Category Archives: Writing

Fifty Thousand Screaming People, miscellaneous, Writing

Writing and Christmas

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My writing work continues, though slower than I’d like it to. Last night was a good example. This was my last night before having to devote all my efforts to the Christmas trip we will take. Yet, preparations for that trip were already necessary: making three batches of Chex Mix. This is a task that has lots of down time. Mix the mix, put it in the over, stir it every fifteen minutes, done after an hour. In an hour and ten minutes you have about 55 minutes to do other things. So in three and a half hours that would be 2 hours 45 minutes of “other things” time.

What other things could I do for writing? My novel In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People is begging me to edit it. I’m hoping to e-self-publish it in March, cover permitting. The two items I’m eSP-ing before that are ready to go, waiting only on covers. So I can spend time on FTSP, and have let it sit enough time since writing it to have some fresh eyes on it. This seemed as if it would be the best thing.

I could also have taken a little time to make some minor edits to this website. Several things are needed, some of which I can do myself, some of which I’ll need help with. The things I can do myself I should get going on.

I also have a few publicity/promotion things to do for Documenting America. I’ve let those go this month, doing a little research into places where I want to promote it, but not near enough to decide what to do. I could do that in 15 minute chunks.

But what I decided to do instead was something I wanted to do for some time: try to figure out these indecipherable explanation of benefits forms from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. From the couple of procedures I had from the ehrlichiosis and the rheumatoid outbreak that followed, I have a bunch of medical bills. It seemed like way too many. But I was dreading doing it.

But I used those fifteen minute chunks to do that. I gathered all my EOB statements (well, I might be missing one or two from early in the year) and put them in order. I found the group health insurance policy and any amendments that have been issued since the policy was. I began going through the two. The policy was, as expected, more indecipherable than the EOBs. I think, however, I finally figured out the EOBs, and understand what the policy covers, where the deductibles apply, etc. Looks like I have a bunch of money to pay out.

Over the Christmas holiday we will be with our son in Chicago. He’s going to help me with website corrections, and hopefully we’ll have some time to discuss covers and even for him to do some work on them. Hopefully I’ll have a few hours to edit FTSP. And to read for enjoyment as well as for writing craft. I’m looking forward to it, even to the long drive.

book reviews, Writing

Creating Unforgettable Characters

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At some point in time, I think at a writers conference in Kansas City in 2007, I picked up a used copy of Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger [Henry Holt, 1990]. I figured it would be an easy read at 221 pages. But it just bubbled up to the top of my reading pile in early December.

Actually, it wasn’t on my reading pile. That is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction for pleasure reading or self-improvement/education about things other than writing. I have a separate stash of writing books, not really in a pile, not really sorted as to which to read next.

I had just finished several reading pile books in a row, decided it was time to read a writing craft book, and this one looked good. The age of the book didn’t seems to be a problem to me as I started.

Seger consults with script writers and film makers, and so many of her examples of character development were from those areas. She made frequent use of television programs I never watched (such as Murphy Brown) and movies I never saw. It was kind of hard to understand her description of a character when I had no clue about that character.

Segar’s book is divided into the following chapters.

  • Research
  • Character Consistencies and Paradoxes
  • Creating Back Story
  • Character Psychology
  • Character Relationships
  • Supporting and Minor Characters
  • Dialogue
  • Nonrealistic Characters
  • Beyond Stereotyping
  • Solving Character Problems

I have not previously read a book about characters, but I’ve read a lot about it in magazines and on-line forums, and sat through several classes at writers conferences about character development. The advice in this book pretty much matched what I’ve heard/read elsewhere. Characters need to be multi-dimensional. Heroes need to have flaws; villains need to have virtues. Characters need to act consistently, but not so consistently that they seem to be made out of cardboard.

Paradoxes are good. The woman who loves football. The man who makes floral arrangements. The woman psychologist who follows boxing. The thug kid who’s an A student. These all make characters seem more real.

I liked what Seger wrote about researching a character, and about creating back story. These are probably two things that writers (me included) probably fall short in most easily. She gave me some things to consider in these two areas.

I had in mind to write more, but must end now as I have much else to do tonight. I’m glad I read this book at this point in time. While perhaps a newer book would be more advisable, if a writer should have a chance to pick this up, you might as well and glean from it what you can.

