Happy 5th Birthday Indie Author!

In 2014, I compiled this list to celebrate the first book birthday of my first novel, Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story. Five years have now passed since publication day, and I've learned even more from this experience. I'm reposting my original list with a few updates in an effort to help others who are starting out as authors.

#1 I Need Help

Indie publishing is not for the faint of heart. Never did I dream how much I had to learn and how much I had to do in order to be successful. If I had, I probably would have let the manuscript languish on my hard drive for eternity. Since early childhood, I always had to do everything myself, and have a hard time asking for help. But some things I just can’t do. Formatting a manuscript is at the top of that list. My repetitive strain injuries would not allow this no matter how many times I tried and how many strategies I used to get around the crippling pain. In the end, I asked for help and realized I didn’t have to do everything, or cripple myself to do it all. There are many skills needed to make a book, and no one person possesses all of them to do it expertly. Part of being an indie author is knowing when to call in the professionals to help make your book the best it can be. That’s why big publishing houses employ a staff of pros to turn out a book. It was foolish to think I could make it on my own.

UPDATE: I'll add to this that four years later I'm now teaching classes in self-publishing in the continuing education programs at three colleges. I've also mentored a number of people in publishing their own books. So, student became teacher. Who knew? Next step would be to write a book on the subject, but there are already so many good ones out there I'll save my energy for something else. I could do a webinar or a podcast, but that would require a whole new set of skills. Not sure if I'm up for that, but you never know...

#2 People are Helpful

One thing about book people: they’re helpful. I learned this at a writer’s conference a number of years ago. It must be a writer thing, this urge to share information, to write about your experiences, to answer when called upon for advice. I received information and help from many different sources: authors, publishers, editors, bloggers, and web sites, usually for free. I haven’t experienced such generosity in any other field. In turn, I give of myself, sharing what I've learned, letting others in on a good deal or a bad experience. When indie authors work together, we all win. It elevates our industry, and makes us all better at what we do. In the end, readers benefit, and that’s what we’re all here for, isn't it?

UPDATE: A few years ago I joined a wonderful writer's group, Clean Indie Reads, where I received not only knowledge but support. Through this affiliation I participated in numerous book sales and promotions, contests, blog tours, blog hops, podcasts, author interviews, guest blog posts, and more. Groups like this are essential for any author and I advise all aspiring authors to find one that suits them. As a result of this positive experience I helped create the AlzAuthors blog and writers group. This is a family of writers who share their dementia stories, paving the way for others dealing with the dementias to find resources to meet their needs. 

#3 I Am Not Invisible

People notice. They do, whether you’re commenting on someone’s Facebook status, a blog post, or retweeting a tweet. In order to be in this game, you need to put yourself out there, build a presence both online and in your community, letting the world know you’re an author with something to share, which leads me to the next thing I learned.

UPDATE: Some of the best things that have happened to me came by networking online in social media (see above.) Not all of these opportunities were online, but local, such as my recent participation in a regional authors event at a Barnes and Noble,  and at an Art Walk in a nearby town.  I learned of these opportunities through my involvement in Facebook groups. It is unlikely I would have learned of them otherwise. So time on social media is not wasted.

#4 Don’t Be Shy

No, you can’t be shy. This is not the time to be bashful, or wait for someone else to tell the world what you have to offer. Self-promotion doesn't come easy to me. I tend to do things quietly. But, in publishing you can’t sit back. You need to tell the world about your book, your next appearance, your latest interview. We indie authors are just drops in the ocean; there are thousands of us with thousands of books out there jockeying for attention. In order for us to reach readers, we must be our own best fans.

UPDATE: I still find this difficult. I sometimes go on whirlwind promotions but then sink back into obscurity. Neither is good. A consistent but not obnoxious prescence would be helpful. It's something I'm working on.

#5 I’m Important

It’s true. I never realized it before but I am important. I’m the only one who’s written this book, this story, about an important topic, one that affects millions of lives, and one that has moved many people to write to me and post reviews on Amazon and Goodreads letting me know how my work has touched them. And when I started to realize that, in my own small way, in my own little niche, I’m important, I started to act important, and then other people acted like I’m important. I accomplish so much more this way.

