The Etiquette of Book Signing

FYI: I'm over at Jungle Red today. Check it out!

By Amy MacKinnon

So I went into Boston over the weekend with a friend to visit area bookstores. Yes, of course I went to see if Tethered was out and if I could possibly, maybe, sign what was in stock. If you're like me -- and you're writers so I can safely assume you are -- it's a bit awkward to present yourself to the manager of a bookstore and say hi, I wrote this book, mind if I sign it? Luckily, for us, they're used to this sort thing, it happens on a fairly regular basis. In fact, it was happening while I stood in line at the customer service desk at the Downtown Crossing Borders.

To my left was an unassuming man in t-shirt and shorts, a backpack slung over his shoulder, stacks of books in front of him and he's waiting patiently, calmly. To my right, being helped by Dave the manager, was an older gentleman. Now while I should have been paying attention to the man on my left, I was in fact futzing with my outfit, smoothing my wayward hair, and standing there holding tight to my book, grinning like a game show contestant, angling it so anyone walking by might see the lovely cover. Waiting, waiting, fidget, futz, wait. It is lovely, though.

Then the man to my left says to the manager, "Are there more in back?" At which point I look to the stacks of books on the counter, look to the man, who is already heading in the direction the manager is pointing, and then I grab Dave the manager's hand (yes, I did) and say, "Is that Richard Russo?"

"Can you believe it? He just walked in!" I ran after him. No, this isn't the dorky part yet, close, but it gets worse. You may need to stop reading now because it's too painful, but imagine how excruciating it is to write. Here goes:

"Mr. Russo?"

"Yes?"

"I'm a big fan, I love your work, like..." At this point, I'm so excited, I can't remember a single title. Not Bridge of Sighs or Empire Falls, not Ship of Fools or The Whore's Child. Not one. His smile is beginning to wane. "I loved that article you wrote for that Maine magazine, I can't remember the name of it, on Alzheimer's, it meant so much to me..."

He starts to back away, his smile waning. "Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you."

There was more, luckily I can't remember it all. Then I really did it. "Could you sign my book?"

You see I'm still holding my copy of Tethered I'd hoped Dave the manager would want me to sign so he could slap that shiny sticker on it: autographed. But I was waiting my turn and hadn't asked yet and it was the only book I had on hand. It didn't occur to me that we were standing in the Richard Russo Aisle (can you imagine having your own section in a bookstore?) and I should have plucked one of his off the shelf.

Now Richard Russo's smile truly falters. He gestures to Tethered. "You want me to sign this book?"

"Yes, it's mine, I wrote it." I'm beaming, from nerves not pride. Even I can see how this is going, but I can't stop the train wreck.

"Oh, congratulations." He's so very nice. "But I don't think I should..." He's shaking his head, looking from me to the book.

"Of course, that would be silly." I may have stopped beaming here. I may have even gulped and developed a nervous tic.

"Hey," he said, angling my book so he could see it better. "Tethered, huh? And you're Amy MacKinnon?"

I nod. Futz, twitch, tic.

"I'll have to get that. The cover is really great."

I thank him, I leave, and Dave the kind manager, leads me over to my own -- much smaller -- stack of books on the front table and I begin to them. A man passes, he stops and turns to regard me. It's him, Richard Russo. He calls out across the floor.

"Is this your first one?" He's walking backward, toward the exit, that face I know so well smiling, for me.

"Yes." I'm beaming again.

"Good luck with it. I'll be looking out for it!"

And then he was gone and in an instant, he made me feel like I wasn't quite the big dork I knew myself to be.

Launch Day

By Amy MacKinnon

Thrilled.

Sanguine.

Ill.

Bewildered.

Bemused.

Hopeful.

Anxious.

Lost.

Found.

Touched.

Expectant.

Self-conscious.

Confident.

Exposed.

Terrified.

Calm.

Assertive.

Competitive.

Determined.

Grateful.

So very, very grateful to each of you, most especially, Lynne Griffin, Lisa Marnell, and Hannah Roveto, my rocks. Thank you, all.

Hope to see some of you at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset at 7:00 pm tonight for the launch!

The Hot Seat

Posted by Lisa Marnell

According to Donald Maas …

“If there is one single principal that is central to making any story more powerful, it is simply this: Raise the stakes.”

Donald Maas is a literary agent, president of Donald Maas Literary in NYC. In his book, Writing a Breakout Novel, he goes on to suggest that many writers cannot answer that question of what will happen to the protagonist if he doesn’t reach his goal. Too often, he reports, writers sit dumbfounded; we love our characters and we simply HATE to see bad things happen to them. Not good. Stakes aren’t high enough.

Look at Harry Potter. (Oh, how I loved that series). And think about the stakes, the personal stakes to Harry. Voldemort killed his parents, brutally, and tried to kill Harry as well; he was just a baby! Now, Harry has discovered he is a wizard – how cool is that – and he has this wonderful new life in front of him, away from those dreadful Dursleys. Harry has so much more to fight for now. He has friends now, a muggle-friend no less, Hermione would be first on Voldemort’s list. The stakes are high. Back comes Voldemort into Harry's life.

In his chapter on plot, Donald Maas holds that we, as writers …”must be willing to push characters into situations that you would never go near in your own life.”

I’m afraid I’m too nice, and frankly, I don’t like where I’ve put my protagonist. Chapter 18 gives me a downright icky feeling. But, I tell you, she's staying put! One of our writer’s group members once said something wise. In fact, she’s said many wise things, but one sticks with me and gives me comfort. I paraphrase her words but the gist was this: “It shouldn’t bother us when our characters find themselves in an awful situation because we, as writers, are the ones to help them out of said situation.”

