Free workshop – stop by and visit if you can

The Montblanc Boutique and Anne Randolph, founder of www.KitchenTableWriting.com present monthly Montblanc Authors Series and book signing featuring provocative writers exploring Creativity, Finance, Relationships, Writing and Fiction from August 2009 through March 2010, followed by Writing Workshop with Anne Randolph.

Free creative writing workshop and book signing Aug 20, 5:30 - please stop by if you're in the area!

August 20 is a special date for me. I’ll be joining my good friends and critique partners, Pam Nowak and Robin D. Owens, for a book signing at The Montblanc Boutique in Cherry Creek If you’re in the area, please stop by and visit. I’d love to see you. You can also enjoy a free workshop, as well, to stoke the fires of your own creative writing. Here’s more info…

Meet award-winning Women’s Fiction, Historical and Fantasy Romance authors and learn about the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers September Conference at the new Boutique Montblanc Authors Series, August 20, 5:30-7:30 at Boutique Montblanc Denver in Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Book signing is free and open to the public.

Join Janet Lane, author of historical romantic adventures, Emerald Silk and Tabors Trinket, Pamela Nowak, author of Willa Award and HOLT Medallion, Denver based Chances and Choices, and renowned Rita Award Winner Robin D. Owens, author of Heart and Summoning series.

Special bonus:  Join Anne Randolph, creator of Kitchen Table Writing, for a workshop exploring creativity beginning at 6:15 pm, August 20. RSVP workshop info@KitchenTableWriting.com 303-758-3426.

Call the Montblanc Boutique at 303-329-3200 for further information.

Writers, heed the “Law of the Little Shovel”

A focused, concentrated effort will reap the most promotional benefits

Seth Godin wrote in his blog of “The Law of the Little Shovel.”  It makes so much sense, I thought I’d expand on this concept as it applies to pre-published and published authors.

The Law of the Little Shovel, and I’m quoting Seth:  If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.  If you walk around town with a little shovel, you’ll just end up digging thousands of little holes, not one big one.  Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections.

I see this principle working with novel promotion and literary brand development. We receive so much advice from well-meaning writers that we can get carried away, digging thousands of little holes, holes without depth or substance because we’re trying to accomplish the work of several experienced staffers at a public relations firm.

Does any of this advice sound familiar?

● You must have a website. Develop a presence there and on social media sites.  Do this before you’re published so you’ll have a platform in place when you sell your first novel.

● Get 500 friends on MySpace/Facebook/Twitter so you have a platform.

● Develop a media kit with bio, photos, and a list of local media.

● When your book releases, do a multi-city book tour. Schedule a string of signings, save money by driving and staying at relatives’ and friends’ homes to contain costs.

● Develop a fun contest on your website to build traffic.

● Blog every day and become known as an expert.

● Volunteer frequently. Serve on boards. Be visible.

● Offer e-zine articles for free.  It gives great exposure and will help you build traffic on your website.

Remember the Law of the Little Shovel, and resist the urge to dig a thousand shallow holes.  Focus on what you can do, and do it well. Nurture your talent and keep writing your first priority.

Writing triggers – prompts to get you started

Use these tips to add freshness and the unexpected to your work-in-progress.

Writing triggers

by Janet Lane

Has the muse deserted you? If you’re staring at a blank screen and need some help, this is just the place for you.  Try these exercises to help get those creative juices flowing.

A word of caution – do not be cavalier when using these methods. Exercise prudence and have a loved one stationed nearby with a water hose just in case you’re so inspired that your fevered typing burns up the keyboard. Ha-ha, so now that you’re smiling, let’s try this.

As you work through these and similar exercises, remember that there are no rules for your imagination, just rules for your behavior during this session. Your goal is to trick your conscious gate-keepers (doubt and worry) to tap the vast resources of your creative mind.

No researching. If you don’t know the name of the animal or the weapon or the car, make up a name. Resist any and all distractions.

