I Saw the Future of Books Today

When I showed up at the Javits Center in Manhattan at about 8:15 this morning for BookExpoAmerica's uPublishU conference for self-publishing, I couldn't believe the throngs of people standing outside, surrounding the building, waiting to get in. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people waited patiently to enter the building.  What's this? I thought.  Am I going to have to wait in that line too? Not a pleasant prospect after a 90-minute drive into the city.  But no, I sailed through the doors, and made my way over to the registration area to sign in.  

On my way I was again confronted by crowds of people lined up all over for something, perhaps waiting to get into the BEA conference floor? uPublishU?  Many  sat on the floor in peaceful anticipation of the day.  Some blocked the path to get from one end of the center to the other.  The line at Starbucks was so long it made me forget I even liked the stuff.  I looked around in awe, taking in the scene.  It was my second time at BEA. Ginormous banners hung from the ceiling touting famous authors: Jodi Piccoult, Lisa Scottoline, Pat O'Brien. And then I saw the banners for BookCon, and the mystery of the waiting masses was solved. 

As explained on its website, BookCon is where storytelling and pop culture collide, the ultimate celebration of books, where your favorite stories come to life. It's also where readers have the opportunity to meet their favorite authors: John Grisham, Carl Hiassen, Veronica Roth, Jodi Piccoult, John Green, Bella Andre, and many others. All for $35. This was its debut at BEA, and it promised to be a phenomenal day.  When I first heard about it I considered attending it instead of uPublishU, but remembered I was going to BEA to further my writing career, not feed my reading habit, and decided to stick with my original plan.

Once I got my bearings, I took a better look at the crowd and realized a few things: they were mostly teenagers, young adults, and enthusiastic about books.  Many had dressed up as their favorite characters or sported clothing promoting their favorite books. Their infective enthusiasm and energy added a carnival-like element to uPublish U. The lines to get into their sessions reminded me of Disney World during Easter Week, but no one complained, in fact, they seemed happy to be there and thrilled to participate in the bookish events. They collected books throughout the day and sat down in the middle of everything to begin reading them. They were polite and seemingly oblivious to the self-publishing conference going on around them. We shared conference space, and they overwhelmed the uPublishU event, almost drowning out the keynote speaker while whooping it up in the room next door during  their session with Rotten Tomatoes, where critics faced off with fans about Best and Worst Book-to-Film Adaptations.

As an author working on two novels with young heroines, this crowd filled me with encouragement and motivated me to continue my writing, finish the books, and get them out there. I saw the future of books today, and it's young, fresh, excited, and engaged.  A hopeful sign for all of us.

 

My Writing Process Blog Tour

photo by patrisyu,  freedigtlaphotos.net

Today I'm participating in the My Writing Process Blog Tour, an excellent way for readers to learn about an author's work and for authors to gain exposure to new readers. Sara Gauldin, full time teacher, author, and blogger kindly invited me to join the tour. Sara writes fantasy, spiritual, and mystery novels. Her latest book, The Corporeal Pull, is a story of love that transcends both time and the mortal plane. You can find out more about her writing at SEBGwrites.wordpress.com You can follow the tour on Twitter via #MondayBlogs or #MyWritingProcessBlogTour. Now on to my writing process:

1) What am I working on?

I write family dramas with real medical issues and tend to juggle projects. Right now, I've got one complete but unrevised novel on my desk, Perfect Match, the story of 14-year-old Jamie Diana who meets the father she never knew for the first time when he comes looking for a bone marrow donor for his daughter who has leukemia. I started the project in 2004 and it's been waiting for its chance at publication for years. Now that I've had success with indie publishing it may make it. I plan to launch it sometime in early 2015. 

On my computer, I'm currently crafting another novel with a teenage heroine, Swim Season, about high school senior Aerin Keane, the new girl in school and a champion swimmer, who challenges a long-standing school record. The story is about more than swimming, however, as Aerin also tackles issues related to her parents' divorce, a pregnant stepmother, two stepsisters she doesn't want, and her Army nurse mother's PTSD and drug addiction following two tours of duty in the Middle East. My daughter was a high school varsity swimmer for six years and I always wanted to write a story about the girls and how their season unfolds. All of the special elements in this story serve to heighten the drama and the tension and it's truly a blast to write. 