I do love a book with high stakes. So, I’ll keep putting my fiction friends into that mess. I must; I want to write fiction.

New York

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Manage your expectations. Be grateful for whatever support you’re offered. These mantras played through my mind as I shopped for the perfect jacket and the right accessories the day before I left for New York to meet my marketing and publicity teams. I was excited but I was nervous too. Was Life Without Summer really a lead title? And what does that actually mean?

My trip was full of highlights and surprises. The first one came before I left, when my husband called me from work to say he’d like to come with. He said he knew the meetings would go well, and he planned to take me out on the town; we could enjoy a night together in the city.

Once in NY, he checked us into our lovely hotel, and my first stop was to meet my fantastic agent and her newborn son. More beautiful than any of his pictures, her baby is a little prince. Next stop, the neighborhood bistro next to her apartment where we eat marvelous food and talked about my work-in-progress. I am blessed to have an agent who offers kind yet honest, spot on editorial guidance as well as support in navigating the marketplace.

Our lunch flew by and suddenly it was time to grab a cab and head to St. Martin’s Press, located in the Flatiron Building. Elisabeth and I had been told we’d be meeting with the publisher, Sally Richardson. I was excited to meet her, still I told myself anything can happen. She’s busy, she’s the publisher; something could come up, don’t get your hopes up. The next thing I knew, my editor, my agent, and I were sitting in her historic office. She talked about how much she loved my novel and how excited everyone in house was about publishing it. I owed my speechlessness to her stellar view of the city, where the east and west sides meet, where if you look as far as the eye can see, there's Central Park.

In our next meeting with Vice President and Associate Publisher, Lisa Senz and her enthusiastic assistant, Sarah Goldstein, we viewed and discussed cover art. Evidence of my team's hard work was everywhere in that office. The collective refrain was how important it was to get everything from the cover to the marketing efforts just right. I’ve been grateful at every step in the process thus far and I've tried as best I can to convey my appreciation, but in that moment I was in awe of how much my input is valued.

The house support for my novel is humbling. Editor-in-chief, George Witte joined our meeting, as did publicists, Dori Weintraub and Colleen Schwartz, each sharing his or her enthusiasm and strong commitment for the novel as well as the unique role each plays in bringing Life Without Summer to readers. Before leaving, I met the foreign rights director responsible for my sales to France, Holland and Germany. Parting gifts of the books, Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay and Bitter Sweets, by Roopa Farooki, rounded out the afternoon. I can't wait to read them.

Hours after arriving at St. Martin's Press, I walked out of the building, my high heels barely touching the pavement. My novel is going to be published in April 2009. As I write this post, it’s a full week later and I still wake up each morning in need of a good pinch. My writer’s dream is coming true.

New York

Lynne is in New York city. Her plans include having lunch with her fantastic agent, after meeting her adorable new son, that is. Then she'll spend the afternoon meeting with her wonderful team at St. Martin's Press to discuss marketing and promotion for Life Without Summer. She'll have news and pictures to post next week.

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.

~~ Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens

Tethered Chosen for Borders' Original Voices Program

By Amy MacKinnon

While I was on vacation last week, my publisher called with good news. She said she couldn't wait, it was too fantastic and it was. Tethered was chosen by Borders as one of their August picks for their Original Voices Program!

Naturally, I checked out what they're featuring for June. But what does this mean? Lots of good things it turns out. As I understand it, my novel will be among the five other novels selected for the program among all the novels scheduled for release in August -- not just debuts -- to be prominently displayed on the front table of every Borders in the nation courtesy of Borders. It will also appear with a written endorsement, courtesy of Borders. And it will certainly help build that all important buzz. Again, courtesy of Borders.

Now that's all well and great and I'm more grateful than I can duly express here, but it's not the best part. What moved me to tears was the review the buyer wrote about Tethered on the Borders web site. She didn't have to do it, it was enough that she nominated me. Going this extra mile took time and effort. And what she wrote...well, she got the book. She read it the way I'd always hoped someone out there might. So thank you Deanna P. From the bottom of my soul, thank you.



EXPERT REVIEW
:
5 out of 5
An Original Voice for Mystery! June 9, 2008 By Deanna P, Mystery Buyer from Borders Home Office (read all my reviews)
"Original Voices is a Borders program that highlights fresh, compelling, innovative and ambitious works from new and emerging talents. TETHERED by Amy MacKinnon is a perfect example of a book that belongs in this program, bringing together unforgettable characters and a well-plotted mystery with language that is rich and full.Clara Marsh is an undertaker, a mortician who helps prepare the dead for their final viewing with extraordinary care and compassion. She works surrounded by death, but imparts a last bit of life as she sends each person onto their final journey with secretly-placed fresh flowers in their caskets. Morning glories (affection upon departure) for an old woman who was much loved. Marigolds (cruelty in love) for the man who abused his wife.Clara’s days are structured and constant. She clings to her loneliness just to make it through each day, keeping even those that care about her most at arm’s length. Until the day she discovers a sad little girl named Trecie playing in the funeral home. Until Detective Mike Sullivan starts asking her questions again about the still unsolved death of another little girl that was nicknamed Precious Doe. Until the day that it seems that these two little girls are linked and that the clock may be ticking to save Trecie from a similar fate. MacKinnon has created a wonderfully flawed and human heroine in Clara Marsh, who must face the demons and ghosts of her own past in order to help Trecie. Given her occupation, it is inevitable that the mysteries of death and what come next are examined. Clara is privy to the beliefs of so many different kinds of people because of her job, but she herself is unable to believe. While she does her job, she sees what tethers our bodies to life, but it will take solving the mystery of Precious Doe and Trecie for her to truly understand what it is that tethers our souls to this earth and to one another. Highly recommended and not to be missed, TETHERED will keep you thinking well past the last page."

