Edit Schmedit

“Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.” ― Colette

As you all know self-publishing has grown exponentially over the past five years. There are still concerns by the reading and authoring community regarding the saleability of some of the books being self-published. We know the value of editing and the self-pubbed books worth reading have been thoroughly edited - they are professional and ready for prime time.

When I first started writing for publication I longed to write a beautiful first draft that leaped off the page with its glorious phrasing and description. What I've learned in the past sixteen years is first drafts are never perfect.

There are tons of books and software out there on how to edit and I've read some and used one or two. Here are my recommendations (these have a permanent place in my library):

• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King (personal fave that I've shared a lot)
• On Writing Well  by Zinsser
• The Elements of Style by Strunk & White (I've already worn out one copy)
• Writers Digest magazine has a great section called WORKBOOK with exercises & tips for honing your craft
• Grammarly is a great tool for catching passive voice, wayward comma's and repetitive phrases

 "Find out what works for you and exploit it." ~Mark Twain


If you can afford to invest in a professional editor, that's great. Your manuscript will no doubt be much improved, but your pocketbook may be thinner.

A critique group is one of the most valuable tools out there for editing. By sharing your work with other authors they often see things we've become blind to. And if two or more of them remark on the same issue - well, it would definitely be worth a second look.

WORD to the WISE: Careful with critique groups, however, they are not all created equal. Critiques should be positive and motivate the author to make the story better. Criticism is negative and can destroy the fragile creative flame. And EVERYONE should have equal time to share their work and get the group's input. No diva's, please.

This post is not advocating self-publishing, although it is a more viable option now than it was six years ago. What I do recommend is stepping back from your work and look at it with an objective eye and if that doesn't work for you, get some help from your author buddies. It's a struggle for all of us to "kill our darlings."

Enjoy the journey.
Bonnie (BD) Tharp, author of women's fiction: Feisty Family Values and Patchwork Family. With a new Young Adult mss ready for an agent or publisher, whichever comes first.
For more information http://bdtharp.com

Interview With Author Richard Cass by Jacqueline Seewald

Richard Cass is our guest today on Author Expressions. He has a most impressive background. Richard began writing as a poet but slowly became enamored of the possibilities of prose: first short stories, then novels. He graduated from Colby College in Maine and earned an MA in Writing from the University of New Hampshire. His short fiction has won prizes from magazines like Redbook, Writers' Digest, and Playboy. His first collection of stories is called Gleam of Bone. His first novel is published by Five Star/Cengage.

Richard is a native of Boston and a Mainer by choice and holds an MA in Writing from the University of New Hampshire, where he studied with Thomas Williams and Joseph Monninger. He's also studied with Molly Gloss, Ursula LeGuin, and Ernest Hebert.

Question: What is the title and genre of your novel?  Why did you select them?

Answer: The first entry in my Elder Darrow series is called Solo Act. When I started planning the series, I envisioned a series of titles with the word “Solo” in each, as a way to tie the series together.

Solo Act is what I’d call an amateur sleuth. Elder Darrow is a bartender, not a cop or any other kind of law enforcement officer and the initial mystery he solves is very personal. I’ve always been attracted to the amateur protagonist, at least partly because I was very impressed at a young age with Travis McGee, John D. McDonald’s creation, who solved crimes and helped victims without having any sort of legal or official standing.

Question:   What inspired this novel? How did it come about?

Answer: As part of my checkered past, I spent a lot of time tending bar in both classy and seedy places. You can’t be a bartender for long without realizing that behind all those faces are stories you can’t even imagine. And being a bartender allows you to be a sort of voyeur of those stories. I also spent a lot of time bouncing around jazz clubs in my youth and wanted to capture some of the flavor of that music for readers. And as a native of Boston, I wanted to catch some of my love for the city, its institutions, and its inhabitants.

Question:  Could you tell us a little bit about the heroine and/or hero of your novel?

Answer:  Elder Darrow is the son of a Boston Brahmin whose family has been in the banking business in Boston since just after the Revolutionary War. He attended prep school at Exeter and college at Harvard but he became an alcoholic before he worked out any professional path for himself. His father would have liked him to go into the banking business but until Elder can prove he can stay sober, that’s not going to be possible. And Elder himself isn’t sure that’s what he wants.

He’s bought the Esposito, a bucket of blood bar in Boston’s South End, with the idea that he will gentrify it, turn it into a jazz nightclub. His working assumption is that by being around alcohol and drinkers all the time, he’ll inoculate himself against his addiction.

Question:   Can you tell us about some of your other published novels or work?

