Category Archives: I’m a writer too

A first-timer’s RWA National Conference adventure (part 2): Working the Workshops

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Warning: today’s blog post pics are terrible. I attempted to snap discrete pics with a crummy camera phone. You’ve been warned.

Some writers attend the RWA National Conference for networking, pitching, or parties (which I’ll get to in the next post). While that is a huge part of the draw, my main focus was to suck up every scrap of writing advice, tip, and trick I could get near. That meant workshops.

There was a ridiculous number to choose from. Some hours I had to pick between workshops with Sonali Dev, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Jayne Ann Krentz, or Daman Suede, OR social media expert hour, OR book signings with Grand Central, Harlequin, St. Martins’s Press, or Random House. All scheduled in the same hour! (Note: these books signings featured dozens of authors including the big names all meeting, greeting and signing FREE books. Ack!) And I didn’t even mention the publishing house Spotlight sessions, none of which I attended, but I might buy the audio mp3s.

These workshops were like none I’d attended before. These successful, talented, and hard working authors shared their insights, skills, and stories with honesty and compassion. They wanted us to succeed. They made it clear that means working your ass off.

If you are a member of RWA, you have the opportunity to purchase audio of all the workshops. There’s gold in there. I’ll be buying the audio of several I missed as soon as the individual recordings are up on the RWA site.

So, without further rambling, a (paraphrased) selection of the good stuff I picked up in my RWA 2017 workshops:

Editors Tell All with Nicole Fisher (Avon), Sheila Hodgson (Harlequin), Katie Seaver (Berkley) and Mary-Theresa Hussey

Don’t pay to have your book professionally copyedited before you send it to an editor. A misplaced comma won’t make or break your submission.

It’s all about the VOICE.

That opening paragraph needs to immediately draw a reader into the protagonist’s world. No secondary characters.

 

First Timers’ Orientation with Eliza Knight, Robin Covington, Laura Kaye, Damon Suede, and Dee Davis

Go to the unrecorded sessions (at Nationals). That’s where the real dirt is.

Set goals for after the conference. One month, three months, six months, a year. Then MAKE YOUR GOALS.

Ask yourself what do you want out of your career? Now, what are you willing to trade to get that?

 

Seducing Your Readers in Chapter 1 with Michael Hague

The hero is the heroine’s destiny is because he’s the only guy to see beneath her identity (the false self one creates to protect one’s self from the fear that grew from a long-ago wound) and connect with her at her essence. This is why they belong together. He sees her truth (and vice-versa).

 

PRO RETREAT Roundtables

Eight PRO RWA members + one rock star author. No holds barred.

When to Move on to the Next Idea with Courtney Milan

Sign up for your own lies. It’s branding.

If you are just constantly tweaking your manuscript, STOP IT. Agents/publishers can handle tweaks. Move on.

Revisions with Kristan Higgins

Sometimes it might take 150 pages to get to know your character’s story in a first draft. It’s okay.

Your inciting incident MUST be big enough to carry through the entire story. And it must grow. (And here’s where she mentioned my book!!! SWOON)

Set scenes in emotionally charged places that are hard for the characters.

Set scenes in interesting places (i.e. the pope in the pool).

In scenes with multiple characters, be careful who gets lines and make each line important.

 

How to Gut Your Readers and Make Them Love It with Kristan Higgins and Sonali Dev

 

People will forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.

The more intense the emotion, the more connection with the reader.

We read romance to be able to experience these intense emotions safely.

Tap into reader’s memories–the yearning, the feelings of falling in love again and again.

Readers need to know right away what a character doesn’t have and why she needs it desperately.

Treat each character’s “wound” as a major trauma no matter how minor it might be.

 

Building the Perfectly Imperfect Hero with Jill Shalvis and HelenKay Dimon

It takes Jill at least five drafts to nail her characters and story. First is horrible. Each draft gets slowly better and fills in character.

Heroes can get away with so much more than heroines.

 

Fifty Shades of Funny with Jennifer Probst, Lauren Layne, and Rachel Van Dyken

Don’t describe characters as being funny. Show them being funny.

Keep dialog fast-paced. Make them sound better than in real life.

