Dating. Or not dating. There is no try. So. For an update. No white horse riding prince has appeared in my life. As a matter of fact, no nothing. Nada. I wrote to one fellow but he has not returned the “communication” so far. I prefer to think he is out of the country or perhaps in a coma? I have not put in a younger-self picture, but I am going to fix my hair, put on some make up and a nice outfit and take a new profile picture. Or, like the guy that just said “eff it” and used a picture of Paul McCartney as his profile picture, I could make myself Beyonce. Jesus, Mary and Joseph! (As my friend Alice would say, except in an Irish accent which is hard to write.) Is this all going to be worth it??? Writing: Not as easy as it looks. When I began writing and thinking that just possibly something might be good enough to be published, I had the romantic (and psychotically delusional) notion that all I had to do was write it and they would come. You know, hand it to the publisher that I just happen to bump into on the elevator at the writer’s conference and stand by smugly watching the publisher drop to his knees in relief and appreciation at the genius that he just discovered. Oh, and then hand me a check for a million or so. Can I get a rousing “DUH!?” The following is from http://authorearnings.com/report/the-tenured-vs-debut-author-report/ • Big-5 publishers are massively reliant on their most established authors to the tune of 63% of their e-book revenue. • Roughly 46% of traditional publishing’s fiction dollars are coming from e-books. • Very few authors who debut with major publishers make enough money to earn a living—and modern advances don’t cover the difference. • In absolute numbers, more self-published authors are earning a living wage today than Big-5 authors. • When comparing debut authors who have equal time on the market, the difference between self-published and Big-5 authors is even greater. This is only referencing the e-book industry. It is even more dreary for the first time author in the “real” book market. Publishing today is a business. Period. All you need to know. They want what will make their company bushels of money. A brilliant piece? Great, but will it sell? If not, sayonara. And publishers follow trends. For instance. Gone Girl (which I hated) has characters that no one in their right mind could even like, much less trust. So now there is a plethora of books with those types of protagonists. Harry Potter? Afterwards came one wizard story after another. You must have something that is currently “hot” to get picked up. There are also important sub contexts in the “being hot” category. My novel is Young Adult, except it is more of an older Nancy Drew Mystery book (with ghosts) not a sexy vampire thriller. However, YA, which is super hot right now, has to have sex or death, bloody vampires or angst-y bad boy friends or any other manner of ugliness to get published. I initially wrote for my ten year old grand daughter, knowing she would be older if it ever got published. I wanted to write about normal late teen age or young adults involved in life altering situations that does NOT contain those elements. I think there are many more normal kids (and parents) that would appreciate a good story without all the exposure to sex and violence prevalent in current YA, than those interested in the “dark side.” I also believe that YA today is read by many adults, thus blurring that line between what is appropriate, and what is not, to reach a wider audience. Well played, publishers. A Young Adult book without nastiness is now considered Middle School and has to be dumbed down for the ten to fourteen aged group. Huh? Why? Listen carefully. IT IS WHAT SELLS. This is the reason so many authors now self-publish or E-publish, they simply cannot get a foot (or their wonderful book) in the proverbial door for lack of current “salability.” Reality. No need to whine….well maybe just a little. There is a tortuous, but very necessary, activity that occurs at the yearly Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Conference. It involves lining up in front of publishers and agents in a small room alongside one hundred or so other nervously sweating writers to wait for a four minute book “pitch” to your selected (scary as hell) professional. It is the best reality check about writing and being published, in general, that I have ever experienced. I was grateful (although traumatized) for the humbling experience because now I know I have to sell myself. I have to create a platform which includes social media and proposals for promoting my book. I may have to edit the book to fit a different category. Or, failing that, publish myself. The author in today’s market must do a lot of the leg work previously handled by agents or publishers, for a lot less money than you would expect…unless you get very, very lucky. And that’s the way it is. Yet? I still want to write and try to get published. I wrote a small piece for Author Magazine that was not accepted because it didn’t fit exactly what they wanted. But the rejection came with a personal and complimentary email from one of the publishers, which I understand is unusual (and good). I am sharing it here. I have pieces submitted for two other magazines as well as for the next Chicken Soup for the Soul book. We will see. Tough Love and Writing I was a 911 operator for almost fifteen years and, at the time, didn’t realize that I was, everyday, honing my skills as a writer by interpreting and creating a concise and complete picture of each caller’s story for the dispatchers and responders. People working in that high stress environment have to rely on their co workers much more than in an average business office. You quickly get to the core of each person on your shift and have an immediate need to cut through the chaff in order to work together as a well oiled machine when the going gets rough, as it often does in an emergency. Who you are is as important as what you do. Everyone in the call center and in the field is a potential critic of your work, that is, your written narrative. You have to lose your ego in order to safely assist those who call, as well as those in the field, through some of the most terrifying moments of their lives. I was told that my narratives (those stories told to me by the callers, then abbreviated and stocked with the necessary safety information before being sent to the dispatchers) were always some of the most coherent and easy to understand calls. A dispatcher has to be able to get the gist of the story quickly and assign it either to a “priority” or “can wait” position on her queue. There has to be an economy of words but the tone and feel of the call or caller must also be clear. There is a constant stream of decision making being done in a 911 center, from the time the call comes in to the handling of