You Only Need to Get It Right Once
I’m right in the middle of listening to The Witch Elm by my favorite contemporary mystery novelist, Tana French. So far the book is as good as I would expect, having read all six of French’s previous novels. French’s masterful use of language and deft psychological characterizations make her novels qualify as both literary and genre fiction. That’s one of the reason that I (like so many of her readers) am addicted to her writing, and read each of her novels as soon as it is released.
Out of curiosity about the author, I recently spent some time rooting around the web looking for articles by and about her. One particularly interesting one I ran across was “5 Writing Tips from Tana French,” Publishers Weekly, 2012. (I highly recommend the article to all fiction writers) In it she says that “If you rewrite a paragraph fifty times and forty-nine of them are terrible, that’s fine; you only need to get it right once.” As someone who often struggles to complete a writing project on time and berates himself for taking so long, I found this statement profoundly reassuring. Now I have it on good authority that I can and should take as long as I need to get it right. There’s not something wrong with me as a writer because I rewrite and rewrite and rewrite . . . I just need to set aside enough (more) time to get my writing projects done!
Speaking of mystery fiction authors who get it right, multiple-award-winning Wheatmark author Duke Southard recently held an open house to celebrate the official publication of The Final Tipping Point (book 4 in the Parker Havenot series). Lori Conser, Wheatmark project manager extraordinaire and award-winning journalist, and I drove to Green Valley, Arizona to attend. It was a perfect book launch event—beautiful weather, a good-sized and interesting crowd, and an good author with a good variety of his works to sell and sign. If you haven’t read any of Southard’s novels, you’re missing out. Duke’s books are suspenseful with well-drawn, nuanced characters. In addition to the Parker Havenot series I also highly recommend Southard’s recently released collection of short stories and essays, The Fallacy of Closure. (All of Southard’s books can be found on Amazon.com using the search words “Duke” and “Southard,” and Duke’s blog, dukesouthard.com, is also well worth checking out.)
Happy Holidays, and happy reading!
‘Tis The Season
It is common knowledge among my family and friends that I’m in love with this time of year. I don’t know what it is about October, but there is something about this month that makes me feel warm and giddy. It doesn’t matter if the weather doesn’t perfectly cooperate with my seasonal hopes and dreams (although I would much prefer cooler temperatures and rainy days), I still feel enraptured by fall’s embrace.
To me, the beginning of fall means the holiday season is right around the corner. October ushers in seasonal change that brings cooler weather, beautiful decorations, special time with family and friends, and just general congeniality between strangers. Just as the leaves begin to change, so do our priorities and focus. Fall seems to ignite a flame that warms our hearts and minds as we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I am partial to this time of year because it encourages me to focus on what is truly important. It is so easy to become immersed by the negativity and stress that everyday life brings, that we miss finding joy in the people and things right in front of us. This season encourages us to acknowledge the changes happening around us, and reminds us to slow down and be intentional about expressing gratitude, love, and affection for those we care about, and even those we don’t. It compels us to recognize and confront our Scrooge-like mindsets and encourages us to see the good in others, set aside our differences, and come together to enjoy one another’s company.
October may not be considered part of the “holiday season,” but to me, it is just as essential. It ushers in a change in mindset and a refocusing of priorities that I truly need and desire. Even as the warm evenings are replaced with cold nights, I find myself warmed reflecting on what is truly important, and being grateful for what I have right now.
Make ‘Em Laugh! Humor Is for Everyone
Guest post by Tom Cordell, author of The Bard of Withering Heights
Live, Love, Laugh! That sage advice speaks to the universal appeal of humor writing. People love to laugh, and they admire those who make them laugh. While some writers are naturally funnier than others, there are ways everyone can inject humor into their writing.
WHERE DOES HUMOR COME FROM?
In thinking about what makes people laugh, we can distinguish between humor and comedy. Comedy is anything that makes people laugh quickly – a joke or a pie in the face. Humor is more subtle. It may elicit anything from a smile to a belly laugh, but unlike comedy humor contains an element of truth about human nature. Humor springs from the foibles and eccentricities of everyday people, and it often reveals some quirk or uncomfortable truth that people hate to admit. For example:
“Hardly anybody makes a long story short enough.”