Don’t let characters ramble. Shorter dialog reads better.

Write what you think is funny. Don’t imitate.

Pull back on humor during dark moments or in sexy scenes. Balance is the key. Don’t be afraid to get serious.

 

Genre Blending: The Sweet Spot between Women’s Fiction and Romance with Jamie Beck & Kristan Higgins

Romance is about finding the one; women’s fiction is about finding yourself. (attributed to Robyn Carr)

Hitting the Sweet Spot: what do readers want?

  • Romance with more depth to the story (career, family issues)
  • More everyday heroes–no alpha-holes, but flawed good guys
  • Sub-stories/plots can play more of a part
  • Multi-generational characters
  • Characters who must overcome their own flaws
  • Finding the one as a result of finding oneself
  • Decreased “plotsy” adorableness, increased theme and struggles

Over-the-top humor is played down. If it’s too funny, it’s missing the emotional depth. (This area is more “sophisticated” than rom com or chick lit.)

The romance could start on page 1 or 200–up to the discretion of the writer.

 

Game of Desire with Damon Suede

TOO MUCH GOODNESS TO SHARE. If you ever get the opportunity to take one of Damon’s workshops, DO IT. Seriously.

A few tidbits:

Don’t write ACTIVITIES. Write ACTIONS. (For example, going shopping because you’re procrastinating/bored is an activity. Going shopping because you need ingredients for dinner is an action.)

Sex should never be an activity. It is always an action.

It’s all about the verbs. Give them power. (adverbs=death)

 

Killer Clichés: Insider Tips on Escaping the Slush Pile with Mary Altman, Cat Clyne, Courtney Miller-Callihan, and Nicole Resciniti

This was the only workshop I attended that took the wind from my sails. (Yes, that cliché was on purpose.) These well-known agents and editors played a game where they went over all the clichés and tropes that spell “insta-death” for your manuscript. Basically, I learned that they will hate me.

What they do want: fresh stories with strong voices.

NOs:

  • terrible trifecta: dumped/cheated, loses job, loses house
  • opening like a bad country song
  • the heroine is “different” from other girls (aka special snowflakes)
  • “Girl you need to get laid” best friends
  • Bambi setups
  • klutzy cuties
  • heroes who must overcome disbelief that all women are evil
  • bitchy other women
  • mirror, mirror (describing oneself in mirror)
  • amnesia
  • rich and bored alpha males
  • opening a book with the character waking up or hung over
  • conflicts that could have been resolved if the characters just talked
  • openings where there’s been an accident
  • electrical currents flowing between lovers
  • rolling eyes, arching brows, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, deep breaths, raking hands through hair, biting lips

So, yeah. If you want to get an agent or publisher, eliminate all of these things.

 

Power Couples: Making Lovers with Damon Suede

I took NINE pages of notes during this intensive, two-hour workshop. Plus he gave out a six-page handout. Crazy amount of info to digest.

Your brain experiences the same things when you READ as when you DO, whether you’re reading about playing tennis for falling in love.

There’s only one plot in the world: things are not what they seem.

Don’t worry about your character being likable. Make her fascinating.

You can outline an entire story using conflicting verbs.

Cast your characters with conflicting verbs.

  • Lizzie: Provoke vs. Darcy: Preserve
  • Katniss: Hunt vs. Peeta: Feed

For more, check out this blog post on Romance University: Add Verbs: Creating Characters that Pop Off the Page by Damon Suede

Want to read more of my RWA 17 adventures? Read And then there was the time Kristan Higgins pulled me aside… a first-timer’s RWA Annual Conference adventure (part 1)

Have you attended Nationals or a major writing conference? What workshops did you find invaluable?

And then there was the time Kristan Higgins pulled me aside… a first-timer’s RWA Annual Conference adventure (part 1)

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Where can you take writing classes with your favorite authors, mingle with the rock stars of romance, chat with RITA Award winners, pitch in person to literary agents (without puking), and make new friends from around the world? The Romance Writers of America National Conference, of course.

first time at rwa nationals

For those of you not in the romance reading and/or writing community:

RWA = Romance Writers of America, an organization of 10k+ kick-ass published and unpublished romance fiction writers, publishing industry professionals, librarians, and booksellers who support the romance genre

RITA = the Oscar of the romance writing world

The 2017 RWA National Conference was held here in Orlando last week and I’m still detoxing from experience and information overload. I’d been waiting years to attend. I wish I’d gone sooner.