Dancing and Writing

Posted by Lynne Griffin

I started my artistic life off as a dancer. Not a Dancing with the Stars kind of dancer, a So You Think You Can Dance kind of dancer. Lyrical, contemporary, jazz and ballet, with some musical theater on the side.

When I was growing up, dancing and dancers were part of everyday life. Variety shows featured big dance numbers, award shows had them too. Before your wedding you brushed off your dance shoes, perhaps you hadn't danced publicly since elementary and middle school dances, where you were taught ballroom.

Growing up in my small town with pretty traditional parents, I'm grateful that art, music, dance and the written word were so well-respected. Neither artistically inclined, my parents supported my love of dance, and books. As surprised as I am that my artistic expression left the dance floor and found the page, I see parallels in these two art forms.

In every novel, capturing mood is essential to story telling. And while some stories are darker than others, taking you to places you dare not go, changing the way you think about things, so can interpretive dance. Some beautiful novels, like dances, are termed quiet, their message simple and beautiful. A novel can inspire a dance. A dance can tell a story.

There's a connection between art forms, as I see it. I'm thrilled to see renewed enthusiasm for dance in our popular culture. It makes me want to take a class. Or create a character who's at home on the stage.

Who doesn't love being the girl on top of the piano?

Making a Literary Life: Who Inspires You?

This week, a couple of us at the Writers' Group shared how musicians inspire us. In their talent, drive and heart, they show us how they followed their dream. This week, we want to share how others - non-writers - inspire us. Tell us who inspires you.

Lisa Marnell
For me, it has to be athletes, and it barely matters what sport it is. In the last winter Olympics, there was a Russian skater whose story brought me to tears. And what about Justine Henning, the champion tennis player from Belgium who recently retired. When she was fourteen she went to a tennis match with her mom and promised her mom that she would play at that level some day. Her mom never lived to see Justine win a Grand Slam.

Amy MacKinnon
John Walsh inspires me. When his son Adam was abducted and later found ed, Mr. Walsh didn't crumble they way most of us would. Instead, he gathered whatever reserves he had and devoted his life to helping abused children by co-founding the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and producing and hosting America's Most Wanted. One man, one man shouldering the most excruciating burden, and he has helped change the world for thousands of people.

Hannah Roveto
I am most inspired by regular people who rise above whatever is going on in their lives with integrity, dignity and compassion. Friends, neighbors, relatives. Randy Pausch, the professor who has become famous for his Last Lecture is inspirational, and not for the reasons you might think at first. He was a regular guy handling everyday adversity with strength and humor at inspirational levels, only few people knew that. His diagnosis put him in the spotlight; certainly, he continues to deal with the most difficult hand that can be dealt with grace. However, it's his successes along the way, showing how a can-do approach and sense of humor deliver real rewards, that is his most inspirational -- and generous -- message to other everyday people. He shows us how to take what we get and get what we need: joy.

Lynne Griffin
I was surprised when this topic left me bewildered. It wasn't easy to come up with a person or group of people who inspire me. Certainly there's the parent I've been working with, who has two children with special needs; I admire her patience and fortitude. There's the gifted teacher I met fifteen years ago and will never forget; she knows just how to motivate each and every student who walks into her classroom. I thought about my own parents, grandparents, & friends. But I just couldn't come up with one person. It seems I draw my inspiration from ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The people who live the paradoxical commandments. People who, in the face of insurmountable challenges, persevere anyway.

A Rising Tide

by Hannah Roveto

A short article in the Wall Street Journal last week caught my eye: Penguin Hires Pair to Lift Children's Unit. Don Weisberg, former president of Random House Sales, was named president of Penguin Young Readers Group. Barbara Marcus, former president of children's book publishing and distribution at Random House, was named Strategic Advisor. Ms. Marcus merely was the person who oversaw U.S. publication of the first six books written by some British woman -- the one about a boy wizard -- anyone recall the title?!

"Children's book publishing has always been strong," said the article, adding it has gained significance in recent years due to the strength of backlists. Hardcover sales are up. The story struck me, because when writers get together, there is concerned discussion about people not reading; about whether work is literary or commercial, where is the line and how much is on what side of the line; what will the electronic book do to print sales; how many titles are out there and how hard it is to be found among the masses; literacy among children and the power of the computer to draw them away from books. All worthy topics. Yet I have gone back to this story day after day, ripped from my newspaper, because it signals a rising tide.

As we all know, no company puts that kind of effort into a strategy unless they're confident it will generate money. In this case, money from books you can weigh in your hand, flip pages, smell the paper and ink. Money from new readers, repeat readers, readers who believe in storytelling that feeds and fires the imagination in a way only a book can deliver. In this case, we are talking about young readers, who will go through those hit titles Mr. Weisberg and Ms. Marcus will find, support and market, and want more the next month, the next year, into their teens and on into hood.

Children who know books love books; children who love books want good books. If there is a good book at hand, they will actually choose to read, even if there is a computer in the house. I promise you this. Maybe they don't spend every spare moment with noses in books, but a good book will be read, its sequel requested, books like it researched, the author followed even if he or she switches genres.

Like us, to be truthful, children have limited reading time, which creates a challenge. They want something worth their investment: a good story, told well. Like us, too, they want something different each time, not the same plots over and over. Soemthing that fits their moods, their interests, their views of the world, their dreams. (As a side note, check out 1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron if you're stuck for some good titles, for grown-ups and children.)