UPDATE: I tend to underestimate myself, so when I stand before an audience to talk about one of my books or in front of a roomful of students I surprise myself by what I know. I've picked up so much knowledge from my writer friends, bloggers, journals and podcasts, as well as my own practice. In time, you can do this too. It doesn't happen overnight, but with persistence, it happens.

#6 Don’t Give Up

This is a tough business. There are times I feel like giving up. Why did I ever get involved with this? How am I ever going to get it all done? But, after a little respite I get my equilibrium back and keep plugging along. In the end, I do get it all done, astonishing myself. Things may not happen overnight, or when I want them to, but things happen: the invitation to speak at the conference arrives; the interview with the alumni magazine is published; the host of the radio show wants an interview; the royalties are direct deposited. I never know what’s going to happen next, what opportunity will present itself to help me advance as an author, a writer, to build my reputation, to grow my brand. Each day brings a new adventure. Or not. During the slow times, I play catch up, and dream.

UPDATE: In five years, writing has not gotten easier because of my repetitive strain injuries. I still need frequent rest periods (sometimes weeks) but I have learned to plan and organize my projects to manage or eliminate stress. I don't think anyone ever gets the perfect writers life, anyway.

#7 I Love This!

I wouldn't change anything. Every ounce of frustration and disappointment is worth every moment of joy. This is a journey, and not everyone is destined to take it or make it. The end is nowhere close, but I continue to work, a little each day, to make my dream come true.

UPDATE: No change!

Book Blogger Hop Week of May 26 - June 1

 

This is something new and it looks like fun.  

About the Book Blogger Hop
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012.

With Jennifer’s permission, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013.

Each week the hop starts on Friday and ends on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to their own blogs.

Here's this week’s question:
(submitted by Kristin @ Lukten av Trykksverte)

 

What is the most fun part/aspect of being a book blogger?

 

I'll go first:

 

I love to read and I love books. Sharing my love of good books and great authors with others who appreciate the same enhances my reading experience. Through blogging, I get to share my favorite reads with others, and by following other book bloggers I learn of new books and authors I might enjoy.  It's a great way to keep on top of what's out there, in the vastness of the literary world, where millions of books and millions of authors fight for my attention. I blog primarily for my fellow authors in Clean Indie Reads, sharing their new releases, and for AlzAuthors, spotlighting books and other blogs in the dementia genre so those in need  of knowledge and support can easily find meaningful resources.

 

What do you find is the most fun about book blogging? I look forward to your comments.  

Guest Author: Andrew Joyce on Researching His Historical Novel "Yellow Tail"

Today's guest author conducted painstaking research into his three novels and shares his methods here for anyone aspiring to write a historical novel or any novel which has its basis in reality. I have done the same research myself for both of my novels. I am a stickler for accuracy, and although I trusted my knowledge on Alzheimer's disease and competitive swimming, I still spent months researching these topics. The last thing a writer wants to  learn in a review or reader mail is that she messed something up. It damages your credibility and takes the reader out of the story. I'll let Andrew Joyce tell you more about this.

***

My name is Andrew Joyce and I write books for a living. I would like to thank Marianne for allowing me to be here today to promote my latest, Yellow Hair, which documents the injustices done to the Sioux Nation from their first treaty with the United States in 1805 through Wounded Knee in 1890. Every death, murder, battle, and outrage I write about actually took place. The historical figures that play a role in my fact-based tale of fiction were real people and I use their real names.Yellow Hair is an epic tale of adventure, family, love, and hate that spans most of the 19th century. 

Through no fault of his own, a young man is thrust into a new culture just at the time that culture is undergoing massive changes. It is losing its identity, its lands, and its dignity. He not only adapts, he perseveres and, over time, becomes a leader—and on occasion, the hand of vengeance against those who would destroy his adopted people. 

Now that the commercial is out of the way, we can get down to what I really came here to talk about: the research that goes into writing an historical novel or an action/adventure novel that uses an historical event as a backdrop.

I want to say that I learned the hard way how important proper research is. But it wasn’t really that hard of a lesson. In my first book, which takes place in the last half of the 19th century, I made two mistakes. I had the date of an event off by one year and I had my hero loading the wrong caliber cartridge into his Winchester rifle. I would have gone blissfully throughout life not knowing how I had erred if not for my astute fans. Both mistakes were quickly pointed out to me in reviews of the book. One guy said he would have given me five stars if not for the wrong caliber bullet mistake. I had to settle for only four stars. Lesson learned!