Crummy through-the-windshield pic, but the important part reads WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

The first morning I drove to Disney while blasting the Hamilton soundtrack. Not only is it an inspiring work of genius, but if you sing/rap along it loosens the tongue. As I sang along to “I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot” my eyes began watering. I fought back the tears. I was not going to ruin my makeup. But this was my shot. I had two agents to pitch and four days to make a mark. To feel like I belonged. To make a game plan for my career. To believe I was a “real” writer.

I am not throwing away my shot

Friends and family in the real world usually don’t consider you are a real writer if you aren’t published. They believe it’s a cute hobby. Easy. Like crochet, only with no homemade potholders to show off at Christmastime.

Like hell it is.

via GIPHY

There were SO MANY unpublished writers at the conference, all eager to suck up information, hone skills, and gain inspiration. We were not alone.

And the “rock stars” of romance, the hard-working success stories of the writing world, welcomed us with open arms. Literally. These women are huggers. As they embraced me I hoped some of their writing mojo would sprinkle onto me. No, seriously, I’m getting weepy just thinking about it. Beverly Jenkins hugged me. So many others.

There’s only one problem with the whole success by osmosis idea: the number one thing I learned was that there is no secret formula. Just a buttload of hard work.

So, my Kristan Higgin’s story:

The first day I attended the First Timers’ Orientation. Robin Covington, Eliza Knight, Dee Davis, Laura Kaye, and Damon Suede welcomed us newbies and tried to convince us that no one at Nationals eats the young and we’d survive and possibly even enjoy ourselves. Yeah, an easy sell for a bunch of introverts who feel like fumbling ball boys at the World Series. A few big names snuck in at the end of the session to say hello. Kristan, one of the key writers I’d hoped to meet, was one of them.

When the session was over, I waited for my chance to say hello. The girl is popular. Even multi-published authors can’t help to go all fan-girl around her. I finally got my chance to shake her hand and casually mention that she was the reason I was at RWAs and one of the main reasons I write contemporary romance.

She gave me a hug. Said I was making her eyes water.  Then she asked me what I was writing and how it was going. When I mentioned that I was pitching on Friday, her eyes lit. “You want to practice with me?” she asked.

via GIPHY

Yes? No? Of course! I tried not to panic. Or throw up.

While we waited for the room to clear out, she introduced me to all the amazing writers passing by to chat with her. They were all so kind. Welcoming. Treated me like an equal. And they promised me Kristan was very “nice” and wouldn’t make me cry.

When the room finally emptied, she sat across from me. I was so dang nervous I had to read my pitch to her. It was like that dream when you’re on stage and you forget all your lines and Meryl Streep is waiting for her cue. She asked me probing questions about my characters and story. Helped me focus on the more gripping aspects. Fed me confidence.

Little old me. She made me believe that I was just as important as any of the other writers there. She made me believe that if I worked hard enough, I had a chance. By believing in me, she made me believe in myself.

Nurturing. This organization has it down.

via GIPHY

And no, I didn’t get a picture with Kristan.  I was attempting to be a pro. Yes, I’m kicking myself. The next day at the PRO Retreat she used my story as an example. I may have swooned. I felt like a rock star. I only hope I can share the love with other aspiring authors as completely someday.

Virgina Kantra Story:

The scene: Keynote Luncheon with Susan Wiggs. Me and two-thousand or so writers in a ballroom for the third time (first being Golden Heart Award Luncheon, second the RITA Award Ceremony the night before). I wasn’t sure I could take more peopling, so I grabbed a seat a table in the back in case I needed to sneak out. The table filled up, and someone asked if she could grab the last seat left beside me. Sure.

She noticed my first timers ribbon and asked how I was enjoying it. I asked if it was her first time, too. Then she shifted and I could read her name badge…and I noticed the ten RITA pins lining the top. Open mouth, insert foot.

