Gotta stop building a watch

Years ago, while I was working as a reporter at United Press International, a fellow reporter jokingly said whenever someone asks me the time, I tell them how to build a watch. I tell people more than they need to know.

I have always thought that was funny, though I have to admit he was right to some degree.

I got the same sort of comment last Saturday at my writing critique group. There are times when I just write too much. I take two paragraphs to say what I should say in one sentence. (A long sentence, I asked. No, was the reply.)

Sherita Campbell, a wonderful and funny little woman who would read Tarot cards for me if I'd let her, said I would increase the tension in my writing if sometimes I just got straight to the point by saying, "I walked in the room. There was a blond. I shot her."

I laughed -- it really is funny, don't you think? -- but I have also been trying to take it to heart. (Can't tell by this posting, though.)

Instead of telling someone how to build a watch, I will get to the point! -- and shoot someone.

Thanks, Steve Morgan (wherever you are) and Sherita Campbell.

I'm confused

I have been away and have been busy in the last week, which is why I haven't posted for a while. And in the last week I have also been doing some soul-searching regarding my career.

No, I don't doubt my decision regarding the pursuit of a fiction writing career. But I have been thinking about the execution.

I don't believe a person needs a fine arts undergrad or post-graduate degree to be a good writer. But I also don't approach my writing with the same technical understanding of the craft as someone with a BFA. I don't approach a story thinking about the technical aspects, such as how to raise the personal stakes for my protagonist or with how to create tension.

I don't contemplate how I create conflict and with whether there is enough conflict for the main character to overcome.

I just write. And when I finish, I look at it and re-write it and re-write it until it feels right to me. (Or I get totally tired of it.)

Writing is hard and involves a lot of effort. That effort is quite personal to me. But I don't feel that someone reading my fiction is somehow peering through a looking glass into the deepest reaches of my soul. I don't feel vested in my stories in that way. They are fiction. They are make-believe. I am real. And I am somewhat removed from my fiction as a result.

I love some of my characters. I hate some of my characters. Actually, some of my characters are me. But they are fictionalized accounts of me -- vested with my best traits or the best of characteristics that I wished I had. And again, they are not me.

Perhaps it is because of my lack in introspection and knowledge of the technical aspects of the craft that is standing in the way of my career advancing. Perhaps that is why I don't have an agent -- the partials display my imperfections for all to see.

I don't know. And because I don't know, I have no idea how to proceed. What do I do? What must I do to improve?

I am not so discouraged as I am at a loss. I am confused. I don't know what to do next. I just know I have to keep trying.

And so I will.

And so should you.

In support of NaNoWriMo

NOTE: I started writing this on Friday, June 11, and didn't finish until Monday, June 14. mbd

There are loads and loads of websites and blogs to read to keep up on the publishing industry and one of my favs is Nathan Bransford's blog. He seems totally plugged into and is knowledgeable about the industry, plus he is insightful, opinionated and straight-forward. I don't always agree with him but he does make me think.

I occasionally post a comment but since I can't get to his blog everyday the comments I post are generally several days after his initial posting. By the time I get around to commenting there are generally 130 comments ahead of me. So often I think, What's the point?

Occasionally I have the time to read more than a handful of comments posted in his blog and one last week particularly pissed me off.

Bransford's posting was about rejections and how difficult it is sending them. A reader comment near the bottom took a swipe at National Novel Writing Month.

The commentator implied that, when querying agents, those who participated in NaNoWriMo just sent raw first-draft material in hopes of attracting a potential agent. And he implied that since NaNoWriMo first drafts were so raw, those taking part would have done themselves better if they had taken more time to write in the first place.

That is utter BS.

First, I met a lot of people last November during NaNoWriMo, both in person and online, and without exception they knew what they were writing was only a draft and that it would need many more drafts and much more polish before they could think of submitting it to anyone.

