Check, check: We’re Live

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I usually try to do a year-in-review post, and here it is twenty days into the new year. 2018 had plenty of ups and its share of disappointments — what year doesn’t have them? It started with my recovery from having another organ being removed (gallbladder) and ended with a giant health-related question mark, which still needs to be answered (hopefully at the end of this month).

Writing-wise, the year was much the same. In April, I received a full-manuscript request from an agent while I was at the NAFA I & E. You better believe I was jumping and quiet screaming in the hotel room when I received that email at 5 a.m. PDT. Then, months passed. Nothing. A quick email sent as a follow-up. No response. Concerned my email hadn’t made it through, I sent another via my work email and received an auto-reply that noted the agent was on sabbatical and to contact the agency’s owner with questions.

Apparently, the agent had a lot going on in her personal life and had needed to step back. She hadn’t passed along any of the manuscripts that she had received. I was crushed. The agency’s owner invited me to query another agent there, which I did as soon as that agent (the only other agent who accepted my genre) came back from her vacation.

It was hard to start back at square one, but I swore to myself I would. If it worked, stellar! If not, I would self-publish. I have complete faith in the story and its characters.

Perhaps the greatest impact of 2018 was a long bout of depression. It showed in my house. It showed in my habit of coming home and just huddling on my sofa, watching TV or Netflix. It wasn’t until Jan. 1, 2019, that I fully admitted I had been deeply depressed. For one thing, I woke up that day. Clocking in over 22,000 steps, I cleaned my house, peeled back the clutter, put things back into their proper places, and saw clearly again. I had checked out. I had refused to acknowledge it over the course of the year, but I had.

I seem to be on the upside of things again. I’m routinely reading books again and met my Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge — ultimately, reading 23 of 20 books. I hope to highlight some of my 2018 reading highlights this month. For 2019, I hope to double my total reading to 40 books. I probably read a lot more if one counts fanfiction — I do love reading fanfiction.

Progress is also being made on my writing as well. My historical fiction novel is fully researched, plotted, and outlined. I read what I had of chapter one to my local writing workshop, and the overly positive response that I received there fueled me to finish that chapter. I’m now into chapter two. I’m also dusting off the sequel to my sci-fi novel and have made good progress on it (now on page 101). Receiving a request for additional material on Heritage Lost, the first in the series, has given me more drive on this project; though the knowledge that my alpha and beta readers are also waiting to see the series and characters progress is never far from my mind. My goal is to have both — the HF and sci-fi — novels concluded by the end of this year.

So, this is where I stand. With luck, I will update this blog more frequently. I know there is plenty I want to talk about.

Fiction in Motion: Return Home

Pictured is the Rush, Ohio, train depot in 1917. (Public Domain Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Gene Goodwin had lived in that house — breathed, grown, entertained neighborhood kids in and around it. Even now, Emma could see his long fingers looped around the wagon’s handle, giggles escaping from her and her sister as he roared down the lane with them sitting cross-legged in it. Each bump jarred their bones and sent them into the wagon’s sides and each other. It had not stopped their shrill calls for him to never stop.

The house had been something in those days: properly painted, windows with crisp white curtains fluttering in the breeze, cute shutters painted green, and the roof all in order. On good days, neither too hot or too cold, Mrs. Goodwin would set herself on the porch, much like a queen, or how Emma had envisioned one while a child, waving at those passing by and welcoming fellow women from the community to join her. The porch hadn’t been screened in back then, though it was hardly nowadays either. Its tattered screen hung in places, suspended by slithers. A creature had done a number on the material, leaving tears and holes.

Still, she swallowed, lemonade now years past tantalizing her taste buds. It and the pastries had always set so right on a hot day, surrounded by Mrs. Goodwin’s garden, a collection of daisies, coneflowers, and her prized roses. The wind would blow right, catching the lilacs, which had been uprooted at some point.

Not far from where the lilacs had grown, Emma had ogled at Gene’s automobile, an ever-in-progress project. A collection of scattered tools, a disassembled frame, and a mess of whosie whatsits. His toothy smile as he pointed out components still shone brightly in my mind, along with the hint of motor oil, long after the words were lost.
He never finished it.

Continue reading “Fiction in Motion: Return Home”

Historical Fiction Writer On The Road

Me at the Rennselaer Library in Jasper County, IN.