Turns out this lovely latecomer was Virginia Kantra, a ten-time RITA nominee who’d won the Best Mid-length Contemporary Romance RITA the night before. When we weren’t listening to Susan Wigg’s inspiring speech, Virginia peppered us with writing stories, business advice, and kindness. The woman knows how to network. I paid attention.

When she asked if she should bring her RITA Award statue to her signing later that day, we were all like “heck yeah!”

She did. She let me fondle hold it. Inspiration.

Look, Mom–I won a RITA! Someday.

 

Part 2 coming soon!

Cheers to Jill Hannah Anderson and The To-Hell-And-Back Club!

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happy pub day jill hannah anderson
I’m ecstatic to wish my critique partner extraordinaire a HAPPY PUB DAY!!!!!

I can’t even tell you how excited I am. When my copy of Jill Hannah Anderson’s THE TO-HELL-AND-BACK CLUB arrived the other day I actually squeed (and I am not a squee girl), did a little dance, and then saluted this beautiful book baby with a celebratory glass of wine.

I’ve been reading Jill’s THE TO-HELL-AND-BACK CLUB for about three-and-a-half years now. Yes, it takes that long (and often longer) to edit a book, re-edit dozens of times, and find a publisher. At least. And even then you have to be a magical mix of lucky and good. This book is good. I’ve had the pleasure of watching this novel grow from it’s early drafts to the shiny work of PUBLISHED women’s fiction it is TODAY. And I’m overjoyed to help share it with the world.

the to hell and back club jill hannah anderson

Back cover:

In this inspiring debut from Jill Hannah Anderson~ Peyton Brooks, a newly-empty nester with a comatose marriage, loses her three best friends in a car crash, and reaches out to women in the To-Hell-And-Back Club, hoping they’ll help resuscitate her life.

Through the “Hell Club”, Peyton learns that it’s never too late to begin again. These been-there-felt-that women use their sense of humor, strength, and support to help pull her off the couch and back to living her life.

She puts an end to her troubled marriage and rebuilds the life she’d put aside two decades ago. But when Peyton digs up time capsules she and her friends buried years ago and uncovers secrets about those she loved, she struggles to keep her own life-changing secret buried.

The “Hell Club” women help remind Peyton of the strength within her. She finds a renewed hope in life and love when she faces the mistakes and guilt that have troubled her for years. When Peyton’s secret is discovered, she’s going to need the “Hell Club” women more than ever.

The To-Hell-And-Back Club is an inspiring book that reminds us that it’s never too late to start over, and that living a life of regrets is no life at all.

The To-Hell-And-Back Club is a heartwarming story about forging a new path in life when you hit a dead end. Just as empty-nester Peyton Brooks musters the strength to leave her floundering marriage she loses her dearest friends in a car accident. A car she was supposed to be in. Weighed down by grief, guilt, and loneliness, she realizes she must find a way to keep going. She finds the women of the To-Hell-And-Back Club. As the name suggests, each woman there has her own heartbreaking tale. But this club is anything but a downer. Together the women lend not only shoulders to cry on and ears to listen, but strength to build up their backbones and open their hearts.

With the help of these women from all walks of life, Peyton deals with secrets her family and dearest friends have kept from her and the truth she’s withheld from everyone, including herself. She may even discover what she’s been missing in life: camaraderie, laughter, and a second chance at love. This story made me wish for my own To-Hell-And-Back Club, a group of brave women who’ve learned that friendship, forgiveness, and heaps of humor are the keys to moving forward in life.

jill hannah anderson Voted “Most Imaginative” in high school, Jill assumed everyone else looked at life with “what-if” questions too. She lives on a lake in Minnesota with her husband in their rarely-empty nest, where they enjoy their six adult children and ever-increasing number of grandchildren when they come to visit.

Jill has worked at a communications company for two decades and also writes part-time for a Minnesota women’s magazine. Her first women’s fiction novel, THE TO-HELL-AND-BACK CLUB, was released in May 2017. She is a member of Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), and is currently at work on her second women’s fiction novel, CRAZY LITTLE TOWN CALLED LOVE, featuring a character from her first novel. When she isn’t working, writing, or reading, you’ll find her running, curling, biking, and enjoying the great outdoors.

