The love of books

I was in the mall yesterday and a local book collector was among a series of vendors set up in the common area outside of Macys. I was going to Macys -- I needed a new belt -- and I wandered through the bookseller's area for a few minutes that lasted far longer than I originally intended.

It was because I love books, and old books in particular. There is something about having a book in you hands that is comforting and relaxing. Although I do enjoy audio books -- a fact that I would have denied a decade ago -- there is nothing better than having it in your hands. Even with technology, having a virtual library in my hands, such as a Kindle, would not be the same as holding an actual book.

For $7, I bought an original copy of William L. Shirer's book, BERLIN DIARY: THE JOURNAL OF A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, 1934-1941. (The seven bucks was four dollars more than the original sale price of three dollars back in 1941 when it was published.) The book is wonderful, giving a day-by-day account of the changing events in Europe leading up to and just after the Second World War. Having majored in 20th Century European history in college, I love that stuff.

(And for those stupid enough to doubt the Nazis' systematic oppression, torture and murder of Jews, Shirer's third diary entry dated September 2, 1934, mentions someone showing him around Berlin and he writes, "Coming back, he pointed out a building where a year ago for days on end, he said, you could hear the yells of the Jews being tortured." That was only 18 months after Hitler took office and five years before the war. Even with poor intelligence, the Western powers had to have known about some of what the Nazis were doing to Jews, in particular, and other social, political and religious victims, in general.)

Though not on a par with sex, reading a good book can be as satisfying as getting a good night's sleep. But with the world changing so quickly because of the Internet, I wonder whether future generations will enjoy books in the same way I do. Yes, the information will still be there. But I fear what will be lost is the feel of it in the hand.

It makes me sad but I guess that's progress.

Thanks for reading me today. Go out and buy a good book. And don't give up on writing.

Going back into past material

I’m doing something I generally don’t like to do. Instead of just writing straight through to the end, then going back to make major changes in the text, I decided this week to go back to strengthen and braid more elements into the sub-plot in parts of the story already completed.

What works in terms of writing, re-writing and editing varies from writer to writer. Generally for me, going back into previously written material, particularly for major changes, is to be avoided. It serves as an excuse for not writing ahead and thus finishing the work. So what I do is make notes of changes I want and then refer to those notes when I start writing.

In both FIGHTING CHAOS and DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL I made one big exception to the don’t-go-back rule. Before the halfway point in both those novels, I suddenly visualized the final scene in the books. Being pressed from inside my head, I jumped to the end and wrote the endings. Then I went back to where I was earlier in the book and continued writing until the beginning met up with the end.

That hasn’t happened yet in THE DEATH OF ART. I haven’t imagined the specific ending, although I am halfway through the novel. But I came to see that certain conflicts that will have to be resolved later are not being fully developed. So I jumped back to flesh out some earlier material.

The good part is that it has been exciting to revisit material I wrote months ago. And it helped to remind me why I liked it to begin with. I changed the name of a character whom I killed off and the name of a character who is going to meet a violent end later. But I want to finish back material as quickly as possible so as not to be bogged down in the earlier parts of the novel.

I will also admit that I am impatient for the ending. Various unfocused thoughts have been swirling around in my head for months but nothing has crystallized. Being only halfway, however, I still have plenty of time. I just don’t want to arrive at the ending and not have thought of one.

So that’s where I am at the moment. Still plugging along. And you should too.

Thanks for reading and get back to work.

First things first

While reading the current issue of Writer’s Digest, I was reminded of one of the most basic facts of life -- First things first. It is a simple concept and yet people in all sorts of situations get it wrong, writers included. (Not me, of course!)

And that is undoubtedly why Jerry D. Simmons brought it up in his WD article, “Your Step-by-step Guide to the Publishing Process.” What he was talking about was researching the publishing market by regularly going to the bookstore and browsing the aisles. As he says, “bookstores are laboratories for marketing and selling books.”

The closest large bookstore to my home is a Borders situated at the entrance of one of the largest malls in the city where I live. It is big and roomy, and with a number of comfortable places to sit and read quietly. But as an aspiring author, its size and diversity of offerings appeal to me less than a much, much smaller mystery bookstore about 20 minutes from home.

The owner of the mystery bookstore knows all about the market for mystery books because it is his bread and butter. Browsing his shelves and talking to him gives me a much better understanding of the market than visiting my local Borders or Barnes and Noble. Don’t get me wrong, I go to those other stores and check out the displays, and note how many books of a certain title are available and how they are placed.

But visiting the smaller store helps me better understand where my book would appear on a bookshelf, whether of a larger retailer or a smaller one. Since publishing is a business and the marketing of a book falls heavily on the author, you have to know your demographic.

I don’t think I impress potential agents enough of my knowledge of the market and where I fit in it. Informing an agent of my understanding of the market will be a major goal as I move forward.

If I am doing first things first and want to stand out from the crowd, I have to let someone know it.

Thanks for reading and don’t give up on writing.

Short stories

I was reading a newsletter from Sisters in Crime and near the end of one article the author mentioned something that Ray Bradbury sometimes recommended -- writing a short story once a week for a year. Now for me, that is one heck of a goal.

As a freelance journalist, I write for a living and thus I write a lot. But that isn't writing fiction. I don't make up what I write. I just report what I know and write it.

So, writing 52 short stories in a year would be nearly as hard for me as it would be for someone new to writing. I would have an advantage because I'd already have the discipline of sitting down in front of a computer regularly and typing. But that's probably it. The mindset is totally different.

