Need a Story Idea?

I must say, it’s been a very interesting day. Among the many pieces of totally ignorable emails and several valuable messages were three items in French, one sales pitch for a wrinkle cream that would make me look young again, one demand for action, one with the subject line that read “Winner” and one notice of eviction.

French? I can’t read the language, can’t speak it, never, been to France, have never visited any links from that country and know only one person who lives in Paris. (These missives arrive at the rate of three or four a week and, naturally, I direct them to my spam folder where I eventually have to delete them.)

I have to admit, the wrinkle cream sounds interesting but not enticing enough to lure me to the website, which I know will try to give me a “free” sample that will ding my credit card for shipping and handling then likely (if I don’t read the fine print and probably even if I do) will start charging the same card for unwanted shipments for months to come. Besides that, I earned my face and don’t want it to revert to years gone by. It just wouldn’t fit my body. (Of course, were I to follow through and order the “free” sample, my email address would probably be sold to some company that promised to make my body look younger as well.)

The demand for action message (in 18 point type) made me chuckle. The sender insisted that I respond to this second request (There was no first.) and provide information so I could claim my Three Million Six Hundred Thousand British Pounds inheritance. (Note the upper case.) I didn’t read the entire message.

Of course, that inheritance amount made me only partially wealthy because the amount of money coming to me as the result of a promotion held in 2014 was equally tantalizing: €2,000,000.00 Euros ( in US Dollars $2,477,700.69 USD ). Nice of them to put the value in amounts I can understand.

Just think, with all that money, why would I need to write?

And then there was the Notice of Eviction. How fascinating. Of course, it wasn’t fascinating enough for me to open the attachment. (Not to worry; I’m current on my mortgage payment and there’s no chance the city is going to take my place by eminent domain.)

What does this have to do with the Writer Side of Me? Nothing really, except I know that at least one and maybe more of these will eventually become part of a novel or at the very least, the premise of an interesting short story.

And when people ask me (as they often do) where I get my ideas, I no longer have to tell them about the people living inside my head and watch the glazed look of  “she’s crazy” take over their faces. I just tell them, “Oh, someone emailed the idea to me.”

Where do your ideas come from?

No excuses, just reasons

I wish I could say the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season provided a good excuse for not blogging. That’s not the case and to blame my absence on the holiday would be a big fat lie.

Most of my recent efforts have been directed at working on my supplemental income project, selling good quality used books at reasonable prices on Amazon.

I admit the prospect of participating in this came with trepidation but the challenge, along with the prospect of additional cash in pocket, gave courage to the endeavor.

So far, what started as an experiment has turned into a fun part time experience. While I don’t expect to earn enough to buy a new vehicle, sales have been good enough to take care of a dwindling recreational budget.

Now it’s time to get back to serious writing and more frequent blog posts.

P.S. If you get a chance, check out my little book store.

Unusual things found in books: Part Four or Five

Usually, when I write about this topic, (and I don't remember how many times I've done it) I'm referring to odd little bookmarks. This time, however, I thought it would be interesting to include text prepared by the authors and placed on the back side of the title page under the heading Note of Acknowledgement.

The authors (Cadwallader and Nudnick) in their Little BlackBook: A Manual for Bachelors, stated the following:

Because we have spent so much time in hotels, we have numbered the pages starting with 101. We also did this to increase the scope of the manual and to acknowledge that vast bulk of material that goes without saying.

A sense of humor never hurt anyone, especially when the topic is so silly (my opinion).

The authors also dedicated the book with the following words:

Grudgingly dedicated to the two little girls without whose jeers and snide remarks this book would never have been finished.

(Here are the previous posts about this same topic.)
 Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The first 20,000 words: a writer's stumbling block

I remember reading something somewhere that many aspiring writers have no trouble getting the first 20,000 words down on paper but that many cannot seem to move beyond that to a finished product.
I wonder how many really good plots never became novels for this very reason.

Has this happened to you?

I have never experienced the exasperation of being at a loss for written words (although I'm often at a loss for spoken words). I usually start writing and can't stop. Daylight turns to night; night becomes the wee hours of the morning. My eyelids keep drooping and I find myself taking shallow breaths. Only when I start yawning so much that tears obscure the page in front of me do I know it's time to put the puppy to bed.

Very little in my life follows a structure, and that includes my writing. I'm guessing that could be a problem for some writers, a problem that ends at the period after the twenty-thousand word mark. Yes, I know where my plot is going. No, I never know what route it will take. In fact, I have to let it sit for weeks after I hit the final punctuation mark on my keyboard because I know I've probably been repetitious; I have probably changed someone's name midway through; I have probably been too wordy, not wordy enough; too glib; too serious; too something that has to be edited. I do consider my work finished but but not polished.

This method probably doesn't work for everyone, which is why that 20,000 mark can be such a problem. In cases like this, it would probably help to have some kind of structure, an outline, for instance.

Then again, maybe it would help to write the ending first, even before the first chapter.
When I was in graduate school, I was enrolled in three literature courses one summer. Each one required a book a week to be read and analyzed, which was quite a task because I was also working full time. While I'm sure I didn't have an undiscovered solution, I resorted to reading the first chapter and the ending of each book before proceeding. My motivation was to eliminate the concern about what was going to happen so I could concentrate on the more important task at hand -- analyzing each book and preparing for questions and exams.

This worked wonderfully. I found I was able to foresee much of where the author was heading and what his characters were going to do. I found it easier to recognize symbolism and motivation. And, I passed each course with perfect grades.