Connect with Jill!

Website  www.JillHannahanderson.com
Facebook  www.facebook.com/jillhannah.anderson/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JillHannahA
Instagram ~ @jillh.anderson

And buy this book!

One of my favorite gifts, from one of my favorite people

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2016 may have been a challenging year, but Christmas brought us nothing but peace, love, and thankfulness. Hope you all reveled in some joy and cheer, too!

 

xmas-mug-2

 

My kiddo left this mug under the tree for me. Does he know his mother or what? Now if only I could use this at work–set it atop the circulation desk at the library…

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Chuck Wendig in the flesh

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Yeah, I’ve have been slacking with the blog lately. Too much going on with life, the family, the day job… Then there’s the recent horrible events here in Orlando which I still don’t have the strength to write about. In fact, I haven’t written much at all over the last month. Mea culpa.

I DID have a chance to meet sci-fi and urban fantasy author extraordinaire Chuck Wendig at the Orlando Book Festival at the Orlando Public Library. Chuck is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, and the Heartland YA series, alongside other works across comics, games, film, and more.

But, many of us in the writing community know him best as our beloved foul-mouthed writing guru and author of the blog Terrible Minds. Seriously, he’s like our Yoda. Only taller. And I’m guessing minus the secret bad ass lightsaber skills. (Although he does write Star Wars books, so he may whip out some sabers as he plots in his writing shed.) His no-nonsense posts inspire legions of Penmonkies, driving us to sit our butts in the chair, keep on writing, and not stab our eyeballs out. And laugh. The man is funny.

And he is just as affable in person. Seriously.

The Kick Ass Writer

Writer that I am (ahem), I had him sign The Kick Ass Writer. My hubby had him sign a couple of his favorite novels, then bought a stack more for Chuck to inscribe.

Chuck began his keynote speech by saying he’d considered starting with a moment of silence, but then he realized that writers and artists are not at their best when silent. Six days before, 49 people had been killed and 53 injured at the Pulse Nightclub, a few blocks away.  (If you haven’t read his Recipe for a Shooting. Go ahead. I’ll wait.)

Some of the nuggets of wisdom he doled out to the audience of eager Padawans writers and readers:

  • Telling your parents you want to be a writer is like telling them you want to be a unicorn farmer.
  • In the game of writing, no one knows what their doing. (You’re not alone!)
  • Writing is a game of perseverance. It can be like putting a bucket on your head and head-butting a wall. Either you or the wall will fall down eventually.
  • Care less. Your writing and your life will improve. (And you’ll be less likely to start head-butting walls like a drunken billy goat.)
  • The man can write 30k words in a weekend. That is NOT a typo. THIRTY THOUSAND WORDS IN A WEEKEND. Forget man–he’s a myth. No, a legend.
  • And while we’re on the subject of writing faster than the speed of light, he wrote his first Star Wars book, Aftermath, in ONE MONTH. This was not planned. The publisher kept moving the release day up. The book hit the shelves exactly one year to the day after he tweeted about how he’d like to work on a Star Wars book. Note: this in NOT how anyone else will every procure a publishing deal. Like ever.
  • His measly little blog Terrible Minds get about 10k hits per day. Guess a few folks want to read his rants about writing. And food. And his kid. And don’t mind his creative use of naughty language.

 Chuck 2

Don’t bash the hair. The humidity hovered around 300% in downtown O-town that day. Between sessions, I’d made the pilgrimage to the makeshift memorial filling the grassy lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts just blocks away.

I had to see it with my own eyes. I had to honor those we’d lost. I had to let my heart bleed.

You see, even as I watched the coverage on TV, it didn’t feel real. The 24-hour news feed running “Orlando Massacre” and “America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting” played like a reality show. How could this happen here? We’re the land of fucking Mickey Mouse, fairy dust, and overpriced Harry Potter wands. Not mass shootings. Until now.

I’m going to get off this tangent. I don’t want to write about it. The wounds are too fresh.Pulse shooting, Orlando Massacre, Pulse Memorial, Dr Phillip's Center

Now back to good stuff.

