Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Writing Mystery and Maine: November means NaNoWriMo: writing a novel in a mon...
Writing Mystery and Maine: November means NaNoWriMo: writing a novel in a mon...: Where have I been? I haven't written in this blog in almost a year, and it's time to get moving! In that year, I have worked hard ...
November means NaNoWriMo: writing a novel in a month
Where have I been?
I haven't written in this blog in almost a year, and it's time to get moving! In that year, I have worked hard on "showing up" on the page, writing every day. There are times I can do it, but I notice I have to keep at it. If I take a day off, it becomes a few days, then a few weeks....I've widened my network of writer friends, even going on a five-day retreat at one of these new friend's house in Vermont. I wrote 10,000 words in 5 days, a huge feat for me. I ask for help from these kind souls, and that request is always filled, even by a few sentences of encouragement. Means the world to me.
But I have a new non-fiction book out!
Good news is that my craft beer book, which went under contract in December, 2013, finally was published this September. So take a look on Amazon or ask at your local book store for What's Brewing in New England (Down East Books, 2016). It's the most up to date book about New England craft beer!
Mystery writing update:
As for the mystery writing, I finished a first draft for the cozy mystery When Irish Eyes Are Dying, which takes place in Ireland. That was a huge feat for me: FINISHING. It's been read by two writer friends and I have everything organized into piles:
-Pile 1: the printed manuscript, as "shitty" as can be, as Anne Lamott gives us permission to write it;
-Pile 2: the printed class instructions from an online Story Arc class;
-Pile 3: the printed instructions from a class in Revision.
I have begun rewriting the opening scene, and am happy to report that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I'll keep going.
November is for Nano:
Even though I'm busier than a one-armed paper-hanger, as my Mum used to say, as in my beer book was finally published in late September and I am doing book signings and planning a launch party and writing articles for the brand new Maine Brew Guide, it's November. And that means National Novel Writing Month.
During NaNoWriMo, you write at least 1667 words per day, which will total 50,000 words at the end of the month. Getting to 50K is a "win" in NaNo lingo, and I've only done that once. I've tried at least 10 times, and those efforts are good jumping off points for projects I can go back to. And the one I "won," is somewhere in Scrivener-land. I'll have to get in touch with their support team and see if they can pull it out of the ether for me.
Why am I subjecting myself to this? Because after Day 1, where I wrote 775 words in a 25-minute timed segment, I could see that I indeed can do it. That number, 1667, used to scare me to death. Now that I've been using the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes on a task, 3 minute break, repeat), I've learned how to face the empty page, just keep the fingers tapping, having faith that some ideas, characters and settings will come floating through my consciousness and onto the page.
Just sit in the chair
Some years ago, I heard then Poet Laureate Ted Kooser interviewed about his writing process. He said he wakes up at 4:30 a.m., gets his coffee, then sits in his big living room chair with a pad and pen. And he waits for the words to come. He said, "If you don't sit in the chair, the words won't come." So I'm a believer, and that is huge progress for me.
As for my progress in NaNo so far (it's only Day 2), I had to stop at that 775 word count yesterday, since I had a deadline for an article I promised to write about Maine chowder. But I sat down this morning, on Day 2 and pounded out the rest of Day 1's word count. After I finish writing this blog post, I'll set my timer for 25 minutes and get half of today's count written. Break for a yoga class, then I'll make more coffee and write the other 833.5 words.
Thanksgiving dinner? Piece of cake! Or pie. Now back to "the page." This book is called Stay Tuned for Murder, about a radio cooking show host in 1945 Dublin.
I haven't written in this blog in almost a year, and it's time to get moving! In that year, I have worked hard on "showing up" on the page, writing every day. There are times I can do it, but I notice I have to keep at it. If I take a day off, it becomes a few days, then a few weeks....I've widened my network of writer friends, even going on a five-day retreat at one of these new friend's house in Vermont. I wrote 10,000 words in 5 days, a huge feat for me. I ask for help from these kind souls, and that request is always filled, even by a few sentences of encouragement. Means the world to me.
But I have a new non-fiction book out!
Good news is that my craft beer book, which went under contract in December, 2013, finally was published this September. So take a look on Amazon or ask at your local book store for What's Brewing in New England (Down East Books, 2016). It's the most up to date book about New England craft beer!
Mystery writing update:
As for the mystery writing, I finished a first draft for the cozy mystery When Irish Eyes Are Dying, which takes place in Ireland. That was a huge feat for me: FINISHING. It's been read by two writer friends and I have everything organized into piles:
-Pile 1: the printed manuscript, as "shitty" as can be, as Anne Lamott gives us permission to write it;
-Pile 2: the printed class instructions from an online Story Arc class;
-Pile 3: the printed instructions from a class in Revision.
I have begun rewriting the opening scene, and am happy to report that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I'll keep going.
November is for Nano:
Even though I'm busier than a one-armed paper-hanger, as my Mum used to say, as in my beer book was finally published in late September and I am doing book signings and planning a launch party and writing articles for the brand new Maine Brew Guide, it's November. And that means National Novel Writing Month.
During NaNoWriMo, you write at least 1667 words per day, which will total 50,000 words at the end of the month. Getting to 50K is a "win" in NaNo lingo, and I've only done that once. I've tried at least 10 times, and those efforts are good jumping off points for projects I can go back to. And the one I "won," is somewhere in Scrivener-land. I'll have to get in touch with their support team and see if they can pull it out of the ether for me.
Why am I subjecting myself to this? Because after Day 1, where I wrote 775 words in a 25-minute timed segment, I could see that I indeed can do it. That number, 1667, used to scare me to death. Now that I've been using the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes on a task, 3 minute break, repeat), I've learned how to face the empty page, just keep the fingers tapping, having faith that some ideas, characters and settings will come floating through my consciousness and onto the page.
Just sit in the chair
Some years ago, I heard then Poet Laureate Ted Kooser interviewed about his writing process. He said he wakes up at 4:30 a.m., gets his coffee, then sits in his big living room chair with a pad and pen. And he waits for the words to come. He said, "If you don't sit in the chair, the words won't come." So I'm a believer, and that is huge progress for me.
As for my progress in NaNo so far (it's only Day 2), I had to stop at that 775 word count yesterday, since I had a deadline for an article I promised to write about Maine chowder. But I sat down this morning, on Day 2 and pounded out the rest of Day 1's word count. After I finish writing this blog post, I'll set my timer for 25 minutes and get half of today's count written. Break for a yoga class, then I'll make more coffee and write the other 833.5 words.
Thanksgiving dinner? Piece of cake! Or pie. Now back to "the page." This book is called Stay Tuned for Murder, about a radio cooking show host in 1945 Dublin.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Allowing the well to re-fill: the weeks following Crimebake 2015
I belong to a professional group called Sisters in Crime. It's more than a cute play on words. The organization was started in the 1980's to raise awareness that male mystery writers made more money than their female peers. That's a simple version of a more detailed origin story, but you get the drift.
Every year, SinC ("Sin-cee") as we call it, hosts a conference for crime writers of both genders. We call it Crimebake. Writers come from all over to attend workshops on craft, figure out whodunit with a mock crime scene set up in one of the hotel's conference rooms and we also go to network, meet agents, pitch agents and well, have a ton o' fun.
The keynote speaker and special guest this year was Elizabeth George, author of the Detective Lynley novels, which have also been produced by PBS into a nice series. I haven't seen those yet, but I have one from Netflix waiting for my Home-Alone self to get wrapped in a shawl, pour a glass of wine and settle in for ninety-minutes of fun. That's tonight.
Ms. George has written over twenty Lynley novels, so I'm going to say she knows what she's doing. And one thing she shared with us over lunch one day during Crimebake was: at some point in your writing, you have to pause and let your creative well re-fill. "I had finished a novel," Ms. George said, "and I told my editor I didn't know if I had another book in me. She told me to let my well fill up again."
So weeks later, I'm back from the conference and although I got home a bit dejected (the agent I have been working with for a year had some feedback I didn't want to hear), I am allowing myself some time to enjoy the holiday while I catch up on some administrative work. I had a great Thanksgiving with my husband and son, and now I'm home alone for five days. What will I do to fill that creative well?