Now when I think about it, I wonder if that's not how my writing pattern works. I know where I'm going so getting there is just a matter of following one route, checking out shortcuts and detours, to see if they will add conflict, flavor, motivation or if they are merely a diversion that can be eliminated.
It's a long road,
 sometimes a lonely, desolate road, but it's been traveled before. The scenery changes but the destination is always the same.

As Emerson wrote, Life is a journey, not a destination. Once you have a bead on your destination, the journey should take care of itself.

(Here's an interesting look at the 20,000 word problem. I found it when I was searching for related content.)

Say hello to Lucy, patron saint of authors

This is Lucy. She floats on the wall above the sofa, opposite the chair where I sit with laptop perched on my knees as I write.

Lucy is named after Lucy of Syracuse, the patron saint of authors.

She isn't the only patron saint of writers; Saints Paul and Francis de Sales get the most hype (Is it okay to refer to religious beliefs as hype?), but it wouldn't be fitting to name my muse Paul or Francis.

Actually, I can't find any substantive explanation as to why Lucy has been signaled out for this honor. Primarily, she is the patron saint of all things to do with eyes. (I won't go into the reason for this; it's kind of gruesome.)

Anyway, that's my Lucy (and thanks to cousin Janine for helping me decide what to name her.) I've grown very fond of her but just in case she's not enough to get my books on the top-ten list on Amazon, I think I'm going to order one of these. these.

The next big step for the eBook

We all know that eBook sales have taken over the world. With the availability of a variety of electronic readers, from cell phones to laptops to kindles and tablets, those of us who read (or publish) eBooks have myriad ways to access any format.

Critics, however, are beginning to wonder if the explosive jump in eBooks into the market is about to taper off, if it hasn’t already shown a slowdown. (I don’t agree, but then again, I’m not an expert in the field of theorizing about the future.) The thesis behind the thought is that eBooks, like other popular items, are a fad of sorts and like all fads, they can grow only so far before the market gets saturated, before fans look for some new stimulus, or before the novelty isn’t novel anymore. (Read this interesting article by Cynthia Boris )

Now, traditional print book publishers would probably like nothing better than to have their monopoly on the book market; but let’s face it – they’re never going to get back to where they were. The old model probably won’t die; but it’s going to need some kind of life support.

Let’s look at an example of one instance that can breathed new life into print book sales with no effort on the part of any publisher.

In 1997, Lee Child’s first novel, The Killing Floor, was a best seller. It was (according to Wikipedia) the Anthony Award winner, the Barry Award winne, a Dilys Award nominee and a Macavity Award nominee. Child (nee Jim Grant) went on to pen a number of successful novels.

Then, in 2012, The Killing Floor was retitled as Reacher (after the name of the main character) and was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise (who many distained because he had absolutely no resemblance the main character). Almost simultaneously, the title was reissued under the name Reacher and the book is once again a best seller. (It is ranked 1,850 in Amazon sales rankings and 606 in Barnes and Noble sales rankings as of this writing. The kindle version is ranked #257)

Now, back to that questionable idea of floundering eBook sales. If this is the case, we should be wondering if there’s some way to reverse the trend. And what better way for publishers and authors alike to experience a new direction for their electronic products but to have eBooks made into movies!

I suppose it’s a bit of a pipe dream at this point but I think authors and publishers should send a message loud and clear, something like WAKE UP, HOLLYWOOD, there’s a new gold mine out there just waiting for you to rush into.

Also, perhaps, as Cynthia Boris noted in her article, (quoting Michael Norris, a Simba Information analyst, “We have found that at any given time about a third of e-book users haven’t bought a single title in the last 12 months…. someone isn’t going to buy any more books until they make a dent in reading the ones they have already acquired.”)

Then there’s the free eBook offers that abound, usually fueled by independent publishers who are looking for ways to stimulate sales. Self-styled gurus point out that this is one of the better ways to increase sales of a book – give it away because it will get reviews (very important) and will stimulate word of mouth recommendations, and, well, let’s not get into the reasoning here. The fact is, my eBook readers (my laptop and cell phone) have their share of free electronic books, of which I’ve read one! Yet I’ve read every one of the books I paid money to download.

So I’m thinking Hollywood is the best option. Any ideas how to make this happen?

go ahead, give it away

A few posts back, I gave my opinion on the question of whether or not a writer should give his or her work away. After discussing the article with a few friends, I realized I should have qualified my thoughts.

If you are a serious writer, one who (1) loves to write and (2) wants to make a living as a writer, then it makes no sense to give your words away, except as a promotional tool.

If, however, you (1) love to write and (2) would like to share your thoughts with friends, relatives or the world, then by all means, give your words away.

I can't imagine the more successful best-selling authors giving their work away. Their aim isn't to merely win fans; their aim is to earn a living and they can't do that by being altruistic, at least not until they have made enough to pay the rent.

I have an old friend who likes to write poetry. He doesn't care about making a living with his skill; in fact, he has a very high paying job that has nothing to to with writing. The poetry is his escape and his way of communicating his view of the world to his friends and readers. I can't argue with the fact that he sends it by email, and I wouldn't argue if he put it in eBook form and gave it away on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. If it makes him happy, it makes me happy.

As an added note, if I discovered that giving away one of my titles would cause people to buy my other titles, I might consider experimenting with a freebie. I'm just saying ....

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