the units in the field who are responding. Writing the truth of the call is the very important start of every detail; getting to the meat and leaving out the fat. Much like creative writing, the more calls I took, the more I improved. I wasn’t aware that I could “write” although I had been putting my thoughts on paper all my life. It was only when, on a whim, I took a parks and recreation writing course that I discovered that I was modestly good. God bless the generous teacher who invited me into her writing group, otherwise I may have just wandered on. One of my first trainers at 911 was Kay Cowan who terrified many new employees (and old) with her bluntly honest demeanor. But not me. I appreciated knowing exactly where I stood, even if it hurt. Kay is one of the most morally upright people I have ever met. She is gut splittingly funny, astoundingly intelligent, and an avid reader. I tell you about Kay because she was the one that I chose to read my first completed novel. What I had learned from working alongside her at the 911 center informed my choice. I knew that I would get an honest, intellectual, and unbiased assessment of the story based on it’s merits and not on any affection she felt for me or fear of hurting my feelings, much as she would have done had this been a call detail I had sent her at the 911 center. This was a major panic situation for me. On the one hand I wanted, and needed, a true and honest review. On the other, however, I feared that, having read it, she might approach me, eyes downcast and apologetic, shaking her head at how awful it was. And in that case I would know it was truly bad; no justification or excuse-making would change it if Kay said it was so. Previously my daughter, who is an attorney, crazy intelligent and the mother of one of the main characters in the story, read the book. She liked it. My mother and one of her friends also read the story with equally glowing accounts. They offered suggestions and asked questions, however, I knew that this story had to be read by someone that would cut it to shreds if needs be. I felt it was a frightening, but important, challenge if I was going to continue to write. It was a first step for me as an author in facing editors and beta readers in the future. Could I really tell a coherent and interesting story with imagination and wit? Could I write a successful book? I handed the manuscript to Kay, thrilled that she agreed to hit it with her red pencil as hard as she could. Then I waited. I learned that coddling your story at a desk with a cup of coffee at your side, chuckling at your brilliance in the comfortable safety of your own home, is ever so much different than watching it walk out the door. Who was going to explain that the clue that appeared in chapter twenty was connected to the character in chapter three? Or that having the grandma fall down the well was an integral key to the nephew’s later dipsomania? I felt like I had handed over my first born to a Flying Wallenda attempting to walk across the Grand Canyon on a thin quivering line in a forty mile an hour wind. It is hard to hold your breath for several weeks, really it is. Kay called (finally) to tell me that she was finished and wanted to bring it by my house and review it with me, along with explaining some of the notes she had made. Was that good? Was that bad? I was still holding my breath even though I kept telling myself to breathe. Should I provide wine and, perhaps, a box of Kleenex? Or go buy a bottle of vodka to drown my sorrows afterwards? I agonized with sweaty underarms and hands until the very moment she walked through the back door with the manuscript under her arm and a huge smile on her face. Deep exhale by the nervous author. We went through the whole sixty thousand words together that afternoon while she explained some of the errors she had found and suggestions (amazingly few of them) to improve the story. But the most important aspect of all this was the way she told me she liked it. I believe her exact, smiling words were, “Oh Charla, you have ONE here…you really do, I loved the whole thing.” You have one here. What that meant to me was that I had a good ONE, a real good ONE, ONE that she enjoyed reading, ONE that she couldn’t put down. And, coming from Kay, I knew it meant that I truly, honestly, blessedly had ONE. Man…you cannot ask for more than that. (The name of the novel is Runaway Ghost. It begins in a haunted house in Port Gamble and ends in the dark deserts of eastern Washington with lots of ghostly encounters and angry spirits in between. The true history between the Native Americans and early settlers is an integral part of the family-based story. It is about two best friends trying to unite twins girls in death as they could not be in life.) |
7 Comments
Jackie Garth Jones
2/9/2015 09:26:17 am
Insightful to someone who knows zero about writing or publishing. It's a jungle out there, as they say. I know you have what it takes but so often we are crippled by some system that we have to weave our way through. Stay the course. Love you.
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Laura Woodrum
2/9/2015 09:41:24 am
Excellent article, Charla -- very interesting, epseically about the writer's conference! I can't wait to be in Barnes & Nobel and see your name sitting there, I know it will happend for you!
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Alice McDevitt
2/10/2015 01:26:57 am
I SOOOOOOO want to read your book Charla!
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I would think there are many kids like Mira who read at pretty much an adult level but aren't ready for completely adult material (like me! I still don't want to read about sex and horror!) Funny, I think the same advice applies to both writing and online dating - it's a numbers game! Keep writing, submitting, and showing up at the writers' conference. Keep contacting potential dates...
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Genevieve
2/10/2015 12:08:58 pm
Nice writing, Charla. Keep going. You are doing it!
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carol ferrell
2/10/2015 10:40:28 pm
Charla, I'm learning so much about you in an entertaining way from these blogs. Very well-written and interesting! And like the others, I sure do want to read that book!
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K.Ney
2/11/2015 11:23:39 am
Very interesting about how communicating at work applies to writing and publishing a book but it makes sense! And you are a great communicator!
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Charla
I am a 60-ish (well, okay, late 60-ish) retired 911 operator who has discovered a love for writing and am trying to get my first novel published. AND I am on an online dating site. Oh my. And "help!". Archives
April 2015
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