On the Road Again

About to head back out to Boston for our society's big Annual Meeting. And when I say big, I mean -- singular event of the year type big. And soon to be my every waking moment, and by every waking moment, I mean all of the moments. I don't think I'm going to sleep on this trip. We'll be staying up late at receptions and events, only to turn back around and get up before dawn to man the booths and tables and answer questions.

I don't think there's a way to mentally prep myself, but I'm trying.

In other news, I feel like I've been so incredibly busy for the last two months; and yet at the same time I feel like I have gotten nothing done due to travel and being ill. Conclusion: I'm stuck in a temporal vortex. Or I need more sleep. Or both. Wouldn't a temporal vortex mean that I could get all the sleep I wanted? Maybe that's only specific kinds.

I'm convinced that Youtuber and oogui-eater Kinoshita Yuka has a temporal vortex in her stomach, to allow her to eat so much. Perhaps I'd get more done if I stopped watching her food videos. ((I won't delve into this dangerous thought process too deeply))

On a positive note, although I've only written two (TWO) measly chapters in my new book, they are very, very good chapters. The beta-reader comments on the first rounds of both were a bit tough, as this is the first time I've written in first person and getting the hook is always hard; but after some revisions and deep thinking, I've gotten them to an exquisite level. I'm pretty happy about that. I just wish I would write *more* chapters. Le Sigh.

I do have vacation coming up at the end of this month, when I will be digging in and catching up on sleep and writing (my goal will be to get two chapters done during that time, which will mean 10 pages a day; I can do that!). And I think I'll do a painting. Not that I have any spare room on any of my walls. I could probably hang another painting in my work office, though.

Hey, maybe I could even start writing chapter 3 tonight. What a crazy idea!

The Common Cold

I hate colds.

You know that feeling -- that back of the throat, everything coated in the taste of hate, running nose, do I have a fever?, now my nose is stopped up, now it's running again but only when I lie down, dizziness, don't want to eat, or can't stop eating, brain on a perpetual "out of order" tone, eyes half open, but can't sleep, why can't I sleep?, I just took two shots of Nyquil, I should be able to sleep, nope, just lying here, dripping, I stuffed a tissue up my nose, aren't I so sexy, now I feel chilled, ok now I'm too hot, make up your mind, headache, body aches, now I'm sneezing too -- kind of feeling.

I has that feeling.

I has it.

Hurricane

Well I'm hunkered down here during the passage of Irma....now a "tropical storm" for us, but the wind and the rain outside is less than soothing and more a constant reminder of potential power loss and falling trees. We've had several meaningful flickers so far, and one brief 1-second power loss, but so far we've still got light. I've seen reports in our neighborhood of downed trees, but none near us yet. Pray that stays the case.

Hard to be too concerned about myself, though, when Florida had to take so much worse from the hurricane. Still...grateful that the family and friends I have in our neighbor state have checked in as OK.

I don't know if it's the weather pressure or the anxiety, but I had an enormous migraine Saturday night that has been a persistent headache, either prominently lurking behind my eyes or murmuring at the background, resisting all efforts of hydration and ibuprophen. Probably also contributing is the fact that I need to go pick up my new eyeglasses prescription, but....not going to happen today. Today I'm staying indoors and remaining thankful that my employer decided it'd be best for everyone to telecommute today. We'll see about tomorrow. The campus has already declared closure, and I'd rather stay in and be one less body in the way of emergency responders, if possible. Yet again, we'll hurry up and wait.

Progress on the new book is slow. I haven't had the energy/chance to get back to it after finishing Chapter Two right before Hurricane Dragon Con hit. I was going to do quite a bit of work on it this weekend, as I had no plans. Then my plans became Hurricane Irma plans, plus sheltering some friends from Florida. Sorry that the reason for the visit has been so dire, but pleased nevertheless to have such good company. I can't say I'm sorry to be playing RummiCube and sipping ginger tea with friends rather than writing. But I am getting anxious to get back to it. Two chapters is better than one is better than none, but there are eight more ahead of me, all flexing their muscles or rustling their feathers, eager to get finished.

I started rereading a Tamora Pierce novel, Alanna, during the quiet of the pre-storm last night. And then to my delight discovered just this morning that a new Pierce novel is coming in the new year, about one of my favorite characters. Many excited, inarticulate noises were made at that revelation. So I think I'll keep rereading some Pierce works in preparation for the new one. I haven't had a new Pierce novel since Battle Magic came out.

The rain and wind are picking up again. I love rain, and I love wind, but I'm pensive at the potential danger this particular storm causes, rather than cozy at being indoors while the elements fret themselves outside. It only adds a layer to my anxiety, like skim on the top of coffee. I probably shouldn't have had that second cup this morning. But when your friends make second breakfast for you, including bacon and eggs, well. You can't miss that opportunity!

The Problem of Passivity

It's con season.

Oy vey.

Anyone who has ever gone to a big convention or worked (my case this week) a big convention knows that there is little time for anything else until the convention has run its course. In my case, this is the of-national-fame Dragon Con, which will attract almost 100,000 attendees and volunteers and guests and employees from Thursday through Monday.

I'll be in the dealer's room, selling dragon puppets to kids and kids-at-heart, which means being on my feet from about 7 am to about 10 pm. I love it, it's exhausting and mentally draining, but it's magnificent and I'm already really excited to get this show on the road.

But oh yeah....that......book thing.

*sigh*

And when I manage to make the time to write (tonight's entertainment will include sitting my butt in front of my computer screen and attempting to finish chapter 2) I'm discovering a new issue while writing in first person:

Passivity.

I'm finding that it's very, very hard to keep the book from turning into a diary. Switching between past tense, when the narrator is remembering something or telling the reader about something that happened before...and present tense, but not active (such as describing an aspect of the country or the household)...and present tense active, when the narrator is actively living what she's talking about.

Because reading this narrator's diary is not what I'm going for. I've read books like that, and they're cool; but I want this to be an active, I'm right here in the middle of everything and look what is happening kind of book.

It's taking longer to keep my brain in the right active voice than I anticipated. And it's probably going to require further editing and revisions when it's all said and done. But I've got to get the first draft all said and done before I can get the editing started, don't I?