I’ve never traveled for my writing before, but this September I found myself in Jasper County, IN, researching for my historical fictional novel, which I’m tentatively calling Beneath the Black Oak. Focusing on an Amish girl during WWI and rising tensions against anything considered German in the U.S., I had been trying to place my fictional town somewhere in Indiana — go with what you know, right?

After speaking with a professor who specializes in Anabaptist history, I began to favor Jasper County, which at the time of WWI had a small Amish community — though they later moved — and also had a close proximity to Chicago thanks to the Monon Railroad. There were, of course, questions about whether or not the county would be a completely good fit, but at least with a fictional town, I have some added leeway.

Continue reading “Historical Fiction Writer On The Road”

Indie on a Budget: Cover Design

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Being an indie author — if you want to do it right — is not cheap. For one thing, your work will need editing, formatting, and a cover. And don’t forget to consider a marketing budget, too! For a complete breakdown of potential costs, I highly recommend Lit Chic’s post, “You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money.” She goes into the nitty-gritty details using her own indie experience. And she also stresses budgets and realistic expectations for return on investment.

I’m not rich. Usually, when I start to do financially well (just well, never even approaching wealthy), I either lose an organ (down two so far!), my car acts up, or my house requires repairs. It’s like clockwork. While self-publishing Acceptance, I was suffering gallbladder attacks, which led to the organ’s eventual removal and a pile of medical bills. Now as I’m self-publishing Long Way Down, that medical bill pile is still there, so both releases have had a shoestring budget at best. Since both are short stories, I had to have very small expectations for my ROI.

Continue reading “Indie on a Budget: Cover Design”

Life Is A Whirlwind

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A lot of exciting things have been happening in my writing life in 2018. For one thing, I actually got a bite from an agent! I have been querying Heritage Lost for about 2 1/2 years, off and on. After taking a break, I’d picked up querying at the beginning of this year, and unlike past querying cycles, I wasn’t getting form letters … I was receiving silence. I’d rather have the form letters than the silent rejections.

Then, while I was on a business trip to California in April, I woke up — one of those situations where the brain is just awake. Unable to slip back to sleep, I did what any person does in the 21st century: I went to browse my cellphone, and I saw the email. My innards instantly cringed upon seeing a response to one of my queries from February as I just expected a form letter rejection. I opened it, and I could not believe my eyes. It was a FULL manuscript request. I won’t lie after reading those words, I was jumping up and down in that hotel room, quiet screaming. I did not go back to sleep afterward, even though it was pretty early in California.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the agent on that manuscript, but it is my understanding that they have a fairly large backlog, so I can patiently wait. But in the meantime, I continue to focus on other projects.

New Short Story On The Way

"Long Way Down" is coming to Amazon Kindle on Friday, July 6. Be on the look out for more information!
“Long Way Down” is coming to Amazon Kindle on Friday, July 6. Be on the lookout for more information!

Back in 2014, I had participated in a micro-fiction contest that Tipsy Lit (which appears to be no more) had held. The contests (weekly or monthly, I can’t recall) limited submissions to 500 words, and each one of these contests had a specific theme, which made it a lot of fun. The theme for this particular week/month was “Choices, Choices,” and my piece — Long Way Down — put three unattended children, trapped in a war zone, into a rather precarious situation. The piece stuck with me, and over the years, I have been expanding it to its current state.

Having no word limit, I enjoyed being able to dive more into Yuu’s character: a preteen who has lost her family and has been surviving on her own for so long that she struggles on whether to help a pair of siblings trapped in similar circumstances or not.Continue reading “Life Is A Whirlwind”

Don’t Ditch Emotion in Pursuit Of ‘Strength’

The saying goes that boys don’t cry, and a lot can be said about toxic masculinity and its impact on boys as they grown up, especially if they don’t fit the mold of what it “means” to be a “proper” man — showing too much emotion or pursuing certain interests, for instance. This is crops up in fiction with male characters, some of whom seem almost divorced of certain emotions. It can lead to some very uncomfortable situations frankly as characters fail to, well, be human.Continue reading “Don’t Ditch Emotion in Pursuit Of ‘Strength’”

Reflecting A Real World

I’d briefly mentioned the importance of offering a diverse cast of women in the post about “agency,” and now, we are going to explore that thought in depth. Diversity is an important component to include in any story — and not just with female characters, of course — because it is good for the reader and it is good for the writer.