Answer:  Solo Act is my first published novel. I’ve published a book of short stories called Gleam of Bone and any number of essays and articles. Other than fiction, I write mainly about the outdoors: environmental topics, fishing, oceans and rivers, and so on.

Question:   What are you working on now?

Answer:  My agent is currently shopping a thriller about a man who, in trying to avenge his girlfriend’s death, kills the wrong person. I’m also finishing up the first draft of a political mystery, set in Portland, Maine, where the protagonist is hired to kill a sitting governor’s best friend.

Question:   What made you start writing?

Answer: I wrote my first short story in the sixth grade, a labored-over tale of a valuable stamp hidden in the handle of a magnifying glass. I’ve always read and I always loved mysteries and thrillers, from Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock all the way down the decades to Robert Crais and Ian Rankin. Essentially, I started writing because I wanted to do what all those writers I admired do.

Question:   What advice would you offer to those who are currently writing novels?

Answer: Pay no attention to what you think is going well or not going well in the short term. You will finish your book by accretion, not in great leaps. Understand that you are playing a long game, that how your day’s writing went is almost immaterial with respect to whether you’ll finish and/or how well you’ve done. It’s about momentum and finishing, not about making each day’s work be perfect, or even good. Almost all of the goodness is going to be in the revising.

If you are lucky enough to be published, understand that the publishing business operates at the speed of a shucked snail. And everyone will have plenty of advice for you. Develop a thick skin if you don’t already have one.

Question:  Where and when will readers be able to obtain your novel?

Answer: You can order the Solo Act hardcover from any independent bookstore that buys books from major national distributors like Ingram or Baker and Taylor. Solo Act is also available in e-book and hardcover formats from Amazon.com and in hardcover from BarnesandNoble.com. For five or more copies for readings, book signings, or reading groups, the publisher provides a discount code for direct ordering.

Richard, thanks so much for being our guest today. Your novel sounds like a fine book.

Readers, do you have any questions or comments for Richard? They are welcome here.

Where do I write? by Susan Oleksiw

I stopped for lunch at a favorite coffee shop/restaurant the other day and started thinking all sorts of curmudgeonly thoughts. So instead of gently chiding myself, I decided to share them with you. Herewith my views on where writers write.

One of my favorite coffee shops stands out for a number of reasons—it’s really a pastry shop and probably loses money on the coffee service. It’s also distinct for having fewer tables and chairs than the space could accept. Those who sit there with a cup of coffee and a pastry watch the passersby on the sidewalk outside or lean over a book or magazine. The shop owner keeps a small bookshelf stocked with miscellaneous titles.

This coffee shop is not the usual place for people to claim a spot and go to work on their latest novel, and I rarely see someone with a computer when I go in. There is such a place, a cafe across the street, where students and workers and retirees fill the booths and counters and tables and chairs. It’s also loud.

In the town where I worked for twenty years and still visit regularly for other duties I have three regular spots for a coffee break or leisurely lunch. In each one I can expect to see a computer and someone typing away, or pondering the screen. I have no idea if any of these people are published writers, or even if they are doing creative work. They could be managing their finances, or writing to relatives overseas or playing solitaire. But what I do know is that I have no desire to join them.

Writing for me is work. I don’t mean that it’s hard. (It is that too sometimes.) I mean that I consider it a job. Just as I got dressed every morning and drove to an office and before that sat at my desk and ghost wrote how-to books and edited all manner of printed copy,  now I get dressed every morning, go downstairs to my desk and plunk myself down in front of the screen. I try to figure out how to cover up a murder, but not too well. I want my sleuth to figure it out. Sometimes I dawdle over email or an interesting blog post or even Facebook. But I soon nudge myself away from these temptations and turn to my work in progress. I have a word quota to meet, and plot and character problems to solve. And I can’t solve them if I’m not dealing with them.

@Klankhoon/Dreamstime

I don’t consider myself an aberration. Most of the successful writers I know have learned the art or skill of self-discipline. Writing is not leisure activity, nor is it entertainment. We are not Parisians living in garrets so cold that we can’t remain at home during the day to write and so flee to a heated cafe. Perhaps a small apartment packed with a couple of infants might justify a trek to the local coffee shop, but other than that I am skeptical of writing in public.

There are certain truisms in this business. Writers write. Sometimes we talk about it if asked questions, and sometimes we talk about ourselves as writers if asked even more specific questions. But mostly we write. We think up stories, organize ideas for essays, read and review books, and support other writers. But mostly, we write. At home. Or in an office. Every day.

Endings

Five years ago I began to post  blogs as a fellow author of Five Star's Expressions Line. The Expressions line was eventually dropped along with the Westerns. Since Five Star became an imprint  with Cengage, the "times they are "a-changin" once more. I believe I'm correct that, now,  Mysteries are out and Westerns are back in. I'm hoping  those who write in those genres will correct me if I'm wrong.