This means only good things for writers, no matter whether we write children's or YA or literary or commercial or something in-between. The book is not , it was riding a receding tide and now is making a resurgence. The next generation has found, through comparison, that no matter how interactive and cool the graphics are on a wide screen, a book delivers a unique experience, and a good book delivers one that is unparalleled. So never fear, you there in front of your computer, with your typewriter, keyboard or notebook at hand -- your audience awaits.

Fool's Gold from Real

by Hannah Roveto

I acquired most of my vast knowledge of fool's gold from fiction, I think from that long-ago series on twins from different eras. Whoever wrote the slim volume on the twins during the California Gold Rush had to do some research, yes? Fool's gold shined like the real thing, but it sparkled almost too bright, and once you'd seen the real thing, you'd be able to tell the two apart forever. What more did I ever need to know?

When putting together or joining a writers' group, it is important to learn the difference between fool's gold and real gold, as well. This group did a panel at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace this past weekend, and as one lovely man asked, can anyone know whether a group will work from the start?

Maybe not 100%, I grant you, but there are qualities to real gold you will recognize early. A group may shine bright, talk the talk, have grand plans; that's not what's important. Many groups screen potential members based on writing samples, which certainly is helpful. The truest test? Look for a glint of real determination.

* Rigid rules will narrow the field, your insistence on real time to be spent on a daily or weekly basis doing the writing, and on a bi-weekly or monthly basis to come together.

* Attitude will make a difference: positive, generous, cooperative, supportive. A confident writer knows that learning craft is something anyone can do, alone or in a group, but if you do have a group, you need to give and take, to be kind and honest. Strong, well-written stories get published, and if you all produce, you can each be a success. This is not one-on-one rivalry.

* Finally, a word on that glint itself. During different phases of my life, I "wrote some," I "liked to write," I "gave writing a shot and wrote when I could," and I "was getting more serious about writing." By the time I contacted the woman responsible for the flyer on the library bulletin board, I wanted a writers group because it was time to take my fiction seriously. It was time to write a full novel, a good novel, start to finish and refine it and get it published and be good enough to do it again. And again. Nothing against the old me, but you wouldn't have wanted her in your group. Perhaps I would have become a determined writer sooner, if I had been with other determined writers who encouraged me, broke down whatever fears and barriers kept me back, but who knows? In time, the motivation came from inside, real and urgent.

Once you have met a group of writers who might be the real thing, give it a go and give it some time. A few weeks, a few months. Make it clear you're operating on a trial basis and you're holding the bar high. There should be at least neutral chemistry to start, and you should sense the good chemistry developing with each passing meeting.

There you have it. How to tell fool's gold from real gold. Good luck.

****NEWS****

By Amy MacKinnon

Some of you may recall a few weeks back that I had news to share.  I couldn't spill it then, not because of any embargo imposed by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books, but because I didn't quite trust my good fortune.  Both my editor and my agent assured me it was so, but it wasn't until my publisher said oh yes, it is at lunch last week (yes, I had lunch with my publisher, how exciting is that?) was I able to believe it.

TETHERED will be the lead title in the fall catalog.

Every bit of my Dream Big scenario is so far coming true: selling to SAB, wonderful editors, foreign sales, and now lead title.  It is magical.

Speaking of foreign sales, I also heard from my UK editor at Orion last week.  They are positioning TETHERED as one of their big books for winter 2009.  I became a bit numb when she told me they're going to print copies of my book for every employee at Orion.  I can't wait to share the cover.

It is all too much to process at times, too fantastic to accept as true, but there it is.  Dream big, people, dream big.

The Evolutionary Process

by Hannah Roveto

The Group met last night, Amy at one end of the table and Lynne at the other, Lisa on the opposite side of the length of the table from me (well, the phone sat on her placemat), all in our usual spots. At the close of each meeting we pick the next date, assuming it will be two weeks from that night unless someone has a commitment. As we discussed who would have pages to share, the issue of where we all are in our various projects came up, and in turn, process.

Lynne mentioned she knows now how she seems to work best on first drafts, starting without an outline and, well, she can tell you herself at some point. Despite plugging away daily on revisions, I do have my second protagonist and her cronies tapping on my shoulder, and Lynne's comments made me realize how I seem to work best, which is of course, nothing like how she works. It also made me appreciate what I've learned from Novel Number One from a craft standpoint.

You see, stories come to me in scene fragments: a character with a problem, those immediately around him or her. I see other moments, not necessarily in order. Maybe tension rising again toward the end, or a battle of wits between two people trying hard not to fall in love. A first line of a chapter a third of the way through. In the past, I didn't know what to do with these bits, how to wrangle them into something workable, effectively, relatively efficiently. I drew out one, then another, tried to envision them in some order, write between them. Trust me, not a good idea. Some sections worked. Some, well, to be polite, did not. My process made me crazy.

By learning about fiction writing through Novel One, how it all needs to hang together, about form and structure and purpose, I can see how to work within my process.

In spare moments, I have begun putting the flashes of Novel Two on paper in one place, rather than on stickies and in small notebooks that scatter the house and my bag. Finishing Novel One is the priority, so I put away the notebook quickly, but when Novel One heads to Agent City, I am ready with questions:

*Who exactly are my characters, major and minor? The characters who seem minor at first may turn out to hold the most important clues, so everyone who shows up on the doorstep has to be recognized. I don't fill out those long questionnaires on each character, but I do start a page in a binder for each one and jot down the details that come to me. Appearance, challenge, personality, age, needs, and this gem from a great teacher: what the character thinks of the others who've shown up, as well.