But it is an intriguing challenge, and it's one I'm considering. The first thing I'd need to do is establish a set time each week to write a short story. Then, working in advance, I'd want to think of and partially develop five or six short stories before I'd start writing. But even then, after one or two dozn stories, I predict I would be working week to week for at least six months. That would be a long haul.

That having been said, it is a worthy goal consider. I can't do it now but perhaps by some time in the fall I can seriously consider it.

I will try to let you know.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

What's in a name, Part IV

I love Writer’s Digest, as you already know. Each issue is terrific and I always think it can’t be topped. Then the next issue arrives and it tops the previous one.

This latest issue is no different. The main articles are on Publishing 101: Your publishing survival guide. And while I will mine a number of topics from this issue for my blog in the coming days and weeks, what I am focusing on today is on Page. 44.

I have brought this subject up before, several times, in fact. And I have tried to rely on my best artistic judgment on what is fundamentally a marketing issue. It is the title of my book.

The No. 7 point of the WD article that starts on Page 42 is: Stake a claim on your title before “they” can get at it.

Back in late January in a fit of caution, I decided to change the name of my novel from DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL to A MURDEROUS DISPATCH. To accommodate the title, I even went back and changed the name of the newspaper in the novel from the Courier-Times to the Daily Dispatch. But the more I contemplate it, the more I believe the title change was wrong.

Patricia Holt, the writer of the WD article, stated upfront that “the title is your first opportunity to market the book . . . ” It can be risky and potentially controversial. But standing out is not a bad thing. Being timid is.

“If the title is so startling or catchy or provocative that it makes a person want to reach for the book and start reading, you have a beaut” of a title, Holt writes.

Jungle-bunny Journal does that. It pops. It stands out. It could be controversial but it is not a wallflower. It is not a title that will be ignored. So what does A MURDEROUS DISPATCH say? No much, other than the book is about a murder and the writer is redundant.

I still don’t know if, as a title, Jungle-bunny Journal will get me an agent or a publisher. I have no real evidence of it so far. But I have no evidence that Murderous Dispatch will either. So I’m going to do what I should have always been doing -- trusting my judgment.

I like DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL. I always have. So, I’m going back to that until some publisher or their marketing guru convinces me otherwise.

Thanks for reading. Trust your judgment and don’t give up on writing.

The Death of Art

I had intended that my current project, THE DEATH OF ART, be finished by the end of last month. I didn't make that deadline. At the moment, I am hoping to finish the first draft before heading for a vacation in five weeks. it will be close.

The novel is coming along well, however. I continue to discover things about my characters and about the story. Although at the moment I am in a slow period, both in the writing and in the story, the story itself is unfolding well. I am editing and re-writing more as I go along, a departure from the past. And that is one of the reasons I haven't finished yet. But I can't let that be an excuse.

Once I finish, however, I may change a major event of the story. In doing so will present a real surprise to the book but I'm not sure it will work. I won't know that until I get to the end and I try it. I am willing to do whatever is necessary to improve the book.

On the publishing front, I still don't have an agent for A MURDEROUS DISPATCH and I'm going to start directly querying a select number of publishers. And I may change the name back to DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL. I have a couple of publishers in name so I will have to decide something about the soon.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Making money on a book

So, I'm reading this book and it is one of the best books I have ever read. (Not really, but I like to say that.) I just discovered it. Actually, it was a gift from my sister-in-law. And it shows people can make money off of nearly any good idea.

It is by Christian Lander and it's called "Stuff White People Like." It's brilliant on several levels.

First and foremost, it is brilliant because it is funny and amusing and informative. There are some things black folks just can never understand about white folks. This examines that.

But secondly, the book fits a previously unknown market niche and thus Lander can make money on something as silly as "Stuff White People Like." I wish I had thought of it, although as a black person, I've been called a racist for writing it.

(Frankly, I don't think blacks can be racist but that is a discussion for some other blog. This blog is about writing.)

The book is just funny and enjoyable to read. And that, along with being informative, is what books should be about.

Another wonderful book I am reading is "As They See 'Em" by Bruce Weber.

Weber is a writer for the New York Times -- I think he is doing obits now -- and his book is a wonder tale about a virtually unthoughtabout aspect of the American pasttime -- baseball umpires. You hardly ever see or think of an ump until you disagree with them. They have no support among fans and little from baseball players, coaches and management. And yet, the game would be nearly impossible without them.

Over the weekend, I was watching two games and there were close calls in both. And in each call, the ump was right. They do their jobs and generally do them well. I plan to pay more attention to umps in the future.

Just like with Lander, Weber found a niche and wrote about it. The book is truly informative, full of terrific descriptive detail and handsome writing. It is an enjoyable breeze to read.

On NPR this afternoon, I heard part of an interview by the wonderful Philadelphia Daily News writer Dave Davies with the author of a new book on Sachel Paige. Dave, whom I knew in passing when I was back in Philly, was well-informed and asked all the right questions. The writer, who I think was named Larry Time (I will have to look that up) seemed to know the subject well, although there was a level of passion about Paige and the times in which he lived and played that I think the author didn't have. At least it seemed so. Perhaps if he were black he might have achieved that deeper passion. I don't know. But hopefully a thoughtful child -- not talking about either of mine, of course -- will give me the book for Father's Day.

That's it for now. Glad to be back. Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

I will update you on my novel in a later post.

In the meantime, don't give up on writing.