NaNoNotebook

Every Wednesday from now until November 1st I'll be posting some ideas, resources and other info that may be of help to those of you planning to join in NaNoWriMo 2010.

For me, one of the personal pleasures of writing novels is putting together my novel notebook. No one sees this writing tool but me, so I can do exactly what I want with it (and I do.) It also allows me to stay organized when I'm working on a book, which is an important part of my process. I don't want to have to rustle around looking for notes when I can't remember the protagonist's middle name, or in which chapter the antagonist unleashes what chaos, or when I promised my agent I'd send her the proposal. I don't have a secretary, and I have story to write.

For me a novel notebook is basically the depository of all the notes, outlines, character bios, setting info, research, plotting and other ideas that I use for writing a book. Here's the one I've started putting together for my NaNo novel. It's not mandatory that you put one together in advance, or even make one at all, but I think having a place for all your story-related ephemera keeps you organized and saves time (especially when while writing you go fuzzy on some detail and need to refer back to your original outline, character notes, research, scribbles, etc.)

I've always made notebooks for my novels, but I started out just keeping a neatly-typed synopsis, chapter summaries and character worksheets together in a binder. Over time I gradually began adding other things, like sketches, photos, cover art mockups, journal entries relating to the book, music CDs and other inspirational bits. Now my notebooks are as much creative diaries and story archives as they are work schematics and fiction blue prints.

The spiral notebook I use (which fits in the binder, btw) is where I jot down all my notes related to the story. I also have a pocket-size blank book that I carry in my purse most of the time. In the binder I also insert tabbed pocket dividers (the pockets are handy for smaller items like Post-It notes, CDs and pocket journals.)

No matter what I'm writing, I always tab a section for characters, plot, setting, notes, research materials and submission info. Another strategy that helps me is to create a small theme icon for every novel (this can be anything from a word to a symbol) which I use to mark all the related paperwork in the upper right hand corner -- also very helpful later when I'm sorting out things I need to put in the office file.

Other sections I use are more business-related (pitching, promotion, styling, lists of editors to pitch for my agent and so on) but one I find very useful while writing is a section on visuals (photographed or sketched depictions of characters, objects, settings; floorplans, topographical maps, etc.) I also keep backups of my daily work on CD in my notebook because I'm just paranoid that way.

The last section in my notebook is always reserved for my synopsis. I do this because A) I always write the synopsis before I write the novel, B) it's the one document I refer to most frequently when writing, and C) I like to make any necessary corrections to it as I write the book versus rewriting it after the story is finished. Having it in the back of my notebook makes it easy to flip to immediately.

As I mentioned, it's not necessary to create a novel notebook in order to write your NaNoWriMo story, and you certainly don't need to organize everything the way I do for a book. If it's simple to use, you'll be more likely to use it. Also, don't feel forced to put your story stuff in a binder; you can use file folders, a blank book, a legal pad, a bigger spiral notebook (I like the ones that are divided into five or six sections for students), a software program or even an electronic gadget of some sort. Remember, this writing tool is for you, not anyone else, so make it what you want it to be, and have some fun with it.

Related links (Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive):

PBW's Novel Notebook: This is a free .pdf e-book with templates and examples of some of the things I do with my novel notebooks (and feel free to change it around to suit your process and/or discard what you don't need.)

To organize her creative writing projects, our blogpal LJ Cohen worked with Tiddlywiki (TW), a "javascript based open source personal wiki that lives as a single html page, on a local hard drive, a thumbdrive, or on a server" to create TiddlyWikiWrite (TWW). Per Lisa: "It is an electronic relational filecard system that runs in any browser window on your local computer." She's also generously shared it online for free use and distribution.