Before I get into telling you about the year-long research I did for Yellow Hair, I’d like to tell you how I researched my second and third books and describe what that research entailed.

My second book was a western and the protagonist was a woman. The research took about three months. I had to know everything from women’s undergarments of the late 19th century to prison conditions for women in those days. (I sent my heroine to jail.) That kind of research was easy. Thank God for the internet. But then I had to do some real research. Molly (my protagonist) built up her cattle ranch to one of the largest in Montana, but she and her neighbors had nowhere to sell their beef. So Molly decided to drive her and her neighbors’ cattle to Abilene where she could get a good price. She put together the second largest herd on record (12,000 head) and took off for Abilene.

That’s when I had to really go to work. I wanted my readers to taste the dust on the trail. I wanted them to feel the cold water at river crossing. I wanted them to know about the dangers of the trail, from rustlers to Indians to cattle stampedes.

This is how I learned about all those things and more. First of all, I found old movies that were authentic in nature. I watched them to get a feel for the trail. Then I read books by great authors who had written about cattle drives to soak up even more of the atmosphere of a cattle drive. That was all well and good, but it still did not put me in the long days of breathing dust and being always fearful of a stampede.

That’s when I went looking for diaries written by real cowboys while they were on the trail. After that, I found obscure self-published books written by those cowboys. Then it was onto newspaper articles written at the time about large cattle drives. That’s how I had Molly herd the second largest cattle drive. I discovered that the largest was 15,000 head, driven from Texas to California in 1882.

My next book took place in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. Here new elements were added such as wolves and the extreme weather as adversaries. Dogsledding was also involved. I have seen snow only three times in my life and I have never dogsledded. I knew even less about wolves. I had to learn about those things. I had no idea what it was like to travel across a wilderness on a dogsled at seventy degrees below zero. I also had to acquire knowledge about the dogs themselves, especially the lead dog. I learned about all that by doing the same things I did for my second book. The old diaries were the most helpful. As to the gold rush, there was plenty of material in the form of self-published books by some of the participants. Some were never even published, but I found copies of them in the archives of universities and historical societies. Again, newspaper stories printed at the time were very useful. Concerning wolves . . . I read everything I could get my hands on about wolves—their habits, the pack hierarchy, the alpha male, and the different jobs or tasks the males and females have while hunting.

Now we come to Yellow Hair. As I mentioned above, the book is about the Sioux Nation from 1805 to 1890. I had to know both points of view, the white man’s and the Sioux’s. Getting to know the whites’ take on things was easy. There are many, many books (non-fiction) that were written at the time. I even found a book written by Custer detailing his strategy for wiping out the Sioux entirely. That was hard reading. And, again, there were universities and historical societies whose archives were a great help.

As to the Sioux’s point of view, there are a few books that were dictated to newspapermen years later by the Indians that took part in the various battles that I weave into my story. I found a lot of material from Native American participants of the Little Big Horn, written twenty to thirty years after the fact.

But I wanted to immerse myself in the Sioux culture and I wanted to give them dignity by using their language wherever possible. I also wanted to introduce them by their Sioux names. So, I had to learn the Lakota language. And that wasn’t easy. There is a consortium that will teach you, but they wanted only serious students. You have to know a smattering of the language before they will even deign to let you in. I had to take a test to prove that I knew some Lakota. I failed the first time and had to go back to my Lakota dictionary and do some more studying. I got in on my second try.

I’m running out of space, so I reckon I’ll wrap it up. I hope I’ve given you a little insight into the research process. It’s time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. But it is also a blast. Every new discovery is like finding the motherlode.

I’d like to sign off with another commercial. The three books I alluded to above are:

• Redemption: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer

• Molly Lee

• Resolution: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure

I would like to thank Marianne once again for having me over and you good folks for tuning in.

Andrew Joyce

 About the Author

Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written five books, including a two-volume collection of one hundred and fifty short stories comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS (as yet unpublished), and his latest novel, YELLOW HAIR. He now lives aboard a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his dog, Danny, where he is busy working on his next book, tentatively entitled, MICK REILLY.