Still in creation phase is a special project, a fundraiser for the HEART School in Haiti, called Akisse and Gaspard Go to School, a day in the life of two schoolchildren, one in the US and one in Haiti. A good friend, Maria Blon, who is a strong supporter of this school, asked me to write this book and it's been both a learning experience and a mission. The children are wonderful. I have actually met Akisse who lives nearby and know Gaspard through interviews, photos and videos. We will run a crowd funding campaign to raise the needed money to publish this book (written in English and Creole) and will need to find artists and formatters willing to collaborate with us for little to no payment. Interested parties can contact me at mariannesciucco@gmail.com.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write literary fiction that overlaps into woman's fiction. I bring years of experience as a nurse and certified case manager to my work. I write clean fiction, no overt sexuality, violence, or objectionable language.

3) Why do I write what I do?

My experience as a nurse has given me the privilege of hearing hundreds of stories, both happy and sad, most of them true. I feel I've been entrusted to tell these stories, which relate to the human experience, and to share them with others to add richness to their lives and to broaden their outlook on life.

4) How does my writing  process work?

My writing process is complicated by the fact that I have some long-standing repetitive strain injuries that make it difficult for me to use a computer or write for long periods of time. My process starts with an idea that germinates in my mind for many weeks or months, putting together plot lines, subplots, characterization, setting, and the drama. I may do some research for some of the more driving points, but prefer to write the first draft of the story without spending much time on research, allowing the story to unfold and to let me know what research I must do to complete it. Because of my repetitive strain injuries, I must be sure not to waste any time on story lines, scenes, or other elements that don't serve to complete the story and may end up being deleted. I put a lot of effort into making my first draft as close to finished as possible because I don't have the luxury of being able to write and rewrite endlessly, quite frustrating for a perfectionist.

As a member of the tour I have the honor of inviting three fellow authors to join me.  Next week my good friend Maria Blon climbs on board. Maria is an inspirational speaker and author whose most recent book is SPARKS of Passions, 20 stories of people who found their passion and how you can too! Check out the book, pictures, and videos of the authors at http://www.sparksofpassions.com/

Fellow author Lilia Fabry is also coming along.  Her latest work is Ordinance 93, a novel set in a world where having a baby without permission is against the law and the first four people to break it. She also writes about everything from reaction injection molding to low fat recipes while indulging her need for creative outlets, including novels and screenplays. Find out more about Lilia on her site or Twitter .

My third author remains a mystery as I await the response to several invites.  My blog post was due today (#MondayBlogs) and I wanted to fulfill my commitment so went ahead without a third author committed to the tour.  If you or someone you know would like to join us, send me an email.  It's easy and fun.

Update: 
May 28, 2014

The lovely Caroline McMahon has joined me on the blog tour. Caroline and I met in a most unusual way. I track my novel via Google to see where word of it appears on the internet. One day I received a Google Alert about a book called "Blue Hydrangeas." Thinking this was a notice about my book, I followed the link and it brought me to another book called "Blue Hydrangeas."  Strange coincidence, right?  Not the most common of titles, especially for a book not about the care and cultivation of blue hydrangeas. What was most astonishing is that Caroline is also a nurse, a Registered Midwife from Perth, Western Australia .I contacted her and our friendship was born.  Her book - Blue Hydrangeas - A Midwife's Memoirs - is a reflection of her early Midwifery career, learning not only about how to become a Midwife, but about herself and those around her. When she's not busy running her own company, Caroline's Angels - Baby Sleep Specialists,  she enjoys blogging about the joy her family and friends bring her, as well as interesting things she learns along the way, on her website www.mumorablemoments.com

My Latest Adventure: an Interview in Live & Learn, My Alumni Magazine from Excelsior College

I'm thrilled to be featured in an article about self-publishing in my college's alumni magazine, Live & Learn.  "The Write Stuff," by Dana Yanulavich, was published in the Spring 2014 issue. The alumni magazine is always on the lookout for news and success stories and I submitted a blurb about "Blue Hydrangeas."  Next thing I know Dana's on the line asking for an interview. It seems a few other alumni have also self-pubbed and they want to run a story.  Here's the link to the story, which starts on page 10. It's a great article that explores the pros and cons of self-publishing. 