The juxtaposition of odd characters in normal circumstances or normal characters in odd circumstances also creates humor. Consider this scenario:
“The Full Swanky Women’s Club of Withering Heights has cancelled the rest of its spring cotillion classes following the food fight at last night’s dance.”
The incongruity of a food fight at an etiquette class is enough to make most readers smile – especially those who had to suffer through cotillion as awkward teenagers!
Our interactions with family, friends, and colleagues are a great source of humor. People say and do funny things every day, and taking note of these things can help produce humor in our writing.
“Darla Chiffon has added her new husband to her list of things around the house that don’t work.”
Keep an electronic file of things that make you laugh for future reference. The file becomes a great source of inspiration for adding humor to a story.
WHY IS HUMOR IMPORTANT TO WRITERS?
We all need to laugh. In writing or in real life, laughter relieves tension and is a great form of therapy. By inserting humor into otherwise serious writing, the author provides a mental break for the reader—a kind of time-out that lets the reader take a breath before refocusing on more serious material or ideas. Humor gets readers to pay attention so the author can tell them something important that makes them laugh and think at the same time.
“One thing marriage teaches you is that being right is overrated.”
Humor can also help authors connect with readers on a personal level. It can bring back memories of people, places, and experiences the reader enjoyed. Humor can be a poignant thought that brings a smile rather than a laugh.
“A summer house is a perfect place to store childhood memories.”
YOU CAN LEARN TO BE HUMOROUS
While there is no secret formula for humor writing, there are skills that can be learned to help inject humor into a story. One way is to think of an ordinary idea or experience in a different context, adding a twist that surprises the reader and creates humor:
“Jake Clover finally started a savings plan today with six quarts of whiskey.”
In order to be funny, you need to free your mind from inhibitions and unlock your imagination. To get started, think of someone you know and then try to imagine them as someone completely different. Your mother as the queen of England? Your best friend as a movie star? Your overweight boss as a champion pole vaulter? See how many different identities you can create. Be ridiculous and absurd. Let one silly idea lead to another. This free thinking is an important part of the creative process that stimulates imagination, and it can bring new life to your writing. Simply put, to make writing funny, make it fun!
-Quotes in this article are from The Bard of Withering Heights, authored by Tom Cordell, with illustrations by Bernie Kapuza.
www.bardofwitheringheights.com
http://berniekapuzadesign.com
Is It Brain Surgery?
There’s an anecdote which I’ve heard attributed to a few different famous authors, including Margaret Atwood, though I read somewhere that she says it didn’t originate with her. It goes like this:
A famous writer is at a party. She’s chatting with a brain surgeon. The brain surgeon, upon hearing who she is, gets excited, and says that when he retires he’s going become a writer. The writer quips snidely, “Oh really? When I retire, I’m going to become a brain surgeon.” The author, here, implies that writing should be left to professionals.
Here’s where I think she gets it wrong. Of course there are activities we wouldn’t ever do without years of formal training and professional licensing, like brain surgery, nuclear-reactor design, and fighter jet piloting, because lives depend on our performance. But there are also activities that many of us do as a part of our ordinary lives that don’t carry such risks. We write. We tell stories. We create art. We make music. For these activities, I don’t think it serves us well to draw too hard a line between being a professional and being an amateur, or to assume that we can’t succeed at them as avocations or as second careers.
There’s no shortage of famous writers who had another day job, or who started writing later in life. One of America’s most revered poets, Wallace Steven, spent his days as an insurance executive. Raymond Chandler turned to writing only after losing his job as an oil company executive. Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, was a writer all her life, but didn’t publish her first book until she was in her fifties. Others notables include Richard Adams, Bram Stoker, Tillie Olson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Anthony Burgess.
Here’s where I think the author in the anecdote gets it right. You shouldn’t fool yourself that just because you write for your job, for school, and in your daily life, that being a good writer is any easier than being a good brain surgeon. Achieving mastery in writing can be every bit as difficult and complex as achieving mastery in brain surgery, and usually takes years of dedication and effort whether you are a professional, an amateur, or embarking on it as a second career.