Writing

Current Writing Projects

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I recently finished a writing craft book, Creating Unforgettable Characters. I want to make a couple of posts about lessons learned, but am finding difficulty getting to it. I’m working on two or three other projects, which have caused me to either change direction in my blogs or neglect them for a while.

One of these projects is working on Doctor Luke’s Assistant. After letting it sit for a couple of years, except for pitching it at the conference last June, I have decided to e-self-publish it. What the heck, so what if it doesn’t sell? It will be out there. I’m going to have to pay for a cover for this one, probably around $100 or so (I suspect more, but that’s the estimate). I’d like to get it published by February 2012. I did another reading of it and last round of edits, which have now been typed. At any time I can begin making the e-book file. Since this is a long book (155,000 words), I’ll probably list it for $4.99.

The other thing I’ve been doing is working on edits for In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. This is based on initial beta reader comments, as well as some plot elements I thought of that didn’t seem quite right. I hope to work on this a little tonight. Assuming I eSP this, I hope to have it published by March 2012.

And, I’m working on a short story—a sequel, I suppose you could call it—to my short story “Mom’s Letter”. I may have mentioned this before; in fact I’m fairly sure I have. Tentatively titled “Too Old To Play”, I hope to have it ready to eSP in early January 2012. In fact, I hope to complete the story tonight, proof it in the next day or two, and build the eSP files by the weekend. I’ll be meeting with the cover designer (my son) over Christmas, and hope to have the cover “in hand” before the end of the year.

That’s where I’m at, writing-wise. I hope to be a little more regular on this blog and on An Arrow Through the Air, at least for the next week.

Documenting America, Writing

Promoting my Books: Do I have enough ego?

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Now that the print version of Documenting America is available, I’m moving into the promotion phase of being an author. It has been available as an e-book since May 2011, and as a print book since mid-November 2011. My short story, “Mom’s Letter”, has been available as an e-book since February. During that time, on Kindle, Smashwords, and the several other sites to which Smashwords distributes, I’ve sold a total 23 copies of the two.

Sometimes I note a sale the day after I’ve spoken to someone about it. When I went to the state ASCE conference in Little Rock in October, I had dinner with an old friend, told him about it, and the next day had an e-sale. In November I mentioned something about it to someone (the circumstances escape me right now), and the next day I had an e-sale. It seems that, at this point at least, I have to sell each individual copy. I have not succeeded in creating a buzz for either work. 

But, I’ve been doing mainly passive promotion. By that I mean: notices on my Facebook page; posts on this blog; posts at the Ozark Writers League Facebook page; a notice to my alumni magazine; posts at Conservative Arkansas Facebook page; posting notices on a couple of writing forums; adding links to my signature for e-mail and forum posting. All things I can do without interacting with a person. It’s out there, waiting for someone to see it. The Facebook posts on other pages took a little chutzpah, but still I would consider that passive marketing. And, I’ll make sure I have a mention of the book and a link to where to find them in our Christmas letter. After all, it’s big news for the year. 

I believe I can safely assume that passive marketing won’t result in many book sales. If I really want to create a buzz for either of these works (though I’m clearly more interested in promoting the book than the short story) I’m going to have to move into active marketing. That will require me to contact real human beings, either in real life or on-line, and either ask them to buy a copy of my book or to help me promote it through an interview or a speaking engagement. I have three or four ideas on how to accomplish this active marketing. One is to research blogs that might want to promote the book. This would be political blogs (more conservative than liberal) and USA history blogs. Another is to contact local civic clubs—Kiwanis, Lions, Civitians, Rotarians, etc—and see if I could speak at them. That requires research, however, to find out who does the speaker scheduling and contact them. 

Today I did some of the research needed for active promotion. I did a search for history blogs and American history blogs. This provided a lot of links, many of which were to abandoned sites or blogs that really wouldn’t apply. In 20 minutes of searching I found one US history blog where the owner encouraged publishers to submit books for review on the blog. I don’t know how he feels about author published books, but I went ahead and e-mailed him, and am now waiting. I suppose next week I’ll begin the process of the civic clubs. 

All this is not comfortable to me. I was raised to not toot my own horn, to let others praise when justified. Now, I have to go out and shout, “Hey! My book is worth reading, worth $10.00 in dead-tree format and $1.25 in pixel format. Buy it, buy it, buy it. How well I do this, and for how long, will likely turn out to be the biggest test of my writing career. 

Stay tuned.