Second, a first draft is a first draft regardless of how long it takes to write it. My first draft of FIGHTING CHAOS, which took me 20 years to write, isn't as good as the first draft of AN UNTIDY AFFAIR, which took less than 20 days. The difference was a function of my growth as a writer not a result of the time it took to write. And in both cases, they were first drafts and far from being ready to show anyone, even my family.

NaNoWriMo does two things great. It encourages people to write and gives them the freedom to do it, and it connects writers with other writers doing the same thing. There is encouragement and support, and a kind of fellowship that spurs you on to achieve your writing goals.

It's too bad that not everyone understands that. If they did, perhaps, just perhaps, they would be a little less judgmental.

Tomorrow, I will try to post something about last Saturday's book signing, and include some pictures. Until then, thanks for reading and keep writing.

The last book I read

Reading is essential for a good writer. You can get into the book and escape into the story, which is what I love most, or you can study a book for its craft -- style, setting, pace, dialogue, you name it. While I do both, I prefer to get into a book and escape into reading it without much thought of anything else.

So, what was the last book I read? THE LOST SYMBOL by Dan Brown. I bought the book when it first came out but couldn't get into it. It didn't grab me at first. But I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago and charged through it. It's well-researched -- Brown is known for that -- and well-written. Oddly, the thing that struck me the most was the shortness of his chapters -- an average of about three or four pages. Some are as short as one page. That means his 500-page novel has about 130 chapters.

The next two books I plan to read are THE SWAN THIEVES by Elizabeth Kostova and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson. This is Kostova's second novel and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And I was suppose to read DRAGON TATTOO in a reading group earlier this year but never got to it.

The funniest book I have ever read was WITHOUT FEATHERS By Woody Allen. What can I say? It's classic Woody Allen. I read it decades ago and it still makes me laugh out loud.

My favorite series are the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, and Harry Potter by, well, you already know that. Evanovich's writing inspired me to write my last novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR, in first-person. In fact, a lot of the style of the novel was inspired by Evanovich. I tried to keep it light and funny, but moving quickly and with escalating tension.

As for Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling created a wonderful world of magical creatures and with a escalating sense of danger with each new book. I do think the books tended to get bloated further along -- Books five and six, in particular -- but the continuing story of Potter and his friends is compelling.

(This spring I tried to read the Twilight series and just couldn't. I guess I will have to try the films.)

While I like to read merely for the escapist enjoyment, one of my favorite novels is THE TEARS OF AUTUUM by Charles McCarry. It is a book that got me thinking. It's about the assassination of President Kennedy and who was behind it. While I believe Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy, if there was a conspiracy, our racial and ethnic prejudices would never allow us to seriously consider the villains in the book as the ones responsible for one of the worse crimes in American history. And because of that, if they did do it, they would get away with it.

It's a great theory.

So, there is some of what I have been reading or have read, and why. If you'd like, tell me what you think.

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

A Mister Sister

I am a Mister Sister, and I'm proud of it!

In the last Sisters in Crime newsletter I got several weeks ago, there was a wonderful article called, Brothers in Crime, which focused on SinC members like me -- men in Sisters in Crime.

The goal of SinC has been the same since the beginning in 1987; working to achieve equality for women writers in the publishing industry, particularly in the crime genre. But, as the article written by SinC chapter liaison Sandra Parshall states, that doesn't mean the organization wants to take away anything from male writers. In fact, men have been part of SinC since the beginning. SinC is supportive of all writers, regardless of gender.

I joined Sisters in Crime specifically because of two male members in the Speed City chapter, Tony Perona and Jim Huang. As Jim says, SinC programs are supportive and inclusive of everyone. SinC is positive and upbeat. And I see that in every chapter meeting. I don't feel out of place though often there are only one or two men in attendance.

The Speed City chapter of SinC has three dozen members and six are men. That's not a bad percentage. In fact, I think it is slightly higher than the national, where male membership is around 12 percent to 14 percent. I am the only male officer of our chapter, where I have served for two years as secretary, but I truly believe I have benefited from membership far more than I have contributed.

