The Wizard of Seattle

This week I leave for the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference in Seattle. I've never been to Seattle, and as much as I would like to take in the city, I am going for a reason. I can feel the tornado churning as I type.

 It's been a while since I've been to a conference. My first time, I didn't have a completed manuscript and basically, I was there to learn a few things and be in awe of the 'real' writers that I was surrounded by.

This time is different. Not only do I have a completed manuscript, I have two, and one of them is a finalist for the PNWA literary contest in the category of historical fiction (GO RAGTOWN!). I also have an agent. In other words, this conference is not as much about fun for me as it is about work. This time, I am one of the 'real' writers, and I need to sell myself and hopefully, raise interest in one of my manuscripts.

So what does a good Kansas girl do when she needs to really work it? Channel the wonders of Oz, of course.

Regardless of my ability to seem like the Great and Powerful Oz at times, remember, behind that facade was a little old man who had no real powers at all. Sometimes, I do feel like a naive farm girl, whisked away by a tornado into a land of wonder, trusting the Good Witch (my agent) who tells me which road to take. Thanks to the many friends I've met along the way, I have the heart, the nerve and the brain to make this journey. I think I could take the Wicked Witch (it rains a lot in Seattle, so she probably won't show) but, there are those pesky

flying monkeys to worry about. And in the world of writing and publishing, I've discovered that those flying monkeys are everywhere.

I have no ruby slippers. Well, I do, but every time I wear them I end up in a cornfield in Kansas (we'll save that story for another day). What I do have is the street smarts and the experience of one who has ridden the Horse of Many Colors several times. I have the determination, the strength and the sweet disposition of a Kansas sunflower. I also have my Cowardly Lion doll that I will keep in my pocket, just in case I forget where I came from.

So wish me luck, say a prayer, send me the good juju. And if anyone knows how to defeat those flying monkeys (in an animal friendly way, of course) please, let me know.

Being a Good Literary Citizen

As a writer, I have discovered that writers like to hang out with other writers and writer types. Maybe we are all a bit insane, or maybe we just understand that certain something in each other that pulls us in to the field, but whatever it is, we find ourselves in a circle, a community I will call it, of like minded souls.

But being a part of a community assumes you are a citizen; and being a citizen means responsibility. Citizens support one another, they don't just take and take, they give as well. And that brings me to the point of this post: Being a Good Literary Citizen.

Publications, ratings, obvious site traffic are important to us. It gives us visibility, which in this new world of 'marketing yourself' is very important. Granted, I don't share or comment or tweet everything I see from those in my community because it would be overwhelming, but I do as much as possible, and hope when I need a little love, it will be returned.

Fictitious Mary is a member of my community. She shares and comments and tweets and rates and buys books from other members. She reviews, she shares, she gives the love. She is a good citizen.

Now let me tell you about fictitious Rudy. Rudy likes to hang in the community, but for years, Rudy hasn't shared, voted, commented-nothing on anyone else in the groups work. Now Rudy has a book out and is finally in a position where he needs a little extra help, too. Let's see, when I'm picking and choosing what to share, is it going to be a link to Rudy's debut novel or Mary's blog post about her cat?

Sorry, Rudy, kitties rule.

Of course, there is a lot more to being a good citizen than just the things mentioned above, but these are easy and take very little of your time.

    

In the past day, I've tweeted 5 blogs, rated and commented on three short stories, one book, two blog posts, shared three Facebook stories, 'liked' an author page and edited another short story--all for the members of my community. Aside from the editing, this took me less than five minutes of my day.

Why would I do this?

Because I am a member of a literary community and I take my responsibility as a citizen very seriously.  

So the BIG question is:

What kind of a literary citizen are you?

The Pitch

Recently, a lot of my friends have been trying to write the "perfect pitch". Good luck with that. I'm not saying there isn't value in a perfectly constructed mini-summary of your book. It has its place. However, I think the key to pitching is knowing your book well enough that you can gain enough interest in a very short period of time and then be able to expand without reciting a two page synopsis.

Huh? Okay, let's look at it this way. You have developed the "perfect" pitch that you can deliver in 30 seconds. That's wonderful. But what if you only have five seconds? Ten seconds? How are you going to adjust that perfect pitch you developed depending on the situation? Personally, I get extremely bored when I ask someone what their book is about and they launch into a formal pitch. I just want to know what it's about. That's all. But how do you do that?