Church History Novels, Doctor Luke's Assistant, Documenting America, Short Stories, Writing

Stewardship of Writing Time

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Thanksgiving week was not expected to be a time to get much writing done, and I didn’t for the first part. Our daughter and son-in-law came in with the two grandsons (3 and 1) on Sunday evening, then left the kids with us as they went on to Eureka Springs for a couple of days at a resort, courtesy of their church for pastor appreciation. Watching these two little boys didn’t lend itself to writing.

And actually, for the week before they came I didn’t write much, as the house needed a good release from clutter and dust and accumulation of months of having no visitors.

But the kids left Friday after Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law left on Saturday, so the house turned quiet real fast. With leftovers galore, even food preparation time was greatly reduced. So I did find some things to write, and ways to futher my writing “business”. Here’s my status right now.

  1. Last night I finished reading Doctor Luke’s Assistant, and have marked 60 or so typos and that many other places to make a few improvements. My goal is to e-self-publish this as soon as I can get the edits done, format it for e-books, and have a cover made. I suspect it will be ready in January some time.
  2. The print books of Documenting America arrived! Yesterday I found them at the office. They probably came in on Monday, but I never went to the mail area. I took some to Centerton yesterday when I went there and sold two. Sold one at the office also. I only ordered 20 copies to start with.
  3. I began writing my next short story, “Too Old To Play”. This is the next one in the Danny Tompkins short story series. The first one, “Mom’s Letter,” is available as an e-book. I hope to get this one available as an e-book as well. Again, having a cover made will be the hold-up.
  4. I’m reading a book titled Creating Unforgettable Characters, part of my continuing study of the writing craft. This is a little older, from the 1990s. It makes frequent references to characters in TV shows I never watched, such as Murphy Brown, and movies I never saw such as The Rain Man. But it’s pretty good. I’m gaining some new insights into fictional character development, even if I don’t fully understand the illustrations given.
  5. This morning (I’m home sick, the last stages of recovering from a stomach bug that hit me yesterday morning) I set up my writing business accounting spreadsheet. I entered the print book sales, entered the Suite101 income, and set up the expense tab of the spreadsheet. Maybe I’ll be ready to prepare my Schedule C when tax time comes.
  6. I wrote an article for Buildipedia.com and submitted it on the deadline, Nov 28. This is the first of a Q&A column on construction administration. It’s experimental for the on-line magazine. I have contracts for two columns, and I guess they’ll decide on more and the frequency when they see how these first ones are received. Let’s hope it works. I’ll be paid about 40 cents per word, which isn’t chicken feed.
  7. I completed an article for Decoded Science, another on-line source of potential writing income. I have not yet uploaded the article, as I have to first write short and long writer bios and upload a photo. Maybe I can do that today, and upload the article tomorrow.
  8. Attended a meeting of BNC Writers. We were a small group, but did some good critiquing and planning. We may have one more meeting on Dec 5, then wait till 2012 to resume.

That’s about it. I have much to do with writing over the next two weeks. Our Christmas letter, edits on In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, the second Buildipedia column, finishing the new short story, planning for marketing Documenting America. Enough to keep me busy.

holidays, Writing

Holiday Writing Schedule

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I have much neglected my blogs of late, both this one and An Arrow Through the Air. I’m now working on holiday schedule, and have for most of the last week as we made a major clean-up of the house prior to the arrival yesterday of our daughter and son-in-law with our two grandsons, and my mother-in-law today. We will watch the kids today through Wednesday as their parents are off to Eureka Springs, Arkansas (an hour, more or less, east of us) for some needed R&R provided by their church. We are hoping three aging adults are more than a match for a 3 1/2 year old and an 8 month old who has discovered crawling and pulling up.

So writing efforts will be curtailed. I’ve learned that I need chunks of time measured in hours to effectively write. Fifteen to thirty minutes at a time just doesn’t cut it. But I can effectively read in those shorter times. So I think my main “writing” tasks will primarily  be reading between now and Christmas. I say primarily because I do have a little writing to do. Here’s my plan.

  • Write the two articles for Buildipedia.com that I’m under contract for. These are the two prototypes of a regular column on construction administration. This will be fairly easy, I think, because it’s within my area of professional expertise. They are only 500-600 words each. The first one, due Nov. 28, is about 2/3 written.
  • Be more regular at posting to my blogs. ‘Nuff said.
  • Read In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. This will be for: consistency of plot, typos, adding physical descriptions of characters as I think needed, and better anchoring the action in time. I also have some more coordination of Ronny Thompson’s pitching record relative to a season.
  • Read Doctor Luke’s Assistant in preparation for e-self-publishing it in early 2012. I’ve gone through about a third of it already.
  • Finish reading the writing help book I’m working through at the moment, on creating memorable characters. I’m less than 1/4 of the way through it right now.