I've already scheduled in 5 days of yoga, which is tremendously calming and restoring. I will set a reasonable daily writing goal. I'm thinking of taking the advice of fellow Maine writer Kaitlyn Dunnett. She writes an entire scene in a day rather than quitting after meeting a pre-set word count. That latter thing is what's getting me in trouble with my novel in progress. I finish writing my 1000 words then stop. When I pick up later, in a new scene, that last one seems incomplete. Old dog, new trick. I can do it.
I'll cook every day. I'm finishing up a curried winter vegetable soup and the remaining 4 days I'll focus on light, clean and healthy food. I'll read up a storm. My bedside book is Elizabeth George's second Lynley novel, Payment in Blood. My downstairs book is Maine writer Gerry Boyle's Deadline, the very first in his Jack McMorrow series. Both are great reads.
And let's not forget Christmas preparations! I've got the tree and it's partially decorated. Needs smaller ornaments. If it stops raining, I'll put up some lights around the front door. And I haven't even started shopping yet. Deep breath, and exhale!
(Sorry the photos are fuzzy....tech deprived).
Every year, SinC ("Sin-cee") as we call it, hosts a conference for crime writers of both genders. We call it Crimebake. Writers come from all over to attend workshops on craft, figure out whodunit with a mock crime scene set up in one of the hotel's conference rooms and we also go to network, meet agents, pitch agents and well, have a ton o' fun.
 | |
| Elizabeth George shares her wisdom on a panel at the 2015 Crimebake: | "If your story has lost steam, you've shown your hand too soon. |
The keynote speaker and special guest this year was Elizabeth George, author of the Detective Lynley novels, which have also been produced by PBS into a nice series. I haven't seen those yet, but I have one from Netflix waiting for my Home-Alone self to get wrapped in a shawl, pour a glass of wine and settle in for ninety-minutes of fun. That's tonight.
 |
| Fake crime scene at 2014 Crimebake |
Ms. George has written over twenty Lynley novels, so I'm going to say she knows what she's doing. And one thing she shared with us over lunch one day during Crimebake was: at some point in your writing, you have to pause and let your creative well re-fill. "I had finished a novel," Ms. George said, "and I told my editor I didn't know if I had another book in me. She told me to let my well fill up again."
 |
| A light moment at Crimebake. Hallie Ephron and Elizabeth George on a panel. |
So weeks later, I'm back from the conference and although I got home a bit dejected (the agent I have been working with for a year had some feedback I didn't want to hear), I am allowing myself some time to enjoy the holiday while I catch up on some administrative work. I had a great Thanksgiving with my husband and son, and now I'm home alone for five days. What will I do to fill that creative well?
I've already scheduled in 5 days of yoga, which is tremendously calming and restoring. I will set a reasonable daily writing goal. I'm thinking of taking the advice of fellow Maine writer Kaitlyn Dunnett. She writes an entire scene in a day rather than quitting after meeting a pre-set word count. That latter thing is what's getting me in trouble with my novel in progress. I finish writing my 1000 words then stop. When I pick up later, in a new scene, that last one seems incomplete. Old dog, new trick. I can do it.
 |
| Paella for one, coming up! |
I'll cook every day. I'm finishing up a curried winter vegetable soup and the remaining 4 days I'll focus on light, clean and healthy food. I'll read up a storm. My bedside book is Elizabeth George's second Lynley novel, Payment in Blood. My downstairs book is Maine writer Gerry Boyle's Deadline, the very first in his Jack McMorrow series. Both are great reads.
 |
| Maine writer Gerry Boyle talk on a panel about sidekicks in mysteries |
And let's not forget Christmas preparations! I've got the tree and it's partially decorated. Needs smaller ornaments. If it stops raining, I'll put up some lights around the front door. And I haven't even started shopping yet. Deep breath, and exhale!
(Sorry the photos are fuzzy....tech deprived).
Monday, October 26, 2015
Getting over stage fright: focus on the task, not the fear
Tonight I'm reading aloud at the fourth annual Halloween reading series created by Maine writer Katy Silva, author of The Monstrum Chronicles. The story I'm reading is the only short story I've written, and even though it'll be the third year I'm attending this event, I don't seem inspired to write something new. I have gotten fond of Hunger and the Baby, based on an incident that took place in Brooklyn, New York in 1940 when my husband was a young boy.
What's it like to read aloud in front of an audience? It can be terrifying. What if I mess up? What if no one laughs when I want them to? What if I read too fast? What if I read past my allotted 20 minutes? Will the world end? In a word, no. People are so kind and receptive and they say nice things. It's quite an experience.
Great advice I read this week in an older book called Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher. I am a self-help junkie, and that's okay. Sher outlines two types of fear that can hold you back from taking action toward what you want in life. I want to be a writer. I am a writer. But I want to get my mystery novels finished and published.
Fear number 1 is Stage Fright, which is merely energy that will dissipate once you begin reading. Okay, I've read aloud before and she's right. The second type of fear is Survivor Fear, which comes from not having your needs met as a child. This is simplifying a bit. I recommend the book. But the Survivor Fear can be assuaged if you give yourself all the validation and support you didn't get when you were young. That can take some time!
But Sher says there are things you can do immediately: Prepare and Lower Your Standards (for now). I used to resist reading the story, rehearsing if you will. Why? Because I'm weird that way. But today I gave it a run-through for my husband, who laughs at all the parts I hope are funny. He also encourages me to take my time and be more dramatic. Me, be MORE dramatic? Huzzah!
As for the Lower Your Standards part, Sher wrote this in 1979. It's a precursor to what writer Annie Lamott made famous in Bird by Bird. Lamott says to give yourself permission to write a "shitty first draft," a piece no one else will see. Sher says the same thing, only 20 years earlier. That part helps a lot with my actual writing.
Focus on the task, not on the fear. Barbara Sher knows her stuff.
So I think I'm prepared for tonight, except my printer won't work, so I can't tweak some changes I'd like to make. But I'll get through and have some fun in the bargain.
What's it like to read aloud in front of an audience? It can be terrifying. What if I mess up? What if no one laughs when I want them to? What if I read too fast? What if I read past my allotted 20 minutes? Will the world end? In a word, no. People are so kind and receptive and they say nice things. It's quite an experience.
Great advice I read this week in an older book called Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher. I am a self-help junkie, and that's okay. Sher outlines two types of fear that can hold you back from taking action toward what you want in life. I want to be a writer. I am a writer. But I want to get my mystery novels finished and published.
Fear number 1 is Stage Fright, which is merely energy that will dissipate once you begin reading. Okay, I've read aloud before and she's right. The second type of fear is Survivor Fear, which comes from not having your needs met as a child. This is simplifying a bit. I recommend the book. But the Survivor Fear can be assuaged if you give yourself all the validation and support you didn't get when you were young. That can take some time!
But Sher says there are things you can do immediately: Prepare and Lower Your Standards (for now). I used to resist reading the story, rehearsing if you will. Why? Because I'm weird that way. But today I gave it a run-through for my husband, who laughs at all the parts I hope are funny. He also encourages me to take my time and be more dramatic. Me, be MORE dramatic? Huzzah!
As for the Lower Your Standards part, Sher wrote this in 1979. It's a precursor to what writer Annie Lamott made famous in Bird by Bird. Lamott says to give yourself permission to write a "shitty first draft," a piece no one else will see. Sher says the same thing, only 20 years earlier. That part helps a lot with my actual writing.
Focus on the task, not on the fear. Barbara Sher knows her stuff.
So I think I'm prepared for tonight, except my printer won't work, so I can't tweak some changes I'd like to make. But I'll get through and have some fun in the bargain.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Buy 'em by the bagful! It's used book sale season.
The fourth weekend of June is a very special time in Mid-Coast Maine: it's the three-day extravaganza, blow-out used book sale in Brunswick, sponsored by one of the best libraries I've ever been to, Curtis Memorial. This year it will be held on Friday, June 26; Saturday, June 27 and Sunday on June 28. Check out the link below for time and details.