The free version of AM-Notebook is "a multi-featured personal information manager that provides an easy and reliable way to save notes, formula supported spreadsheets, diagrams/flowcharts, to do lists, tasks and contacts within a light weight tray icon tool" (OS: Windows 7 (32/64 bit), Vista, XP, 2000)

The Printable Notebook allows you to "organize and print your personal data in the same manner a paper notebook does. You can print (and cut) selected pages so that they fit into your paper notebook. The program allows you to create multiple notebooks with custom fields for each. It includes several sample print templates, that will fit a standard notebook size. The templates are XML based and can be edited by experienced users to accommodate other formats. Printable Notebook supports website links and email fields, different tab layouts, search across notebooks and more" (OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP)

Scribe is "a free cross-platform note-taking program designed especially with historians in mind. Think of it as the next step in the evolution of traditional 3x5 note cards. Scribe allows you to manage your research notes, quotes, thoughts, contacts, published and archival sources, digital images, outlines, timelines, and glossary entries. You can create, organize, index, search, link, and cross-reference your note and source cards. You can assemble, print, and export bibliographies, copy formatted references to clipboard, and import sources from online catalogs. You can store entire articles, add extended comments on each card in a separate field, and find and highlight a particular word within a note or article. Scribe's uses range from an undergraduate history research seminar to a major archival research project" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X)

Pindersoft offers a thirty day free trial of their Writers Project Organizer, which is "manuscript orientated software for writers and not a magic magic program to get you published. What Writers Project Organizer will do is organize your ideas, thoughts, submissions, plots, storylines and contacts within the publishing industry" (OS: Windows + Microsoft's .Net Framework 3.5, looks like it's good to run on Vista)

e-Pestered

A few weeks ago I became aware of a new twist in buying books online. After I compiled my order and was checking out, I reviewed the list to make sure I got everything and saw that I had somehow ordered digital versions of the paperbacks I wanted. This is because on the bookseller's site the digital version now comes up first when you perform a search (and the icon that identifies it as a digital book is this little tiny thing on the order page I can hardly see.) Fortunately I was still at the point where I could delete the order and start over, but it really annoyed me.

It was also the reason I went to a book store to pick up my giveaway copies of The Icing on the Cake for the blog (as well as to keep to my vow of shopping more often at the brick-and-mortars.) I admit, I dislike this particular store a bit because I have to walk around the huge e-reader kiosk they set up where the front table of hardcover bestsellers used to be. But for once I got by it before the sales guy had a chance to push his demo at me, so I thought I was in the clear.

Not so. When I went to check out, the twenty-something bookseller manning the register noticed among my stack of lovely reads I had three copies of Alison Kent's book, and pointed this out to me with the superior concern of a young guy who thinks I'm so old and ditzy that I don't know what I'm buying. Rather than launch into a real explanation, or tell him to mind his own business, I smiled and said I was sharing them with friends.

Instantly the bookseller launched into a sales pitch for the store's e-reader. I'm not kidding. Instantly. I doubt he inhaled first.

I stopped him at And you can take all your books with you on vacation!, politely refused, and expected him to finish ringing me out because I said no. He didn't. He offered to send me and my purchases over to the kiosk guy, who would give me a personal demo of how they looked on the e-reader so I could see the enormity of the delight and convenience I was missing out on.

I repeated my no-thanks for a second time. Okay, maybe through my teeth, but still, nicely.

The bookseller was either hard of hearing or went temporarily deaf, because he began regaling me at length with how many hard-to-find titles he's personally acquired since buying his e-reader. I kept on my polite face while I silently marveled at how truly awful his taste in books was. Then he told me how silly it is to stick to buying paperbacks, which btw won't even be available in a few years, didn't I know that, doddering old person that I am? All right, he didn't call me a doddering old person, but it was in his beady little twenty-something eyes.

I could feel my own right eyelid starting to twitch (never a good sign), and my spleen eagerly suggested I open the torpedo tube doors and prepare to fire the warheads. But he was a kid, and I reluctantly put myself on Defcon 1 before (for the third time) I said no. I didn't add thank you that time. I was biting the inside of my cheek too hard.

The bookseller looked mystified for a moment, and then asked in good salesman fashion, "So what problem do you have with e-readers?" All eager to argue me out of whatever stupid reasons I have.

I'm not prejudiced against e-readers. Why would I be, I've been using e-books as promotional tools on the internet for the last ten years, and these devices expand my potential readership every day. They're interesting, convenient and fun, and provide tons of storage space. They've certainly contributed a lot to my sales, especially on my backlist titles. My sister, the hardcover snob? She owns a Kindle and during our last visit spent like thirty minutes telling me how much she loves it. Handled the right way, I think e-readers have the potential to bring about a global reading Renaissance. All the way around they're great things. Hooray for e-readers. Bravo. I mean that, sincerely.