I joined SinC in 2008 after writing my first novel, FIGHTING CHAOS. (Note, the title of my blog stems from the title of the book.) No one in the group has read Chaos. But members have read and commented on subsequent work and I can say without fear of contradiction that my writing has improved tremendously as a result.

All the stories in BEDLAM AT THE BRICKYARD are written by local members of Sisters in Crime, and three of the 15 stories are by men. That also isn't a bad percentage. David Reddick wrote two, including one under the pseudonym Joan Bruce, and I wrote one. So this Saturday Dave and I will proudly display our Mister Sister status.


Dave and I, all the other BEDLAM authors and all the local members of SinC want to invite you to come to the BEDLAM launch and book signing on Saturday, June 12, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Carmel. (There will be refreshments.) Pick up a book and read some of the wonderful stories by wonderful local writers. I look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

I couldn't see

I am generally very careful about my reading glasses -- when I carry them out of the house, where I take them, when I wear them and where I put them down. And the reason is simple. They are the only pair I have. Since I started wearing reading glasses more than a decade ago, this is my favorite pair.

When I moved back to the Midwest from Philadelphia in January 2002, it was in the middle of the school year and we had not sold our house. So it was months before the family -- wife and daughters -- moved here. During that time, my oldest daughter was reading Harry Potter. I wasn't into Potter (though I certainly am now) but I promised to read the books and we'd talk about them on the phone in the evenings.

One week after I got here, I accidentally stepped on my eyeglasses which had fallen out of my shirt pocket. Given that I was an editor and needed them to read, I went to an eye doctor the next day. The frames I loved best happened to be Harry Potter frames. I considered not getting them but I did love the glasses.

I have used the same frames for the last eight years.

Last week at a black journalist meeting I left my eyes on the conference room table at the television station where we were meeting. I didn't notice it until later that evening when I got home. But it meant when I was writing on Friday, I had to increase the print size on my computer screen to 125 percent of normal. Otherwise, I'd have a hard time seeing.

Seeing what you are writing is an important aspect of writing and one that I suggest all writers accomplish. And I know this is a pretty weak blog posting. I had intended to blog about the word choices on Friday but I had a hard time seeing. So today I decided on a little whimsy.

Sue it!

But in the meantime, have a nice day. Thanks for reading and get back to writing.

Finding the time

A lot of people ask me how I find the time to write. The answer is quite simple -- I make the time. You really don't have any other choice but to make the time.

I read somewhere that some 85 percent of the people in the United States at some point think they want to write a book, but only about 5 percent or 6 percent do. What about that other roughly 80 percent?

A lot of it boils down to two things -- discipline and hard work. Either you have the discipline to write a book or you don't. And either you are willing to put in the hard work or you are not. To me, it's really that simple.

I admit the discipline can be developed, as can the capacity or willingness to do the hard work. But those issues are not what I want to focus on now. It is time.

I hear people all the time say they don't have the time to write but I really think it is probably more a question of the discipline and willingness to do the hard work. They say if they only had the time to write they would. But, short of some emergency in their lives, they probably have the time somewhere but don't think feel that writing is worth the effort to have the time.

Once you are in college, you will probably rarely have a block of time to write -- and I'm saying days and weeks here -- unless you make the time somewhere. You are always busy with other time-consuming aspects of life.

I have found that most non-writing friends and family members are totally supportive of someone's desire a write. They are almost totally supportive and encouraging. That is until someone's efforts at writing inconveniences friends and family to even the slightlest degree. Then the writer is on their own.

The point is that as a writer, particularly a novice writer, you have to determine the time when you are going to work. Few people will see your writing as important as you will. And thus they will never grant you the time to write if you request it. You have to make that decision and have the discipline to stick to it.

It is the first step in getting the work done.

Now what you do after the book is done is another issue entirely. We can get to that later.

For now, thanks for reading and keep writing.