Make Your Writing Easier to Follow
Guest post by Barbara McNichol, a nonfiction book editor and creator of WordTrippers Tips, a fun resource for better writing skills. www.BarbaraMcNichol.com & www.WordTrippers.com
Whether it’s an email, a marketing message, or a chapter in a book, are you sometimes challenged to make your writing easier for your readers to follow? How can you create a smooth flow that guides them with ease and doesn’t leave the impression it’s tedious to read?
Give these five techniques a try:
Use subheads: When you use subheads throughout your piece, readers can skim your content and quickly discern what’s intended to follow. Even more, subheads indicate a change of subject has occurred. In turn, that subhead allows readers to find the related topic quickly. Your guide: new subject, new subhead.
Convey one idea per paragraph: If you pack a paragraph with more than one idea, it creates difficulty following the meaning. In an email about a talk, for example, you might use three separate paragraphs: one explaining the subject of the talk, one explaining who the presenter is, and the third showing the date, time, and place of the event. You can also add subheads to separate each paragraph.
Use bullets points and numbered lists: When you list similar things (such as names, steps, benefits, requirements), you help readers recognize similar content quickly. With lists, you can leave out transitional words that paragraphs command. It aids the understanding when you use the same part of speech (e.g., a verb or a noun) at the beginning of each point. Note: When crafting a list, use numbers when the order of the points matters; otherwise, use bullets.
Vary sentence length: Although short, concise sentences are easy to read, a string short sentences can feel disjointed. You can add interest by varying the length of your sentences. My rule of thumb is keeping sentences shorter than 21 words so readers don’t get bogged down. Instead, they follow your meaning more easily.
Vary sentence structure: Building your sentences in the order of subject-verb-object (active structure) is simple and clear. But if all your sentences are constructed that way (passive structure), it can come across as monotonous. Along with varying your sentence length, remember to break out of the mold (command). Use a combination of commands, passive, and active structure to create variety that keeps readers interested.
Practice these techniques to make your writing easy to follow, and you’ll get better responses from your readers every time.
Tell Me a Story, Friend
This Summer I had the pleasure of seeing three people, who in various ways I connect with through book publishing, tell stories from the stage at storytelling events. For years I’ve been a big fan of The Moth storytelling radio hour and similar podcasts, so it was a real delight to hear people I actually know tell stories from the stage.
The first two storytellers I saw at one of the amazing monthly shows put on by Odyssey Storytelling of Tucson. The theme for the show was Different. Terry Filipowicz, my cohort on the Book and Movie Biz Genre of the Book and Author Committee for the Tucson Festival of Books (wow, that’s a mouthful), Vice President at Great Potential Press, and Instructor at Pima Community College, and Ethel Lee-Miller (etheleemiller.com), Wheatmark author, writing editor and coach, public speaking coach, and workshop leader, both told charming stories about their experiences of being different from others.
(Odyssey Storytelling’s next show is Sept 6, on the theme Branded. Find more information about it at odysseystorytelling.com.)
The third storyteller I saw was Wheatmark’s own project manager extraordinaire and award-winning journalist, Lori Conser, at an event called Coffee with the Authors: Inspirational Writers Read, who told an affecting story about an incident in her life which forced her to examine her conscience and make a change of heart. You can read more of her work on her blog (http://lsellstrom.blogspot.com.)
I enjoy stories whether written or oral, and encourage writers to go to storytelling events, or listen to storytelling podcasts. They are good fun, and can’t help but make writers better at their craft.
Think About Book Marketing: What is Your Annual Book Buying Budget?
Writers . . . you know yourselves, and you know the work and play of creating a manuscript. You know your characters, topics, arcs, themes, word counts, and gerunds. You are the ones wondering who your readers will be, and what you want to know is: who will be the buyers of your book?
Here’s a list of potential customers for your book-as-creative-product:
• Libraries
• Corporations that buy in bulk to distribute to employees or clients
• Parents, on behalf of their children
• People who love to read and have space in their homes for a printed book collection
• People who love donating and/or reselling their printed books
• People in the general population, one-by-one
• Friends and family
• Activists who appreciate going to lectures and meeting authors
Now, here are questions to you from the other side of your desk:
What is your annual book budget?