Photo: from Curtis Memorial
Touted as the biggest sale of its kind in Northern New England, the Curtis Memorial Sale takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with books being re-stocked all weekend long. Can't get there at the crack of dawn on Friday? (There are people who line up early to get in right at 10 a.m.). Straggle in any time. On Sunday, when things are winding down, you can fill a grocery bag for three bucks. That's right. Things might be picked over by then, but I have come away on Sunday many a time with absolute treasures.
So what does this have to do with mysteries and Maine?
The Maine part is obvious. But the mystery novel category, one of 45 carefully sorted categories the sale offers, is one of the biggest. For $3 hardcover and $2 soft/trade, you can stock up on all the titles and authors you've missed the year before. And there is occasionally a really old/rare book you can snatch up. I found one last year entitled Shadow Kills (Beaufort Books, 1985), written by Rodman Philbrick of Kittery. His early protagonist was a cop-turned-mystery-writer Jack Dawkins, confined to a wheelchair after a work-related accident. If you love Boston, you'll love these books.
These are contemporaries of the Spenser novels and you'll delight in a Boston before the Big Dig, where Jack recalls eating drunken late-night breakfasts at the Hayes-Bickford and drinking at The Hillbilly Ranch. I even remember this Boston. I ended up meeting Rod Philbrick after I reviewed one of the Jack Dawkins novels for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance's Maine in Print newspaper. Rod wrote me a letter (yes, this was pre-email) to thank me for the kind review. I brought him up to MWPA to lead a workshop on writing suspense. He's still at it, but not with Jack Dawkins, whom he let go because it was difficult to get Jack out of trouble while in a wheelchair. (That's my best memory of what Rod once told me.) He went on to write the very popular Young Adult novel Freak the Mighty.
Wow, did I get off on a tangent! But I'm passionate about these sales. They happen all over Maine and the country, so ask at your local library or do a simple Google search and plug in "used book sales."
My husband and I are planning on getting there tomorrow early to get a head start. I also collect old cookbooks and have gotten a few gems there too.
Here's the link: /http://www.curtislibrary.com/annual-book-sale
And Maine writers Kate Flora and Lea Wait wrote about other types of happenings at local libraries. Read their blog post here: http://mainecrimewriters.com/kates-posts/spending-a-maine-summer-in-the-library
Touted as the biggest sale of its kind in Northern New England, the Curtis Memorial Sale takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with books being re-stocked all weekend long. Can't get there at the crack of dawn on Friday? (There are people who line up early to get in right at 10 a.m.). Straggle in any time. On Sunday, when things are winding down, you can fill a grocery bag for three bucks. That's right. Things might be picked over by then, but I have come away on Sunday many a time with absolute treasures.
So what does this have to do with mysteries and Maine?
The Maine part is obvious. But the mystery novel category, one of 45 carefully sorted categories the sale offers, is one of the biggest. For $3 hardcover and $2 soft/trade, you can stock up on all the titles and authors you've missed the year before. And there is occasionally a really old/rare book you can snatch up. I found one last year entitled Shadow Kills (Beaufort Books, 1985), written by Rodman Philbrick of Kittery. His early protagonist was a cop-turned-mystery-writer Jack Dawkins, confined to a wheelchair after a work-related accident. If you love Boston, you'll love these books.
These are contemporaries of the Spenser novels and you'll delight in a Boston before the Big Dig, where Jack recalls eating drunken late-night breakfasts at the Hayes-Bickford and drinking at The Hillbilly Ranch. I even remember this Boston. I ended up meeting Rod Philbrick after I reviewed one of the Jack Dawkins novels for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance's Maine in Print newspaper. Rod wrote me a letter (yes, this was pre-email) to thank me for the kind review. I brought him up to MWPA to lead a workshop on writing suspense. He's still at it, but not with Jack Dawkins, whom he let go because it was difficult to get Jack out of trouble while in a wheelchair. (That's my best memory of what Rod once told me.) He went on to write the very popular Young Adult novel Freak the Mighty.
Wow, did I get off on a tangent! But I'm passionate about these sales. They happen all over Maine and the country, so ask at your local library or do a simple Google search and plug in "used book sales."
My husband and I are planning on getting there tomorrow early to get a head start. I also collect old cookbooks and have gotten a few gems there too.
Here's the link: /http://www.curtislibrary.com/annual-book-sale
And Maine writers Kate Flora and Lea Wait wrote about other types of happenings at local libraries. Read their blog post here: http://mainecrimewriters.com/kates-posts/spending-a-maine-summer-in-the-library
Monday, June 22, 2015
Mystery: How do I find a community?
Happy Monday! It's finally summer in Maine, and it's a cool one. Woke up to 57 degrees this morning. And I just violated Elmore Leonard's writing advice: "Never start with the weather." Well, god-luv-ya, Elmore, but when you live in a place like Maine, you wake up and start with the weather. Just sayin'.
I usually try to write first, immediately after meditation. But this morning I decided to do some admin work. I was delighted to see in my Inbox a great blog post by Maureen Milliken. Maureen is the proud author of Cold Hard News, just published, and she blogged for Maine Crime Writers about how to get published. "Preparation, hard work, tenacity" are the triple gems she prescribes, but there is something more important: joining the writing community.
Photo: Maureen Milliken at her book launch party in June
Maureen speaks:
One thing became clear when I became serious about getting to work on my mystery novel several years ago: I had no flipping idea what I was doing. So I joined the Mystery Writers of America (a couple years later I also joined the awesome Sisters in Crime). I signed up for CrimeBake, the conference held every November in Dedham, Mass., and sponsored by those two organizations.
I didn’t sign up thinking that I would network, so much as that I’d sop up information that would point me in the right direction.
I was right about the information. I learned more about what was needed and expected to write a book and get it published at that conference and from those organizations than I knew existed. But the really cool thing was I started meeting people. People who were doing the same thing I was.
Here is the link to Maureen's blog post;
http://mainecrimewriters.com/maureens-posts/whats-the-magic-bullet-to-getting-published-join-the-community
Kate again:
My personal frustration has been that I've been working on my own mysteries for so long, and had such a long hiatus when I went back to work and raised three teens, that the writing community I worked so hard to build up seemed to disintegrate. So I'm back doing exactly what Maureen Milliken suggests. I re-joined Sisters in Crime, which has a very active sub-group called Guppies, for we, the Great Unpublished. I will re-join Mystery Writers of America and I've begun attending overnight conferences, something I could never afford to do when I was parenting. (My kids are all grown now, and are doing great, my best supportive network!).
Photo: Gerry Boyle chairs a panel at MWPA's Crimewave Conference, April, 2015
From left to right: Gerry Boyle, Gayle Lynds, Paul Doiron and Lea Wait
If want to join this great Maine writing community, here is the place to begin: Maine Writers and Publishers' Alliance. Celebrating 40 years this summer, MWPA is your first stop when you write, whether it be poetry, mystery, non-fiction, essay, memoir, it doesn't matter. MWPA offers this much-needed sense of belonging to something greater than your own inner ramblings . From their website:
Founded in 1975, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization that works to enrich the literary life and culture of Maine. We are the only statewide organization solely devoted to supporting and promoting Maine’s writers, publishers, booksellers, and literary professionals. The MWPA has a membership of more than 1,600.
Our goals include: promoting an appreciation of Maine literature; creating a network of writers, readers, and publishers; creating opportunities for writers to improve writing and marketing skills; and informing members and the public of Maine literary and publishing news.
This Wednesday, June 26, 2015, MWPA will put on another "Gather," a get-together of writers in different locations all over Maine. I will host one in Waterville at Maine Brews (1 Post Office Square) at 6 p.m. Do join us!
Email me at kateconewrites@gmail.com or check out the other locations at the MWPA website:
www.mainewriters.org
I usually try to write first, immediately after meditation. But this morning I decided to do some admin work. I was delighted to see in my Inbox a great blog post by Maureen Milliken. Maureen is the proud author of Cold Hard News, just published, and she blogged for Maine Crime Writers about how to get published. "Preparation, hard work, tenacity" are the triple gems she prescribes, but there is something more important: joining the writing community.