We'll get there! When I'm not making irritated or bemused faces at my Word documents, I'm very, very excited about this book. Writing is always hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it (this is what I tell myself). It also makes me think of something I heard about childbirth one time:

If we remembered how painful it was, we'd never do it.

So hurray for short-term memory when it comes to the struggle of writing, because the pay off is worth it every single time.

The Struggle of "Writer's Block"

Writer's block: lazy, unmotivated, hungry, exhausted, burnt out, overworked, unrested, uninspired....whatever the underlying cause, "writer's block" is one of the most-written about topics by writers.

How ironic.

But it's because it's so danged illusive. What causes writer's block? Why am I so on fire to write my book at every other time of the day than when I'm sitting at my computer with my open document in front of me?

Why am I filled with such nervous energy at all other times of the day, but as soon as I sit in front of my work, my inspiration bleeds out of me and all I want to do is go lie in bed and watch YouTube videos? Videos of cats. Or food taste testing. I'm a sucker for taste test videos.

You argue with yourself. If I was just stricter with myself, I wouldn't have this problem. I'm just being lazy. And I've definitely had periods of laziness, where getting on a schedule of writing every single day was the only way around my "block." But sometimes strictness is the absolute worst thing you could do.

This summer has been, inexplicably, difficult for my creative self. I've been running a lot more, and it's been brutally hot and humid. And for me to admit that it's been brutally hot is saying something. I'm cold if it's less than 74 degrees in the house. I wear cardigans in summer. But it's been 90s-100s+ since May. So yeah. It's been hot. And when you throw running on top of that, I've felt more than a little metaphorically crisped.

I was feeling incredibly discouraged when I realized it was July and I hadn't started a new book yet. Giant Killer went to my agent early spring. I should have been *right on top of it* with my new project. I had the idea. I knew what I wanted to do.

But it wasn't time. That sounds vague, and it is. And I don't want to always put myself at the mercy of vague feelings. But sometimes you need to give yourself a break. Breathe. Read a book. Watch a movie. Go lie in bed and watch YouTube videos. When that becomes the rule instead of the exception, then you can worry about getting back on track. But for a week? Chill out dude. You're on no timeline but your own.

I want to write a book a year for as long as I possibly can. I've said that before. And so that does impose a certain timeline onto my creativity. I also want to stay ahead of my agent. I don't want him to be waiting around on me too much. I want the next thing in his hands as soon as he's finished working on whatever was "so last season." And that does require a kind of constant vigilance.

But we do this because it's fun, right? Because it feeds our hearts. Because there are stories waiting to spill out onto the page, and they'll bottle up and turn into something other than tears or dreams or wherever untold stories go if we don't release them. I still see vivid colors under every leaf. I still see stories hiding behind the mundane.

So if you're feeling a little crispy, chill. Literally. And figuratively, sure-- ice cream isn't always the solution, but it's certainly never a problem in my household.

I finally got over my own two-month "hump" this week. I was feeling pretty down about my writing. You start to wonder can I even do this anymore? It's not like your ability to write is going to leap up and run away and hide, goose. But then...I stumbled upon something as simple as a new song to listen to while writing. And multiple scenes started bubbling up. I got the revisions to my first chapter done. I started diving into the second chapter. I created two new book covers for my "on deck" books that my agent is working on. I wrote back-cover copy. I organized my files, and backed everything up, and did some more research.

And I'm excited about this new story. It's going to do things I've never tried before. It's going to be beautiful and light and yet dark and eerie and sad and tragic and it's already made me laugh, and I know it can make me cry if I go far enough. Do you ever see the color of the feel of a book? I know that sound lyrical and poetic. Sue me. This book is like the night sky. Or it could be. And I hope it's not just that way for me. I want it to be like the Milky Way for all of you.

So, back to chapter 2. Go eat some ice cream.

Getting Back To It

Hey There....

You know. It's been a while. More than two years. It's August in 2017, and what a doozy of a year it's been.

I can't say I'm too sorry, though I am sorry I left you alone for so long. To my credit I've been busy writing. And, you know, adulting. I got married right before I took my latest leave. I got a new job. I started running to relieve stress and help work off the quantities of Doritos that I devour. Life in this big world continues on, but I need to get back to all of you, and to this blog.

I just started the first draft for my fifth book running (not counting my shelved fantasy trilogy that I may get back to someday, possibly...sorry Jennifer [i.e. one of my first fans of that very fantasy trilogy who patiently reminds me of its incomplete state every year or so]).

Shifted and Roaring Boys are both available on Amazon.com, as fully self-published novels. Kindle and Paperback. Yeah, that's an achievement.

Shifted by Caitlyn e. Mitchell

Roaring Boys by Caitlyn e. Mitchell

And my agent has two books in hand: my 13th-century Russian "Red Riding Hood" story, Old Blood, and my latest "Jack and the Beanstalk" tale, Giant Killer. Perhaps if they don't make it into some esteemed publisher's stable, you'll see them on Amazon.com in 2018.

The story I'm working on now is a German Snow White. It's my first foray into the world of "1st-person writing" and I have to say, I like it. Though I do like 3rd-person better. Probably just because I'm used to it. Don't have to worry so much about what tense I'm in. But many of my favorite fairy tales are written in 1st person, and many of my favorite authors write almost exclusively in 1st. So I'm giving it a go. We'll see how it turns out. The story is building up inside me and clamoring to get out. I only wish I had the ability to write faster.

I've got the idea for book #6 too-- typical, when I'm only on the second chapter of the book I'm currently working on. It'll be a futuristic, urban-fantasy "Sleeping Beauty." Assuming I don't think of something I want to do even more between now and then.

The creative mind is a whirling thing. It can be so hard to rein it in. I find myself pacing at the gate to write when I'm not at my computer, or when I can't get to it for whatever reason. And then when I sit down to write, in front of my blank document, or my quantities of notes, I go blank. And all I want to do is watch funny videos of cats. Maybe my creative self is a cat. It wants attention just as soon as I can't give it, but when I settle down with treats and a feathery toy, it plays coy.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. I want to write a book a year (or so) for the rest of my life. And I plan to live to at least 150. So let's get cracking.

Author Interview

I got interviewed!

Find the original blog post (and the rest of the interview) on Far-Sight Fiction here:

How exciting!

Tell us about your writing process and where the beta readers come into it.