*What are the plot threads that I can see in those moments, again, major and minor? What does the main character need to do, to learn, to experience? How does that affect the others, and in turn, what are their issues and journeys, respectively?out and I will pull out:

*Setting. Where do these little vignettes take place? Are they in the big city, a seaside village, a small town on the Plains? Why do I see them there, how does the setting influence them?

*Finally, what seems to be the overall premise? Why does this story need to be told and then, point of view, who is the character(s) most suited to tell it?

Even with only a few pages of notes gathered in the next couple of months, I can draw out enough from each vignette to create something more comprehensive. From there, even with an outline of a few rough strokes or even none at all at least at first, I can dive into that new world waiting to be created with confidence.

Acknowledge

By Amy MacKinnon

(I spoke too soon. The "good news" I intended to share with you today will have to wait just a bit longer. But as soon as I can open the circle, you'll be the first to know.)

Writing is often described as a solitary life and it's true. We sit alone for hours at a time, living in worlds only we know, separating ourselves from our true lives that are inhabited by real people (though it's difficult to believe our characters don't truly exist and you'll never convince me they don't). We must be alone.

But writing a book is not a completely solitary venture. If you're fortunate, you have a writers' group like mine with whom you can share your worlds. Then there are the people who've helped you along the way, either knowingly or not. Count them up and you may be surprised by the number of hands who've pulled you along.

When you needed to know what type of police-issued firearm your local officer carries you made the trip to the department and someone welcomed you, gave you a tour of the station and an ear-full of cop talk. How it informed your dialogue and the details of your setting. Or perhaps it was a hospital, school, rehab center, or in my case, funeral parlor. Someone gave you the gift of expertise and even more valuable, their time.

There are those who may never know how they've influenced your writing either through their own, in an interview, or both. For me, Terry Gross and Jonathan Franzen, Julia Glass and Amanda Eyre Ward, Alice Sebold and Stephen King, Karen Fisher and Michael Lowenthal, Arthur Golden, Scott Heim, Betsy Lerner, Charles Frazier, and Carolyn See. I turned to them again and again to guide me.

Who was the first person to believe in your writing? For me, it was an English teacher my junior year of high school. Roberta Erickson was elegantly beautiful and shared my passion for words. I so looked forward to her classes. Deconstructing Shakespeare and complex sentences were a joy. She encouraged me, took me aside to tell me I could write. She planted a seed that year, though it took years to grow. Later, three more people believed full-on I would one day publish a book: my children. Their support never faltered. Not once. Then along came the women of my writers' group and I had yet more unconditional support.

There were editors, too. I was a stay-at-home mom with absolutely no writing experience when I solicited my first newspaper assignment. I'll never know what made the editor take a chance on me, but if she hadn't I doubt I would ever have pursued a book. Another editor gave me the chance to do a monthly column and another a national platform on the op-ed page. They each gave me the gift of allowing me to try.

And so many, many more.

Enough family and friends, strangers and officials to overflow my office and fill my downstairs. When you consider it, writing a book isn't as solitary a venture as is so often described. Not one bit.

So what brings this all up? Last week, I wrote my acknowledgment. It's something I've long dreamed of -- you have too. Drafts were started as a diversion from the doubt of wondering if that manuscript would ever be read by anyone else. It fueled me to think there had to be some way, some small gesture I could make to repay others' faith in me. Perhaps more than any other part of the publishing process, writing the acknowledgment has been the most satisfying aspect of all.

I did leave out one person, though, and I feel terrible. I intend to check if it's too late to revise, I hope it's not. But if so, let me present it here. That someone who encouraged me soon after I revised my manuscript, who was there when I began querying, celebrated when I hooked my dream agent, who supported me through the dark days, and then shared my tears when the book finally sold is you. You.

Thank you.

In Honor of SCBWI Writer's Intensive

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Last year I went to SCBWI (Society for Book Writers and Illustrators) New York City conference. This year I didn't. It was held this past weekend. Though it would have been delightful, real life got in the way as it does.

In 2007, I participated in a writer's intensive on the day before it started. It's frightening, this experience: complete strangers critique two pages of one's writing. In honor of that process, I am tossing my work out onto this blog; I swore I'd never do this. But you, blog readers, are hardly strangers. Here goes ... the start of a novel, not YA. Constructive feedback, in the spirit of our writer's group, is very welcome.

The Harmonica Lady switches street corners, but she doesn’t stop playing. In, out, in, out. White puffs of breath float away in the cold air, the same as her notes do. Her tune is the predictable rhythm of a child dragging the instrument back and forth over her lips; there’s nothing remotely musical about her playing today.

Some days there seems to be.

The woman hobbles across Prince Authur Street, not checking for cars (even she knows the street is cordoned off: pedestrians only). In front of the liquor store, she drops her harmonica a moment and mutters half in French, half in English, mixing in broken and forgotten Italian from her childhood, maybe.

It is a day for change; the Harmonica Lady has ditched the worn army blanket she wrapped tight around her shoulders since snow fell in November. A new shawl, a light blue as soft as the veins at the old woman’s temples, has taken its place. It’s either a gift from some do gooder – not me, I learned my lesson two weeks ago - or a lucky trash find.

The Harmonica Lady was actually a selling point when I considered this apartment. The second floor walkup is a renovated brownstone. Expensive? Sure. But a pied a terre in this part of Montreal? The real estate agent with her chain smoking, hard sell monologue was stuck on the word charming: Cet apartement est charmant, n’est pas? Et regarde la femme, elle est charmante.

...