Photo: Maureen Milliken at her book launch party in June
Maureen speaks:
One thing became clear when I became serious about getting to work on my mystery novel several years ago: I had no flipping idea what I was doing. So I joined the Mystery Writers of America (a couple years later I also joined the awesome Sisters in Crime). I signed up for CrimeBake, the conference held every November in Dedham, Mass., and sponsored by those two organizations.
I didn’t sign up thinking that I would network, so much as that I’d sop up information that would point me in the right direction.
I was right about the information. I learned more about what was needed and expected to write a book and get it published at that conference and from those organizations than I knew existed. But the really cool thing was I started meeting people. People who were doing the same thing I was.
Here is the link to Maureen's blog post;
http://mainecrimewriters.com/maureens-posts/whats-the-magic-bullet-to-getting-published-join-the-community
Kate again:
My personal frustration has been that I've been working on my own mysteries for so long, and had such a long hiatus when I went back to work and raised three teens, that the writing community I worked so hard to build up seemed to disintegrate. So I'm back doing exactly what Maureen Milliken suggests. I re-joined Sisters in Crime, which has a very active sub-group called Guppies, for we, the Great Unpublished. I will re-join Mystery Writers of America and I've begun attending overnight conferences, something I could never afford to do when I was parenting. (My kids are all grown now, and are doing great, my best supportive network!).
From left to right: Gerry Boyle, Gayle Lynds, Paul Doiron and Lea Wait
If want to join this great Maine writing community, here is the place to begin: Maine Writers and Publishers' Alliance. Celebrating 40 years this summer, MWPA is your first stop when you write, whether it be poetry, mystery, non-fiction, essay, memoir, it doesn't matter. MWPA offers this much-needed sense of belonging to something greater than your own inner ramblings . From their website:
Founded in 1975, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization that works to enrich the literary life and culture of Maine. We are the only statewide organization solely devoted to supporting and promoting Maine’s writers, publishers, booksellers, and literary professionals. The MWPA has a membership of more than 1,600.
Our goals include: promoting an appreciation of Maine literature; creating a network of writers, readers, and publishers; creating opportunities for writers to improve writing and marketing skills; and informing members and the public of Maine literary and publishing news.
This Wednesday, June 26, 2015, MWPA will put on another "Gather," a get-together of writers in different locations all over Maine. I will host one in Waterville at Maine Brews (1 Post Office Square) at 6 p.m. Do join us!
Email me at kateconewrites@gmail.com or check out the other locations at the MWPA website:
www.mainewriters.org
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
I'm not sure where two months have gone, but I've been spending it doing a lot of hoping that spring would come. And it has, sort of. Here in central Maine, it's been gray or wet or both for over a week (but who's counting?). Good news is there are daffodils about to bloom in the yard and the snow is just about all but gone.
Where am I in the mystery novel process? I finished and sent in two proposals for series mysteries in the traditional genre. Think Agatha Christie. One of those has come back with some editing suggestions, and I'm pretty excited to have the attention of an agent. We'll see how it goes.
One tool I am finding really helpful is K.M. Weiland's explanation of Scene Structure. This graph was done by Christine Frazier, keeper of Better Novel Project, who reviewed Weiland's book. Better Novel Project is a great blog I highly recommend. According to best-selling author Weiland, who also has a great blog called Helping Writers Become Authors, a scene is compose of the scene and the sequel.
The scene starts with the protagonist's goal, followed by this goal coming up against a type of conflict or opposition, followed by a disaster, which could be obstruction of the goal, an injury or a hollow victory. Essential to the scene is its sequel: protagonist's reaction, (panic? fury?), a dilemma (analyze, review, plan) and the decision to take action or not to take action. Weiland spells it out beautifully, so I suggest you high tail it over to her blog or get her book, Structuring Your Novel. If you need the visual, again, see Ms. Frazier's post How to Deconstruct a Scene like K.M. Weiland.
How am I using this graph? I am such a visual learner, that this one tool, even though I don't feel I have to follow it to the letter, reminds me of what my character should do in a scene in order to keep readers interested and build a good story. And it helped push through the panic that set in after getting the email about the edits. Some of the suggestions meant re-writing entire scenes and getting rid of a few others. Gah! But after I paced around the kitchen table about a gazillion times, I went up to my writing room, set up the graph on a little stand I found at Staples so it would be staring me in the face and plowed into the manuscript. So far so good. And get on over to Better Novel Project and Helping Writers Become Authors.
Where am I in the mystery novel process? I finished and sent in two proposals for series mysteries in the traditional genre. Think Agatha Christie. One of those has come back with some editing suggestions, and I'm pretty excited to have the attention of an agent. We'll see how it goes.
One tool I am finding really helpful is K.M. Weiland's explanation of Scene Structure. This graph was done by Christine Frazier, keeper of Better Novel Project, who reviewed Weiland's book. Better Novel Project is a great blog I highly recommend. According to best-selling author Weiland, who also has a great blog called Helping Writers Become Authors, a scene is compose of the scene and the sequel.
The scene starts with the protagonist's goal, followed by this goal coming up against a type of conflict or opposition, followed by a disaster, which could be obstruction of the goal, an injury or a hollow victory. Essential to the scene is its sequel: protagonist's reaction, (panic? fury?), a dilemma (analyze, review, plan) and the decision to take action or not to take action. Weiland spells it out beautifully, so I suggest you high tail it over to her blog or get her book, Structuring Your Novel. If you need the visual, again, see Ms. Frazier's post How to Deconstruct a Scene like K.M. Weiland.
How am I using this graph? I am such a visual learner, that this one tool, even though I don't feel I have to follow it to the letter, reminds me of what my character should do in a scene in order to keep readers interested and build a good story. And it helped push through the panic that set in after getting the email about the edits. Some of the suggestions meant re-writing entire scenes and getting rid of a few others. Gah! But after I paced around the kitchen table about a gazillion times, I went up to my writing room, set up the graph on a little stand I found at Staples so it would be staring me in the face and plowed into the manuscript. So far so good. And get on over to Better Novel Project and Helping Writers Become Authors.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Hear your characters speak: the value of giving a public reading
Will this Maine winter ever end? I've given up asking and have surrendered to the ever-present and ever-growing banks of white that surround and envelope our yard, stream from an upstairs balcony outside our bedroom and provides a white "lawn" on our deck where birds too big for the feeder land and peck at the seed I throw out.
This Saturday, February 28th, I will take part in a reading series I helped co-found over two years ago with Portland writer E.J. Fechenda. LIT: Readings & Libations allows emerging writers, meaning those who may or may not yet be published, read aloud for fifteen minutes from a piece of fiction.
E.J. and I found each other on the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (MWPA) Facebook page. This happy coincidence -- E.J. queried the MWPA crowd about whether anyone wanted to start such a reading series at the same time I was itching to do just that -- has given me and other writers the great gift of hearing our characters speak aloud, not just to the four walls of our writing rooms when we might practice, but in a venue where people show up to hear us read.
The practice we get at public speaking is minor compared to the rich experience, for me, of hearing my four Irish characters speak in their brogues. I don't even study Irish language, and even as I'm reading I'm thinking I'm botching it. But as the minutes tick by, I forget myself and my inner editor and keep reading, and hearing.
When I leave the dais, I can barely recall what piece I read. I only know that Brother Joe, Maggie, Orla and Eamon are alive, they get angry, hungry and cold. They plot their escape and ponder their future. For fifteen minutes, I give birth. Then I join the crowd of listeners and order a beer and witness the other writers doing the same.
LIT is a free and open to the public event, so I encourage you to come to Bull Feeney's pub on Fore Street in Portland at 4 p.m. on February 28th to help us celebrate the art of writing...and reading.
This Saturday, February 28th, I will take part in a reading series I helped co-found over two years ago with Portland writer E.J. Fechenda. LIT: Readings & Libations allows emerging writers, meaning those who may or may not yet be published, read aloud for fifteen minutes from a piece of fiction.