You have to know your book, intimately, and know what there is about it that would spark an interest. Quickly.

I have several pitches for They Call Me Crazy. The formal pitch can be delivered in thirty seconds, and of course is for a more formal setting--an actual sit down opportunity to deliver it, where a pitch is expected, or as part of a written query process, tweaked of course. Here it is:

Roland Adams was just a good ol' boy from Deacon, Kansas. When his wife, Cass, is found trying to dump his body in the Spring River, the town can only come to one conclusion: She's crazy. Certifiable. Always has been. As Cass' life unfolds, the secrets held by her worm-farming brother-in-law, her psychic grandmother and her only friend, a promiscuous fifth grade teacher, may be the key to Cass' deliverance.
But Roland is the only one who has all of the answers. And he's not talking.

Yes, that tells the story, and hopefully it gives an indication that although the book is about killing a spouse, it does have a darkly humorous tone. However, if I'm standing in a bar with several people and someone asks, "What's your book about?" do you think I am really going to clear my throat and go in to this obviously rehearsed speech? Sorry. Not me. I know my book very well, and instead, depending on the group I'm with or the specific situation, I would throw out a one sentence 'pitch'. Something like:

A Kansas woman discovers how difficult it is to bury a husband: especially when using the same shovel she whacked him with in the first place.
OR,
After burying her husband in his garden, a Kansas woman unearths his secrets and wants to kill him again.

What I would NOT do is use a big fancy word like mariticide. Sure, that's what it's about, but it doesn't suggest the tone of the book, and showing off my smartness is not the point. I want someone to ask, "What kind of secrets?" or "Why did she kill him?" or... you get the idea. I want someone to GIVE ME more than five or ten seconds because they WANT TO.

Of course, with my other novel, Ragtown, the tone, the setting, the story is quite different and therefore, so are my various ways to present it. Sure, I have written formal taglines, blurby things, 'back of the book' stuff, etc., but, in my opinion, that is the easy part. Writing those sentences that tell 'what the book is about' should be easy for writers. It's getting that interest in a sentence, something you can throw out casually that makes someone say "tell me more." And in order to do that, you have to know your book and you have to know what it is about your book that might appeal to someone.

Now, 50% of the people that read this are going to disagree with what I'm going to say. But let me tell you, I take very good notes of people's reactions to my 'pitches' and with Ragtown, this works more than 50% of the time:

"It's a coming of age story about a construction worker in the 1930's working on the Hoover Dam project."

Boring as hell, right? Tells you NOTHING, right? Well let me tell you something I have learned over the past year; The Hoover Dam or Depression era dam building has touched so many people's lives in a variety of ways, that just by saying that boring line above, giving nothing other than the setting, more than 50% of the people I've thrown that out to want to hear more. In the past week alone, these are three comments I've had:

"My grandfather worked on the Coolie Dam. I'd love to read this."
"I've been to the Hoover Dam! How cool, that sounds great."(It doesn't sound great, they know nothing about it, however, they are familiar with the setting and therefore are interested)
"How many people are actually buried in the dam?" (I get a lot of questions about the dam itself, which in my opinion, means people are interested)

Each one of these, of course, gives me the opportunity to tell someone more about the book. And isn't that the point?

So come up with a lovely formal pitch, write it up, put it in your query, on your business cards and your website, sit back and revel in the beauty of your words. But when it comes down to really pitching, you better know your book and know what to say that is going to have them asking for more.

So, what's your book about?

Why Rejection is Good and Zola

In November, 2011, after three and a half years, including research and writing time, I finally ‘finished’ my historical novel, Ragtown. I wrote an amazing query letter and an equally awesome synopsis and began the process of querying agents. By the summer of 2012, after approximately forty rejections (and I’m sure I’m underestimating that), I realized something was definitely wrong.

It’s not that it was a ‘bad’ novel-not at all. It was well written, rich in historical detail, a great story of one man’s struggle to overcome his own past while working in the diversion tunnels of the Hoover dam, a treacherous environment, during one of the worst economic disasters in American history. It’s timely. It has a wide audience appeal. It’s American-like baseball and apple pie. But no-one was interested.

So maybe it wasn’t that great?