Author Spotlight: Carolyn Parkhurst

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Every writer hopes her journey toward publication will be a magical one. And who doesn’t dream critics will hail her debut, “brilliant” and “inventive,” and proclaim her second novel, “a deeply affecting page turner.” For Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found, dreams do come true.

In the first of The Writers’ Group 2008 author interview series, Carolyn Parkhurst shares an inside look at her literary life.

Lynne Griffin: Can you share with our readers the highlights of your writing life?
Carolyn Parkhurst: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. In the beginning, I wrote and worked at a book store, though it was hard to get a lot done. I decided to get an MFA, and while it’s not for everyone, I really thrived in a place where everyone was focused on writing.

I wrote my first novel, The Dogs of Babel in about two and one half years. I finished just before I had my son. A few months after he was born, I put together a list of five or six agents to query. I used books, read other authors’ acknowledgment pages, and talked with friends. I signed with an agent relatively quickly, from that first round of querying, and he sold my novel in about two weeks. I think it’s important to submit work that is as good as you can possibly make it.

LG: I’ve read stories about your editor reading your book and making a middle of the night phone call to your agent to make an offer.
CP: Yes, it’s fun to have a good story. The whole process was very exciting. Submission of Lost and Found was different in that I submitted to my editor at Little, Brown with fifty pages. With some back and forth, it ultimately was placed there.

In some ways it was better to be writing with the certainty it would be published. On the other hand, it was hard at times to write under pressure. It worked out fine, though.

LG: Do you have a writing routine? What’s your process?
CP: In the early stages, I do a lot of brainstorming. For the novel I’m working on now, I thought through the idea for about a year and half and now it’s been just months that I’ve been writing it. I brainstorm, jotting down ideas. Writing little pieces. I don’t journal, but I often write things that don’t end up in any books. I think in the early stages, it’s important not to edit yourself too much.

I typically write every week day, but not always. And not on weekends, holidays or vacations. I like to really be there for my children and the other people in my life. I don’t write at home. I leave the house, go to Starbucks or a place like that. With my first book, I wrote a page a day. I could do more, but tried not to do less. I haven’t done that since. My writing now has to fit into a schedule, because I’m a parent. I can write for a couple of hours—two or three at a time—that seems to work for me.

LG: In a blog post earlier this month, I wrote about knowing your novel’s theme before you write. Do you know your novel’s themes or do they present to you along the way?
CP: I often don’t know what my novels’ themes are until closer to the end. I think it’s probably a mistake to start there. To me it’s more organic to know the story or the characters first.

LG: Another post this month explored a novel’s seeds. What were the seeds for your novels?
CP: I always start with a couple of different ones. I usually start with a situation and then a character. In The Dogs of Babel, I had this idea of a man whose wife has died. He needs to know what happened, yet there needed to be something off balance in the way he handles his grief. So situation, then character, and then comes the character’s voice.

In Lost and Found, I wondered about those stories you hear about teenage girls’ hiding their pregnancies. And then I thought about how reality shows might change people. Those two things came together for me.

LG: What’s different about writing a second or third novel, when you’re already agented and published?
CP: The way I manage time is different. I have a family now and I didn’t with book one. It is harder to focus sometimes because my mind is occupied, there are more distractions. But I have more confidence that I can do it, because I have. While there is something new with each book, and you can’t just rest on the idea that you’ve done it before, I have a different kind of confidence. It’s of course easier to be agented and published, I feel lucky. I’d say overall it’s mostly good, but I still have realistic concerns.

LG: How do you balance writing with promoting?
CP: Well of course its part of my job to do both. In truth, promoting is distracting from writing a new book. It’s time consuming and requires you to put yourself out there, be a more public person. But I’m always happy to do the promotional work I’m asked to do. There’s a flurry of opportunity in the beginning, when a new novel comes out. And then later, as little things come up, I do that. Interviews, book groups.

LG: Do lulls in publicity worry you?
CP: Like anyone I like it when there’s interest in my work, but then it’s not my most productive writing period. Then when things aren’t going on, I wonder if people are still reading my work. There’s a typical cycle to it.

LG: Our readers will be happy to know you work with a writers’ group. How does yours work? Who are your early/late readers?
CP: There are six members, and once a month three writers submit work. Most are working on novels, though there was one person working on a memoir and occasionally someone submits short stories. Everyone at the moment is published, but it wasn’t always that way. It is important though that we’re all at roughly the same level and that we generally like each others work. My first readers are my husband, my agent, and my writers’ group. I really value the feedback. It’s easy to lose perspective if you’re entirely on your own.

One of the important things you need to learn is how to sift through feedback. When one loves something and one hates it, you need to listen. You need to see if you can do something with that feedback. But you shouldn’t make changes that aren’t true to your vision.

LG: Are you working on a novel now? What’s next for you?
CP: I’m working on a third book; it was submitted on sixty pages. I just accepted a two book deal with Doubleday.

LG: What’s your most important advice related to craft?
CP: In terms of getting published, without a doubt it’s persistence. You have to learn how to accept rejection; every author has drawers of rejection letters. You have to trust you will find your audience, or that they will find you. Don’t aim for an audience, writing what you think is the next big thing. Trust that your work will choose you, and that readers will find you.

Huge thanks to Carolyn for taking the time to stop by The Writer’s Group. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we can’t wait to read her next novel.

The Heart of a Seed

Posted by Lynne


The faith waiting in the heart of a seed promises a miracle of life which it cannot prove at once.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

In 2000, my mother was flattened by a stroke and in her suffering she handed me the seed that would become my second novel. The character she inspired is not her in most ways. Nor are any of the other characters, found in my work-in-progress inspired by people I've known, real people. Or the plot points I’ve chosen, real events. Yes, I’ve taken details—other seeds—from my life and placed them in my protagonist’s home or let them slip from the lips of my supporting characters’ mouths. They are merely seeds. The dictionary definition of which is: that from which anything springs; a first principle; the original source.