Well, my writing process can be rather fluid. Generally, though, I come up with an idea and do all of my research at the front. A lot of brainstorming happens during this time with my editor. I’ll throw ideas around, we’ll discuss plausibility and whether or not something is too far-fetched, and eventually I’ll have between 20 and 30 pages of strict resources and randomly generated thoughts. For the most part I don’t outline extensively. I have a formula that I use for the number and size of my chapters to help me reach and then stay within my page/word counts. I jot down a paragraph or some bullet points of what needs to happen in each chapter, if I know, and then I start writing.

I have two beta-readers who read each chapter as it is finished in its full, messy, first draft goodness. They don’t edit for style, grammar, or functionality, unless there is something seriously egregious that I let slip by. Mostly they ask questions, verify that they understand the story correctly, and provide feedback, maybe a few thoughts if something isn’t very clear. They keep me honest about my goals (where’s the next chapter, eh?!) and they also help nudge me along if I seem to be straying from the path.

After the book is written, my editor will do a complete read of the raw draft. At this time the grammatical and stylistic errors will be notated and corrected, and any last tweaks to the flow of the story will be suggested. By this time, though, most of the major story flaws have already been noticed by the chapter-by-chapter beta readers. The goal is to send as clean and correct a manuscript to the editor as possible; extensive rewrites should occur during the writing process beforehand. If I did my job correctly, editing should always just be editing.

What are some concrete benefits that you have experienced by having beta readers?

No one lives in a vacuum. And even if you think it, you don’t always have the best ideas. Sometimes you can stagnate with no real resources for how to get out of this plot hole you’ve created. Sometimes you just don’t like a character, and a beta reader can tell you that character is their favorite and you’d better not touch anything—or their least favorite and yes, you do need to change it. Basically, beta readers help get you out of your own skull and to see things from a fresh perspective. Your readers are going to be forming opinions on your book anyway—what author wouldn’t want to know what some of those thoughts might be as they’re going along?

A beta reader may have a good suggestion, or they may say just the right thing, turning on that light bulb and getting you working again. Beta readers also, as I said before, keep you honest. You can’t do much dithering if you know your readers are waiting at the end of the line for that next chapter you promised them. Procrastination is a writer’s worst enemy. In my own experience, writer’s block, lack of inspiration, plot holes, anything that causes a delay in writing has nothing at all to do with the book. It’s all a hidden form of procrastination that then ends up in twenty games of lost Solitaire. Writers may not write every day; they may not write every week. What they write may not be good, it may be amazing. But writers do write, and beta readers help me get that writing on the page, good or bad. Rough drafts are allowed to stink. But you can’t finish a book if you don’t just giddy up and write it.

Another benefit is that, personally, I have the tendency to over-rewrite. If I could, I’d edit forever and end up getting nowhere. Beta readers have allowed me to throw that perfectionism to the winds—and as a result, my production timeline has gone through the roof. I wrote three books in the last two years and I have another planned to begin later this summer. And it’s the best writing I’ve ever done.

When you have a beta reader, there’s no time to agonize over perfecting the book the first time. Do your job and let them do theirs. Once that chapter is finished, don’t reread it, don’t edit it, don’t even look at it. Just send it along. They’ll let you know what’s what, and then you can go back and make tweaks. But at the same time, you have to keep pushing forward. They’re waiting for that next chapter.

Nocturne Final Review

Hello all! Here I am, finishing up the book review that I started in last week's post--

Amanda DeWees' newest book, Nocturne for a Widow, is vastly entertaining and consuming. It took me about two days to read the first half, and as such I decided to write a "pre-review". Blame moving and wedding planning and other "responsibilities" on how long it took me to get through even that much...can reading 8 hours a day be a responsibility? I will gladly take that one on.

In any case, the second half of the book took me about three hours to read, as I could not put the novel down.

Ms. DeWees has a tendency to do this to me. Her first book I purchased when I read the intro that was available on the Amazon.com webpage, finished, and thought "Wait! What? That's it!? No! I need more!!!" And so my readership of gothic romance novels began.

Ms. DeWees certainly hasn't disappointed with her newest book. The two main characters are witty, sharp-tongued, and intricately likable. Although the main hero is not without his punch-able moments.

I guess that was the thing that attracted and intrigued me most about Nocturne. Sybil Ingram, the heroine, is vastly engaging, unique, and funny throughout the story. Her struggles and yet indomitable will to put up with all that life throws her is appealing. Roderick Brooke, the hero, is included in that list of struggles. He is proud, loud, and infinitely determined to get this actress woman out of his life. He's so frustrating that there were several moments I wanted to throttle him. And even more, I couldn't put the book down. How was Ms. DeWees going to bring these two together?

In most stories of this nature, the head-butting couple end up being thrown together in their love for each other all in one moment. In Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice and Benedick are caught when letters declaiming their potential love for each other are read aloud-- even when not five seconds previously they were declaiming the exact opposite. It's very quick and sudden. While effective, I've always found such a method rather unconvincing (and don't understand me: in my mind, Shakespeare is the highest of all theater). If ever someone annoyed me that much, you can be sure I wouldn't spend enough time with them to fall in love in the first place.

But Ms. DeWees captured a believable, seamless, and absolutely convincing progression of romance between the hero and the heroine. Their repartee turns from pointed and biting-- to sardonic and understanding-- to finally even a bit playful. Throughout the book, their level of understanding of each other as one and the same species is not only amusing but also revelatory...giving new weight and also new gentleness to their teasing. In the end it is absolutely clear that there is no other way their relationship could be...and Ms. DeWees depicted it splendidly.

I am already anticipating the next novel in the DeWees repertoire, and I know it won't disappoint. For now, I suppose I will have to be patient.

Coming Up...

Hey Guys!

So I was going to write a book review this week, but the business of going to press at work in combination with a birthday and the long process of moving made it so that I only got about halfway done with the book in question. Still, I figured I'd give you a bit of an "in-progress" preview before completing the full book review next week.

