Could There Be An American Idol Show for Writers? by DL Larson

The Fine Arts Departments are always the first to go in schools when finances are tight, but on Reality TV they are not only thriving, they dominate prime-time! So many young people chasing their dream, so much talent, each vying for the Big Lights of Fame. "American Idol," "Dancing with the Stars," "Face Off," and the list goes on and on as the nation watches raw talent become polished and professional. As a writer I'm jealous! Where's the show for writers?

Or food shows! Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Chef Ramsey, the Cake Boss or Cupcake Wars hold us in fascination with their tricks of how easy it is to cook. We find their recipes on-line thinking we can do it, we can make the perfect meal, if only we had all the fancy gadgets or beautiful kitchen in which to prepare our food. We dream on, knowing we could become great chefs, ignoring the little devil on our shoulder telling us the meal will be devoured in ten minutes. Still, I'm jealous and dream of a show for writers.

Or the market HGTV has on making us drool, telling us how easy it is if only we would move this wall and use the newest perfect flooring, or replace our counters with granite ~ no home is complete without granite. And stainless steel appliances! It all looks so elegant and divine, and easy. And I think, "where's the maid? Surely such a fancy home comes with hired help! Or a chef? Yes, all that money surely must pay for food preparation." As a writer, I'm looking for end results, but realize even with a fancy home make-over, I would still have to do all the work to keep it beautiful. It reminds me of writing. Nothing gets done unless I do the work myself.

So, if ever there was a reality TV show for writers, what would the goal be? Would we have seasons of genres, romance, horror, sci-fi, western, etc.? Would famous authors make cameo appearances and tell us their secrets? Would we work in groups to create a comedy or soliloquy? Would we take old classics and create a new twist to them? Would we play word games? Would we read our own manuscripts to the audience and wait for the applause and cheers? Would someone end up famous?

Tell me, what would you like to see in a reality TV show for writers?

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Jean Henry Mead, Author of The Mystery Writers, Shares Her Views on a Once Dirty Word

“Self-Publishing is No Longer a Dirty Word”

By Jean Henry Mead

Not everyone agrees that independent publishing is the key to writing success, but a growing number of authors are proving the naysayers wrong. More and more writers are leaving their publishers to strike out on their own, some with unparelled success, such as Robert Walker, who has repeatedly said that the secret to success is to consistently turn out quality work on a regular basis.

But even Rob will admit that there’s more to it than that. We’ve all heard that writers need a platform and a fan base of readers who trust the author to turn out quality work. But how does one acquire a fan base? Not by hermitting him or herself at the computer without making contact with the outside world. Those days are over.

When I put together my second volume of mystery writer interview, I met some successful new writers, among them Canadian bestselling author Cheryl Kaye Tardif, who publishes not only her own work but others with her Imajin Press from Alberta.

She says in The Mystery Writers: “In 2010 Amazon opened KDP to Canadian authors and I went back to my roots—to indie publishing. For me it's probably the best fit. I am by nature very independent and a strong marketer. Plus I'm ‘an idea person.’ Even my old publisher saw this in me and often called me a "guru" or "marketing genius." While I don't consider myself a ‘genius’ I do know that I'm a risk-taker.”

Independent publishing isn’t for everyone. It requires not only writing talent but good marketing skills and industry know-how to succeed. A number of other self- publishers are included in The Mystery Writers as well as bestselling traditionally published novelists such as Sue Grafton, Lawrence Block, J.A. Jance, Vicki Hinze and James Scott Bell (former Writer’s Digest fiction columnist).

Tim Hallinan, award-winning author of the traditionally published Poke Rafferty mystery/thriller series, decided to self-publish his Junior Bender series—humorous stories of a burglar with a “moral code who works as a private eye for crooks.” Tim’s earlier novels earned him critical acclaim but not enough money to retire from his day job. He now earns thousands of dollars a month with his self-published ebooks.

He said the reason he decided to leave his agent and publisher is because “the money we were offered by the publishers wasn’t very good. I looked at the offers and thought, ‘I’d rather own my books.”

Rebecca Dahlke once managed her father’s crop dusting service in Modesto, California, and decided that her protagonist—a beautiful former model—should also be a crop duster. She then decided to independently publish her novels, with successful results. Rebecca, like Cheryl, is a promoter and a humorous one at that. She says, “Self-publishing is no longer a dirty word. . . Eons ago, back in the dark ages (of publishing)—was it really only five years ago?—all we authors could hope for was a good agent, a decent publisher, a slowly growing fan base, and a list of book stores that might, or might not, keep our books on their shelves for three to six months before returning the unsold copies to the publisher. We could send in Advanced Reader Copies to prestigious reviewers or magazines and hope they would say nice things about our books, or pay a publicist to tout it, take our dog and pony show on the road, eat bad food, stay in crappy hotels, be at that next book store, book fair, conference, and smile till our cheeks ached. .