I received my Associate in Applied Science degree from Excelsior College, formerly Regents College, Albany, New York, in 1998.  The program was self-directed and grueling and enabled me to embark on my career as a registered nurse. I studied on my own, took final exams at a testing center in Poughkeepsie, and underwent an arduous two-day clinical exam at a hospital in Schenectady that I failed the first time (the program had a 65 percent failure rate) and sailed through the second time.  This, like self-publishing, was not for the faint of heart. Today there are many colleges and universities offering online programs for nurses, but I'll recommend this one to anyone looking to go that route.  They offer associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees.

4 Stars and "IndieReader Approved" by IndieReader

I never know what to expect when I send my book out for review but I didn't expect this when I entered IndieReader's Discovery Book Awards:  Blue Hydrangeas was rated 4 stars, making it "Indie Reader Approved," which, in their words, means "very much worth the read." And it's in the running for an Indie Reader Discovery Book Award.  Winners will be announced at Book Expo America on June 1.  I'm hoping for the best.

IndieReader is “the essential consumer guide to self-published books and the people who write them.”  Book Review Coordinator Maya Fleischmann, who notified me of their review, wrote "your title was judged by top industry professionals—not as merely a great indie book—but as a great book, period."  Oh my, please don't wake me up!

Here's their review:

 

BLUE HYDRANGEAS

Fiction

Marianne Sciucco, Bunky Press, 2013

4 stars

A sadly realistic tale of a woman’s descent into dementia, with a strong sense of enduring love at its core.

As this novel makes all too clear, Alzheimer’s disease hits families with sneaky cruelty, an emotional nickel-and-diming that picks up pace relentlessly over time. Small omissions (where were those car keys, anyway?) inexorably progress to stovetop burners left untended and cars driven in circles to nowhere. That’s the painful predicament faced by the central characters of this story, whose life dissolves into an anxiety-ridden obstacle course after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

In BLUE HYDRANGEAS, author Marianne Sciucco tackles her painful subject with honesty and deep affection for her key characters. Jack and Sara Harmon’s retirement tranquility explodes when Sara’s worrying lapses snowball into an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and the increasingly desperate Jack struggles to keep his promise that he will never institutionalize his wife. Of course, Sara’s deepening disorientation won’t be denied forever, and the day is fast approaching when she and Jack will have to leave their beloved bed-and-breakfast by the sea, the “Blue Hydrangeas” of the novel’s title. How this crisis reaches its peak is a story that Sciucco, a nurse and former newspaper reporter, invests with sadly realistic detail.

There are some bumps in the storytelling, mostly due to excessive reliance on flashbacks, which tend to stall the plot’s momentum. And some minor characters, such as a loutish grandson who calls poor Sara “crazy”, veer perilously close to becoming cartoon-like. But for the most part it’s engaging and affecting, chiefly due to the couple at its center – Sara, a warm and vital artist lost in a fog of confusion; and steadfast Jack, torn between his own robust good sense and his guilt at the prospect of relinquishing his beloved wife to a care facility. While making it crystal clear that there can be no happy ending here, Sciucco manages to convey the hard-won peace that can follow when a wrenching family struggle is negotiated and resolved with love.

BLUE HYDRANGEAS traces a couple’s struggle with Alzheimer’s in an effective story that doesn’t pull its punches, but remains compassionate and absorbing.

Reviewed by Liz Lynch for IndieReader

Happy Nurses Week! And a Chance to Win 2 Books By 2 Nurses

Chances are, you know a nurse.  They're all over: the hospital, the doctor's office, the nursing home, your child's school, the boardroom, the battlefield, and many other places.  I write about nurses because I'm a nurse.  I made a commitment to include one in every story: Julie, the nurse who messes up her patient's discharge, and Allison, the all-business case manager in "Blue Hydrangeas;" Devon, the broken and embattled Army nurse in "Swim Season;" Beth, the hardworking single mother in "Perfect Match," and the loving and caring home health aid Ruby in "Ino's Love." All represent this profession I've worked in for more than 20 years.  

In honor of Nurses Week May 6-12, I'm hosting a giveaway through Rafflecopter for all nurses and those who love them.  The winner will receive 2 books by 2 nurses: a paperback of Donna Wilk Cardillo's "The Ultimate Career Guide for Nurses," a book that helped when I needed to rebuild my nursing career, and an ebook of my own "Blue Hydrangeas"  (winner's choice: Kindle, Kobo, iBook, or Nook.)  

To enter please visit my giveaway page here. And remember to share this giveaway with all the nurses you know, and take a moment to say "thank you" for all you do.