Author: Lisa

Published Emotions

/ Lisa / 1 Comment

In moving through the publishing process, it has been interesting to be aware of the emotions involved in each phase.

Frustration, of course.  Especially when dealing with computers, formatting, technical phrases that it’s assumed you understand.  Formatting alone is interesting because it appears each market has its own requirements.  Single spaces between sentences for e-books, starting a chapter half way down a page for the print version but not the online version…and so forth.

To frustration you can add nervousness, irritation (when you find typos after multiple readings and editing), laughter when your son has to explain something about computers that includes the rolling eyes of a teenager, and so forth.

Then there’s excitement.  Well, that’s been the interesting one.  When the proof arrived, my husband hugged it close with a huge grin.  Those friends who have edited versions since the beginning, like author Susan Schreyer and my poet friend Sabrina, are hugely excited.  But me?  Not so much.

It’s been kind of odd, and it wasn’t until attending the writer’s group last night that an explanation came forward.  I have been feeling almost a little blue, a little vulnerable (and I’m not a vulnerable type).  Here’s this story that has existed in my mind for a few years now.  The basis of the story was an unanswered question of my father’s which means that question has been around for many years, nagging me in the back of my brain where mysteries live.  And now all of a sudden, that imaginary world has taken form and is out there for everyone to see.  It’s no longer my private mystery to ponder, to change when I want, to spend time alone in, like a secret garden.

It kind of feels like those old high school stress dreams, where you dream about forgetting to get dressed before arriving in school.

I can understand that feeling of exposure, but what surprised me was that tinge of sadness.  Believe me, I’m ready for this story to be gone, out the door, leaving me alone so I can work on something else.  So where was the sadness coming from?

As my friend, another Lisa, said so succinctly at the writer’s group last night: postpartum depression.

Oh, did that make me laugh!  She’s so right.  The story lived inside, gestating, and is now in physical form, out in the world, and I’m holding the proof thinking, ‘is this it?’ ‘what do I do with it?’ and ‘this isn’t what I signed on for!’.

At least there’s no poopy diapers.

The photo below hasn’t much to do with the post other than I love the ocean and in this one there is this lonely little boat out there working it’s way home.

 

Spam

/ Lisa / 5 Comments

In the last couple days I have received twelve comments on old posts here.  At first I was excited.  But then as I read them I realized they sound an awful lot like spam.  Usually the spam filter catches these types, but these twelve didn’t end up filtered.

I’ve noticed that comments caught as spam have a lot of misspelled words or grammatical errors in them, and I assume that is how the filter chooses spam.  Of these twelve, all of them have typos.  Some have a lot, some only have one or two words.

My dilemma is, do I assume they are spam and delete what could be a legitimate comment from someone who was typing in a hurry like I do?  Or do I assume they type like me and allow the comments, only to have problems with the blog?  I so value the comments I receive here but I don’t want to risk the site.

If you have posted a comment here for the very first time, please post again and reassure me that you are a real person.

Any suggestions from my blogger friends?

Interviews

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Next month I’ll be interviewing poet Mary Mackey and that opportunity got me thinking about all the other talented people I know.  I decided I should do interviews more often, and called up Susan Schreyer, author of the Thea Campbell Mystery series, suckered her into meeting me for coffee, and plopped some questions down.

You’re on your fourth book in the Thea Campbell series.  How do you keep your interest in the characters fresh?

I think that’s something the characters do. Really! They’re not quite done having adventures yet, and they haven’t entirely worked out the conflicts between them. When they stop sneaking into my mind and telling me about the fun they’re having, then it will be time to move on.

 Outlining the novel works for you over ‘organic’ writing.  Why do you think this is? 

I yearn to be an organized person. My mind needs the discipline of external lists and guidelines in order to move forward. Without them, I’m like a ping-pong ball — bouncing around from one uncompleted project to another, wandering from point to point and going off on tangents that have nothing to do with anything. If I can set up the structure I need to guide me through a story, I won’t spend a lot of time after the fact going back and cutting chunks out, or wasting time. That said, I don’t spend the time planning and outlining that a lot of people do, but I find if I can plan the major plot points, spend time getting to know the new characters who will appear — especially all the antagonists (not just the major “bad guy”) — the story writes itself without me staring off into space and wondering what it was I was trying to do. Planning — for me — is quite a time-saver. When I get stuck, it’s generally because I neglected to plan. Do the characters still take control of the story? Absolutely. That’s one of the things I love about writing. Even when outlining, the story and characters are often full of surprises.

 What is it about writing that keeps you coming back to story-telling?

The story-world is very alluring, full of what-ifs and possibilities. You fall in love with characters and want to find out what will happen to them. It’s also a way to share my view of our crazy world and the amazing people I meet. Stories and characters are around us every day in overwhelming quantities — and not just as news items. They’re in the grocery store, at the office, in the next phone call … and we’re related to them, too J

 People talk about the ‘writer’s path’.  What do you think that refers to and where do you think you are on that path?

You know, I’m not really sure of the answer to this — what it is as a general concept, anyway. My path is one I have carved out for myself and I think each of us have to, whether we bring our stories to a “paying public” or keep them for ourselves. My path includes improving my skills — or “craft” as we like to call it — and sharing my story with readers.

Marketing novels falls on the author these days, unlike in the past when some help could be expected from publishers, book stores, etc.  Do you find this eating into your time for creating, and how do you balance and/or prioritize what you are going to spend your time on?

Ach, marketing! This side of being a published author is the total antithesis of most writers’ personalities — makes us squirm, sweat and generally avoid doing it. Yes, it totally eats into my creative time. I keep thinking that if I were better at it, I could be much more efficient at it. The unfortunate aspect of marketing and promotion is that what works for one person (read “sells books”) doesn’t work for everyone. It’s ephemeral, which makes it hard to learn, time-consuming to execute, and frustrating. There are two things I’ve nailed down as totally necessary to successful book marketing; persistence and contacts. My solution is to spend only a specific amount of time each day on it. It’d be great to be able to pay someone to take the job over, but by the time I could afford to do that, I wouldn’t need it. Therefore, if I want people to read my books, I not only have to keep writing, but I have to find time to tell them the books are available to be read.

 You have chosen to not use a pseudonym.  What were your reasons for that?  Do you worry about an invasion of privacy?

I don’t have a good reason to use a pseudonym. I considered it for a while before Death By A Dark Horse came out, but didn’t (obviously). In this age of internet connectivity, I think all of us have to be concerned and take precautions against privacy invasion, and I don’t believe just changing your name is going to be enough to protect against that. A more thoughtful vigilance is necessary. On the other hand, I understand it’s very “freeing” to be able to step into another persona. I might try it sometime … but  J you’ll never know!

Ah, but I know where you live! Thanks for the interview Susan. I’m looking forward to the next Thea installment.