The newest from author Amanda DeWees (the first writer to teach me that "gothic romance" was not the overly dramatic spook stories I had previously supposed but a genre that I could enjoy), Nocturne for a Widow is a tie-in book to her earlier With this Curse -- although the two books can be read completely separately as stand-alone. Nocturne picks up with a character who was introduced on the side in Cuse (which I devoured in a matter of two days...it was one of those moments where I read the few pages available online and, as I reached the end, realized I could not wait a minute more without reading on):

Ms. Sybil Ingram, actress extraordinaire, is now a newly engaged retiree. However, her nuptials are not as purely happy as one would wish them to be. She leaves England for America trailed by rumor, only to find upon her arrival that her husband and her new home are not what she had thought or hoped. Alcott Lammle, the wealthy hotel magnate to whom she was promised, has fallen into financial ruin and declining health during their engagement and Sybil's journey across the sea -- and dies on their wedding night.

Widowed, nearly penniless, and unable to return to England, the determined diva sets out to stake a claim on Brooke House, an eccentric neo-Gothic manor in the wilds of the Hudson River Valley. She soon finds, however, that a ghostly presence wants her gone. Even worse, her claim is challenged by the most insolent, temperamental, maddeningly gorgeous man she's ever met: Roderick Brooke, a once-famous former violinist whose career ended in a dark scandal.

What follows is a battle of wits and steel between Sybil and Roderick as both attempt to retain their claims upon the house, made tenuous by the presence of the other. Their chemistry can easily be described as Shakespearean, darting barbs and pertness back and forth under a guise (sometimes not) of politeness. They are the Gothic Petruchio and Kate, or Benedick and Beatrice.

I haven't yet seen how this battle will unfold, nor how this ghostly presence will resolve itself. Some very spooky action at a distance occurred with a valise and a staircase. Being alone at night while reading some of Ms. DeWees' work -- although not graphic, overt, or gratuitous in any way -- can be a tad hair raising, and I found myself sinking a bit further beneath the blanket under which I was huddled. Ms. DeWees does follow, of course, with just the right amount of recovery for the reader, without dampening that ghostly mood, and I cannot wait to continue the exploration of the haunted Brooke House and the fiesty Roderick and Sybil.

Until I do finish, here are some other reviews by avid readers of Nocturne for a Widow:

"[DeWees brings] delicious humor to the forefront, creating characters and a plot that balance classic Gothic suspense and lighthearted humor so deftly that she nearly creates an entirely new genre -- the cozy Gothic romance." --Sweet Rocket

"Amanda DeWees is a gothic romance gem. In many ways -- the suspense, the humor, and the light, sweet romance -- DeWees reminds me of classic Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels that just isn't written anymore. The writing is elegant but doesn't detract from the atmosphere and characters it builds, who (aside from the totally evil single-minded villain in classical Gothic fashion) are very believable and multi-faceted." --Volatilisanguis

And a sample of the wonderful, witty, and winsome writing of Ms. Dewees? I thought you'd never ask:

No longer was I confined to the purgatory of solitude waiting. She who has an enemy, after all, is never lonely.

The Longest Hiatus Of All

Wow!

So hey guys -- it's been a minute since I've posted. I'm almost ashamed to look at the date of my last letter to you all. Er, that. Yeah. You have a blog, remember? A blog? That thing you write in about books and publishing and editing and the imaginative world? I could get a dictionary for you. I'm sure Merriam Webster has it these days.

The things that have happened in the past 6 months (gah! Really?!). Well there have been holidays, and Saturdays, and other days that end with the word "day". There has been sunshine and storm, and many plates spinning to keep it all together. To my credit, there have been some very hectic, very amazing, very time-consuming things.

For one, I got engaged. Let me tell you, planning a wedding and a life is pretty intensely involved. But wonderful and incredible and the most exciting journey I've ever set out on! He loves books, he loves music, he loves The Lord of the Rings -- a match made in heaven. And I thank God every day.

The conclusion in The Hobbit trilogy of films came out in the last 6 months. I saw it in theaters at least 5 times with my fiance, and I have to say it's the best of the three. Yes, there are things I could and do and have criticized heavily about the films, being such a strong fan of the first LOTR trilogy and of all of Tolkien's works in general. And yet, watching them again and again (and back to back, which also happened in the past 6 months!) I can really appreciate just how good they are, despite and indeed because of all their foibles. I want Peter Jackson to do The Silmarillion next, or Unfinished Tales. How about Turin Turambar and Morgoth (you know, only the guy that Sauron, the dark lord, the master of the rings, worked for...!) and the beginning of the world?

For two, I wrote another book. You all know about Shifted and Roaring Boys, which I finished before I went dark on this blog. Old Blood, a 13th-century retelling of Red Riding Hood, is in what I would call "post-production" right now. Final edits, final tweaks, all in all polishing and grooving. I really went to town on this one, and its the darkest of the three, really exploring the line between good and evil and the nature of a sympathetic villain-- while still remaining undeniably a villain. You know when you see a person going towards a closet or a basement in a horror movie, and you're just yelling and throwing popcorn at the screen "DON'T DO IT!!!"? Well what if you could do that while watching a villain make each wrong move that leads them inexorably to their own villain-ness and ultimate destruction?

The word "literally" also officially became defined as "figuratively" in the past 6 months...which means that it's a meaningless word, all in all, and so that's pretty note-worthy. Literally (or do I mean figuratively?).

For three, I got a literary agent. So many posts of mine are about searching for, preparing for, and contacting a literary agent, how to deal with acceptance and rejection, and yet I didn't have the time to make myself write the one post -- of my own "yes"! As of October 2014, I am represented by a literary agent of my own, and we are working on getting some books in the world. How amazing is that?

Only my life dream made real. You know. No biggee.

I still have to 1) get married 2) move 3) finish my latest book, officially 4) plan my next book 5) start my next book 6) keep breathing...but I've missed you all and I've missed keeping up with this blog. So from here on I'm turning over a new page (again) and will be back with you all on a regular basis.

Weekly barefoot news, coming right back up!

Ten Tolkien Tips...and a Ten Cent Alliteration

I feel like I could just leave this here and be done with it. Why do you need to listen to me, when you have J.R.R. Tolkien right here giving you advice.

Suddenly I feel rather superfluous.

But! It keeps me humble, helps me learn (you never stop that, surely), and gives me an excuse to use the word "superfluous," which is, really, the answer in the question. Talk about a self-defining word.

Like floccinaucinihilipilification.

The estimation of something as valueless.

For a $10 word like that, it's rather an ironic definition.