E.J. and I found each other on the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (MWPA) Facebook page. This happy coincidence -- E.J. queried the MWPA crowd about whether anyone wanted to start such a reading series at the same time I was itching to do just that -- has given me and other writers the great gift of hearing our characters speak aloud, not just to the four walls of our writing rooms when we might practice, but in a venue where people show up to hear us read.
The practice we get at public speaking is minor compared to the rich experience, for me, of hearing my four Irish characters speak in their brogues. I don't even study Irish language, and even as I'm reading I'm thinking I'm botching it. But as the minutes tick by, I forget myself and my inner editor and keep reading, and hearing.
When I leave the dais, I can barely recall what piece I read. I only know that Brother Joe, Maggie, Orla and Eamon are alive, they get angry, hungry and cold. They plot their escape and ponder their future. For fifteen minutes, I give birth. Then I join the crowd of listeners and order a beer and witness the other writers doing the same.
LIT is a free and open to the public event, so I encourage you to come to Bull Feeney's pub on Fore Street in Portland at 4 p.m. on February 28th to help us celebrate the art of writing...and reading.
Friday, January 16, 2015
New Year Ruminations
New year of blogging? Well, we're way past my making a New Year's resolution, now aren't we?
Aw well. Since my last post of December 8th, I worked like a fiend on finishing my beer book, while being present for my family for Christmas and having a crazy great time, meeting my January 2d deadline for said beer book, and getting my sick husband on a plane to Italy with 17 college kids. Happy to report he was no longer contagious by that time, he just needed my presence in Boston to see him gleefully board a plane and leave his cares and woes behind in Waterville for an entire month.
What cares? What woes? Today, on my way home from a lunch date in Brunswick, the car blew up (pretty much literally) and I managed to pull over where an 18-wheeler wouldn't ride up over me and crush me to death, wait for AAA to change a tire down the highway and finally get to me before darkness came. Silver lining? I could start a new novel with that imagery. If I throw in darkness, a snowstorm and a serial killer truck driver who stops to "help," I've even got Steven King beat (not really, but I can dream).
Being home alone for a month is an opportunity to be or become comfortable being in your own skin. I wear yoga clothes most of the time, unless I absolutely have to go out and wear what I call "grown-up clothes:" jeans, sweater, clogs. I have a loose schedule for meditating, journaling, writing, and tying up loose ends with the beer book. For instance, this weekend, I will be naming/renaming over 100 or 200 images so the editor knows whose in the photo or to what brewery the logo belongs. It's a bit boring and tedious, but it will get the book DONE.
In the mystery realm, I have been working on a book proposal for a cozy mystery series. These books can often be sold based on a proposal and three sample chapters. It's not as easy as it might sound. And you usually must have an agent on board to guide you through the process. But I've got that and I've been "playing" with my fiction for the first time in a very long time. Maybe for the first time, in fact.
And I'm back to reading voraciously. I finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy, a great novel. He's such a good writer. I learned a lot about taking my time and lingering just long enough to get the sense of place so important to this book. It takes place in Charleston, SC, one of my favorite cities.
The other book I finally finished, because I gave myself permission to read, was Maisie Dobbs. Set in post WWI London, Maisie is an educated former front line nurse who sets up a detective agency after the war. The writing is very good, the sense of London at that time is great and her tragedy, which unwinds til the last page, is well handled. Just the right amount of tension til the end. This is a series and I'll be reading more.
I'll end here. More later, as they say. Happy New Year to all, and I'm hoping for a book deal in the coming months.
Aw well. Since my last post of December 8th, I worked like a fiend on finishing my beer book, while being present for my family for Christmas and having a crazy great time, meeting my January 2d deadline for said beer book, and getting my sick husband on a plane to Italy with 17 college kids. Happy to report he was no longer contagious by that time, he just needed my presence in Boston to see him gleefully board a plane and leave his cares and woes behind in Waterville for an entire month.
What cares? What woes? Today, on my way home from a lunch date in Brunswick, the car blew up (pretty much literally) and I managed to pull over where an 18-wheeler wouldn't ride up over me and crush me to death, wait for AAA to change a tire down the highway and finally get to me before darkness came. Silver lining? I could start a new novel with that imagery. If I throw in darkness, a snowstorm and a serial killer truck driver who stops to "help," I've even got Steven King beat (not really, but I can dream).
Being home alone for a month is an opportunity to be or become comfortable being in your own skin. I wear yoga clothes most of the time, unless I absolutely have to go out and wear what I call "grown-up clothes:" jeans, sweater, clogs. I have a loose schedule for meditating, journaling, writing, and tying up loose ends with the beer book. For instance, this weekend, I will be naming/renaming over 100 or 200 images so the editor knows whose in the photo or to what brewery the logo belongs. It's a bit boring and tedious, but it will get the book DONE.
In the mystery realm, I have been working on a book proposal for a cozy mystery series. These books can often be sold based on a proposal and three sample chapters. It's not as easy as it might sound. And you usually must have an agent on board to guide you through the process. But I've got that and I've been "playing" with my fiction for the first time in a very long time. Maybe for the first time, in fact.
And I'm back to reading voraciously. I finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy, a great novel. He's such a good writer. I learned a lot about taking my time and lingering just long enough to get the sense of place so important to this book. It takes place in Charleston, SC, one of my favorite cities.
The other book I finally finished, because I gave myself permission to read, was Maisie Dobbs. Set in post WWI London, Maisie is an educated former front line nurse who sets up a detective agency after the war. The writing is very good, the sense of London at that time is great and her tragedy, which unwinds til the last page, is well handled. Just the right amount of tension til the end. This is a series and I'll be reading more.
I'll end here. More later, as they say. Happy New Year to all, and I'm hoping for a book deal in the coming months.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Given Apple, Taken Apple: Sketching out a mystery series
Happy Monday! And it's a frigid one here in Waterville, Maine. Three degrees and it feels like it. Just came in from throwing the bright orange rubber ball to my dog Henry. He's now exercised and I'm finally getting the feeling back in my fingers.
Last week I went to the Sagadahoc County Registry of Deeds in Bath to do some research for the new mystery series I'm writing. If you've never been to a registry of deeds, conjure up in your mind Bartleby the Scrivener, the character in the Herman Melville novella of the same name. Bartleby is a scrivener, that is one who copies documents, like deeds, in longhand, or cursive and that's what he does all day long. Until one day,he answers every request with the famous line: "I'd prefer not to."
That's what some people did for a living before the typewriter and photocopy machines. They labored on chest-high, slanted tables, almost like drafting tables, inkwells placed every three or four feet, copying the deeds, mortgages, easements and other documents that were put on record to help people claim their land and show "all the world" that they and no one else owned it. Those hand-copied documents were then bound into books about twelve by eighteen inches and three inches thick. In order to do our work back then, we had to hoist many of those books a day. They weighed at least five pounds or more. Then the original docs were mailed back to the attorneys or banks who handled the transactions.
When I began my training in researching titles back in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1982, there were still old tables with holes where the ink bottles would have been. In some registries, I'm sure they still exist. But most of them have been switched out with more modern, less charming furniture. But back to what I was up to.
My career has been varied, but for a twenty-five year chunk of time I did title examinations. If you wanted to sell or buy a house, you would want to have the title to the land searched to make sure there were no encumbrances on it. Like, for instance, you want to make sure that the person who says he owns it really does, so when you buy it, you own it. And you do that by looking at the deed you are going to receive at the closing, finding out where that person got it, and where the person before him/her got it, back forty years. You can go back as far as the records go if you want, and that's what I was doing last week.
I know of a rare heirloom apple that was developed on a farm in Sagadahoc County. No more oak slanted tables, but a jazzy new computer system that showed me a few transactions with my apple cultivator's name. That reference led me to a plan of an easement to a utility company. That plan showed that my apple farmer's land once abutted that easement and showed about where it was.
I only had a couple of hours to spend there, but what I found was a good lead. My friends, Penny and Sally, two veteran title examiners (or "abstractors" as they are called in Maine) helped me place where the farm might have been, now a cul de sac with homes snaked through it.