I suppose I could squeeze a few other minor things in there. Of course I’ll be attending BNC Writers tonight, and possibly on Dec 5. If time allows, I’m almost done with an article for Decoded Science, a content site I’ve been approved for. I continue to spend 15-20 minutes every weekday morning at work adding to the passage notes of A Harmony of the Gospel, something I can do in small chunks of time. And I intend to continue to monitor several writing blogs.

So I’ll stay busy, but none of these will be hard and fast things I’ve just gotta do. As time allows, I’ll do them. If it doesn’t allow, no loss.

Fifty Thousand Screaming People, Writing

Decision Time

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Yesterday was 120 days after the day I submitted the partial manuscript of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People to an agent, send at the agent’s request. Conventional wisdom is that you wait 3 or 4 months after submitting requested material, and if you haven’t heard back then a follow-up e-mail is appropriate. So I sent an e-mail, asking of the book was still under consideration.

The agent replied the same day with a nice e-mail, the gist of which is as follows.

I do really like your unique story concept that involves both professional baseball and the mafia. I’ve been reluctant to dismiss it. But addressing the sex, drugs, drinking, and lifestyle at the end of the story is too late for a Christian publisher to accept…. If these elements and the general market are the track you want to stay on, it isn’t a good fit for [our agency]. 

Here is a bit of feedback I’ll offer on the sample chapters you sent, though. There is too much dialogue at the expense of description and character development. There are some excellent books on writing…that would be beneficial for you in these areas. I hope you find this helpful.

I wish you great success and joy in the process as you continue to work on your writing. Let me know if at some point you decide to change direction on this story.

So, what to do? I sent a follow-up e-mail this morning, thanking her for her time to give me feedback, and asking her to clarify the comment that the sex, drugs, drinking, and lifestyle is “too late” for a Christian publisher. I’m not really sure what that means. It is introduced too late in the book? How does the placement affect acceptability? Plus, what she’s referring to was a disconnected scene, written early on during the writing but coming nearer to the end of the book than to the beginning to get if written while it was fresh on my mind. It dealt with a sexual situation that didn’t involve sex, if that makes sense.

Maybe she was saying that Christian readers, at least those used to reading books that come from the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) are used to a certain absence of these subjects, except for the redeeming value of being released from one. If those subjects are absent from the beginning of the book, the typical CBA reader will read blissfully on. Then, if 2/3 of the way through they read something they’d rather have not read, they will be offended. Having put so much time into the reading, up to that point, they will be upset. That’s the only way I can interpret it.

So what to do now? Last night I was fixing typos found by my wife, through chapter 27. I’m soon to have an e-mail of some additional typos through the end of the book from my nephew.  Then I have to read the book for typos, for plot consistency and completeness, for line edits, etc. Then, taking the agent’s advice to heart, I have to see if there are places I can cut dialog and add to description/narrative. Plus, I have to wait on all my beta readers to report, and incorporate suggestions they make. At that point the book will be ready…but for what?

My choices are: 1) continue to submit to agents, 2) find some small presses who don’t require agented submittals and submit to them, 3) self-publish it, first as an e-book and soon thereafter as a print book, or 4) put it in a shoe box and let my kids find it when I assume room temperature.

Right now I’m favoring number 3. It will probably cost me $100 for a cover suitable for print and e-book, which I can ill afford right now. The print version will cost me $10 to have a proof copy produced and mailed. Or maybe I could just make up a cheapo cover and call it good. Either way I’ll get it published. The time required to do that will be a whole lot less than would be required to stay on the query-go-round with agents and publishers, leaving me more time for writing.

Simultaneous with that, or perhaps of a slightly higher priority, will be going through the proof copy of Documenting America, finding all the typos, correcting them, and uploading corrected files to Kindle, Smashwords, and CreateSpace. That will put a paper book of this in my hands, releasing me to ramp up the marketing.