But to Tolkien. The man was a prolific writer and the founder (in my humble opinion) of Modern Fantasy as we know it. Of course, he built a lot on traditional tales, old cultures, languages, etc. But using those tools he built a world and a series of worlds that have forever changed the way we look at high fantasy.

On a purely personal note, it was reading The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien that first gave me that *ding*, that epiphany:

I want to be a writer.

My life has never been the same ever since, and after putting down Fellowship of the Ring I was forever hooked. I read the trilogy (literally) to pieces, acquired every Tolkien book I could put my hands on, including a biography about Tolkien. I never read biographies. But I read that one, and by gum I enjoyed it. I need to re-read it, thinking of. Including the stack of Tolkien books and Tolkien-related books that are currently piled next to my bed.

I also very happily collect editions of The Lord of the Rings. I'm missing just one of the '60s edition and two of the original edition I read for the first time. I'd love to get my hands on the cloth-bound editions that have Tolkien's original concept art, as well as the new leather-bound editions.

And yet...and yet...Tolkien continues to amaze. His published works are a study in literature and history and writing in and of themselves, but here today I stumbled across this compilation of Tolkien's tips for writers, and they could not be more accurate from what I have observed and learned on my own writing journey.

He starts, of course, with the most important ones first. Pride. The first three tips all have to do with overcoming personal pride, stubbornness, and sensitivity. You need all of these to be a good writer, but you need to know when to set them aside to take edits, critiques, and criticism. Sometimes they'll be hard to hear. But you must hear them out and then you can go through them later with a keen eye and decide if you want them or not.

That's a key point -- I always tell my editor to give whatever comments she has, because in the end, the final decision is up to me. I can always say, "No, I don't agree with that change." But I can't agree with an edit she doesn't make, nor can I disagree with it. It could be she has a brilliant suggestion to make, but if she held back out of fear of offending me, then that would be a shame and a crime to the creative piece.

And if someone gives me advice that I don't want to use, then that is my own decision. But to immediately react without first analyzing the suggestions is unwise. Write them down, copy them down, whatever you need, and then go through them again, perhaps with another editor or beta-reader. Talk them through. If they are worth something, then you can integrate them-- either altered or verbatim. Edits can always in turn be edited, and mayhaps they will spur another thought of yours. Or, if they are not a direction you want to take, you can happily be confident in your own decisions and put the suggestions aside.

I have only written on the first three (out of ten!) of Tolkien's suggestions and tips, but read them all and put a leaf in your book on them. Each one has something you can think on and learn from.


If you're having trouble in your writing, try something new out.

If you're feeling downcast about your writing and insecure, draw some encouragement from these tips.

If you need some prompts to get you over that writing hump, go and look at your neighbors.

That sounds odd. On second thought, maybe just go to a cafe or something. Get a latte. Surreptitiously take notes. Drink your tea. Enjoy putting funny hats and bizarre languages on the people you see around you.

Picking Up an Old Classic

It's sort of a book review, and sort of not a book review at the same time...

Because I'm writing about a book I'm rereading, but haven't read in about 8-9 years (wow, really?). I'm in the middle right now, so does that count as a review of a book I've already read, though I don't really remember what happens?


The novel in question is a slender, library-edition The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White. This is the same author who wrote The Once and Future King, a much lengthier, denser novel that defeated me at a much younger age. I wonder where my copy got to...perhaps I should pick up another and give it a second go.


T.H. White also must not be confused with E.B. White, who wrote The Elements of Style, which is also an excellent book. The two bear, as far as I can tell, no relation.

The Sword in the Stone is a small, comical, beautiful book written with glorious descriptions and a healthy dose of irony and the kind of humor that glimmers out of the corner of a grandfather's eye. Merlyn is more of a powerful-buffoon of a character (In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Peter Jackson either was consciously or subconsciously influenced by the character for his recent version of Radagast in The Hobbit) who carries mice in his hat and has bird excrement in his beard (hence the vision of Radagast). But, like Gandalf the Grey, he can be fearsome and terrible when he needs to be.

The Wart (our young Arthur who will one day be King when he draws the sword from the stone) is a clever, unassuming boy who sees things with such open purity that the whole book feels fresh and clean, like rainfall and moonlight. That is of course terribly poetic of me, but I don't care. The book is not written in a "poetic" style, but it has moments, glimmers where something truly beautiful peeks out. And there are many poetic or beautiful scenes that hide behind plainer, more comedic speech, but they are there if you take the time to see them.

It's the kind of book that tells a classic story that everyone knows-- or, at least everyone should-- but in a way that you would never expect. You may well know the 1963 cartoon version of The Sword in the Stone. I won't speak to the movie's accuracy, having not seen it in well over 15 years, but the sense of what I remember is near to the mark. Solemn in some moments, curious always, and sometimes slightly ridiculous.

It's a joyous book (reminds me of reading J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan for the first time) and I would recommend anyone interested in Arthurian literature-- or not-- to give it a go.

Momentum

What do you do when you feel like you could keep running forever?

Why, keep on running, until you can't anymore!

Right after I finished writing Roaring Boys, I was as high on the mountain as you can possibly imagine. I had just written two books -- Shifted was the precursor to this entire adventure, the first full-length book I had written in a long time and the first book I had self-published in my writing career -- in the space of a year and a half, after spending a long, dry four years without much creative productivity at all. It was the best feeling ever, that creative genius burning away, and I didn't want it to end.

So, I started on the next one. I wasn't even done with the final edits of Roaring Boys, I hadn't even uploaded it for publication, and yet I had already begun the idea, major research, outlining, and character development of my new book.

Now, less than a week after Roaring Boys came out on all platforms, I have four chapters of my new book written.

Another one by Christmas? Challenge accepted!

I don't know how long this momentum will last. Surely I cannot keep the stories flowing, the energy levels up, and the diligence steady -- all the things it takes to write a single novel, much less two in 18 months, or three in two years. I must hit a wall at some point. I will inevitably need a break, a vacation from words.

But I can tell you right now, that time is not yet upon me, and I'm going to keep writing until I simply cannot any longer.

Will that be five months down the road? Five years? Fifty?

Either way, I can tell you this for certain, that no matter how long this bizarre energy remains with me, any hiatus from it that I take will certainly not last. I live to write, I love to write, and I will keep writing until I'm so stooped over my keyboard that I can barely see the screen.