My husband joined me for the Chuck meet & greet keynote speech. He has a thing for signed books (and comics, and photos…you get the drift). He brought along a handful of books, then had to buy a few more because the temptation was just. too. great.

Back at home, our 12-year-old eyeballed the hubby’s loot, and thought Under the Empyrean Sky (The Heartland Trilogy Book 1) looked like a good read. Kiddo is pretty bright and an avid reader. But ready for his first “adult” book? And that book be one of Chuck’s? (As I mentioned, the man is infamous for his potty mouth.)

Then I realized that age 12 I was about to start on my Stephen King kick. That shut me up.

Kiddo ended up reading Chuck’s Star Wars: Aftermath first.

Read whatever you want, my child. If books are the most corrupting element in your tween life, we’re doing okay.

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Spreading Some Love Between the Covers

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“Love stories are universal. Love stories are powerful.
And so are the women who write them.”

Last spring I wrote about how I was dying to watch LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS, a feature-length indie documentary film that explores the little-known, surprisingly powerful world of women who write and read romance? I finally attended a screening thanks to the fine folks at the Orlando Public Library. I left inspired, enlightened, and I may have had a watery eye from time to time.

Love Between the Covers is the fascinating story of the vast, funny, and savvy female community that has built a powerhouse industry sharing love stories. Romance fiction is sold in 34 languages on six continents, and the genre grosses more than a billion dollars a year–outselling mystery, sci-fi, and fantasy combined. Yet the millions of voracious women (and sometimes men) who read, write, and love romance novels have remained oddly invisible. Until now. For three years, the film follows the lives of five very diverse published romance authors and a unpublished newbie as they build their businesses, find and lose loved ones, cope with a tsunami of change in publishing, and earn a living doing what they love—while empowering others to do the same.

During the three years the filmmakers shot the documentary, they witnessed the largest power shift in the publishing industry in the last 200 years. And it’s the romance authors who are on the front lines, pioneering new ways to survive and thrive in the rapidly shifting environment.

Many aspects of the film had me in awe. Bella Andre writes 25 pages a day?!!

The segments following the video diary of aspiring romance author Joanne Lockyer had me feeling all swishy inside. I found myself discretely dabbing the corners of my eyes after she saw her book, her quest, her baby in print for the first time in all its tangible beauty.

There were so many more nuggets of goodness, conversations about diversity, desire, power shifts, and how to write a damn good book.

I tried to jot down a few of my favorite quotes as I watched, but alas, as I read over my chicken scratch, I’ve realized that these should more be considered paraphrases. My profound apologies if any of these are too far off. (Feel free to kill me off in your next book if I offend.)

We’re not looking for a stupid heroine … we’re looking for a story where the woman has her shit together and the man is the cherry on top of the sundae.

Beverly Jenkins

Loyalty, love, loss, courage–all books in ALL genres circle around to these eternal themes.

Eloisa James

I love fiction because it’s fiction. Fiction is not real and it’s not supposed to be. Fiction is a dream. Fiction is a desire. Fiction is hope.

Len Barot/Radclyffe

Yes it’s a fantasy. But so are Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. It’s no great surprise that he never dies in the end. So what’s wrong with our
Happily Ever After?

Beverly Jenkins

This is the one place where you will consistently find women’s sexuality treated fairly and positively.

Sarah Wendell

 

But one of the main themes of the movie was the camaraderie. Through RWA (Romance Writers of America), these women, be them multi-millionaire business builders or publishing-shy newbies, shared a refreshing desire to share what they know to help others succeed. (I also see this in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, but this wasn’t their movie. Go WFWA!) They stress that there’s no finite number of readers, so we can publish an infinite number of stories.

After the movie screening, the Orlando Public Library hosted romance panel discussions about Tropes We Love and Hate and Vampires and Angels and Weres, Oh My!, followed by a book signing featuring local romance writers.

And…

pro rwa

 

I’m offically a PRO member of Romance Writers of America.

Come on in. There’s room for you here too.

 

10 Things I Learned During an Evening with Bill Bryson

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1. I can make Bill Bryson laugh!