For readers, diversity offers a greater possibility that they will develop a personal connection with at least one character — and through that connection, the story becomes more personal. It is also a way to introduce readers to walks of life they might not be familiar with. As for writers, it stretches the creative writing muscles and allows us to step into an infinite supply of new shoes, as it were. I also believe a diverse cast opens the way to a more interesting story that sometimes takes writers down paths we might not have considered for the plot beforehand. It also opens the opportunity to shine the light on women who aren’t always portrayed in fiction — or positively portrayed.

Often times, women in fiction get pigeon-holed into set molds, particularly as damsels, femme fatales, or the unfleshed out “strong” woman (just check out TvTropes.com for the basic feminity tropes).  Women in real-life are a full spectrum with different interests, goals, physiques, strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, and personalities. By showcasing those differences in fiction, a layer of realism is added.

A multitude of different women can also reduce the “wedge” effect discussed in Monday’s blog post. By having women that a FMC can relate to, get along with, or simply work with, it lessens the starkness of the only other woman within the covers of the book being viewed so poorly by the FMC as she has other women in her life that she likes and/or values. Of course, there is no excuse for not fleshing out that antagonistic character or villanizing them without supporting actions within the narrative’s framing.

Diverse female casts allow for the exploration of various relationships and how people from varying walks of life might interact with each other. There is also the opportunity to further explore different choices and how characters have a right to their choices even if others wouldn’t necessarily arrive at the same choice or even agree with them. It can make for interesting drama (not the junior high type of drama) and a chance to really push readers’ (or even the writer’s) own understandings.

For some reason, women characters have picked up a reputation for being hard to write — not everyone is of this opinion, of course. Really all it takes is pausing, looking at all the women in your life, or going to a coffee shop or some other public space, and actually watching and listening. Or as Campbell Soup would say, reflect the “real, real life” happening in front of your eyes on the page.

Women’s History Month Writing Prompt: Galentine’s Day

In the spirit of Leslie Knope, our Patron Saint of Waffles, throw a Galentine's Day celebration. It might not be Feb. 13, but this is the perfect opportunity to explore your fictional women's relationships.
In the spirit of Leslie Knope, our Patron Saint of Waffles, throw a Galentine’s Day celebration. It might not be Feb. 13, but this is the perfect opportunity to explore your fictional women’s relationships.

I’m a huge fan of Parks and Recreation, and while it is March and not Feb. 13, I felt Leslie Knope’s Galentine’s Day would make a great foundation for “Women in Fiction” Week’s writing prompt.

The Prompt

You will be gathering your fictional women (from one book/story or across a collection of your works) for a Galentine’s Day celebration. They will talk with each and interact with each other, for better or for worse depending on their relationships. Conversations should pass the Bechdel Test, or not center around the men in their lives (Brief mentions are OK). Use this prompt as a means to explore character relationships and, of course, have fun! If you choose to share your response to the prompt on your blog, please share a link in the comments below — I’d love to see them.

Agency, Why It Matters

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No matter if they’re slaying goblins, concocting the medicines of the future, or staying at home with the kids while also exploring their passions, I prefer my FMCs to have agency over their own stories. (Background image MorgueFile.com)

A lot has been made of strong women lately in literature. It’s a trend I like, but sometimes, I think it pigeonholes female characters into one mold — we will get into that during a future post this week where we dive into diverse fictional women.  Rather than using the term strong women in my wish list, all I really want are women who have agency.

Among the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions for “agency,” No. 3 fits what I’m looking for: a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved. The female main character needs to have some exertion of power over her story, whether through strength, wits, dogged determination, etc. Often times this agency is lost to the male characters within the story, and everything the FMC does is based on what the male characters want or are doing.Continue reading “Agency, Why It Matters”

Women Don’t Need To Be Wedges To Each Other’s Happiness

Header photo of a wedge being driven in

This rant is a long time in coming. You’ve probably seen the trope yourself: Two women — sometimes the only two in the entire book — one is our heroine, the other, well, she’s mostly a four- or five-letter word . . . you know the words I’m talking about. The latter usually earns this title for flimsy reasons and because of her proximity to the female lead’s love interest. The narrative itself often offers very little reason for why readers should hate this other female character.

Continue reading “Women Don’t Need To Be Wedges To Each Other’s Happiness”