But do I want one for myself? Absolutely not.

Even if e-readers eventually evolve into something I could manage to use with my physical limitations (hands + vision), as a writer I stare at a screen a minimum of eight hours a day. I don't want to look at one when I read. Also, I'm tired of gadgets. I have enough gadgets. I even own gadgets for my gadgets. I am gadgeted-out.

When I read, I want something that I don't have to put batteries in, or plow through electronic ads, or fiddle with buttons. I just want a damn book, all right? That's my personal preference, and while it may make me an unhip old stegosaurus out of step with the rest of the reading world, until paper and ink are outlawed frankly I think I'm entitled to it.

I considered telling the little smartass all this, as well as pointing out what can happen when a frequent patron standing at the register with wallet in hand and more than a hundred dollars in merchandise on the counter gets pissed off enough to make her right eyelid twitch uncontrollably.

But I've been on the other side of the register; I used to sell books for a living. That was in the stone age before e-readers, but I know all about the sales plans and quotas and the way they train you to work the floor and the customers. Sometimes managers push so hard they turn booksellers into salesmongers, so the kid's attitude probably wasn't even his fault. I could be kind, compassionate, and not jerk him across the counter by his tie and tell him what I thought of his handselling. More like e-pestering.

No, nice doddering old lady that I am, I made a point of glancing back at the six customers parked between the ropes behind idiot Wait Here sign (half of them looked pissed, too) and answered his question with one final suggestion: "Why don't we chat another time when you don't have so many folks waiting in line?"

He didn't like that, but finally finished ringing me out before he bagged my horrid paperbacks and shoved them across the counter at me. Oh, and he told me to have a nice day. In the same tone I'd tell someone to drop dead.

Customer service, she ain't what she used to be.

I will go back to that store, although I think I'll come in from the mall side where there is no e-reader kiosk. At the register I can pretend I only speak Inuit. As for the salesmonger, I still remember his name (poor kid, now he's immortalized in a blog post forever, too.) And on my next visit I believe I'll leave something for him that he will never get in a million years from his e-reader: a signed book.

Sub Ops Ten

By Light Unseen Media is "currently seeking outstanding and unique manuscripts in the area of vampire fiction and non-fiction" and would like to see "dramatic fiction with a realistic tone. Vampire themed campy humor, parody, satire, "chick-lit" stories, formula romance and erotica for its own sake have all been done to excess. We also will not consider extremely violent horror fiction or stories focused "slayers," "hunters," "enforcers" and so on as the protagonists. These have been done to excess and beyond." Length: 75-150K, Payment: $100 advance; 20% net for print/audio; 50% net for e-books. Query on reprints, electronic submissions preferred, see guidelines for more details.

Daily Science Fiction is "accepting speculative fiction stories from 100 to 10,000 words in length. By this we mean science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, etc. All that fits under the broader science fiction umbrella. We have a special need for flash fiction, stories of 1,000 or fewer words. We pay 8 cents per word for first worldwide rights and for nonexclusive reprint rights. Additionally, we reserve the right to pay you more money for additional reprinting in themed Daily Science Fiction anthologies." See submission guidelines for more details.

Dark Quest is looking for novellas in the SF/F, dark fantasy, urban fantasy and (I think) historical fiction. Lenth: novella 120K or less (kind of makes me wonder how long they think a novel should be), Payment: negotiated adv./royalty for print releases; 50% royalty on ebooks. Reprints: query. Electronic submissions preferred [Note: I'm distilling all this from Ralan's market listing, the publisher's guidelines seem to be only about how, not what, to send.]

eStar Publishing has this quote at the top of their submission guidelines page: "Please note: We NEVER close our doors to submissions. We are ALWAYS taking submissions" so I already love these people. They publish only "Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Paranormal themed books. Non-fiction, children's or young adult stories, mysteries or suspense, will be immediately rejected." Length: no limits (also refreshing to see this.) Payment: no advance, 10% on print, 35% on e-books. Query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