What do you do with the printed books you purchase?
Many writers spend so much time at their craft (while living lives to generate stories to write about and day-job income), they don’t pay attention to the expenses of their own monthly household budgets—which most likely do not include a column for amounts dedicated to spend on books each month or year.
Is this you, or, do you know to the penny how much you support the work of fellow writers? If you don’t have an exact answer, you’re in the majority. Most people within the down-side-up U of the bell curve don’t pay much attention to their book-buying habits.
How can you as a writer make sense of books as business? A few surveys suggest answers.
One of them, posted in 2018 on www.statista.com, found the percentage of adults who read a book (any format) over a year. The highest percentage of readers, 84 percent, were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine. The lowest, 67 percent, were 65 and older. The in-between age groups scored in the low 70 percents.
A 2017 survey (www.bookriot.com) asked how many books people read on average per year. A majority of respondents, 41 percent, reported reading more than fifteen books per year, and in this category, 43 percent were senior citizens! Another recent worldwide survey of internet users in seventeen countries learned that 30 percent of respondents read “every day or most days.” Six percent stated that they never read books.
Reading is good for all components of the human being: body (relaxation), mind (mental stimulation), intellect (learning) and spirit (…just because). Intuition says there are more readers than writers in this world. The publishing business may seem as if it is on shifting sands, but it is built on a firm foundation of creators, seekers, and users.
Readers are important, but writers play all three roles.
Back to your personal yearly budget for buying books. It’s likely you spend between $0–$400 per year on a variety of titles: cookbooks, celebrity tell-alls, true crime, mysteries, how-to manuals, tourist guidebooks, memoirs, science fiction, a novel or two. The cost of individual books range from $2.99 to $10.99 (ebook), $17–$21 (paperbacks), $25–$35 (hardcovers).
Whatever you do with them after you’ve supported another writer and read them is up to you, but the price of no books is a very sad, incomplete life.
Mary Holden is a freelance editor and writer
www.marylholdeneditor.com
Ode to a Peach Tree
There’s nothing quite like the experience of holding your finished book at the end of the publishing process. After writing, waiting for editing, designing, and working through multiple revisions, you’ve got it! Reminds me of a story from my childhood about a peach…
As a kid growing up in Southern California, I looked forward to two things every summer: our annual July trip to Minnesota, and the homegrown peaches that were waiting for us when we returned home in August. Every summer the peach tree that leaned against the fence in my backyard would produce the most juicy, sweet peaches imaginable. My family would get so many of them that my mother spent many hot summer days in the kitchen canning fruit and making jam. I loved that tree.
So when my father decided to try out his tree-trimming skills on my beloved tree one winter, I was horrified. My sister, mother, and I stood helplessly by and protested as he trimmed a little here, a little there, and then a little too much here and there until the entire tree consisted of only the trunk and a few large branches. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad, but this was a sin approaching the unpardonable. It didn’t surprise any of us the following summer when our poor tree produced no peaches at all. “Take heart,” my dad reassured us. “We’ll have peaches next summer.” And so we waited. But the next summer came and went without any peaches either. And so did the following four summers, until we had given up on ever seeing another peach from that tree again.
And then one fateful August day my aunt and uncle came to visit.
Now my aunt and uncle lived on several acres of land in Northern California, and grew many different kinds of fruit trees, so we told them about our beloved peach tree. Immediately, my uncle headed to the backyard with the rest of us following. He stood at the base of the tree, rubbing his chin and looking up into the branches. Then he said the unthinkable.
“Well, there’s a peach right there!”
Our eyes followed the direction his finger was pointing, and there, almost hidden between branches and leaves, was the largest, most perfect-looking peach any of us had ever seen. My dad hauled the long fruit picker from the garage, raised it up to the peach, and plucked it from the tree. He said it was so ripe it nearly fell into the basket on its own volition. We stood over it, marveling at its size, which rivaled a small cantaloupe. We couldn’t wait to taste it, so we sectioned out six large pieces—one piece for each of us.
And the taste? Well, it was the sweetest, juiciest . . . the absolute best peach any of us had ever eaten!