You should never stop writing just because your brain tells you that you think you should. Take a break after each book, it says, don't burn yourself out.

Ridiculous! If you have another book in you, get going! If you have more ideas, more stories, keep them flowing out until every inch of you says you need to rest. Don't rein yourself in because you think that's what you're supposed to do. Because the longer you keep writing in one, continuous, unbroken stretch, the faster and better you will improve. Each book I have written so far has been better and better than the last, and my beta readers, looking at the next one I am working on, are already saying that it's better than all the others. I want to keep honing my skill, keep growing my writing style. And this is the road to success by sheer, ridiculous momentum!

There are hundreds of books in me, ladies and gentlemen, and I want to see them all come to the light of day.

Keep your eyes peeled for news and updates of my next book, which will surely be upon us very soon.

It's Finally Here

You Guys

Roaring Boys is officially for sale, as of today.

I'm just about to bounce out of my seat with excitement!!

The print version will be available next week, once I approve the physical proof -- which, after looking at the digital proof, I'm pretty sure will be about as difficult as clicking "YES YES YES".

If that wasn't enough, Shifted just got an amazing review on Amazon.com!!

"Like Tolkien or Lewis, [Mitchell] has a well-defined world in which to set stories...her mastery of the period makes it effortless to accept that the people of the time still believe in the Old Ways...the story flows well, and I found myself going to bed quite sensibly, and then having to get back up to finish a chapter."

I'm just about beside myself right now. Standing beside myself. Rolling around on the ground beside myself.

And I can't wait to go home and take my shoes off!!

The Brain is a Powerful Thing

Also, the human head weights 8 pounds...

Give or take. I do suppose it depends on the person in question. Diameter of skull and bone thickness, and all that. I do know that you have a "smarter brain" if it's more wrinkly. Does that add to overall mass, and thus weight?

Hmm.

It is interesting, though, to consider the different ways people absorb information. Scholarly organizations have to think about this because they try to understand how their customers -- students -- are receiving the product -- education -- that they are paying for. One could argue that certain educational organizations don't do this enough, but that's a different rant for a different day. But you see various means of delivering said information, based on auditory (sound), visual (sight), and kinesthetic (touch).

Publishing is no different. With the technological age advancing around us, one of the ways publishing in general has had to evolve regards eTechnology -- eBooks, eReaders, ePublishing, eAdvertizing. eTc.

The first way publishing had to handle this strange new form of publishing was to rewrite, literally, the way it handled the basics of publication. There is a whole new form of reading that can be done now on a device that fits in your hand, and from that spirals all sorts of new niches -- design, advertising, layout, sales, rights, overseas rights, production, art, etc. Every aspect of publishing that exists was touched by this new form of delivering the written word.

And something that now has to be considered, as we come down from the first blast into the atmosphere that was the peak of ePublishing, is fine tuning. Now we have the time, the experience, and the energy to consider the little details beyond the bulk of eReading.

One of those details has to do entirely with personal brain activity -- and yet again we find the argument of Ebooks against the physical book. Personal preference does come into it -- I myself don't like eReading because it hurts my eyes, and I love the feel of a book, the smell of a book, and the pure physicality of a book that an eBook just can't match.

However, there is more to this preference that goes straight to the brain. Julian Baggini writes about this, asking "Which do our brains prefer? Research is forcing us to rethink how we respond to the written word."

No doubt eReaders have made the portability of reading far simpler. I used to pack 6-7 books with me when I went on vacation, taking up space in my suitcase and adding a good 10 pounds to whatever I was carrying. I still tend to carry a book in my purse at all times. Yet this has been solved and resolved for many by the presence of an eReader, which allows one to carry around a nearly unlimited amount of books (depending on your storage size) all contained within a small, lightweight platform.

Baggini then begs the question, is the difference between physical book and eBook anything more than the decision between "cost and convenience?"

She goes on to answer her own question, stating that the answer, "suggested by numerous studies into the neuroscience and psychology of reading in different formats is an emphatic yes."

EBooks and eReaders have risen in the ranks in the past several years. This sudden burst of interest worried many publishers and book-traditionalists with the "death of the book," the "death of reading," and the "death of publishing." However, several studies (short-term studies, to be sure, since the innovation is still so new as well) have proven this not to be the case. If anything, eBooks have promoted reading, especially in the younger generations who respond more easily to technological advancements in the first place. In my own study on this subject I came to the conclusion that eBooks will have negative and positive affects on reading overall -- and, in the end, will balance out to normalcy. Baggini agrees with this, stating that "Overall, there doesn't seem to be any convincing evidence that reading on screen or paper is better per se."

Less important is the question of how eBooks are affecting overall reading and when compared with the question of how it is redefining "what it means to read."

Apparently eBooks have different effects on people when it comes to deep reading, which is when you lose yourself to a text entirely -- I have a tendency to do this to such a degree that when I finally pull myself from a book, I feel as if I have been asleep all that time. I do not hear or perceive my outward surroundings and have been known to be left behind by a group without even noticing their absence. -- and active learning, which is when you are engaging with what you are reading by taking notes or looking up words and cross-referencing other texts. For me, this is the difference between reading fiction and non-fiction.

Arguments arise that the distractions of eReaders (with their hyperlinks and their ability to hop on the internet or, in some cases, answer the phone) will take away from deep reading. But in other cases is facilitates active learning by putting the wealth of the knowledge on the internet right next to the text at hand. Some forms of eBook are better for deep reading via eReader because they prevent skipping around to other section of the book easily, whereas with a print book you can merely flip a few pages to see what happens next.

Another study told of how "electronic devices promoted more deep reading and less active learning" because students, in particular, were more focused on the device than they might on a book, and yet eReaders make rereading more difficult than sticking a finger in at a section you want to go back to and simply flipping back through the pages.

In any case, all of these studies merely collide to prove that individual preference, readability, and learning style have a lot to say about our selection between eBook and print book. Baggini yet again states that "whatever the case, our habits have probably been created largely as combination of childhood experience and how the medium we read is nudging us." This would explain why the younger generation, which has never known a time without the internet or cell phones or high-speed cross-platform technology, adapts better the the technological form of reading, while those of us who were raised either pre-internet or at the very cusp of the innovations of the internet still prefer having a page or two to dog-ear or the physical heft of a book in our hands.