Guest Post: Author Mehreen Ahmed on The Therapeutic Nature of Writing

by Mehreen Ahmed 

Why do people write? The answers certainly vary from writer to writer, but writing evolved alongside a popular and a well-established oral tradition. Traces of the earliest writing system was first found in Mesopotamia, Iraq around 3200 BC. However, there is much debate around this, as some believe that the earliest script was found in South India. Wherever it was, it is obvious that only one form of communication did not suffice. Valuable information would often be lost because of a lack of documentation. Preservation of data in scripted words proved to be more lasting than the spoken medium. The archives today would be empty otherwise and history would remain forgotten. 

A friend of mine had once told me how writing got her through many a troubled situation. There was a time when she felt totally helpless because of her husband’s acute anxiety. At this juncture in her life, it was writing that helped her tremendously. She often sat down at the computer and jotted random, non-linear thoughts without caring much about grammar, or punctuation. or spelling. She continued this for a while until a pattern emerged. An eventual plot began to show. That plot turned itself into her first book. This gave her pleasure beyond measure as a new window of opportunity and happiness opened for her. One book then led to many books. 

If sad thoughts can be written in words, then sometimes they can help in difficult situations. That is the whole point of keeping a diary. My friend had no idea that writing could bring her such sweet relief. In a way, writing acted as her counselor or a psycho-therapist by giving her a platform to vent her unhappiness. Her life changed dramatically after that. She became a writer and found a way to help other emerging writers as well. 

How does writing act as therapy? There is no specific research guidelines to prove exactly what happens to the human brain when it undergoes such activity. Researchers have tried to find out brain functions and effects of expressive writing. Advances in psychiatric treatment (2005), Vol 11, 338-346, published an article written by Karen A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm. A study elaborated in this article shows a correlation between writing and mental and physical health benefits. Participants were asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings of traumatic situations. They were also asked not to care about grammar, spelling, and punctuation,. This research found long term benefits in both emotional and physical health outcomes: a reduction of mood swings and depressive symptoms such as withdrawal. And in physical health a notable reduction of blood pressure. 

In a nutshell, therapeutic effects of writing were found beneficial to human health, generally. But even without delving into too much scientific detail, we can speak from our own experience that writing is good for the soul and for the mind. It gives us pleasure just to take flight on the wings of imagination; creating fantasies, otherwise impossible. Thoughts that would leave indelible marks long after we have passed away. Imagine if Shakespeare had not written a word. Not only would there be a vacuum in the literary world, but what a lonesome and boring place this would be. 

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shape and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

-William Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream

About the author

Queensland writer, Mehreen Ahmed has been publishing since 1987. Her writing career began with journalism and academic reviews and articles. Her latest work, Moirae, is available on Amazon.

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You are Your Own Best Editing Tool

photo by Monika Wisniewska via Dollar Photo Club

When I first started writing, I had very few tools: a typewriter, dictionary, and thesaurus. I also used notebooks and pencils (and still do.) Writing was a long, laborious endeavor but I loved it. After the emergence of the PC, I longed for one of my own because I wanted Microsoft Word. Imagine: a word processor with built-in editing tools, including a dictionary and thesaurus. Now we have handheld devices that allow us to do everything we can on our PCs and Macs at any moment, wherever we are. A miracle!

I’d guess most of us thought writing would be a lot easier with all of this technology, and it is, but while these editing tools are useful they are no replacement for human intelligence, skill, and experience.

I use Word’s proofreading tools and Grammarly for my initial spelling and grammar checks. One of the frustrating things about rewriting and revising my current WIP Swim Season is that my editing tools often don’t understand what I’m writing, and bring to my attention issues that are not actual issues. This wastes my time, energy, and physical stamina for keyboarding. While they provide easy ways to identify problems quickly so I can move on to the deeper stuff, each can create its own time-consuming and frustrating difficulties because they don’t understand what I’m writing or don’t get the “lingo.” Here are some examples:

Grammarly, which helps identify 250 grammatical mistakes, points out possible contextual spelling errors, and offers vocabulary enhancement, doesn’t understand swimming terminology. Each time I use a word in this context, it tells me I’m not using it correctly. For example, “heat” usually relates to temperature, but in swimming this word refers to “one of several preliminary contests held to eliminate less competent contenders,” (see Merriam-Webster.) A swim meet consists of 12 events, some of which may have as many as 6 or 7 heats or more. The word “heat” is used a lot, and not incorrectly, but each time it shows up Grammarly suggests I reconsider its use. I don’t. Still, I must take the time to address each occurrence and it slows me down. I haven’t found the “ignore all” option that exists in Word.  