Rejections are hard to take. Especially when they seem to be coming at a rate of two a week. However, I’ve never been one to assume that when it comes to writing, I am always right and all those that don’t like my work ‘just don’t understand the story (or the concept, or the structure, or the blah, blah,blah)’. No, not at all. The people that were rejecting me have been in this business a lot longer than me, so obviously, they were seeing something that I wasn’t.

Yes, I kind of ate a rock for Ragtown research

So last summer, I pulled out all of those rejections and looked for common concerns. As new rejections came to my email, I started asking questions, specifics-what wasn’t working?  The majority of the concerns seemed to be in the first fifty pages. That’s where I started.

In October, I began a complete revision that included cutting almost 20K words, most from the first one hundred pages. I changed POV’s, I even gave one character a badly needed libido. I sent it through three editors and an additional twelve readers.

Last month, I again finished Ragtown.

And yesterday, I was notified that Ragtown is a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Zola Award for Historical Fiction.

Rejection is hard. It’s too easy to say to yourself, “they are right, I am not very good at this” and give up. It’s too easy to be hard headed about what professionals say about your work and claim that they “just don’t get it.” But my goal is to have Ragtown published, and in order to do that, I had to put my ego aside and listen. Rejections may be hard to swallow, but they are also a good way for a writer to see what others find difficult about your work. And by taking heed, you might make that wonderful novel sellable.

Ragtown, a historical novel

Finalist for the Zola Award

Represented by Svetlana Pironko

Author Rights Agency

When Words Count Retreat

Nestled among mountains of green outside of Rochester, Vermont is the When Words Count Retreat. My good friend and writing buddy Beth Garland and I had the pleasure of spending four days and three nights there last week.

Beth and I eating pure sin at the local soda fountain

  

I could spend this entire post restating what is on their website, but, I won’t do that. Click here to read the details, and I will say that the beauty of the place is understated on their website.   What I want to tell you about are the things that aren’t on the website, the things that I personally found very special.

The Mark Twain room

I live in the desert. Being surrounded by fifty different shades of green instead of the usual brown of my environment was a novelty. I can only imagine how beautiful the area is in the Fall and Winter. On the drive to the retreat, both sides of the road were graced with creeks and brooks and waterfalls! Yes, waterfalls! I drove with the windows down just so I could listen to the sound of water. One particular waterfall outside of Granville, Vermont was so breathtaking that Beth and I had to stop and stand before it.  Granville is about ten miles from the retreat, and well worth the drive.

 

I live in the city. Walking through the town of Rochester, as well as several of the surrounding communities, is like taking a step back in time. Antique cash registers. Small book and antique stores.  A soda fountain with homemade brownies and bread pudding.  I watched several children play in the Rochester town square and wondered if they knew how lucky they were. I also wondered if the residents even felt the need to lock their doors.

I love animals. Although I have unique wildlife in my part of the country, I made it a point to search for the local animals. Taking the two mile walk around the block at the retreat, I passed farms that had cows, baby goats and alpaca. I also saw a red fox, what a cute little guy, ducks on the pond and geese taking their morning walk down the road. I missed the coyotes I was told live nearby and the bears and beaver weren’t willing to show their paws. For those that don’t know me well, I’ve been trying to see a moose for three years. I finally saw one.  That was a big score. At night, the sound of the many peepers were a melodic addition to the rain.

What a view

I love people!  First, I have to say that the staff and owners of the retreat are wonderful. Diana aims to please, Chef Paul aims to make you gain weight, and Jon and Steve offer great writing advice, encouragement and interesting conversation.  Second, there are other writers there, new friends from different places. I’ve always loved meeting other writers, hearing their words, listening to their stories. This trip was no exception. I made new friends.

  

So who cares about all that, right? Writers care. Getting out of your element is an opportunity to see things differently and gain inspiration. It was relaxing, fun and definitely a chance to write. In fact, I came back with a new project idea that I have been working on for the past week.

Would I recommend When Words Count to others? That depends. If you like sitting in front of your computer at your house, doing the same old thing every day and don’t need or want to experience anything new or meet wonderful people, then no.

However, if you are a writer who wants a relaxing place to write, eat good food, engage with others and gain a bit of inspiration, then yes, check them out.  And enjoy the experience.