“The changes have been exciting, and for this author, validation that I too can write books that readers enjoy. So, for all the august veterans who see the Internet as an encroachment onto their hard-won personal turf, let me paraphrase one of my favorite movie lines: ‘Saddle up boys and girls, it’s going to be a bumpy ride’!” You can read how Rebecca accomplished her success in The Mystery Writers.

And, after ten publishers of my own over the years, I decided to independently publish The Mystery Writers with my own small press. The 406-page book is featured on Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/3792541 and is available on Amazon.com, Kindle and Nook.

Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.com/1931415358

The 406-page book is a veritable bible for fledgling writers because the advice offered by 58 bestselling, award-winning and midlist writers is invaluable for any genre. Twelve subgenres are represented and the authors write from as far away as South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, the U.S. and England. Some of the traditionally published authors from the U.S. are Lawence Block, Sue Grafton, James Scott Bell, J.A. Jance, Vicki Hinze and Julie Garwood.

To promote the book, I’ll be blog tourng from April 16-28 with the Mystery We Write blog group and my schedule is up at: http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/  I’ll be giving away a print copy of the 406-page book and an e-book copy in a drawing at the conclusion of the tour to visitors who leave comments with their email addresses.

About Our Guest:
Jean Henry Mead is a national award-winning photojournalist and former news reporter as well as a mystery/suspense and western historical novelist. She’s published 17 books, half of them novels and served as a news reporter; news, magazine and small press editor in California and Wyoming. She was also a correspondent for the Denver Post.

Please welcome our guest, Jean Henry Mead, by leaving a comment.

Writing and Waiting - what do you do?

While I am waiting for word on a book out at publishers, I've done what most everyone advises - start another one.

I've started it. Barely.

I have about six chapters outlined, more or less, though when I write I find that I tend to add in different details or even ignore the outline as I go along.

Never gone is the specter of that "other" book, languishing on some slush pile or maybe sitting, forlorn, on some editor's desk. So I hope.

It's hard to forget something you've worked so hard on. Hard to get over it and go on to something else that easily, though I am trying.

So, what do you do when you are between books? Besides clean the fridge, eat or???

People Make The Difference! by DL Larson

This first photo was was taken in Hawaii, this year. The second is a cliff in Ireland in 2002, I imagine it is still there. Hawaii has many cliffs similar to Ireland. The last photo reminded me of Hawaii, but it is in the Dominican Republic, 2010.

Beautiful scenery is always fun to gaze at, but it is the people we meet who make any trip interesting and worth remembering. The same goes for stories. Without characters our stories lack depth.

Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games, brings this into sharp focus. She has created a strange world, one with a perverse society that makes a cast system look like child's play. She flavors her pages with strong images of what the Capitol looks like versus the surrounding districts where people are starving, yet working nonstop to support the privileged at the Capitol. Uprising is long over-due. Sending children to fight each other to the death is a yearly festival for those at the Capitol.

Katniss Everdeen doesn't realize she is the spark that will propel a revolution she never thought possible. She is a teenager who supports her starving family by hunting for food in the woods, a place forbidden to go. She takes her sister's place at the Hunger Games and life is never the same - for anyone!

The long awaited movie will be released this weekend. It is bound to be a HUGE Hit. Suzanne Collins was very careful in choosing the perfect director for her story. Already there are dozens of trailers to promote the movie as well as guide books to familiarize yourself with the Hunger Games characters and the world they live in. I've already read two of the three books, so I'm pretty in-tune with the characters. Their world is fascinating, but it is them, Katniss, Peeta and Gale who bring this story to life. Just as any good character does!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Pesky Little Details

All those pesky little details an author better get right, or else--

Late afternoon yesterday I noticed all our early blooming daffodils, both in the backyard by the kitchen window and by the fence, had fallen over. I thought that may have been due to the strong winds, but just in case it was from the heat, I gave the ones by the kitchen window some water.

This morning, both sets of daffodils had sprung back up, so my conclusion is they didn't like the heat, but revived during the night because it was cooler.