When I left the "Reg," as we fondly call it, I drove down the road where the farm once was. Along the way, I found two old apple trees right on the side of the road. I got out and took photos of them, and close-ups of the lone apple, browned by the cold, hanging on for dear life.
I kept going, and this is a long, long road. When I got to the utility easement, I got out, parked in the entrance to the cul de sac and looked around. No farmhouse. But then, as if it had shouted to me, there by the side of the road was a huge, gnarled, naked apple tree. I climbed down the short embankment, almost breaking a leg doing so, and practically hugged that tree. Well, I think I did hug it. I'm new at this apple sleuthing, but this looked like a very old tree. I found some "dropsies," stuffed them into my pockets and hoped the passersby didn't call the cops on some crazy lady down in the gully.
I don't have an actual photo of the apple I'm looking for. There is a sketch put out by John Bunker at Fedco Trees, the real apple expert. But it could be "the one." I took photos of them when I got them home, cut up the smallest one and dug out the seeds. I'm going to plant them and see if they grow.
The end of the trek came when I decided to keep going instead of turning back and going home the usual way. The plan showed that this road ended up in a town near the highway ramp. As I'd gotten off the highway in Bowdoinham that day, I passed "Fisher Road." I thought, "Someday I'll take that road and see where it brings me." Lo and behold, the road where I had traveled to find that farm turned into Fisher Road, and it brought me to that very intersection I'd passed by earlier in the day. I laughed. Some random journeys we take are not as random as we think. My entire day had been filled with synchronicity, happy coincidences, and I got home exhilarated.
As a writer, we don't have to search out real people, farms or apples to flesh out our fictional stories. But I love detection, and that's what I miss about my old career...title searching involves looking through books, at maps and plans, some of them quite old, and finding where your "locus" is "on the face of the earth." And I find it fun to incorporate that into my novel research, What's this one about? Think: "An Apple to Die For."
Last week I went to the Sagadahoc County Registry of Deeds in Bath to do some research for the new mystery series I'm writing. If you've never been to a registry of deeds, conjure up in your mind Bartleby the Scrivener, the character in the Herman Melville novella of the same name. Bartleby is a scrivener, that is one who copies documents, like deeds, in longhand, or cursive and that's what he does all day long. Until one day,he answers every request with the famous line: "I'd prefer not to."
That's what some people did for a living before the typewriter and photocopy machines. They labored on chest-high, slanted tables, almost like drafting tables, inkwells placed every three or four feet, copying the deeds, mortgages, easements and other documents that were put on record to help people claim their land and show "all the world" that they and no one else owned it. Those hand-copied documents were then bound into books about twelve by eighteen inches and three inches thick. In order to do our work back then, we had to hoist many of those books a day. They weighed at least five pounds or more. Then the original docs were mailed back to the attorneys or banks who handled the transactions.
When I began my training in researching titles back in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1982, there were still old tables with holes where the ink bottles would have been. In some registries, I'm sure they still exist. But most of them have been switched out with more modern, less charming furniture. But back to what I was up to.
My career has been varied, but for a twenty-five year chunk of time I did title examinations. If you wanted to sell or buy a house, you would want to have the title to the land searched to make sure there were no encumbrances on it. Like, for instance, you want to make sure that the person who says he owns it really does, so when you buy it, you own it. And you do that by looking at the deed you are going to receive at the closing, finding out where that person got it, and where the person before him/her got it, back forty years. You can go back as far as the records go if you want, and that's what I was doing last week.
I know of a rare heirloom apple that was developed on a farm in Sagadahoc County. No more oak slanted tables, but a jazzy new computer system that showed me a few transactions with my apple cultivator's name. That reference led me to a plan of an easement to a utility company. That plan showed that my apple farmer's land once abutted that easement and showed about where it was.
I only had a couple of hours to spend there, but what I found was a good lead. My friends, Penny and Sally, two veteran title examiners (or "abstractors" as they are called in Maine) helped me place where the farm might have been, now a cul de sac with homes snaked through it.
When I left the "Reg," as we fondly call it, I drove down the road where the farm once was. Along the way, I found two old apple trees right on the side of the road. I got out and took photos of them, and close-ups of the lone apple, browned by the cold, hanging on for dear life.
I kept going, and this is a long, long road. When I got to the utility easement, I got out, parked in the entrance to the cul de sac and looked around. No farmhouse. But then, as if it had shouted to me, there by the side of the road was a huge, gnarled, naked apple tree. I climbed down the short embankment, almost breaking a leg doing so, and practically hugged that tree. Well, I think I did hug it. I'm new at this apple sleuthing, but this looked like a very old tree. I found some "dropsies," stuffed them into my pockets and hoped the passersby didn't call the cops on some crazy lady down in the gully.
I don't have an actual photo of the apple I'm looking for. There is a sketch put out by John Bunker at Fedco Trees, the real apple expert. But it could be "the one." I took photos of them when I got them home, cut up the smallest one and dug out the seeds. I'm going to plant them and see if they grow.
The end of the trek came when I decided to keep going instead of turning back and going home the usual way. The plan showed that this road ended up in a town near the highway ramp. As I'd gotten off the highway in Bowdoinham that day, I passed "Fisher Road." I thought, "Someday I'll take that road and see where it brings me." Lo and behold, the road where I had traveled to find that farm turned into Fisher Road, and it brought me to that very intersection I'd passed by earlier in the day. I laughed. Some random journeys we take are not as random as we think. My entire day had been filled with synchronicity, happy coincidences, and I got home exhilarated.
As a writer, we don't have to search out real people, farms or apples to flesh out our fictional stories. But I love detection, and that's what I miss about my old career...title searching involves looking through books, at maps and plans, some of them quite old, and finding where your "locus" is "on the face of the earth." And I find it fun to incorporate that into my novel research, What's this one about? Think: "An Apple to Die For."
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Post Thanksgiving Musings:Writing that Book Proposal
My mother, who we called "Mum," was the original "hot ticket." She had many funny expressions, some lost to memory now, that nailed a feeling or state of being.
And I'd characterize my life right now just as she would: I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger. First, there is my non-fiction travel guide about New England craft beer. I have one month, well, let me calculate for sure, 34 days to hand it in to the editor. I want to break down laughing, or break down crying .... saying intentions like "I WILL hand it in on time," hoping I have 62 fairy godmothers who drink beer listening in the ether, who have nothing to do but help me.
So I had to make a decision about interrupting the flow of work on that project in order to write a book proposal for an agent whom I'd approached after the Crime Bake conference. He liked the ideas I had for two cozy mystery series, but I'd need to write proposals for each series idea. And that required time away from my work in progress. I hemmed and hawed to myself, but told the agent that of course I'd work on the proposals ASAP.
Then I committed to do it. It took three days of constant researching and asking for help coming up with "comparable" books, book series similar to yours that had been renewed (showing good sales), conjuring up three books in the series, writing a synopsis of each without actually having the books written, writing a bio of my work and experience, presenting evidence of my potential market and editing the first 30 pages of the manuscript to make it enticing to an editor.
I finished it last Tuesday and looked Heaven-ward before I pressed "send." Then I plunged into Thanksgiving preparations. My son was the only one of my three kids to be able to make it home, and we had a great two days. No work on the beer book was done, except making a pumpkin pie with a local stout. That recipe can go in the book, so I guess it was research. And the pie was delicious.
Today is Saturday. We've managed to not participate in any Black Friday insanity, we got our Christmas tree up and some lights on it without killing each other (close, though) and today I get back to work on the beer project.
I will do some deep breathing when I open the master doc, see how many breweries I still have to write up, and keep going. "Bird by bird," writer-goddess Anne Lamott says, bird by bird.
Special thanks go to Wicked Cozy Authors Sherry Harris and Barb Ross and to bookseller Beth Kanell of Vermont's Kingdom Books. Your help with finding comparable series was what encouraged me to finish the proposal and not flop in a heap of tears.
And I'd characterize my life right now just as she would: I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger. First, there is my non-fiction travel guide about New England craft beer. I have one month, well, let me calculate for sure, 34 days to hand it in to the editor. I want to break down laughing, or break down crying .... saying intentions like "I WILL hand it in on time," hoping I have 62 fairy godmothers who drink beer listening in the ether, who have nothing to do but help me.