“Event” is another troublesome word. In Swim Season there are 18 meets, each with 12 events, so the word “event" comes up many times. Grammarly does not know this and at every occurrence alerts me that the word is “overused.” It’s not. It’s an essential plot element. Yet, I examine each use to make sure I can’t use another word. Most times I can’t and wouldn’t want to.  

When I use the word “taper,” I get this message: “Did you mean paper? The word taper doesn't seem to fit the context. Consider replacing it with a different one.” Taper, in swimming, as in most sports, refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days before an important competition to prepare for optimal performance. My team tapers. Ignore, and move on.   

Here’s another example: One of my characters is called “Coach.” Grammarly stops on this word at every appearance and advises me to change it to “The coach.” It does not recognize “Coach” as the name of a character. I ignore this advice and move on.  

Grammarly doesn’t evaluate for the passive tense in its creative writing/novel mode. To perform this check I need to work in another writing style, i.e. essay or business. I find this odd. Why would it not check for the passive voice in a novel? Isn’t passive voice a major issue in most novels?  

Yet, I am amazed at Grammarly's ability to find typos, misspellings, and other grammar messes after three previous editing passes.

Use of Word’s grammar and spelling checker poses its own set of unique problems. Swim Season is written in the first person. Every time the checker comes upon “I,” “me,” or “myself” it suggests I change the pronoun. How many times do you think these pronouns appear in a 150,000-word novel in the first person? How aggravated do you think I get each time I’m told to address this issue? Needless time is spent “ignoring” this suggestion.   

Another Word problem is that it does not allow me to use contractions. It flags "I can't" and suggests I change it to "I cannot." I won't. And I don't. But weeding through all of these notifications is exhausting.

These otherwise excellent editing tools are worth every cent I paid for them, but it’s imperative I remember they don’t do all the work. I can’t depend on them to capture all of my spelling, grammar, and other problems. While both have caught many errors in my WIP that I’ve gratefully cleaned up, I know the most valuable tools I possess as a writer are my own eyes, knowledge, and experience. After all the high-tech, fancy tools have worked their magic, I still have to examine each word, its use, and its placement in my manuscript, and revise and edit as needed to make my book the best I possibly can. 

A Debut Author on His Debut at the Brain 2 Books Cyber Con, Online Book Expo for Writers & Readers

I love a good writer's conference, especially when it's an online conference, because there's no limit to what fabulousness I can find and I can attend all the sessions I want no matter how long it takes. The sheer brilliance of an online conference is that it's available 24/7 and, in most cases, indefinitely. Plus I don't have to leave home. It's all at my fingertips whenever I have the chance to indulge. Beginning April 8th through the 10th I'll be taking part in the Brain 2 Books Cyber Con, an online conference for readers and writers. My guest today is author Shane Wilson, who will also participate. I'll let him give all the details.

I will never forget my experiences with writing and book conventions. They have been

some of the most valuable experiences of my life. As readers, we load up and drive to conventions to meet our favorite writers. We stand in long lines to get them to sign our copy of their book. There is something beautiful and communal in that act. We've often spent hours poring over every detail of each page. If you’re like me, you read with a pen—underlining the beautiful passages and writing single-word exclamations in the margins. “Wow!”

I was a participant in one of these beautiful and communal acts on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh two years ago. I sat in a large room and listened to one of my favorite authors talk about his work. That man was Junot Diaz, and I stood in a long line for a chance to shake his hand and get his signature. The book he signed for me was This is How You Lose Her, and it was the book I was reading when I started writing my debut novel A Year Since the Rain. I told him how his book inspired me, and I’m sure it was nothing he hadn’t heard seven million times, but it felt good to give him the appreciation I felt he deserved. His creation had inspired. That’s big, man.

Appreciation is funny that way. It often means much more to the person showing the appreciation than it does to the person appreciated.

But now I get to slip around to the other side of the pen. The Brain 2 Books Cyber Con will be my first convention as a published author, and I am incredibly pumped for it. Not only do I get to meet tons of readers and other writers I’ve never met before, I don’t have to change out of my pajamas to do it. In the business world, they would call that a “win-win,” I think. I honestly don’t know, though. My business knowledge is limited to The Office re-runs on Netflix, which is probably not the best MBA program out there.