No editing. Absolutely no editing! If it takes promising yourself you’ll put a match to whatever you produce during this session and burn the papers to ashes, make that promise.

No re-writing. Accept that this is a creative exercise and any mining for useful tidbits will happen after your session.

Do not allow yourself time to second guess. Write it down as it comes to you, feeling safe in the knowledge that only you will see these gems. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Let the images flow, and have fun with it.

1. Analogy smorgasboard

Without reading ahead, list four adjectives. After you’ve completed that list, write down four nouns. The next step involves writing down four gerund phrases. Need a quick review? A gerund phrase starts with an -ing word. Example: walking down the street. Once you’ve assembled these three lists (and you haven’t peeked ahead, have you?), now mix and match these phrases to make an analogy. My product list was fun: Like a lively cup working at McDonald’s. Like a lush coin following the leader. Like a cool desk eating pastrami. Like a sensuous mouse kissing the printer. Thanks to Evil Editor at blogspot.com for this one. Oh, what do you do with this, you ask? The Evil Editor would have you write a 250-word scene around your analogies. You can try that, or adapt the product loosely and use it for plotting purposes.

2. Play with Clues

From Anne Randolph’s Soup Kitchen Writing web site, she offers this prompt, one she calls “Clue.” Fold a piece of paper and write a name. Then an action: What did the character do? Then write down an object. Then write down another name. You could end up with people like Professor Plum, places like the library, and objects like a rope, but I suggest you depart from the game and think of some whimsical items and places from your childhood. Maybe something like, Carrie Smith tripped Mickey Mouse with a lamp. Jimmy Donahue threw the earth at Peter Pan. Repeat until your creative well is primed.

3. Add the unexpected

From RMFW’s day-long workshop several years ago, try Donald Maass’ plotting exercise. From your current work-in-progress, think of certain locations and actions you know will be written soon in your book. Then write down five settings. I was writing Tabor’s Trinket at the time, so I wrote down the solar (the lord and lady’s private living room), the bailey (area between the exterior wall and castle), the church, the village, and the dungeon. Put these short notes in a paper bag. Next, write down five possible actions, perhaps a first kiss, an argument about wages, a binding agreement is made, a fatal duel, something is stolen. Place these five notes in a separate paper bag. Shake them well, and allow yourself only ONE draw from each of the bags. Then, as unusual as it may seem, find a way for it to work, and write the scene. This exercise has become a favorite of mine over the years because it breathes fresh air into the novel.

4. Situational prompts

!A drunk man sits next to you in the shadows of a dimly lit bar and thinks you’re his best friend. He confesses “the truth” to you, and the truth will devastate your protagonist. Write about what the truth is.

! You’re walking to your gate at the airport for a very important flight, to an exotic destination and a crucial meeting that will change your life. Because you’re running late and boarding has already begun, you opt for the elevator instead of the slow escalator that takes you to the next level for your gate. The elevator jams between floors and you worry on the paper, writing your concerns as precious minutes tick away.

! Write a pure dialogue story. Make your story move along by using dialogue ONLY. No narrative, no settings – just dialogue. If you’d like a gold star, limit yourself to 200 words. Two gold stars if you can fit it in over 75 words but under 100.

Above all, have fun. I’m wishing you a dangerously exciting session of creativity!

What are your favorite strategies to prime your creative pump? Please share one or two with us!

 

Historical research-medieval Viagra and the curtain of time

Not so "ready-when-you-are" - a mandrake root being pulled, screaming, from the earth

When writing historical novels I find myself as immersed in research books as I am with the writing.  Research is one of life’s joys. It’s like stepping through a sparkling curtain into the past (sure, think “Disney” because it feels magical like that), and suddenly I’m in another time.  If it’s during the nineteenth century, it’s a world in sepia, that soft brown tone of antique photographs, a world of fresh air and horses and carriages, of genteel life and graceful courtesies, a time unencumbered by the dizzying pace and choices we must constantly make with our careers, our life styles, our leisure time.