Daffodils do not usually bloom in Illinois this early, nor do forsythia bushes, green grass, and other tulips happen yet. We also don't usually have bees circling our backyard, ants on the sidewalk, gnats in the air, or mosquitos flying around, not to mention 80+ temperatures this early in the season. This year is an exception, which I've heard is due to a jetstream.

If you were writing a book with a setting near Chicago, Illinois, and the timeframe of March, unless you were specifically mentioning this year, all the things I mentioned above wouldn't be here. Instead, to ground your readers in a story, you'd mention snow starting to melt, or grass still brown, if you even see it peeking from the snow. The temperatures would typically be in the 50s, or if you're lucky the 60s.  You might see a few buds on the bushes, or daffodils or tulips beginning to come up, but not blooming. The insects would also be few and far between.

When I wrote Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, I had to check certain details also, such as when the rose bushes bloom, and when they're dormant, what the temperature is in Scottsdale, Arizona compared to Flagstaff, even what time it's sunset in that part of the country. Though I'd taken a trip to Scottsdale in April, 2011, and garnered much  information which proved useful, that didn't mean what I witnessed in April was typical for other times of the year in that area, or even in Flagstaff.

Fortunately, the Internet is a great source for learning such pesky little details. An author needs to get them right,  because, God forbid, if they're wrong, a reader will notice.

What other pesky little details should authors be aware of? Can you share any you've encountered when writing a book?

By the way, the thriller I mentioned, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, is on sale on kindle at 99 cents through March 24, 2012, after which it returns to $1.99.  It's also available at the regular price of $1.99 in other electronic formats, and is in print for $12.87.

Find excerpts and buy links to all of my books at http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com/
You're invited to check out my Author Central Page at: http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel

It's Tax Time - Do You Know Where Your Records Are?

I’m writing a non-fiction book for writers about federal income taxes and the many twists and turns this subject takes.  Over the years I’ve worked with writers on this topic at conferences and writers groups and if there’s one thing about your income taxes that you want to know something about, it is record keeping in accordance with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines and legal requirements.

Let’s take for example mileage logs to demonstrate the difference between guidelines and legal requirements.

If you claim mileage as one of your expenses related to your writing business or hobby then you are legally required to prove it with written documentation.  More specifically, you are legally required to prove the dates, the purpose and the miles traveled for your writing business.  IRS Publication 463 (Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expense) has an example of a mileage log but you do not have to use this exact representation.  As long as you have the legally required pieces of information -- dates, miles traveled and the purpose -- then you can structure your mileage log or records as you see fit.  For example you could use spreadsheet software or the table function in a word processing software to capture your information.  You can also keep your output from driving direction software and search engines for your trip(s) to supplement your other records.

An important issue with mileage is that you CAN NEVER claim commuting miles and this is something that you really need to understand.  IRS Publication 463 does an excellent job of spelling this out in Figure B.  Unless you have office in the home your first trip out the door related to your writing business will be considered as part of your commute and NEVER deductible.

For overall record keeping requirements you can also reference IRS Publication 583 (Starting a Business and Keeping Records), and all publications, forms and instructions issued by the IRS can be found at www.irs.gov.

A Little Time Away

This past week on Thursday and Friday I spent some time away at a conference. And while I missed being at home with my hubby, it was so nice to have a little break from work. Plus, the conference was a good one, and I came back with some fabulous ideas to implement in the coming weeks and next year.

Next weekend we head off to Florida for Spring Break. I can't wait, as I really need some extended time away to relax and rejuvinate. Spring Break at home is okay, but it seems there's always something starting at me in the house calling my attention. Being in someone else's house for a week will be quite refreshing. Plus, there's the added incentive of visiting Mom and Dad, multiple pools, and Disney World!

Time away from a manuscript can also be a good thing. Last fall I had an editor ask for some rewrites/revisions on a project I'd submitted to her. At first I was overwhelmed. I didn't know where I was going to start. Some major things needed to be changed. Due to another deadline and other 'real world' commitments, I put the manuscript away for a while. Last week, I dusted it off and took a look at it again. I printed out the notes the editor had sent, and I'm going through page by page and getting a feel for the story again, with the editor's suggestions in the back of my mind. I'm crossing out (I'm using a hard copy.) the parts she thought didn't work and adding a few things here and there. Once I've gone through it initially, I'll sit down at the computer and do the actual deleting and additions.

It still feels a little overwhelming...it's heartbreaking to cross off so many words, knowing I have to replace them somehow in the over-hauled version to meet word count...but coming at it after having 'rested' for a while has allowed me to bring some fresh eyes to it, so to speak.

So, there's definitely something to be said for taking a little break.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com