When I first heard about the B2BCyber Con from a fellow author-friend (shout out to Ed Ireland), I wasn’t sure what to expect. Is it possible to capture the same magic of a brick-and-mortar book/writing convention online? But my curiosity was piqued, so I investigated the Convention groups on Goodreads and Facebook, and I read about what they are offering to readers. I have to say, this is an impressive undertaking by our fearless leader, Angela B. Chrysler, especially considering this is the convention’s second incarnation.

In short, the convention is expecting hundreds of authors to come through during the convention (April 8-10). All of the events are held online in the Goodreads Fairgrounds—where authors have virtual booths set up with their books and other materials. Some are even sponsoring giveaways. In addition to Goodreads, B2B Cybercon will be hosting hour-long author takeovers in their Facebook event all weekend. In fact, I’ll be there from 7-8 PM on April 8! If you want in on the fun—and you do—just click over to the links provided and join up.

So I’ve been asked, as a first time attendee, to speculate on the proceedings. I don’t know how helpful I’ll be on that front, but I can say that there are some very cool things happening Backstage at the convention’s fair grounds. There are plans in the works for live panel discussions with authors on a variety of topics from genre discussions (YA for Adults) and world building to writing about abuse. I’m personally very excited for these panels as the panels are often the most rewarding aspect of physical conventions.

Readers that come through can expect to find their favorite authors (and new favorites…ahem) answering questions at their virtual “booths” as well as hosting panels and behind-the-scenes video broadcasts. There are also rumors of a Character Tournament (Heroes vs. Villains). I’ve never witnessed a character tournament, but I can only assume it includes a fight to the death in some way. To the victor goes the spoils, amiright?

The Brain 2 Books Cyber Con is going to be a TON of fun, and I hope to meet all of you there! Look for me and my book, A Year Since the Rain. I’ll see you in April.

About the Author

Shane Wilson is the author of A Year Since the Rain, a magical realism novel forthcoming from Snow Leopard Publishing. Born in Alabama and raised in Georgia, Shane is a child of the southeastern United States where he feels simultaneously at-home and out-of-place. He graduated from Valdosta State University in south Georgia with a Masters in English. He taught college English in Georgia for four years before moving to North Carolina in 2013. No matter the temperature outside, there is always an iced coffee in his hand when he walks into class in the mornings. He tends to chase the day with a whiskey and a re-run of The Office. Shane has published poetry in Tethered by Letters and the Stonepile Writers' Anthology, Volume III. He is currently at work on a new novel as well as a collection of short stories based on the mythos of and set in the same town as A Year Since the Rain. You may purchase A Year Since the Rain here.

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Running for the Finish Line: Revising a Novel's First Draft

I'm thick in the middle of rewrites and revisions for my Young Adult sports novel Swim Season and coming up for air to share a little of my progress. I truly enjoy this part of the writing process. It stretches my mental muscles and brings me deep into the cellular level of the story. Here's where I fine-tune tension, clarify ambiguities, and make the book the best it can be. It's a long process, made even longer and more taxing by my repetitive strain injuries, which rear their ugly head often and demand attention. I take lots of breaks.

Turning a 156,889-word first draft into a polished novel requires many steps. The first is a full read of the manuscript. I've been working on this book for years and lost track of its beginning pages long before I wrote "The End" on the last page. It's been months since I've read most of it, and I've forgotten parts of it.

My strategy for writing this book was to keep writing, to move forward without looking back. I didn't want to get bogged down in details that would get in the way of completing it. If I ran into a problem, had a question, or didn't know where I was going, I skipped over that part and kept writing. Past projects had taught me that rewriting as I write and double checking facts and details during the writing process slow me down, and ensure I'll never finish. I end up cutting out too much, wasting my words and work. Not good since I'm living with RSIs. Every word has to count. I don't write for the trash can.

I found it's easier and less painful to avoid the computer and do as much work on paper as possible. I print out a copy of the manuscript and run through it a few times the old-fashioned way, with red pens, sharp pencils, and a big pink eraser. During my first read through I made note of typos and grammar issues, errors and inconsistencies, and clarified plot points, character traits, etc. On my second read, I analyzed all the swim meets, assigned team names, and created meet sheets and scores. It was time-consuming but necessary. In the end, I may eliminate much of that data but it was info I needed to understand my team and tell the story. On the third pass, I clarified some of the open-ended areas, such as the color of a character eyes, the whereabouts of my heroine's mother, and the coach's role in the story. That often required research, which enriches the story and gives it more depth.