My protagonist and her husband meet in a museum. My husband and I met in a bar, but the idea for my fictional couple’s meeting place stems from the little known fact that I told my grandmother I met my husband in a museum because our reality would have been unseemly to her back then. She later told me she knew the truth, but liked my fib much better. “It’s more romantic,” she said. Seed.

A major symbol in my work-in-progress is curtains. Swag, tab and pinch pleat. With their names as unique as pets, one of my characters adores designing and sewing them. Though my own mother never designed anything, and could barely thread a needle to sew a button on, she did love to change the curtains in our home. I remember she once said to me, “You wouldn’t wear the same clothes for six months, why would you want to look at the same curtains.” Seed.

Last fall when Life Without Summer sold to St Martin’s, my enormous delight was tinged with a spot of regret for not pursuing my fiction career sooner; I will be forty-nine when my debut novel hits shelves. Through the years I’ve looked in many places to find my personal form of artistic expression. Then came raising my children, launching my business, and writing my nonfiction. Still I wonder why I didn’t pursue this creative passion years ago.

Then last week, fully into writing a first draft of my second novel, it hit me that my age is actually a gift I couldn’t exchange now. I was reminded that I have no shortage of seeds to inform and give authenticity to my work. As I write, details spring from my life experience. Right there just underground, is a memory that is exactly what I need to round out a scene, the particulars act as motivation for a character. Digging deeper, I pull out a fabulous name from my childhood for a key character, and I unearth from a family vacation, the perfect setting for a cliffhanger. My days and nights working in an intensive care unit as a nurse, while putting myself through grad school, give me the fine points I'll need for two high stakes pivotal scenes. These details are organic, and though borrowed from another life, I have faith they will give genuineness to this one I am creating.

The seeds are there; planted over many years, they wait for all of us. Mature writers, like experienced gardeners, know when the time is right for harvest.

Postscript—The opening quote was a seed for this blog entry.

Full Circle

Posted by Lisa

"I saw the stringy-haired girl one time.In a bowling alley in New Hampshire. It was raining out. The drizzle woke me and stayed for the day, a guest my parents never invited to our Lake Winnipesaukee cottage.That day my dad drove the five of us to Wolfeboro, to give us something to do. My sister, brother, our neighbors, Kathy and Scott. I was twelve, I think. Or thirteen. My dad gave us money, for snacks, sodas, shoe rentals, and three straight hours of strings.


The girl in the bowling alley was my age, thereabouts. She watched me, the whole time. I wondered what she saw. I glanced at her often, wondering why her dad looked so young and why her mom never spoke to her. She was someone lonely, with sad eyes that even a day of bowling wouldn't change. She was longing for a friend, longing for a lot of things. I think she would have liked a Coke. I sipped mine through two skinny straws.

Like any writer, anywhere, images stay with me. I have a picture of that girl – in my mind. It's next to a little boy I once saw trying to surf on washed up driftwood. We all have those photo albums. Sometimes I flip through the pictures. They tell snippets of stories. Things that never sat right with me. Things I didn't understand. I worried about those people. I write about them now, giving them names, and circumstances. I make up worlds for them to live in. I need to fill in the answers for the questions I had about them.”

The above was from a blog entry I made aver a year ago, and for over a year, I have been trying to complete a YA novel. It’s changed, tremendously, as my writer’s group can attest, but the story, the plot, has never been clear to me. This has made it hard, torturous, really. Plot, I’ve discovered, is my weakness in writing. Why did I choose to set my story in New Hampshire? It was all because of that stringy-haired girl. Only, where was she in my novel? Believe it or not, nowhere.

Over the last few days, I have been struggling with plot (arrgggh! No great shock in that). Like a mouse in a maze, I keep hitting dead ends. Today, I realized, I must listen to that stringy-haired girl; she’s in my novel, finally(with hair not so stringy anymore), but she is why I started this novel, and she must help me finish it. I have to listen to her. Will she give me the answers I need?

I certainly hope so.

Novel Concept

Posted by Lynne

As a young girl, one of my favorite memories involves reading a book bigger than me filled with black and white illustrations and fables written by a man named Aesop. I imagined Aesop as an old man with a long white beard, I didn't know what the words philosopher or sage meant back then, but I knew he had to be wise. Why? Because of the morals at the end of his tales. The simple one liners that pulled the whole story together.

A few weeks back, I began to ponder the notion of theme related to the novel when a writers forum I visit tackled a discussion about it. The question posed was do you know your themes before you write or are they made visible after you write? I was a bit surprised to learn that some writers don't know their themes until the end of a full draft.

To me, every great story has themes and the writer simply must know at least some of them before writing. I'll use one of Aesop's to illustrate my point. In the Dove and the Ant, the ant falls into the river and the dove drops a bough to help the ant get safely to the shoreline. Later the ant stings the man about to use his bow and arrow to shoot the dove from the sky. The moral--one good turn deserves another, and little friends can be great friends.

The theme or moral argument in this little example is a major underpinning of the story structure. Knowing the message-- the truth behind the writing--drives plot, informs character, and even offers authenticity to setting.

I'd been thinking a lot about theme before Christmas, and then the books I received as gifts forced me to examine it on a deeper level. If you don't agree with me-- that great writers know themes before writing-- I challenge you to read On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan or Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas or Beloved by Toni Morrison. I can barely breathe when I read these masters because every word, though never heavy handed, gently takes the reader by the hand to bring her to a universal theme about love, or identity, or justice, or friendship, or dreams.

