handy later in the contest. Writers who know you through the various forum threads offer a lot of help and support in marketing you.

I didn't hang out in the forums all day yesterday, although I commented once or twice. What I did for most of the day was continue with my normal life. I wrote some good stuff for "The Death of Art" and hung out with family.

I went to bed as normal but didn't sleep well. I kept waking up thinking about ABNA and that the results were coming in. I finally got up at 5, partly because it was time for my daughter to leave with a friend on a Spring Break trip to Virginia and partly because I wanted to check on the contest.

At 5, it was March 16 across all of the continental United States. So if the organizers planned to release the list at midnight Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific time on the March 16, the time was past. But nothing.

I now realize I am quite anxious about the contest. I want to succeed but have absolutely no idea whether I will. I have seen a like of writing by authors that was better than I originally believed. And the requirements to get to the quarterfinals rest on two separate skills judged by two separate groups of people.

In addition, I have found errors in my excerpt and in my manuscript -- embarrassing errors that should hurt me some time or another.

So I wait. I'm not ready for the disappointment if I don't make it but it truly won't be the worst thing in the world. I have agents to query and more novels to write.

(I just kissed my daughter good-bye and had to stop her of leaving the house WITHOUT her coat and her purse, which has all her money in it. I love her but she really is clueless.)

Thanks for reading. I will probably post again some time later in the day.

And until then, keep writing.

Random thoughts, again

I went to a mini-conference this morning -- it was only three hours long -- and came away with a renewed commitment to my writing. I love getting together with other writers and aspiring writers and trading ideas and the like.

I went over to the ABNA threads this afternoon while taking a break from writing and was amazed at how nutty people are being. One poor woman is leaving the threads but she assumes another woman votes 'no' to each post of the first woman. (At the bottom of each post, there is a question, yes or no, as to whether the reader believes that post contributes to the discussion. I can't imagine why anyone who vote no because if you don't like what someone says, you can choose not to read it.) Plus there is incredible anxiety over Monday.

Monday is the day ABNA should announce the 500 or so quarterfinalists. People seem stressed out to the max.

In both cases, I think people should just chill. Writing is highly personal but it is not as personal as a person's life. It is writing. You do it because you love it, because it is a part of you but it isn't the total of you. At least it is not the total of me. And I want to advance in the contest. I truly do. But I'm not losing one moment's sleep about it now nor will I after Monday, regardless of the outcome. The contest does not define me or my writing. Regardless of what happens, I will still be querying agents and publishers, writing my next novel and preparing for the novel I hope to write in November.

Life goes on.

So, after I drop off my daughter, the cheerleader, for the final basketball game of the season, I am going to get back to work on "The Death of Art." I have plotted out a number of future scenes and will probably send some time outlining them so that I don't forget them.

That's it for now. Didn't have much to say but there it is.

Thanks for reading and, like me, get back to writing.

Establishing a brand

I generally try not to mention another person by name in my blog, mostly because I generally haven't run it past them in advance. But there are other reasons.

For example (and for obvious reasons), I tried hard in my post two days ago about my pitch session not to identify the editor. I didn't mention her name, give any description of her physical appearance or mention where she worked.

But this posting today is different. I am going to mention a name -- Jenn Stark.

I briefly met Jenn at a writers conference on Saturday. A writer herself, Jenn conducted one of the morning sessions, having us all fill out a questionnaire as the session went along.

Jenn is a wonderfully energetic woman, funny and engaging. She enters a room and gets your attention, even at a distance, although she is particularly captivating up close.

But what impressed me most about Jenn Stark is that she is passionate about one thing -- branding. For writers to become authors whose work separates them from others is through establishing their own brand.

A writer's brand must be short and resonate with the reader. When a reader sees it, they must immediately know who it is. On her website, which, by the way is, www.jennstark.com or www.knowyourbrand.com , you see her slogan is Dark, romantic, urban fantasy. It immediately describes the type of writing she does and identifies her.

She challenged us with, "If someone asked you 'So, what do you write?' RIGHT NOW. What would you say?"

The exercise helped me think about how to separate what I write from what others write and then to think about how to market that brand.

I haven't come up with a brand or a slogan yet -- something I can stick on pencils or pens -- but at least I am working on it.