After that, I suspect I’ll get Doctor Luke’s Assistant e-self-published, and add one more short story to my list of things for sale. At that time, I’ll re-assess, and make further decisions.

family, Writing

Ratchet up, ratchet down, ratchet up

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I’ve said before, it never fails but that when I try to ratchet up the amount of time I spend on writing, something always interrupts to get in the way. Or life becomes more complicated in some way. I was about to get back to writing this week, after not doing a whole lot the last two weeks while letting In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People simmer before beginning the editing.

However, while we were on a hasty, weekend trip to southwestern Kansas for a funeral in Lynda’s family, we got work that my brother passed away in Rhode Island. He was 57 years old, had been in poor health for many years, had been failing even more lately, and had been in much pain of late. We will travel to RI for the funeral this coming weekend.

So writing must be set aside for a while. On the trip I’ll carry the proof copy of Documenting America and give it a good proof-reading, with the intent of uploading a fresh copy next Tuesday. I may work on the short story, the sequel to “Mom’s Letter”, tentatively titled “Too Old To Play”. Beyond that, this week will be given to preparation for travel and then the travel itself. If I can sneak in a blog post before we leave on Friday, I will.

After that, I really need to ratchet things up again. I may have to write a few articles to get some money in the door.

Health, Writing

Brain Dead and Body Tired

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I’m along this weekend, batching it while the wife is in Oklahoma City helping with grandkids as first one, then the other, parent has been off for conferences. So I should be living it up, right? Getting done all those things I never seem to do when Lynda is here. Writing up a storm.

Instead, I’m basically immobile. I sat through three days of corporate meetings this week, and the inactivity left me exhausted. I’ve come home and had no energy. My blood sugar has been pretty good, so that’s not the problem. My right knee is killing me, and my left knee is not back to 100 percent, residuals of the tick disease of the summer. So I come home from work and crash. I slept well last night, then napped some this morning and even an hour this afternoon. So I’m in good shape for sleep.

I’ve done some work on writing. I received the cover for the print version of Documenting America on Friday, and uploaded it to CreateSpace. Today I received the email saying it was all accepted. All that’s left now is ordering the proof copy, and deciding on price and payment methods. I’ve also been proof-reading Doctor Luke’s Assistant in preparation for publishing it electronically. I haven’t had the energy to get back to writing for content sites.

So, I’m going to muddle through for a while, and hope my body, aided here and there by medicines, is able to fight off this rheumatoid arthritis attack spawned by the tick-borne bacteria. Now to leave the comfort of my chair in The Dungeon, limp upstairs, and head to Wal-Mart.

Writing

Pro vs. Amateur: Reading About Writing

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Going back to the Victoria Mixon post on Storyfix, the second item she wrote about that differentiates the professional from the amateur is reading about writing. That is, seeking, finding, ingesting, digesting, and otherwise using advice about writing. While the post was specifically about written works about writing, I suppose it could apply to oral presentations as well.

The criteria Victoria gives is the professional approaches books on writing, not as providing magical formulae to success, but as “illumination on a craft for which [the writer] has already to lay a foundation. Not said explicitly is the reason the writer reads about writing: to improve in his profession.

This leads to a problem area, a problem that is growing with the length of the information super highway. How do you sift through the incredible amount of advice available is a mark of a professional or an amateur. The pro is “alert to similarities in different writers’ ways of giving the same advice. They’re mentally cataloging the intricacies of each aspect of the craft as they find them elaborated upon in different directions.”

At a writers conference three years ago a writing couple taught a one hour elective on “The Magic Paragraph.” They said they had studied numerous successful novels, and found that these novels always had a sequence of paragraphs that included a magic paragraph with a certain frequency. I took the elective because of the intriguing title. The presentation of the material was good. We received a handout and I took notes. When I got back to my writing, however, I quickly forgot everything I learned in the class. Of course, I was on the typical conference overload, put the notes in a folder, stashed the folder, and forgot about it.

The idea of a “magic paragraph” is alluring to an amateur writer. It sounds like all I had to do was stick one certain type of paragraph in my writing every so often, and I’d have a best seller. Well, of course the overall writing had to be good. And the plot had to be good. And the sequencing of scenes had to be such that the modern reader’s interest would be held. The pro writer would recognize that what the writing couple was saying was every so often you need to break up the paragraph structure and content so as to keep the reader’s interest.

I don’t do enough reading about writing. I admit it; it’s a lack I somehow need to carve out time for. But when I do read about writing (be it on-line or in a printed book or magazine), I feel that I can discern fairly well whether the advice I’m ingesting makes sense and is something I should follow. That’s a good feeling.