Bill Bryson Rollins College book signing

No, that doesn’t count. To be honest, I simply cannot recall what witty quip I must have whipped out to cause the celebrated travel, science, and historical writer to chuckle, but I have the picture to prove I said something good.

During Notes from All Over: An Evening with Bill Bryson, the writer entertained the crowds with his renowned brand of cerebral yet homespun humor. Before a packed house at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, Bryson spun tales about his life between readings from some of his well known works, sparking alternating bouts of laughter and applause. I’ve binged on his audiobooks recently, so listening to him read passages from A Walk in the Woods, In a Sunburned Country, and his new release The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain truly brought the books to life. The evening proved that America and Britain’s bastion of curmudgeonly wanderlust is just as charming, hilarious, and endearing off the page as he is on.

Some highlights:

1. On how to avoid a bear attack: wear bells so the bears know you’re coming. And keep your eyes open for bear scat on the ground. It’s easy to spot — it has bells in it.

2. When a British bookstore author questionnaire asked what he would like people to say about him 100 years from now: “Well, at least he was still sexually active.”

3. He’s never thought of writing fiction.

4. Reviewers of his new book,The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain, have written that he’s far grumpier than he use to be. He used this as a segway into reading a passage from the book, a cautionary tale regarding the horrors of ordering for a large family at McDonald’s with grossly incompetent staff.

5. He profoundly curious and always does his own research. Writing is a difficult art, but through research, one gets to enjoy the joy of discovery. You never know what you’ll find.

6. On embellishment in his writing: it depends on which of the two types of books he’s writing. Ernest books of information have no embellishment. They’re meant to be reliable sources of information. However, when writing of his personal adventures, he freely expands and uses hyperbole or it wouldn’t be funny. He suspects his readers are intelligent enough to tell the difference.

7. He had nothing to do with making the movie version of A Walk in the Woods, having sold the rights to Robert Redford over a decade ago. The movie was supposed to reunite Paul Newman and Robert Redford for the first time since The Sting, but Paul got sick, and the movie was put on the back burner. When Redford decided to go forward with the production, Bryson wasn’t involved with the script writing. Bryson watched the movie for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival. He sat between his wife and Redford, and found it insane because there was Redford on the screen answering to his name.

8. Bryson thought the film somewhat accurately reflected his book until one particularly awkward scene. “Bryson” on film began flirting with a hotel-keeper (portrayed by Mary Steenburgen) and there’s obvious chemistry. He felt the strong need to lean over to his wife and swear this scene was not in the book and it never happened.

9. He sent his friend Katz (not his real name) the manuscript for A Walk in the Woods because he felt a bit bad that he’d portrayed him as such a buffoon (even though he was a total buffoon). Katz read the manuscript and said it was funny, but all fiction. Bryson walked him through each scene, and Katz fessed up to each antidote. Then how was it fiction? According to his Appalachian Trail companion, the stories were all true, but it was just fiction in the way Bryson told them.

10. Bryson’s greatest regret in life is not completing the (somewhere around) 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail hike. He never hiked or even saw Mount Katahdin, regarded to be the most difficult climb in the entirety of the A.T. Someday. Maybe.

Bonus: When asked what inspires him to write: bills.

Bill Bryson signed copy a short history of everything

My son’s first signed book!

And that, my friends, is the witty and wonderful Bill Bryson. If you haven’t read his books, you absolutely must. I highly recommend the audiobooks.

Some of my favorites:

And next in my queue:

Howdy, Campers!

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Since it’s July 1st, and I’m heading off to camp!

Camp-Participant-2015-Web-Banner

Actually, I’m retreating into my home office (a.k.a. writing cave) to bravely attempt to make some damn progress on book #2.   ::GULP::

For those of you who think Camp NanNoWriMo still sounds like a quaint summer camp in the Adirondacks (they all have Native American sounding names, don’t they?) here’s the official rundown:

“National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. Participants work toward the goal of writing a 50,000-word draft during the month of November. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.

Camp NaNoWriMo is a more open-ended version of our original November event. We have Camp sessions in both April and July, and we welcome word-count goals between 10,000 and 1,000,000. In addition, writers may attempt non-novel projects. Camp is a creative retreat for whatever you’re working on!”