If it’s the fifteenth century, in which my Gypsy series is set, it’s the verdant world of England, lush with vegetation, dotted with romantic castles, peopled with strong characters and strict religious and social orders.  At the same time, the lack of technical sophistication in  communication and law enforcement allowed more freedoms for those who chose the path of adventure. And who is more adventurous than the Gypsies (now known as Roma)?

I’m researching herbs today for chapter 8 of book three in my Coin Forest series. I hoard notes from past studies, and I’m enjoying revisiting the fascinating information about the role herbs played in daily life.  Like over-the-counter meds today, they provided relief from daily ailments like headaches and upset stomach. The Gypsies were known for their resourcefulness with herbs, but they weren’t the only ones in tune with the secrets and benefits of various plants.  One could find sophisticated herbalists and physicians at England’s monasteries.

Rhubarb, for example, was used by the monks as a laxative, in place of the more expensive imported rhubarb root.  Sea holly was a favorite medieval flavoring.  The water in which sea holly was boiled made excellent candy, and the root was used as an aromatic “chewing gum” recommended against plague infection.

And how about a medieval version of Viagra?  This was likely of more interest at Henry VIII’s court than in the monasteries he destroyed.  The mandrake root was thought to be a masculine tonic, capable of enhancing potency.  The information becomes more and more interesting: it’s said that the mandrake root screams when pulled from the earth; it was advised to have the root dragged out by a black dog. (Screaming mandrakes were featured in Harry Potter, minus the Viagra angle of the story.) 

Ah, but it’s time for me to step back through the curtain of time and return to my chapter eight.

Do you have fun research facts to share? If so, please do, and I’m wishing you a pleasant, productive week.

Getting paid for your books part two

After surviving the challenge of meeting readers, creating interest in your book, and selling it, we face the less glamorous, business side of sales: getting paid. Most authors are trusting, and maybe just a wee bit reluctant to pay attention to this critical step. It’s the right/left brain principle at work, I suppose. It’s in our best interests to defy that tendency and pay attention.

A Tale of Two CRMs –

When to bypass the CRM and contact the book chain’s home office

A CRM is a Community Relations Manager. This person schedules and promotes author book signings, arranges signs in the store, where your table and books will be, how many books they have on hand and other vital details. The CRM also serves as a liaison with the large book chain’s home office. Yes, that means $$.

While traveling some distance from my home, I enjoyed a lovely book signing at one of the national bookseller chains. It was in the sun belt with my mother-in-law. She graciously put out word of my signing to her club friends, and I enjoyed a strong turnout and good sales. The CRM was appreciative of my sales, gracious, and invited me back for my next release. The books were there, the table prominent, and payment was prompt and glitch-free.

One month later, I traveled to visit a friend in the midwest, I enjoyed another wonderful book signing … at a store in the same chain. My lifetime friend, Pam, graciously put out the word to her friends, and I again enjoyed a strong turnout and good sales. Large signs were posted in the windows and the table was well placed, but communication was lacking: the store had ZERO books on hand when I arrived. Had I not schlepped a couple dozen books from my personal inventory, it would have been a disaster. I was organized, and had prepared a blank invoice, just in case. I was able to leave the CRM with an invoice before I even left the store.

Four months later, I still had not been paid. This was not a small amount – these books were hardback and retailed at $26.95 each. Numerous phone calls ended with the CRM promising to contact home office to get me paid. After five months and five fruitless requests, I circumvented the CRM and contacted the home office. A rep from accounts payable said I was not “in their system.” She FAXed me a form to complete, I FAXed it back, and voila! After almost six months I received my check.

What was the difference between the two chain stores? The prompt-pay store’s signing was in July and the slow-pay store’s signing was in August. If store #1 paid, that meant I was in their system, right? Being “in the system” means it’s easier for them to order your books and, apparently, pay you. I signed six times with this chain, and was “in the system” so I thought that book supply and payment should be efficiently handled.