As far as I know, that was the last peach our tree ever produced. A few years later my sister went away to college, and I followed the year after that. Then my parents moved to a different house. But I’ll never forget the summer of the greatest peach. Was it worth the wait? You betcha!
Publish, Baby, Publish!
Billionaire oil magnate J. Paul Getty quipped: “Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.” He was, of course, highlighting how important luck is as a component of success. This same sentiment can easily apply to writing and publishing a book, “Formula for success: rise early, write well, and get discovered.” If you try to get published by a major New York publisher, you will soon find, that unless you have published with them before, or are a famous movie star or politician, you have little chance. Even if your book is incredibly well-written and interesting, you, as a first-time author have to somehow get discovered by the right person at the publisher. Without some lucky accident, like a personal or professional connection on the inside who can champion your manuscript, it’s very tough. If you decide to self-publish, luck will also be a factor in your success. (Of course, if you are famous movie star or major politician, luck has already favored you, and your chances of self-publishing success are high.) Otherwise, you and your book still need to get discovered, but, in this case, by readers, which requires both hard work (marketing) and luck.
Discouraged? You shouldn’t be. Achieving success in anything worthwhile requires “hard work,” and always depends to some degree on luck.
You have complete control over the “rise early, work hard” part of the formula. You can study the craft of writing, re-write your book until it is as perfect as you can make it, and work with professional editors and book designers to get an outstanding finished product.
You can even do things to minimize how important luck is to your success. If you want to get discovered by a major New York publisher, you can network with right people in the industry. If you self-publish, you can market directly to the right groups of readers. (Talk to us about Amazon Advertising opportunities.)
You may not have the good fortune to become a world renowned author, but, even if you don’t, the other rewards of writing and publishing are powerful; the sense of achievement, the satisfaction of sharing your message or story, and the authority and credibility that being a publishing author can afford you. I’ve worked with thousands of authors over the years, and rarely have they regretted their decision to publish. They may have regretted that they didn’t have a book edited just one more time, that they decided on a certain cover design, or that they didn’t have enough time and money to do more marketing, but not that they wrote and published.
Finding Inspiration in a Dry Season
![](https://www.wheatmark.com/wp-content/uploads/robert-murray-118030-unsplash1-300x199.jpg)
Photo by Robert Murray on Unsplash
I never imagined myself living in the desert. Born and raised in Orange County, California, I believed that my life would always exist within a certain radius. While we experienced our fair share of heat waves, there was some reassurance in the knowledge that the beach was just a short drive away. The cool coastal breeze and marine layer could temporarily relieve any discomfort caused by summer’s warm embrace.
My life trajectory changed drastically when I met my now husband. Committing to a man who owed at least three years to the Air Force meant that we were no longer the masters of our fate, and that fate was destined for Tucson.
We moved to the Old Pueblo in the middle of June 2014, and I was not prepared for the heat. June heat is unrelenting. Cool mornings are replaced with 90 degree wake-up calls that quickly ascend to temperatures of 112 or higher. Plants find themselves near-death if not appropriately tended to, cars are miserable to enter and fair-skinned individuals, like me; become victims of the sun’s unforgiving rays. The cruel heat left me feeling banished from outdoor life, and I felt stuck.
Yet, now having lived here for four years, I have grown accustomed to this weather pattern and now understand the full purpose of June’s misery. The oppressive heat during the month of June is preparing the way for the monsoons to follow. This high-pressure month is necessary for creating the conditions required to bring in the summer storms and provide the water needed for the desert’s rebirth. A short period of suffering leads to sweet relief and opportunity for growth in the end.
I often feel that life is like the weather in the desert. Our lives are filled with seasons of growth, and also seasons that feel dry and stagnant. It is easy to want to stay where life is comfortable because no one enjoys periods of drought or hardship, but dry seasons have their purpose. Without those times where we find ourselves feeling stuck or in a rut, we may never be willing to open ourselves up to change or growth, or be refreshed by a sudden storm of creative thought. Seasons in the proverbial desert often prepare and strengthen us for the future, if we wait and persist.
So, this summer I am choosing to embrace the dry, hot month of June and will await patiently the product of its high pressure, the first summer storm.