So yay! I have my cabin assignment, and I’m “bunking” with ten other enthusiastic writers.

camp na

Did I mention I’m terrified? Yeah, I may not have to worry about scorpions in my sleeping bag or being carried off by a swarm of mosquitoes, but I have to write. Real words that flow—576 of them per day to meet my goal. That might not seem like many, but my muse has been quite bitchy lately, and she might also be suffering from a slight case of bi-polar disorder.

And I can’t get homesick. I don’t have the luxury of hiding away in the woods from real life. So what if summer is the busiest time of year in my real job? Yesterday, I ran a library program for 84 people (including 69 antsy KIDS) all by myself. Can you say managed chaos? It went very well, thank you, but work is keeping me on my toes—quite literally.

And then this month is full of holidays, birthdays, and much-needed family days at the beach or springs. Because, well, I have a real life. And a family I enjoy spending time with (although the kiddo starts middle school in August, so I don’t how how much longer he’ll tolerate spending time with me).

I know...yadda, yadda, yadda… Time to get over the lame excuses and park my butt in the chair. I must focus like a yoga guru. Or Yoda.

Time to allow myself to write a shitty first draft. No more going back over and over the same chapter because it’s just not right. Save the edits for later. Get the story down.

Time to follow the words of Nora Roberts, who just may know what the hell she’s talking about:

Nora Roberts top writing advice

Here we go, campers…now I wonder if I can count this as 455 words towards today’s goal?

 

Love Between the Covers (& some contest love!)

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First, a bit of braggy news: my women’s fiction (with elements of romance) manuscript, THE LAST RESORT, is a finalist in the Wisconsin Romance Writers of America’s FAB FIVE contest! The Silver Quill Award winner will be announced in June.

Fab Five Finalist

::fingers crossed::

Speaking of romance, have you heard about LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS? This feature-length indie documentary film explores the little-known, surprisingly powerful world of women who write and read romance. The film covers the story of five very different authors (whose day jobs include surgeon and Shakespeare professor) as they invite us inside the vast romance community that runs a powerhouse industry on the cusp of an irreversible power shift.

During the three years the filmmakers shot the documentary, they witnessed the largest power shift in the publishing industry in the last 200 years. And it’s the romance authors who are on the front lines, pioneering new ways to survive and thrive in the rapidly shifting environment.

I don’t know about you, but I need to figure out how to see this film.


I’m also going to check out PopularRomanceProject.org. The site showcases romance novels in a broad context across time and place—with a huge archive of Love Between the Covers interview excerpts, teaching resources, and blogs by romance authors, scholars and industry insiders.

And for those of you who still live under the delusion that romances are just trashy, cheap paperbacks written for those who “can’t read a real book”, a few stats:

Total Romance Novel Sales in 2013: $1.1 billion
That’s roughly one-fifth of all adult-fiction sales.

Voracious Readers
46% of romance consumers read at least one book per week.
In comparison, the typical American reads five books a year.
Romance Readers At A Glance
Age: 30-54
Education: College-educated
Average Income: $55K
Relationship Status: 59% are coupled, 84% are women, 16% are men
*Romance readers are more likely than the general population to be currently married or living with a partner

Top 10 Fiction Genres
1. $1.09 billion, Thrillers
2.$1.08 billion, Romance
3. $811 million, General
4.$548 million, Literary
5.$442 million, Mystery & Detective
6.$377 million, Fantasy
7.$185 million, Comics & Graphic Novels
8.$156 million, Historical
9.$143 million, Contemporary Women
10.$113 million,Action & Adventure

Reading Behavior
29% of romance readers usually carry a romance novel with them.
Romance readers typically begin and finish a romance novel within 7 days.
On average romance readers read more than one book:
A Week—25.5%
Every Week—20.9%
Every 2-3 Weeks—17.8%
A Month—16.1%
Sources: Love Between the Sheets Publicity, Nielsen, Bookstats, PEW Research Center, RWA,Entertainment Weekly, Author Earnings’ July 2014 Author Earnings Report, Harlequin