So I had to make a decision about interrupting the flow of work on that project in order to write a book proposal for an agent whom I'd approached after the Crime Bake conference. He liked the ideas I had for two cozy mystery series, but I'd need to write proposals for each series idea. And that required time away from my work in progress. I hemmed and hawed to myself, but told the agent that of course I'd work on the proposals ASAP.
Then I committed to do it. It took three days of constant researching and asking for help coming up with "comparable" books, book series similar to yours that had been renewed (showing good sales), conjuring up three books in the series, writing a synopsis of each without actually having the books written, writing a bio of my work and experience, presenting evidence of my potential market and editing the first 30 pages of the manuscript to make it enticing to an editor.
I finished it last Tuesday and looked Heaven-ward before I pressed "send." Then I plunged into Thanksgiving preparations. My son was the only one of my three kids to be able to make it home, and we had a great two days. No work on the beer book was done, except making a pumpkin pie with a local stout. That recipe can go in the book, so I guess it was research. And the pie was delicious.
Today is Saturday. We've managed to not participate in any Black Friday insanity, we got our Christmas tree up and some lights on it without killing each other (close, though) and today I get back to work on the beer project.
I will do some deep breathing when I open the master doc, see how many breweries I still have to write up, and keep going. "Bird by bird," writer-goddess Anne Lamott says, bird by bird.
Special thanks go to Wicked Cozy Authors Sherry Harris and Barb Ross and to bookseller Beth Kanell of Vermont's Kingdom Books. Your help with finding comparable series was what encouraged me to finish the proposal and not flop in a heap of tears.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Puns about beer and murder
Last Saturday at this very moment, 5:10 p.m., I was standing in line at Crime Bake waiting for my turn speed-pitching an agent. It was pretty exciting, standing with five or so other writers, all of us wondering if the agent we'd gotten assigned would bite at our book ideas. Mine didn't, as I wrote last week. Fine. Chalk it up to learning experience.
Next morning at breakfast, we decided to gather all the Maine folks around the same table. One writer I had just met gave me her agent's name and some valuable info about the type of cozy mystery she writes. Some publishers will give you a book deal without a finished manuscript.
I was going back and forth wondering if I should take time away from my non-fiction beer book, and decided to go for it. I printed out the submissions guidelines from this agent's website, ticked them off as I wrote them, and said to my husband, "Wish me luck, I'm about to press "send."" And I did it.
Now I am scrambling to think up some pithy, pun-filled book titles and book jacket copy for the mysteries I want to write. One series will feature the subject I'm pretty well-versed in: beer. The other subject is a recent passion of mine.
Wish me luck!
Next morning at breakfast, we decided to gather all the Maine folks around the same table. One writer I had just met gave me her agent's name and some valuable info about the type of cozy mystery she writes. Some publishers will give you a book deal without a finished manuscript.
I was going back and forth wondering if I should take time away from my non-fiction beer book, and decided to go for it. I printed out the submissions guidelines from this agent's website, ticked them off as I wrote them, and said to my husband, "Wish me luck, I'm about to press "send."" And I did it.
Now I am scrambling to think up some pithy, pun-filled book titles and book jacket copy for the mysteries I want to write. One series will feature the subject I'm pretty well-versed in: beer. The other subject is a recent passion of mine.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Hang out with other writers: my first Crimebake conference and new mantra
I have been so isolated where I live, I keep in touch with friends via Facebook or email (mostly Facebook) and see other writers hardly ever. If you don't live in Maine or some other rural place, you might think it's me. I live in Waterville, Maine, home of my alma mater Colby College, a second college, two hospitals and 18,000 people. Doesn't seem like an isolated place.
But in the six years I've lived here, with my retired Colby prof husband, I have made exactly zero friends and met zero other writers. And I happen to know there are more than a few afoot.
So when I got my very first chance to sign up for Sisters in Crime New England Chapter annual conference, I pinched pennies and made arrangements. Tomorrow, after waiting for months, I go to Dedham, Massachusetts for a three day crime extravaganza. We'll even get to inspect a "crime scene," set up by forensics experts for our inexpert perusal.
Wheeeeee! Can't contain my glee. There is a feeling I get when I'm around other writers. Some could view the others in attendance as potential or actual competition. I am so excited and stimulated by the talk, how interested people are in meeting each other, and listening to the published mystery writers, I float for days after.
Sisters in Crime was founded to create awareness that women mystery writers weren't being paid as well as their male counterparts. And it's an amazingly organized group. And not only that, they are welcoming as hell.
I've met several other writers via their website and Yahoo group and look forward to meeting them this weekend.
The special guest is Craig Robinson, creator of the Longmire books on which a TV series has been based. There will be a BBQ banquet and line dancing (okay I'm skipping the dancing), and lots of talk about mysteries and series and characters and technique and all the trappings of what makes the crime writing world go round.
Oh, and I'm getting 5 minutes to pitch my novel in progress to an agent. Hope I've got it right:
"When Griffin Kane finds a body in her new batch of beer, Portland, Maine police rule it an accident. Eamon Collins fell into the mash tun and drowned. The trouble is, it isn't Eamon. And the other trouble is Eamon is gone. Who is the body in the beer vat? And why did Eamon fake his death? Welcome to the Vatican Brewpub, the former St. Dominic's church, and the seamier side of the craft beer world."
Still working on it! If you have suggestions, let me know.
But in the six years I've lived here, with my retired Colby prof husband, I have made exactly zero friends and met zero other writers. And I happen to know there are more than a few afoot.
So when I got my very first chance to sign up for Sisters in Crime New England Chapter annual conference, I pinched pennies and made arrangements. Tomorrow, after waiting for months, I go to Dedham, Massachusetts for a three day crime extravaganza. We'll even get to inspect a "crime scene," set up by forensics experts for our inexpert perusal.
Wheeeeee! Can't contain my glee. There is a feeling I get when I'm around other writers. Some could view the others in attendance as potential or actual competition. I am so excited and stimulated by the talk, how interested people are in meeting each other, and listening to the published mystery writers, I float for days after.
Sisters in Crime was founded to create awareness that women mystery writers weren't being paid as well as their male counterparts. And it's an amazingly organized group. And not only that, they are welcoming as hell.
I've met several other writers via their website and Yahoo group and look forward to meeting them this weekend.
The special guest is Craig Robinson, creator of the Longmire books on which a TV series has been based. There will be a BBQ banquet and line dancing (okay I'm skipping the dancing), and lots of talk about mysteries and series and characters and technique and all the trappings of what makes the crime writing world go round.
Oh, and I'm getting 5 minutes to pitch my novel in progress to an agent. Hope I've got it right:
"When Griffin Kane finds a body in her new batch of beer, Portland, Maine police rule it an accident. Eamon Collins fell into the mash tun and drowned. The trouble is, it isn't Eamon. And the other trouble is Eamon is gone. Who is the body in the beer vat? And why did Eamon fake his death? Welcome to the Vatican Brewpub, the former St. Dominic's church, and the seamier side of the craft beer world."
Still working on it! If you have suggestions, let me know.
Monday, October 27, 2014
What's taking so long? Finishing that elusive work in progress
Up front I can say I don't have an answer to that question, "What's taking so long?" I have one finished novel in a closet and even discovered recently that it was successfully saved to a floppy disc (yes) then to a flash drive.
My second novel in that same series has been in progress for years. My youngest daughter reads Slate and once sent me an article that so touched me that I have it pinned on a bulletin bar inside the same closet where my manuscript resides. At least I can see it each time I open that door.
Author Susanna Daniel wrote an article in Slate in July, 2010 titled, "What Took You So Long? The quiet hell of 10 years of novel writing."
The article begins:
That was four years ago. I've been helped tremendously by bloggers and other writers I've met when I decided to go for it. Procrastination is a problem. Less a problem than a detour is the non-fiction craft beer book I'm writing. For that project, I am grateful, as it may mean income coming in from my writing. It'll be at least a year til I see it, but it should flow in and help out.