Golden Visions Magazine is holding a "What If?" contest for fiction based on a supplied photo (shown on submission guidelines page) as well as a premise: "Forget Global Warming...you wake up one day to find that the world is a frozen chunk of chilling death. No power. No computers. No cell phones.....all of this is useless." Editor notes: "You can use any form of speculative fiction in which to tell your tale...science fiction, fantasy, mild horror, mystery or just plain fiction--just make sure that you use character oriented stories and base your story here on Earth."
Length: 1.5-3.5K, no entry fees, winners receive (First Place) Choice of $25.00 cash and pdf copy or physical print issue and $10.00; (Second Place) Choice of $15.00 and pdf copy or physical print issue and $5.00; and (Third Place) Choice of $10.00 and pdf or physical print issue only, no cash. Submit by electronic form on guidelines page (scroll down); contest ends November 2010.

Hydra Publications has an open call for their new and as yet untitled Steampunk Anthology; length 1.2-3.5K, Payment .01 cent per word + one contributor copy upon publication (they're planning to release in Spring 2011.) No reprints, electronic submissions online, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: December 31st, 2010.

Hydra Publications also has an open call here for their Forgotten Prophecy high fantasy e-anthology, and note on the web site: "We are seeking submissions for our High Fantasy e-anthology. Think Middle Earth, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms and other similar worlds." Length: 1.2-9K, Payment: $5.00 + one contributor copy. Reprints okay, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

Raven Electric Ink has an open call for their upcoming Jack-o'-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy anthology, and the editor is looking for "speculative short stories, flash fiction, and poetry about Halloween and the traditions and legends surrounding it. All works must contain an element of science fiction, fantasy, or supernatural horror. If it's not speculative, I'm not interested." Gotcha. Length: fiction 2.5K or less, poems 100 lines max. Pays 3¢ per word for fiction 800 words or less, $25.00 flat for fiction from 900 words to 2.5K, $5.00 per poem. Reprints okay but will be paid less, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period: Opens October 11th, continues until antho is filled.

Rogue Blades Entertainment has an open call for their Assassins: A Clash of Steel anthology: "Send only your best, for the competition will be deadly, each cut decisive, each dispatch permanent. Fantasy tales of killers unleashed, be it for greed, revenge, love, faith…whatever the passion…or mischance…that drives the killing blows." Editor also notes: "This is a Clash of Steel anthology, so an emphasis on steel-bearing protagonists is a must. Pit them against equally steel-armed foes, though magic and sorcery is not completely disallowed. Make it interesting, make it dangerous, make it powerful prose—for this anthology seeks to glory in bladed death and devious minds." [Gee, kinda sounds like my last divorce.] Length: 2.5-5K, Payment: "$30.00 & 2 copies (1 print/1 electronic) upon publication, which will be May 2011." No reprints, electronic submission only (must submit first 500 words of your story), see guidelines for more details, Deadline: November 30, 2010 or when filled.

Story Portals is looking for writers-for-hire to "write one or more short stories in a medieval fantasy setting. Stories will involve magic and swordplay and will focus on strong characterization and solid action. All stories will be set in an existing universe and will be done on a Work-Made-For-Hire basis. Production bible and writing sample provided. Authors will be expected to write in the tone and voice of the sample material." Length: 5-6K, Payment: "flat fee of $300.00 per story." [Note: that translates to 5 cents per word at max length] No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. [Note for those of you looking to get experience as a writer-for-hire: this sounds exactly like the kind of work we do.]

All of the above sub ops were found among the many marvelous market listings over at Ralan's place.

Stats Story

This is an eco video I came across paired with an article on Peak Oil (in short, the troubling time we've arrived at, when demand for oil increases while production decreases.) The video uses the grim reality to tell a different story, one with a rather hopeful vision of the future.

Words of a Feather

With the weather growing cooler every day we're seeing more birds hanging around Casa PBW: lots of tiny wrens, baby blue jays, young doves and our camera-shy neighborhood cardinal and his lady. The sandhill cranes are gone until next spring, but a couple of big, snow-white herons have been hanging out in my neighbor's yard.

Aside from hustling to keeping the feeders stocked, I like our feathered fall visitors. They fill the mornings with song, fascinate the pups with their antics, and entertain me to no end. I never understood bird watchers until I moved to the country; now I'm looking through bird sites to see what sort of woodpecker lives in my oak tree, and if the big speckled guy who perches on the fence post and screams like a diva with a wedgie is a hawk or something else.