 Having noted these changes, I too will be  moving on - literally.
.Tom and I will move from the southwest coast to the southeast coast of Florida, in April.  A big leap for us across the state, but a necessary one.  I'm sad to leave friends, organizations, church ministries,  and our lovely place here on the Gulf of Mexico, but I look forward to a new life beside the Atlantic ocean.

As you can imagine, I will be very busy in the coming days, consequently, this will be my last post on Author Expressions. I will be taking a writing break after six novels, four of them with Five Star.
Many thanks to fellow authors for, interviews, reviews, support and thoughtful emails over the years.



I f you haven't read some of the following books look for them on Amazon, B& N and /or Smashwords and Create Space. Four Summers Waiting was my first novel with Five Star and was given a second edition in LP by Thorndike Press. When rights reverted to me,I placed it on several sites as an Ebook.

Safe Harbor was my last novel, a spin-off of The Maine Shore Chronicles. 
Safe Harbor is available as an Ebook and a Trade Paperback book, on Amazon and Create Space.

 The Boxed set Trilogy,  Maine Shore Chronicles, editions for each of the three books is now available as  Ebooks, as are the individual  books, Finding Fiona, Moonglade and Promise Keeper. All three books were  given second editions in Large Print by Thorndike Press before rights reverted to me.

I have removed The Red Cockade from publication for a re-write and edit by local Middle School students. It has been a rewarding experience for them and for me.  They are presently  writing reviews of this Middle grade/YA  novella. I hope to publish some of the reviews on my Facebook blog page "Mary F. Schoenecker Writes" and on my Amazon Author's Page   Check it out before February ends and hopefully, I can get it all together.

Reboot on Writing

I missed my last month's blogging slot because I was in the Galapagos--on a life-changing trip with animals that show no fear, in an environment that looked like Mars to me (not just exotic, but so different that I really did feel transported). Would you believe green cactus trees growing on red rock? Sea lions who take over your towels and roll around? And nesting birds who don't budge when you come close...

AND I finally met the blue-footed booby, who is an expert dive-bomber fisher and poser for pictures.

I came home exhausted, a little sore from all the hiking on uneven sources up and down volcanoes, and totally exhilarated. This is what travel is supposed to do for you: yank you out of your routines and push reboot--on everything.

Home again to confront the reality of Five Star/ Cengage closing its mystery imprint. I had a manuscript ready to go and didn't want to send it to a publisher who would sit on it another six months and then turn it down. So I queried Wings, who has two of my other books. In business since 2001, Wings has a great staff, 3 excellent cover artists, and a steady track record in multiple genres. Best of all, they have recently made the cut as an MWA Approved Publisher. Wings is accepting submissions in all genres. They produce both ebooks and trade paperbacks.

I was delighted when they accepted Catacomb (coming on April 1). Set in my favorite foreign country, Italy, it's about a conservator who teams up with the Italian police to search for a lost trove of Nazi-looted art under the city of Rome. 

I've been dithering about what to write next, but the Galapagos trip helped me solidify my ideas. The next novel will be set in my home state of Illinois, in a museum with all kinds of problems...

What authors want to know...

I reached out on Twitter and Facebook to see what types of things authors want to know. I'll try my best to answer the questions I received.

1. How to make time to write. This truly is an issue for everyone who has family, a home, eats, gardens, has pets, works an outside job and wants to write. I don't profess to have all the answers but maybe I can share some messages from some creative masters.

• Never miss a day. ~Leo Tolstoy
• Time melts when you find purpose. ~Vincent van Gogh
• Habit is the bed of creativity. Tuck yourself in. ~Stephen King
• Life doesn't bend to your schedule. Find the time. ~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Distractions are no excuse. Learn to cope. ~Jane Austen
• Set a time for concentrated work. ~Thomas Mann

2. How to audition male models for the covers. 

•  I have no clue on this one, but it might be fun to find out.  
• Hubby says, "Why go for six pack abs when you can have a keg," as he pats his tummy.

3. How to get publicity for our novels so readers want to purchase them. Now there is a great question, and one that I ask myself every day. All I can really do is share some of the ways I have used to garner publicity that were relatively successful.