I work on writing every day, and setting up this blog helps. I either write here or in my other, food/beer-related blog or even in the novel.
Daniel ends her piece with this:
After I wrote the last sentence, I printed the whole mess and got out my red pen, and the relief of having a complete draft was overwhelming. I had more writing energy than I'd had in years. At this point, no matter that the sky was falling in publishing-land, I was certain that I would see my book in print.
I'm keeping the faith that this will also happen to me. Finishing even a first draft is the biggest event, and I know I can do it. I even have the last scene written. It's finding the balance between the fiction projects, the beer book and blogging and some freelance articles that have come trickling in. But the most important thing is to push past fear and doubt and start clacking away at the keys.
Read Susanna Daniel's touching piece here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/07/what_took_you_so_long.html
My second novel in that same series has been in progress for years. My youngest daughter reads Slate and once sent me an article that so touched me that I have it pinned on a bulletin bar inside the same closet where my manuscript resides. At least I can see it each time I open that door.
Author Susanna Daniel wrote an article in Slate in July, 2010 titled, "What Took You So Long? The quiet hell of 10 years of novel writing."
The article begins:
There is surely a word—in German, most likely—that means the state of active non-accomplishment. Not just the failure to reach a specific goal, but ongoing, daily failure with no end in sight. Stunted ambition. Disappointed potential. Frustrated and sad and lonely and hopeless and sick to death of one's self.
Whatever it's called, this is what leads people to abandon their goals—people do it every day. And I understand that decision, because I lived in this state of active non-accomplishment for many years.
At the time she wrote it, her first novel had been accepted for publication. By now it's been out there for a few years. She cites another writer who took his time and lost hope: Junot Diaz, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, also took 10 years to complete it. Neither Daniel or Diaz worked on that novel all that time. They put them down for long stretches of time, to have a child or enter a graduate program. But they answered that siren's call, which usually for me comes in the middle of the night, the call to come back and finish your story. Your characters are waiting for you.
I visited my daughter Meg the summer she gave me the What Took You so Long? piece. We were watching TV and talking. I said, "I feel like I have so much to say and no one is listening to me."
She was 20 years old at the time, and I was floored by what she said in response: "Mom, that's what writers do. They write all the things in their heads that no one is listening to."
That was four years ago. I've been helped tremendously by bloggers and other writers I've met when I decided to go for it. Procrastination is a problem. Less a problem than a detour is the non-fiction craft beer book I'm writing. For that project, I am grateful, as it may mean income coming in from my writing. It'll be at least a year til I see it, but it should flow in and help out.
I work on writing every day, and setting up this blog helps. I either write here or in my other, food/beer-related blog or even in the novel.
Daniel ends her piece with this:
After I wrote the last sentence, I printed the whole mess and got out my red pen, and the relief of having a complete draft was overwhelming. I had more writing energy than I'd had in years. At this point, no matter that the sky was falling in publishing-land, I was certain that I would see my book in print.
I'm keeping the faith that this will also happen to me. Finishing even a first draft is the biggest event, and I know I can do it. I even have the last scene written. It's finding the balance between the fiction projects, the beer book and blogging and some freelance articles that have come trickling in. But the most important thing is to push past fear and doubt and start clacking away at the keys.
Read Susanna Daniel's touching piece here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/07/what_took_you_so_long.html
Monday, October 20, 2014
Show Your Work: Advice from Austin Kleon
One of the worst things that happens to me when I sit down to write is the perfection problem. Fingers hang over the keys: a, s, d, f and on the right, j, k, l and semi-colon (which some famous writer says never to use....it only shows you're pompous). There they hang, fearful of producing drivel. But not writing hurts. If I get up without getting something on the screen, I feel like I've failed myself.
Enter Austin Kleon, author of Share Like an Artist and the more recent Show Your Work. I'm reading the latter, underlining like crazy, nuggets like: Send out a daily dispatch. No matter where you are in your work, pick a small piece of it that you can get "out there," meaning online. "Writers like Twitter," and indeed, I find myself posting short pieces, or a link to this blog on Twitter with a hashtag of #amwriting, which seems to get me some followers. It works.
I have a long way to go, and I'm not entirely comfortable in sharing my actual fiction, but I'm getting something about my process or progress on the non-fiction beer book, out into the Twittersphere every day. Some of my followers are e-book publishers or people hoping to help me market a book, but I'm "meeting" other writers, many of them with helpful blogs, who get me writing more and more.
And writing something every day has been my goal for a very long time. It's getting a lot easier as I practice at it.
Enter Austin Kleon, author of Share Like an Artist and the more recent Show Your Work. I'm reading the latter, underlining like crazy, nuggets like: Send out a daily dispatch. No matter where you are in your work, pick a small piece of it that you can get "out there," meaning online. "Writers like Twitter," and indeed, I find myself posting short pieces, or a link to this blog on Twitter with a hashtag of #amwriting, which seems to get me some followers. It works.
I have a long way to go, and I'm not entirely comfortable in sharing my actual fiction, but I'm getting something about my process or progress on the non-fiction beer book, out into the Twittersphere every day. Some of my followers are e-book publishers or people hoping to help me market a book, but I'm "meeting" other writers, many of them with helpful blogs, who get me writing more and more.
And writing something every day has been my goal for a very long time. It's getting a lot easier as I practice at it.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Writing in the seasons, write what you know
Artist's Way author Julia Cameron urges us to write "Morning Pages," three pages of stream of consciousness blather (my word) or whatever is on your mind right after you get up. I do the pages after I meditate and have a cup of coffee, and I always note at the head of the first page: Date, time, temperature and weather.
Today, for instance, it was sunny and warm for a mid-October early morning. I reported on how many of our trees are now leaf-less, that the chickadees and nuthatches are back at the feeder after a summer hiatus and the warm quality of the air, color of the sky. Why do I do this? I have no idea. Part of me thinks after I'm gone to the big mystery novel in the sky, that my kids might like to read what I've written.
But I've discovered over the past few years that those entries can help while writing. Say for instance your murder happens in November, as it does in my work in progress, and I'm writing those scenes in the middle of the summer, which I was. What's it like in November in Portland, Maine? Cold. But it's August and I'm staying at a cottage on Bailey Island and the weather is idyllic and I'm in an island rapture. I can fake it, from memory. But if I have some files that describe exactly what I'm noticing with all five senses firing on a given date in a given month I can go back and use that description/sense in my current out-of-season document.
The next trick will be filing those jottings into computer files. We'll see. I can pluck a journal from the closet in my yoga room, stick my finger in and find my description of the weather. Or I can find an entry where I was feeling an emotion so intensely, I can use that too. It's all grist for the mill, as Ram Dass once said. It's all good.
Today, for instance, it was sunny and warm for a mid-October early morning. I reported on how many of our trees are now leaf-less, that the chickadees and nuthatches are back at the feeder after a summer hiatus and the warm quality of the air, color of the sky. Why do I do this? I have no idea. Part of me thinks after I'm gone to the big mystery novel in the sky, that my kids might like to read what I've written.
But I've discovered over the past few years that those entries can help while writing. Say for instance your murder happens in November, as it does in my work in progress, and I'm writing those scenes in the middle of the summer, which I was. What's it like in November in Portland, Maine? Cold. But it's August and I'm staying at a cottage on Bailey Island and the weather is idyllic and I'm in an island rapture. I can fake it, from memory. But if I have some files that describe exactly what I'm noticing with all five senses firing on a given date in a given month I can go back and use that description/sense in my current out-of-season document.
The next trick will be filing those jottings into computer files. We'll see. I can pluck a journal from the closet in my yoga room, stick my finger in and find my description of the weather. Or I can find an entry where I was feeling an emotion so intensely, I can use that too. It's all grist for the mill, as Ram Dass once said. It's all good.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Give me Liberty, or give me Liberty Craft Brewing
Give me Liberty, or give me Liberty Craft Brewing
My interview with Guy Hews, owner/brewer at Maine's newest nano-brewery!
My interview with Guy Hews, owner/brewer at Maine's newest nano-brewery!
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