Yep, it's official: I've become a bird nerd.

Birds bring more than live entertainment to my back yard; now and then they also drop some feathers, which I spot when I'm out walking the pups. Mostly I find blue ones, which must be from the jays because they're constantly picking fights. But this past week I've been finding a new type of feather almost every day, starting with this one:



I'll guess this came from one of the mourning doves; they frequently come back to visit their favorite nesting spot and they're the same lovely gray-brown color. At the time I found this one I was thinking about one of the protagonists for the trilogy pitch I was working on, and how I plan to develop his character. Because everything is about writing, I started relating the feather to the character. Like the doves he's very dignified, quiet and watchful, but also makes some bad choices. There's also this subtle but stubborn defiance about him that I really admire. I tucked the feather in my day journal so this weekend I could add it to his character worksheet; it would make a great visual jog to help me remember my protag's dove-like qualities.

The next day in almost the same spot I found this:



I'm not sure what bird it came from, but the coloring of the feather made me think of the protagonist for my second book in the trilogy, who I'd developed but hadn't yet nailed down to my satisfaction. The colors -- white on top, and gray and black on the inside -- reminded me of how deceiving appearances and perceptions can be, and how little people know who we are beneath the surface. It helped me look again at what my protag has been through in the backstory, and figure out how those events have changed him. Thanks to the feather and my character building, I came to the conclusion that my protag is concealing (and struggling against) a dark side no one knows about but him.

I was also getting the feeling that the cosmos was sending me some kind of weird, daily-updated message about characterization.

I hadn't yet decided on the hero for the third book of the trilogy, so I didn't need any more feathers. Of course the cosmos ignored me, and on the third day left this, again in the same spot I'd found the other two:



At first I didn't think this one was even real; I've never seen a zebra-striped bird in the yard. The shape reminded me more of a spear point than a feather. Spear = warrior, naturally. The stark colors seemed very tribal and primitive; almost as if the feather had been hand painted. The arrangement of the black and white intrigued me; I thought of the visor on a knight's helmet, and how the world looks through it. All of those elements came together like puzzle pieces that I didn't know I had in my head, and then I knew instantly who the protagonist for the third book was.

Interesting side note: for years I've resisted reading the much-lauded Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I own a copy, but every time I've gone to read it my own contrariness and skepticism held me back. I don't like most things that are very popular with literary writers, and that bunch has praised this book to the heaven. I assumed it would be another groaning yammerfest on art versus anything practical I could use, because really, how much can birds help with writing?

Now please excuse me while I go grab that book and (probably) eat my chapeau.

Writer Zen Ten

The Ten Grave Precepts of Writer Zen

1. No killing dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, hamsters, goldfish or any other helpless animal in the story.

Bump off all the humans you want; just leave the poor defenseless critters alone!

2. No stealing titles from other writers' published work.

That goes for cool character names, too.

3. No misusing sex scenes.

Work out your divorce on your own time.

4. No speaking falsely in the author biography.

We know you aren't the greatest American novelist of all time, or we would have seen you on Oprah after the Dr. Oz explained how high colonics are our friends.

5. No giving or taking chocolate-covered Valium.

Unless you get completely hideous cover art, in which case, I'll give you a two-year supply along with counseling and free membership in my little support group.

6. No discussing the faults of non-writers.

We need them to drag us out of the workspace now and then or we'll starve before we finish that rewrite of chapter three.

7. No praising yourself while abusing other writers.

They're not that bad. You're not that great.

8. No sparing the character assets.

Of course a recovering crack whore hiding from the cops in a flop house room with a sometimes-boyfriend named Wife Beater is a truly hip protagonist, but she's also a little depressing. In between detox and ER visits, have the girl volunteer at the local library, or deliver Meals on Wheels or something.

9. No indulging in anger at one's editor or agent.

Naturally if you have the financially independence that allows you to wait forever for that next advance check or contract negotiation, go ahead.

10. No defaming the Three Publishing Treasures (Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling.)

Like they care what you think anyway.

This list was inspired by a link I found over at The Presurfer for ZenHabits, a blog devoted to "finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness."

Which I think for writers, is writing. Yes?