I didn’t assume this, though, and brought my own book supply, cumbersome and expensive when flying, what with baggage fees. That saved my signing.

My advice: always maintain an author inventory, always schlep a minimum number of books to your signings. Invoice immediately. When your contact person doesn’t seem to be working for you, politely move on and contact the home office accounts payable department to see what you can do to expedite payment.

More advice: if you’re selling at a conference, try your best to collect your payment before you leave the conference. I sold several books at a conference, but because of a prior commitment I left before it was over and “assumed” the bookseller would be efficient. In these trying times, he was financially challenged, shall we say? It took two months of e-mails and needling from the conference organizers to get that check.

Wherever you sign, the good news is, if you have payment problems, it means you’ve sold books. You might not have thought you’d have to ravage your bank account and tear a few hairs out to accomplish it, but hey, you sold books.

Got a payment nightmare to share? More tips? If so I hope you leave a comment, and meanwhile, I’m wishing you good sales and prompt payments.

Getting paid and other book signing challenges

Signing for a very special fan - a most joyful reward for writing fiction

Rocks in the path -
How to survive book signings

Some authors cringe when thinking about book signings.  It can be an awkward experience.

I relished my debut and new-release book signings. It’s a deliriously happy time when my books release, and all my friends come to share my joy.  The book signings I’m writing about today, though, are the post-release book signings.  They typically occur in neighborhood book stores and aren’t accompanied by the trumpets and appeal of the release day.

I shriveled on the vine at my first post-release book signing. Arranged as a multi-author signing, the event featured five authors, one of whom was a “local.”  The remaining four of us were from another city.  Struggling with an embarrassingly light turn-out, we must have looked pretty formidable to book store customers, all lined up at our table with our books stacked up, waiting to be purchased.

The local author was a promotion wizard and had promoted the event well, so a steady trickle of her fans lined up to buy her books. The rest of us, being from a distant town, did little promotion and spent the time examining (and ultimately buying) each other’s books.  I imagine the experience was similar to participating in a book signing with Nora Roberts – one must endure with a smile.

I encountered another “challenging” signing when I joined four other authors at a book store run by a person who absolutely loves fiction and authors. Her enthusiasm and web site promotion had us all excited – but the turn-out was dismal because her web site had no following and she didn’t know how to promote the event in her own store.  In a two-hour period, we visited with perhaps four customers.  “Making lemonade,” we authors found consolation in each other’s presence and shared a lively discussion about craft and marketing.

From those awkward beginnings, I’ve discovered that pre-planning can make post-release book signings an entertaining and rewarding experience.  Meeting avid readers, discussing my book and yes, the thrill of signing it and seeing the look of anticipation in a reader’s eyes as she accepts my signed book all combine to make the signing sweet.  The key to a successful book signing is to plan, select a book store that can accommodate and promote the signing.  Do your own promotion as well and, once you’re there, connect with the people you meet – relax, share your joy and excitement for your book, but also listen and enjoy meeting book lovers.  Offer something fun for free.  Oh, and only display a few books, never an intimidating pile of them.  Everything else falls in place.

Getting paid for the books you sell can also be a less-than-ideal experience.  Stop by on Monday and I’ll share a couple of book selling nightmares that may help you avoid disaster.  And if you have a book selling nightmare of your own, please share it here.

The power of group writing

Cold, cold, cold …

Neglecting a WIP means playing catch-up

I’m back after a lovely family vacation in Florida. Quality time with family, sensational visits to the beach, strong waves, lean surfers, clear water. Fishing, and actually catching a fish (small, and we threw it back). Doing the Disney and falling a dozen floors in the Tower of Terror elevator. Rockin’ rollercoaster, yeah. Forgetting my age and, for just a few days, shedding my cloak of responsibilities and having fun.

Now, it’s back to work, and my WIP has cooled off. I’m on the road back today, studying my storyboard, re-reading chapters. It’s Soup Writing Day and I’m getting ready for a three-hour session with my critique partners. Writing together, live, is a great way to guarantee fresh writing. Because we’ve committed to this time together every Thursday, there’s no avoiding it. We will sit together at the same table, at the same time, and we will write.