• Hold readings and signings at Libraries in your city and small towns surrounding it. Provide a photo, bio, and make a poster for them to put up. Contact the local newspaper and radio station and let them know about the event. Post something on the author & library social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.
• Blogging. If you are hosting someone on your blog, let everyone know through social media. If you are being hosted on someone else's blog, the same rule applies. This is one I don't do enough of. 
• Bookstore readings and signings. See the library item above. Also, be nice to the folks that work there - they are often asked to give book recommendations, so be sure they know who you are and all about your book. They also have an "in" with book clubs, which is the author's best way to a best seller.
• State and local Book Festivals are a good way to get visibility. Put your best foot forward with signs and/or banners, props that represent something in your book and catch the public curiosity or interest, giveaways. Everyone likes free stuff, so if you can obtain some inexpensive bling use it. I always have candy, grownups like it and it keeps the kids busy while they look. Romance writers can put together a little gift bag with every purchase with lip balm, hand lotion, book marks with steaming photos.
• Book give away is usually a good way to have people try your books, especially if they give you a book review on Goodreads.com or Amazon or B&N. I always leave a review and often buy new books based on reviews. 
• Take advantage of your novel content and find that niche audience. If it involves knitters - approach the local knitting club. If it revolves around animals, connect with the local pet shops, humane societies, and dog clubs. Find that special group of people and let them know about your story.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Some people are able to hire a publicist and once you've made it big, the pub houses seem to have no end to the marketing funds. Seems backwards doesn't it?

I think that all we can do is write the best story we can, edit it fully, and with a little luck and lots of hard work we'll get noticed. Debut authors still make the best seller list sometimes, look at Gone Girl. But here again, Flynn had an "in," she had been a writer for Entertainment Weekly.

There is no magic pill or formula that works for everyone. We just can't give up. 

Blog Tips on Holiday Writing by Jacqueline Seewald

Today is Lincoln’s birthday. The four-day weekend brings us Valentine’s Day as well as President’s Day. Holidays represent a great opportunity for writing a nonfiction piece, or providing setting for a short story or even a novel.

Most nonfiction publications favor holiday submissions, Christmas being the most popular. However, tip number one, make certain to follow the guidelines. Usually magazines and anthologies will give you submission deadlines. Don’t submit either before or after them. It’s an automatic rejection.

Second, if there are no guidelines provided, plan to submit at least six months in advance of the particular holiday--with some publications, even earlier. Novels are different, of course. Even if you’re self-publishing, you need to figure out how much time is required. You don’t want your Christmas story published on July 4^th.

Third, make certain that the reference to the holiday appears both in the submission/query letter as well as the subject line if you’re e-mailing. Editors need that info upfront.

Here are two current markets that specifically want holiday writing:

For short story submissions, check out King’s River Life which, although not a paying market, publishes numerous holiday mystery stories and gives exposure in the form of publicity:

http://kingsriverlife.com/submissions/

My Valentine’s Day story which is a reprint is provided for free there today. It will give you an idea of what they like to publish:

http://kingsriverlife.com/02/10/a-saint-valentines-day-massacre/

For a lucrative nonfiction paying market, check out Chicken Soup which right now is again looking for holiday stories:

”We are now collecting stories for our next Holiday book that will be published in 2016. We are looking for stories about the entire December holiday season, including Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and even New Year’s festivities too.”

http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics?cid=possible_books

Their deadline date for story and poems submissions is April 30, 2016.

If you’re of a mind to read some romantic short stories to celebrate Valentine’s Day consider my collection BEYOND THE BO TREE, a fun book that combines romance, mystery, fantasy and the paranormal:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTV0750

For teenage girls and their mothers to share, THE DEVIL AND DANNA WEBSTER is a clean read romance available in all e-book formats plus print:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZYXW7K/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jacqueline-seewald/id404379598?mt=11

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/433530

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-devil-and-danna-webster-jacqueline-seewald/1119365486?ean=2940149550449

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-devil-and-danna-webster

STACY’S SONG, another YA romance/coming-of-age novel, is also available from Clean Reads Press: 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177E67CQ/  

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jacqueline-seewald/id404379598?mt=11

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stacys-song-jacqueline-seewald/1100389252?ean=2940150872493

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/stacy-s-song

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588465

For readers who enjoy adult romance and paranormal thrillers, check out my recent novel DARK MOON RISING available in print and all ebook formats:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7824A4/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-moon-rising/id1020852100?mt=11

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-moon-rising-jacqueline-seewald/1122376394?ean=2940150766686

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-darkmoonrising-1856071-340.html

Also available through the publisher Luminosity:

http://luminositypublishing.com/product/dark-moon-rising/

My most recent published novel is a romantic Western thriller

THE KILLING LAND published by Five Star/Cengage, available in both hardcover and ebook:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Land-Jacqueline-Seewald/dp/1432831194

Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ATYI6WU/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-killing-land-jacqueline-seewald/1122846630

Are there any holidays you particularly like to read or write about?