I still prefer my physical books, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I'll have that suitcase full of hardcovers and that paperback stuffed in my purse. What can I say? I'm a traditional print gal.

EBooks and Paper again...Good Thing We Have Both!

Welcome back, everyone!

Weekly posts at Maudlin's Shoes will begin again starting...now!

Roaring Boys is officially "done" -- which essentially means there are a few last minute tweaks going on from the editor -- and then after that it will be uploaded for sale. You can get details here or on my Facebook page. Stay tuned and don't miss it! We'll have it on Amazon.com, Kindle, and Nook.

**Roaring Boys will be available for purchase soon! Until then, check out this promo.**

And if you haven't already, check out my novel Shifted, available on all of these platforms. Shifted was the first book that got me back on the writing horse, officially, and was the first book I self-published.

**Shifted is available on Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes & Noble online, and Nook!**

You know the amazing thing about writing? It's kind of like eating Doritos. You can never have just one. After I wrote Shifted, I took about a three month hiatus to work on publication materials and getting it ready. And then I was off again with Roaring Boys.

Now, merely a week after finishing the writing of Roaring Boys -- note, I haven't even finished the publication process yet!! -- I'm already churning up a new idea. I have the title, the tale, the main outline, the research, and most of the chapters organized. Maybe about 5 chapters are still blank, waiting to be detailed. Heck, I'm ready to start writing again!

**Can you guess what story I'm going to do next?**

I would never have thought this possible a few years ago. A few years ago I was burnt out. I was barely writing at all and I wasn't reading for fun much. I was nose-to-the-grindstone, working hard to finish my degree and try to land on my feet. And all I ever got told was how I'd have even less free time as a working adult. So bye bye dreams.

You know what? Everything anyone ever told me about losing my dreams when I was in college was dead wrong.

I got told I should give up on my dream of the publishing-editing world. I was told I would never have any free time to pursue my hobbies and turn them into something more. I was told I should practice my "do you want fries with that" line.

**this should not be the first thing I find when writer and fries are typed together. Just saying.**

And now here I am, sitting on my dream job right out of college, editing, working in the publishing industry, in my dream town, and I've just finished two books. I'm starting on the next one right now.

Yes, I am way busier than I have ever been. I've worked harder than I ever thought possible to get where I am. But I also get to go and do things way more than I ever did in the last ten years. I am writing more and more consistently than I ever have since I first started writing. Am I exhausted sometimes? Yes. But it's a powerful, wonderful, amazing exhausted. Not the exhausted that comes from going directly home after work and sitting in front of the television. The exhausted that comes from filling every moment of every day with something that is exciting and motivational and fulfilling. No matter what that is -- whether going to concerts, going to the gym, attending church, reading, writing, painting, visiting the beach, doing trivia night with my family, watching movies -- I try and never, ever say "not tonight, I'm too tired" because I have plenty of nights I can just vegitate. And I don't want to miss out on a single thing.

Including writing. I have a thousand books in me, waiting to get out. I don't want to waste time dithering!! I want to write them all, and when I'm 99 years old, I'll still be writing, you can believe it!

**Never let anyone tell you you're not a real writer if you're not J.K. Rowling. 

Some writers make millions. Some writers just write. And they're both valid positions.**

Give up on my dreams? Not a chance! I'm now in the time of my life when my dreams are closer to my reach than ever before. And I'm going to take them.

My parents always encouraged me to pursue writing, even though they cautioned me that it would be more difficult than a job in something more "practical". I always tried to take their advice and blend practicality with my own desires. Instead of majoring in Creative Writing, I majored in English (start the English major jokes now). I started working on my job-hunt when I was a sophomore in college and I worked every year and summer after that. And now I am where I want to be in my life at the ripe old age of 23.

Does this happen to everyone? No. I've been incredibly blessed, and I am grateful that I have the ability to see that. But neither is it impossible. I'm proof of that.

So who wants fries with that?

Hiatus and a New Book

Hello my dear barefoot Readers!

As you may have noticed, there has been a hiatus from my regular weekly posts. This falling-off is of course for good reason: I am currently in the throes of writing my next book, as well as working 7 days/65 hours a week. It's all good fun, but it does cut down on my ability to make more than the occasional babble in other directions.

You can expect a resurgence of shoe-less posts coming mid- to late-summer, as my workload evens out and my book comes to a close. Until then, you can pick up a copy (physical print or e-Reader) of my first book, Shifted, in these locations!

Shifted, Amazon.com

Shifted, Kindle edition

Shifted, Barnes & Noble

Shifted, Nook book

I look forward to writing to you again soon and will be providing regular updates as I can about the onset of the next novel! Until then, click on the image below to enjoy a preview of my next novel!

Ms. DeWees Has Done It Again

Recently, gothic-romance author Amanda DeWees came out with a new novel. After her success in converting me to the possibilities of the gothic-romance with her previous piece, Sea of Secrets, I had to get a copy and see what new tales could be told in the genre that before only summoned overly-dramatized heroes and busty heroines to my mind.

It was just about all I could do to keep the pages closed until I tucked in with my reading lamp. The book wandered with me, stored in my purse, for about a day before I could really give it my full attention. It was not the most focused 24 hours for me.

***

With This Curse begins, as one might imagine, with a curse. A cursed house to be exact, one that threatens to destroy the thing you treasure most. How and when it will strike can never be said, but it lingers there like a malignant humor and turns events that would normally be thought of as nothing more than petty fate into something sinister.

Young Clara Crofton appears at Gravesend Hall with her mother, who is to become the housekeeper of the daunting manor. She is headstrong and tends towards impudence when she forgets to remain silent, but it is not until years later that the curse strikes and banishes her from the house, removing her from her love and her home in one fell swoop.

And then her love dies...the curse, even from a distance, wasn't through with her yet.

Years later, Clara is a seamstress with a very distinct, very real problem: her employer, the exotic actress for whom she has been working for several years, is moving to America to marry richly, leaving the toil of the London stage behind her. Which also means leaving Clara behind, unemployed and with little resources to depend upon. There seems to be little choice for the spirited young woman until...

...the twin brother of her deceased love, Atticus Blackwood, appears on her doorstep with a singularly absurd proposal: marry him in name alone, to ease the passing of his ailing father, and he will make sure she never wants for anything for the rest of her days. But this means returning to Gravesend Hall, the cursed house that stole everything from her all those years ago...