There’s something mystical about group writing. It feels as if we’re all swimming in the same gently flowing river – maybe floating on a comfortable raft under soft sunshine. I love it. I recommend it.

Wishing you a day is filled with joy and creativity.

Father’s Day poem to my father

To all dads: Happy Father's Day

He can be your father, your grandfather, your uncle, your adopted father, or an older brother.  He’s so many things to us – coach, lifesaver, homework helper, all-round fan and supporter.  As Father’s Day approaches, we may recall the grey hairs we gave him, and the strange detours we may have taken in the past and how he tried to help us in spite of ourselves.  The older we get the wiser he seems.

In honor of Father’s Day, I wrote this poem for all fathers who love their children and give the world its greatest gift … the future.

Please feel free to put my poem to the paper of your choice for a Father’s Day or Birthday card for him.

In return, if you get a chance to read either of my novels, I would be honored. You can find them on amazon.com, at your local library and on eBay.  –Janet

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
by Janet Lane

Being a dad is more than a day
More than a thank-you or annual display
Your laughter and caring, adventure and humor
So giving, befitting the honor of father

I couldn’t be more proud of the  man
Who guides my life and our happy clan
You’re my buddy, my hero, and may I suggest
When it comes to dads, you’re the best of the best!

Father’s day poem to my husband

A poem to John on Father's Day

He’s so many things to your children – coach, lifesaver, homework helper, all-round fan and supporter.

In honor of Father’s Day, I wrote this poem for my husband, John, and for all fathers who love their children and give the world its greatest gift … the future.

Please feel free to put my poem to the paper of your choice for a Father’s Day or Birthday card for him.

In return, please leave a comment below and, if you get a chance to read either of my novels, I would be honored. You can find them on amazon.com, at your local library and occasionally on eBay.  –Janet

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
by Janet Lane

Being a dad is more than a day
More than a thank-you or annual display
Your laughter and caring, adventure and humor
So giving, befitting the honor of father

I couldn’t have picked a better man
To travel through life with our crazy clan
You’re my husband, my hero, and may I suggest
A wonderful father — the best of the best!

GMC – the juice that drives the story

GMC.  It’s a mantra

GMC-Clarice's desperation to silence the lambs provides the capital M-Motivation that drives her out of her comfort zone and makes the action riveting.

fiction writers have heard frequently, a principle that can add power to your writing.

I recommend Debra Dixon’s book, “GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict, the Building Blocks of Good Fiction.”.

While there’s a huge following for Dixon’s GMC, some writers think the concept is too simple, that it can become formulaic and predictable.  Boring, even.

Craft is more apparent in children’s stories, which makes them a good source for observing writing principles in action. More sophisticated stories require a closer look but possess the same GMC format, a format that strengthens a protagonist’s motivation and the progression of the story.

Without motivation, there is no juice.  Imagine Clarice in “Silence of the Lambs” as she explains to Lecter that she hears the lambs crying … and that it kind of interrupts her sleep on some nights.  She may even shrug as she says it.

By the dialogue and body language, the reader is cued that Clarice doesn’t much care, and if the character doesn’t care, we don’t care, either. Any heroic or dramatic actions this character may later take to silence the lambs won’t be convincing to us, later.

Characters grow when they face their fears. Like us, they’re quite comfortable with the status quo. It hurts, embarrasses, frightens them to step outside of their comfort zones and grow. What makes them do it is motivation.

The intensity must be there.  Clarice can’t just sort of want the crying to go away – she must *desperately* want it to go away.

This strong motivation is what carries her through very difficult moments in the story. Without it, she’d just leave Lecter and the next victim to their private hells and perform within the rules and requirements of her job.

That’s just one example. In GWTW, imagine how flat this classic story could be if Scarlet just “sort of” liked Tara.

GMC is the juice that drives the story.