The bulk of my process involves fine-tuning the manuscript. For this, I rely on Bobbie Christmas' Find and Refine Method as described in her excellent writer's manual Write in Style. I followed this method for my novel Blue Hydrangeas. It's easy to use and understand and transforms my writing into tight, concise prose. But the process is slow, especially for a 156,889-word manuscript.

For example, Christmas suggests eliminating as many adverbs as possible. Her method: use the Find function in Word to locate all words ending in ly, the telltale sign of the dreaded adverb, and evaluate each one to determine if it can be eliminated or replaced with a stronger word or words. I discovered 1,800+ occurrences, not all of them adverbs because the search includes family (71), Emily (40), and only (117) and other acceptable ly words. I examined each one and whittled the number down to 614. It took hours but makes a better book.

The process continues with strategies to eliminate passive writing, ambiguous pronouns, and other sloppy or lazy writing techniques that slip into a first draft. I've eliminated 5,000+ words and have only just begun. I already see an improvement. I find the process exciting and invigorating even though it aggravates my RSIs and threatens to throw me into a tailspin of carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and bursitis pain that not only affects my writing but every other aspect of my life. It's a slippery slope, but with pain management strategies and adequate rest periods, I plod on. I decided long ago that I will finish and publish this book no matter how long it takes. I started it in 2011, and almost five years later see the finish line.

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Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story.

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When a Place is Simply a Place: Thoughts on Proper Names, the Writing Process and Research

I picked up this book from the library the other day. No, I am not considering a new career in corrections. It's for research. I have this great looming question about a character in Swim Season that's been bugging me for ages and I finally had to put it to rest. 

Devon, my heroine's mother, is incarcerated. An Army nurse with two tours of duty in the Middle East, Devon came home with complications from a blast injury, chronic pain, opiate addiction, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Desperate, depressed, and in pain, she resorted to stealing drugs from her employer, from her patients who needed them. Once caught, she took a plea deal to three counts of felony falsifying business records in the first degree, and three counts of misdemeanor petit larceny. The felony charges carry a potential sentence of 1⅓ to three years in state prison.

In describing this situation I struggled with how to refer to Devon's whereabouts in the story. Was she in prison? A correctional facility? A drug treatment center for convicted felons? Jail? Every time I referred to her location I used different words. It confused me, and I knew it would confuse my readers, so I questioned the correct terminology. I’m a stickler for details and this was one detail I wanted to get right.

I thought coming up with the right terminology would be simple. I did some internet research and surprisingly couldn't find a satisfying answer. I then referred to my local library and came up with one book that I thought would give a simple description of the New York State prison system, the book in the picture. I checked it out and two minutes after I cracked it open realized it did not hold the answer for me either.

In the meantime, while waiting for the book to come in, I had an epiphany: Since I was having so much difficulty describing where Devon was perhaps Aerin, my heroine, was also struggling. After all, she's just a kid, and the thought of her mother locked away in prison is more than she can bear. Perhaps she can't bring herself to speak the words prison, correctional facility, drug treatment center, jail. Perhaps the best she can do is refer to the place that holds her mother as simply that: the place.

This was not a new idea. Jack Harmon, my hero in Blue Hydrangeas, faced the same quandary. Confronted with placing his beloved wife Sara in an assisted living facility, Jack can’t bring himself to speak those words, and refers to Sara's new home as the place.

This approach relieves me of a troublesome problem. I'm no longer tasked with figuring out the proper terminology of describing where Devon is (correctional facility is the proper term I finally learned) and Aerin's inability to speak the words adds an additional layer of tension to the story and deepens her characterization. She mentions correctional facility once and from then on it's the place, conjuring all kinds of images and emotions.

This is the depth and length of thought and research that goes into my writing. Something that seems so simple and inconsequential becomes a time-consuming, analytical issue. In the end, the solution seems so simple it's hard to believe it took so long to get there.

Funny thing is, it's the best part of writing the story. 

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Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story.

Rated  4.7 stars on Amazon, 140 reviews.