Thanks, Jenn.

And thank you for reading and keep writing.

Pitch session -- Some good news, some bad news

I got up from the table at the conference luncheon Saturday at 12:30 and went outside. I was anxious -- nervous, really, to the point of shaking out of my skin. I had nearly 40 minutes before my session with the editor at a New York publishing house and I wanted to calm down, clear my head and focus. I walked out to the hotel parking lot and got into the front seat of my car.

By 1, I had gone over my synopsis again. I had totally reworked it again the night before, staying up until 3 a.m. I was tired when I went to bed and it showed because, OH MY GOSH!, with only minutes to go before my meeting I found a misspelling in the FIRST PARAGRAPH, another one on the last page and a dropped word on the final page. I debated whether to use a black pen to correct them or hope she wouldn't notice. I opted for the black pen. It might appear unprofessional but it was better than having her think I was stupid.

So, as I was walking back into the hotel, I didn't think things could be worse except that I had developed gas after lunch and felt like the Hindenburg. It was difficult to contemplate feeling less comfortable going into an important meeting.

At exactly 1:09, I sat down with a very pleasant woman who had a firm handshake. There was little chit-chat. I had only 10 minutes.

Instead of having me give her a one-minute oral pitch, which I expected and had practiced over and over again in the mirror, she wanted the synopsis first. She read it straightaway and she was reading closely.

The editor gave a short, pleasant grunt at the point in the synopsis where I reveal a surprise. And there was a larger grunt near the very end when I reveal another surprise. She read it all. Every word.

She looked up and I quickly realized I wouldn't have to give the oral. My written words would have to do the work.

The good news came first.

She liked it. The story was interesting and the writing -- at least in the synopsis -- was good, she said. She liked the main characters and loved that I included good secondary characters. The plot had twists and turns and the synopsis was fun to read.

She didn't offer a single negative comment. Not one.

But there was bad news.

She edits general fiction but, in this case, general fiction doesn't include mysteries. Her parent company has a couple of major suspense/thriller writers but she wasn't looking for mysteries. She suggested I contact an editor in another division who might be interested in my novel.

Time was up. Just before I rose, she asked to keep the synopsis, I gave her my card and I took one of hers. With one final handshake, it was over.

I left a little sad that she didn't ask for the complete manuscript but overall I was actually pleased with the outcome. She liked it. She seemed to understand the story. And -- for the first time, I felt -- someone in the publishing industry gave thoughtful consideration to my novel.

It was over and I calmly left, returning to another room to hear another speaker at the writers conference I was attending. I had moved only slightly on the road to becoming a published novelist but my ego was intact.

And, thankfully, my situation-induced gas was gone.

After weeks of fighting back despair and feeling hopeless and discouraged at times, I knew I had been given a fair shake. I wrote her a "thank you" e-mail Saturday night. And today, I am back at work.

There is another novel to write.

Thanks for reading and don't ever, ever give up writing.

Synopsis

I have my first pitch session with the editor of a major publishing house on Saturday and until today I wasn't particularly nervous or anxious about it. Now, I can barely hold myself together. I'm on pins and needles.

I wrote a synopsis for "A Murderous Dispatch," which is what I am pitching, and a fellow writer politely said it was a mess. Workable but a mess. It has all the elements there but it is slow. It doesn't impress as a piece of writing.

I believe i can correct that. I just have to remember what excites me about the story.

A fellow local SinC member said I should make it as good as I can but that the oral presentation is where I have to nail it. The editor won't have a lot of time to read the synopsis anyway.

So I feel caught and unprepared for perhaps the most important 10-minute meeting I have ever had as a writer, certainly as a fiction writer. What do I say to break out of the crowd? What will ring true to her? What is it about my story, my novel, that will resonate in her mind?

I don't have the exact answer to those questions. And I'm not sure I will ever have the answers. But I know the story, I have lived the story for more than a year. I feel passionate about it. It's a good read.

So I just need to relax, say what I know in a clear and concise way and leave her wanting more.

I can do that!

(Oh my gosh, I had better practice all day tomorrow!!!!!)

Thanks for reading. Wish me luck and don't give up on writing.