If you want to create a truly accessible work of fiction, I encourage you to examine the idea of themes in writing. Another of my favorite gifts was John Truby's, The Anatomy of Story. Truby does a great job discussing the need to articulate your themes before writing and he offers so much more about creating a workable premise for your novel. It is a must read if you resolve to write a novel this year.

Each day before you write, revisit your themes. Immerse yourself in your character's truth. I believe your wisdom will find its way into your story, and readers will be forever changed.

Resolve

By Amy

I have always set goals for myself. When I was a freshman in high school, my guidance counselor suggested I become someone's secretary or a stewardess (back then they weren't called flight attendants). Ironic because I'm an absolute control freak and terrified of flying. She said I wasn't smart enough to realize my dream and become a veterinarian or doctor or something, somebody else. She gave me an aptitude test which revealed I had a facility with conceptualizing space management but was below average in verbal skills. Even then I found it odd because I was always hopelessly lost in even the most familiar surroundings (I still can't find my way around town or the local mall) and I'd always loved to read. I've kept that test, never forgot her expectations of me, and I resolved to prove her wrong by going to college and becoming my own person.

When I was a young woman working on Capitol Hill, I resolved not to date anyone who didn't meet certain criteria. You can probably guess I kissed a lot of toads. I even made a list of certain characteristics a man had to have from the most superficial (he must be taller than I am) to very sensible (he must be employed and making strides toward a career) to the sublime (he must have a good relationshiop with his mother). My co-workers laughed at my list, but within the year I found my husband.

When I was home with three young children, I resolved not to waste the opportunities life had afforded me: I was born to a wonderful family, in good health, and with all the freedoms given to American citizens. I decided writing would allow me to stay home with my children while carving out a life of my own. So I would write. I told my husband of my intention to get a column in the Boston Globe and he scoffed. He's a newspaper man, he knows that's impossible terrain. Luckily, I didn't know and wasn't hemmed in by someone else's rules and dictates. Within a year and a half, I was freelancing regularly for the Globe and even had a monthly column.

When I resolved to write a book, virtually no one believed I could. For years, even I resisted; only smart people write books, I thought. The day I knew I could, the moment I knew I would, was the first time I sat at my computer and tried. Everything about it just felt right. I started going to conferences, lectures, took classes. Time and again, those in the know would say getting a book published was difficult, nearly impossible. I remember one lecture in particular where the author said to the room filled with nearly 200 of us aspiring writers, "If you're lucky, two of you in this room will get your book published -- but probably none of you will." I resolved to be one of the two.

I'm not one to make resolutions on New Year's Day, I don't like artificial prompts. I am one to resolve to live my life to my expectations, to be resolute in achieving my goals. The New York Times had a fascinating story in which it was stated, "the walls of the proverbial box in which we think are thickening along with our experience." The more we know about what we should and shouldn't do, what is and isn't expected of us, the more likely we are to meet others' expectations of ourselves. But, really, who knows you best?

Now that I've achieved my latest goal, it's time to set new ones. I won't share them all here, they're mine and some of you might scoff. Instead, I challenge you to set some of your own, to do the impossible and believe in them, don't box yourself in by too much knowledge or too many rules. Those limitations are for others. Write a book, get that agent you want, sell it for a magnificent deal, envision it as a bestseller, a backlist title, write a better book. Resolve to be who you want to be, the person you are meant to become.

Try.



**UPDATE** Speaking of setting goals and realizing them, send your huge congratulations to our friend Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of Booksense Notable Pick for January 2008, FACE TIME! It couldn't have happened to a more deserving writer.

A New House

Posted by Lynne

I've never built a house, but I took a wonderful course on building a novel. When I was deep in to a revision of Life Without Summer, I took a course on story construction offered through Grub Street by the smart and talented Stace Budzko. It helped me then, but how was I to know that eight months later, as I delved into crafting my next novel, that things he taught me would flood into my mind with new relevancy.

The elements of our stories are not unlike those of a house. What we know about our characters--how they behave and misbehave--their desires, wants and needs are as important to the writer as the windows that allow light into the living room. Plot can be seen as the opening and closing of doors. Voice--the house's architectural style.

Having built and sold one novel already, I know that building a good foundation is critical to the novel's ability to stand out in the marketplace. For me, settling on point of view is an important first step in creating the right structure, telling the right story. Whose story is it? Which character(s) have the most to gain and the most to lose given the situations and complications I've chosen to write about? When I find the heart of the story, I know it. I love writing in two voices, so for me there is often more than one heart to consider.

At every stage of novel building it's important to use quality goods. For a writer, the raw materials are words. This time I'm finding it even easier to lay down the structure with care, partly because the more I write the more I fall in love with words. Though in truth, I'm confident, because I trust that even when a house is done, there is nothing wrong with moving a little furniture or hanging new curtains. Even brothers and sisters have been known to change rooms, and parents know when it's time to add a room over the garage.

Perhaps the single most valuable lesson I learned from Stace during that weekend in April relates to setting. I will be forever grateful to him for opening my eyes to the idea that setting can be compelling, not merely a backdrop "where characters do their thing". Whether you imagine the places in your novel as pleasing, forbidding or somewhere in between, setting embodies all the places that influence the way your characters see the world and how they respond to it.

Andre Dubus once said, "We enter the fictional world through memory". During my weekend course, Stace urged me to take every opportunity to pry, eavesdrop, stare, and otherwise gather the material I'd need to build a story. Little did he know that the perspectives he offered, I would remember, serving me well in my building projects down the road.