***

Ms. DeWees has woven yet another tale that draws you in, pulling you further and further until you can no longer put the book down no matter the hour. I was seething with frustration during the last chapters that I simply could not read any faster, so anxious was I to discover the resolution to the tale. And yet I did not want it to be over just yet. The rich descriptions and brilliant characterization made every page an intrigue, and the slow blossom of detail formed a perfect build to the climax of the story that literally had me pacing across the room as I read. The plot is well-formed and richly thought out, so much so that it only seems you could make a stab at the ending until a twist surprises you and shows you at the same time that it could never be anything else. Clara has a sharp wit and a humble wisdom that makes her charming in her triumphs and her foibles, and Atticus is such the gentleman-- in both perfection and flaw-- that he makes you wish he'd jump off the page into the room next to you and ask you to play cards with a gleam to his eye. With This Curse brings a true gem to the gothic-romance genre that should not be missed, and I look with great excitement for Ms. DeWees's next volume.

In Need of News

When you write a blog or keep up with current events, you're constantly in need of some platform that provides you with those current events. But if you have a specific bent-- say, writing or publishing-- it gets harder to find a news platform that really caters to your needs.

In the past I've used Twitter to fine new stories or funny tales about the industry, but when the account got hacked (twice) I decided the hassle was a bit too much for my tastes, and deleted the account.

Publishers Weekly is also a good source of information, but tends to the dry and more corporate world of publishing.

A new platform I've been introduced to is Galley Cat, "The First Word on the Book Publishing Industry." I've only received one weekly email from them as of yet, but it's already been chock-full of amusing anecdotes and news including an April Fool's Day prank between Lemony Snickett and Malcolm Gladwell and the report on the rise of audio book sales to $1.6 billion.

Not too shabby.

There's also an argument about the Oxford Comma in video form. The results may be inconclusive, as I stand staunchly for the Oxford Comma due to its resourcefulness, ability to specify, and just plain rightness.

So there.

Galley Cat has tabs for all sorts of news including Publishing, Deals, Bookselling, Writer Resources, Reviews, and even Jobs.

Ok, I'm impressed.

I think I'm going to go mash some tabs and buttons, see what I can find. I'll resurface, er...eventually.

Maudlin Out.

A Journey Through Self-Publishing

I've just finished (really this time) Self-Publishing my first official book. Let much rejoicing commence!

Available on Amazon.com

Available for Kindle

Available for Nook

Along the way, I've learned a lot about self-publishing. I've read commentaries, articles, How-Tos. I've even had a rather successful self-published author as a mentor, who has given me tips and guidance that you can't find in any Manual.

There are some tips you see all the time in the How-To world of self-publishing, tips that I either scoffed at or shrugged at. Tips that usually involved spending rather large quantities of money on your materials.

But what about those who don't have much excess cash on hand for their project? Or any at all?

It's hard to justify, at times, putting a lot of money into a project when there is no guarantee of getting money out of it. This is what makes the publishing world so hard to break in to, because you have to convince a publishing house that your book will not be a sink hole. And of all the books in the world, all the hopeful authors who send millions of queries in every year, yours being the one they choose is a rare occurrence. Which is also why self-publishing has taken such a rise.

But you see a lot of the time tips like -- Have a professional design your cover. Have a professional layout your book for press and print. Don't do it yourself.

There are merits to these tips-- merits that I have discovered. But you can also merge the two.

If you have an artistic eye and a mind for the publishing industry, go ahead and design the cover yourself—but unless you have the programming capabilities to make it a high-res print-quality file, get a professional to do it for you. Pseudo programs will not work. And if you want your paying customers and friends to pay for a blurred, shoddy quality book, you will not be pleased with the ultimate results.

I designed the cover of Shifted myself. The first printing came out beautifully, but at the same time it was really blurry, because the programs I have do not give me the option of saving high-res. For most print materials, you need to have an image quality of at least 300 dpi or your text-- title, author name, description-- will be blurry. And if you can't save high-res, it won't be high-res, even if you use high-res stock images. Which you can't determine are high-res or not, without the proper measuring tools.

For the reprint, I then got a good friend who is a professional, studying artist, to redo the design. She had the requisite tools needed to make my cover over 300 dpi in quality, and the second printing came out spectacularly. So on that front, I did a combination of professional and self. I will be getting her to help me from now on, and I will also be setting aside some money to pay her. It won't be much, but I respect her work, and as a professional, she should not be expected to work for free.

The other major element that will affect the quality of your book, beyond the writing, is layout. You have to know how to typecode your book, and if you don't know how to do that-- or what that is-- you need to have a professional help you. Luckily, I am in that industry, and so I was able to do that on my own at the very basest of levels. Now I may pay another good friend to do fancy layout details with other, more advanced programming down the road. I hope to get to that level soon. But if you know how to use style sheets and coding in as little as Microsoft Word, you can format a viable document for printing.

After that, the main question is: where? Where do you upload your book? I personally used Create Space, through Amazon.com, and then Kindle (the Amazon eBook) and Nook (which is Barnes & Noble, and the other major player in the eReader industry). You will need both Kindle and Nook in your repertoire if you want to publish an eBook, and the way people read these days almost demands that you put out an eBook version of your work. All of them were incredibly easy to use and upload-- it took me about a week to get both eBooks uploaded, just by downloading the Microsoft Word document of my book. It used to be you had to do a special layout and format called an 'ePub' for eBook editions, but the programming has advanced so far that it seems you no longer have to do this. You still can, if you want to use the fancy layout as I mentioned before, but it is not necessary.

Another tip I learned is that the more reviews your book gets on Amazon.com, the more visibility it has, on a purely marketing level. So when you distribute your book, either for free or for sales, ask for those reviews, bump those reviews. You will have so much more visibility just through mathematical formulas in search terms than you will if you just have a book floating out there bereft.

There is so much more out there, now that I've got the book published just on the marketing side, that I haven't even touched yet. My journey will continue. And as I plough through my next book, which is in the works, I will learn even more that can be applied to novels to come, making each and every new publication stronger and better.

Besides, when it comes to books, there is nothing at all like holding your book in your hands for the first time.