We did our best!

I picked up a book today titled Stories of Service, which consists of a bunch of articles about and from people who serve others, be they crisis counselors, volunteers, advocates, etc. I bought it because I admire people who can reach out to help those who can't help themselves.

The book, subtitled Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Northwest National Service Symposium, was published at Portland State University.

There are 2,100 copies of the first edition in print, according to the title page.

When I opened the book, I noticed just above the date of May 2003 were the words,

This book was proofread. We did our best.

This made me smile because I know how difficult it can be to proofread. When I worked at a publishing company in LA many years ago, the company had four full-time proofreaders. One would read the edited manuscript word for word while another followed along with the proofing copy. When finished, they sent it back to editorial where any errors were corrected. Then, the corrected copy went back to the second set of proofreaders who mimicked the first crew. When they finished, and any changes were made, the editor gave it one last look.

The completed work went to the printer who sent back a blue line. This went to the editor who, despite approving the work of four proofers, almost always found something wrong -- a typo or a misspelled name, or an incorrect date, or a missing end quote.

Everyone who worked on the publication did his and her best but it seems as if some little error seemed to slip through. (And sometimes, we'd still find something wrong in the finished, printed copy.)

So even though we know how important it is to proofread, proofread, proofread, unless we are perfect, our manuscripts won't be, but if we do it diligently, we can always know that in our hearts  ...

We did our best!

New Directions

Since I've done two or three eBooks on my own, I was had the opportunity a few months back to work on a video poker book. Not unusual since I worked in the gaming publishing industry for many years and knew many authors and publishers, but also because I reviewed a number of books on the subject, wrote a few articles, ghosted a couple of books--and I've been known to play the game.

I formatted the work for publication then published it under the banner of Green Felt Books.

Doing that prompted me to look at other options for the clever name ... but it also made me realize how badly I've been neglecting all sorts of promotion for the stuff that I do to keep active and (not incidentally) to help supplement a retirement income sorely incapable of fulfilling retirement dreams.

So I'll be changing directions a bit here, which is something I do naturally anyhow so for me, it won't be a major trauma. I have a naturally curious mind that's always interested in learning something new. I can't even say for certain where I'm going with all this but I do know I know I'm heading into new territory (I will, of course, continue to write) to discover more about, well, about anything that pops up.

And ...

All this will just continue to reinforce my belief that every day is a lesson.

Oh, and here's a link to that video poker book.

Still alive, still kicking, just not here

It's not like a million people read this blog, so I'm surprised to hear from one person, let alone several, who want to know why I'm not writing any longer.

The answer has to be in the form of another question.

What do you mean, not writing any longer?

Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I'm not writing. In fact, I've just finished the first draft of a fourth novel, have been helping two other individuals with their manuscripts, and I've been writing articles.

So, I have been busy creating both projects and money.

And, I don't buy this "post everyday" mantra that so many "experts" recommend. I blog when I have something to say or when I have nothing else to do.

I'd like to blog more often to please, entertain, inform, or even annoy my small cadre of readers. Truth is, I have about a dozen half-finished blog posts sitting in my documents folder on my laptop, all of which have been set aside in favor of other work.

So, to those of you who have faithfully looked for some words on this site, I say thank you, and

I WILL try to find time to finish those works in progress and slather this page with them.

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.)