Fake French Book Covers

Freelance Internet consultant Omer Pesquer came up with a neat online generator that allows you to generate fake cover art for a French novel using Flickr images; the site is likewise in French but just enter your name (or whatever you want as the author byline) in the box and hit go.

Here are some that I generated (and please be aware these are fake book covers, and do not represent any real novels of mine):

   

   

Trying to translate the titles made me realize how rusty my French is getting, but the images the generator produces are pretty neat. Aside from it being fun (as well as highly addictive) to see what pops up, a couple of the covers were so cool they actually gave me some new story ideas.

Added: I completely forgot to post a link back to The Generator Blog, which is where I swiped the link. Sorry, Gerard.

NaNoWriMo Wednesday

Every Wednesday from now until November 1st I'll be posting some ideas, resources and other info that may be of help to those of you planning to join in NaNoWriMo 2010.

Last week I talked to my agent about an idea I had for a new trilogy of novels. Two phone calls later, she asked me to put together a proposal and send it to her. That meant choosing titles, character casts, themes, standalone plots and subplots, interconnecting threads and a concept that would tie three stories together -- and all I had to work with was an idea. Four days, twenty-one pages and 5,454 words later, I sent my agent the trilogy proposal, which is now in the hands of an interested editor.

Don't start calling me a novel ATM. The first reason this proposal came together as fast and well as it did was because the idea I started with was pure story fuel: potent, clear, and powerful enough to keep the engines of my imagination revved. The second reason is because I did the work required to develop it from an idea into stories for three books.

When you think about what you want to write for your November novel, you're likely sorting through a lot of ideas. Some seem good, others great, but the best ones will be like finding diamonds in a gravel pit; they can dazzle and even blind you to everything else in your head. You become so excited you can't wait to start up your writing engines and hit the story road.

This period of excitement is also as it should be. Who wants to write a book based on an idea that bores you to tears? Not me.

At some point you'll realize you have some decisions to make, because ideas are not novels (if they were, I'd surely be writing my millionth by now.) Your idea needs some things, say like a title to name it, and characters to explore it, and a setting to occupy it, and suddenly your idea may begin losing some its glitter as all these undecided things start piling up around it and smothering it. You may decide not to worry about this stuff until you start writing the book, because the story details are a lot of work, and this, this is supposed to be fun.

A few of you will sit down in November and write a novel based solely on your idea, simply making it up as you go along. It will also work out for you because you are organic writers and that's your natural storytelling process. On behalf of all non-organic writers, let me say: we really hate you.

Those of you who are not organic writers but still choose to run with just an idea may get lucky and end up with diamond-quality story. More than likely, though, you will find yourselves backtracking and rewriting a lot as you try to stretch out that idea. You may become frustrated with how long it takes to work out the things that your idea didn't cover. You may even give up when your idea sputters out and leaves you stranded in the middle of Chapter Three without a clue as how to continue on.

Bottom line for non-organic writers: no matter how dazzling or fun it is, don't rely on just an idea. Take the time now to think about it, make some decisions and develop it into what you need to write a novel.

Related links:

Ten Point Novel Concept Outline Template -- this is a very simple plotting template (followed by a filled-out example) to help you painlessly outline your idea.

Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes by Alicia Rasley

Outlining: Clarifying & Accelerating Understanding & Organization by Dr. Robert S. Houghton (link corrected)

PBW's Novel Outlining 101

Winners

The next time I need a title for a story that is fighting being named (every other book these days, just about,) I'm grabbing you guys to help.

We put the magic hat to work, and the Winners of the Reality Doesn't Bite giveaway are:

Linda Henderson, whose book would be titled We Should Have Met Before (Yep, been there, wrote that book a few times myself)

Brenna Emily* of Tom, Emily & Brenna, who didn't have a title but had to throw Tom out of a chat room for being rambunctious (Let's see, I'd title that one, Come Back When You're Ready to Settle Down) *I mixed up the names here -- sorry, Emily

Amity, whose book would be titled There's a Broadsword in Your Car: Let's Get Married! (Man, don't you just want to shake this guy's hand?)

Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get these books out to you. My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Free for All Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Anagrams Creator will "help you find some great anagrams. It is really easy to use, just enter a name and press the big button, Anagrams Creator will shuffle the characters using a special algorithm and show 3 suggestions. From there on you can 'fine tune' one of them or press again for more variants. By checking Assist, which is on by default, the software will use a wordlist of more then 5000 words for better results" (OS: Windows)

Brainflow is an open source "small text editor designed for brainstorming for creative writing. It displays numerous real-time wordcount statistics and shows progress toward daily and long term goals. Designed for use with the NaNoWriMo contest" (OS: All 32-bit MS Windows [95/98/NT/2000/XP])

Dramatis Personae 2 is "designed to track the personalities and information used by authors in writing fiction novels/short stories" (OS: Mac OS X)

Kabikaboo is "a tree-based note pad, designed to help you plan a book or complex project. Features (1.7): Note Tree: infinitely customizable; you create all categories and subcategories; Edit Nodes: a simple node that you can write text inside of; View Nodes: recursively see any section of your tree, as if it were one document; Tabbed Notebook: keep as many nodes open as you want; Bookmarks: help you jump back to your favorite/important nodes; Spellcheck: automatic spellcheck engine utilizing Enchant; Export: any node, recursively or not, to text or html, for printing; Import: your big text files and auto-split them into nodes; Statistics: word count with real time updates; Visits: three different automatic lists of visited nodes and much more" (OS: Linux and Windows)

LibreOffice Beta is "a productivity suite that is compatible with other major office suites, and available on a variety of platforms. It is free software and therefore free to download, use and distribute" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux; designer notes: "This beta release is not intended for production use! Be advised that the current beta might replace your OpenOffice.org installation")

Page Four is "a dedicated writing environment for creative writers. Where other word processors were built with the business user in mind, PageFour was designed to meet the needs of novelists and creative writers. It does not improve your prose or make you a better writer, only you can do that, but PageFour does make your job just that little bit easier" (OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP)

PolyEdit Lite is "a free word processor that is designed to be lightweight, reliable, easy-to-use, and extremely fast. It has all of the standard capabilities you expect from a word processor. The program also introduces some innovative features that will make your work more efficient" (OS: unspecified but it looks like Windows; designer notes that it is MS Word compatible and replaces WordPad and NotePad)

Romanzo is "Software for writing novels. Features an intuitive, efficient GUI for organizing ideas. Integrates the text editor of the user's choice. Completed works can be exported for final formatting in a word processor or document formatting system" (OS: 32-bit MS Windows [NT/2000/XP], All POSIX [Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes])

Spine Page 07 claims to usher in "The new age of Word Processing! Spine has pulled out most of the features that Word Processors such as Word has, as the average user only uses 10% of them! Some of the features include: Transparency; Saving, Printing, Opening; Bold, Underline etc.; On-Screen-Keyboard; Resizable Workspace!" (OS: unspecified but designer notes that it's Windows Vista compatible)

Text Cleanser will "remove redundant characters from a given text in just a few seconds. You could create a text file and use Replace to remove the unwanted characters one by one. But that's not exactly efficient, right? With Text Cleanser you just enter the text, select which characters should be removed and press Cleanse this text" (OS: unspecified; looks like Windows)

Book Ideas

My daughter is planning to have a Halloween party this year, so I hit Target this week to start getting ideas for decorations (her theme is internet avatars, which is kind of a challenge.) I saw a big book on the end cap of the stationery/party goods aisle, and good citizen that I am, I picked it up to take it back to the book section. That's when I discovered it wasn't a book at all but a book-shaped storage box. Although it was a bit pricey ($9.99) it was the perfect size to store the blank cards and stationery that I usually shove in a pigeon hole in my desk, so I brought it home. For a storage box it really fools the eye, though, and I think with a couple pieces of cardboard, an old hardback book cover and some glue you could make one of these yourself.

The holidays always mean lots of gatherings and parties at our house, and when friends and family visit I usually put out a stack of my books on a table to sign for anyone who wants them (saves me trips upstairs to the book room, too.) I've never found a pretty way to display them other than in a neat stack or a basket, or just in a row on one of the book cases. Then I was washing my cake stand last night and recalled the diaper cakes I used to make for my nieces' and nephews' baby showers back in the nineties, and suddenly a lightbulb went off.

My stand is only standard cake size, so I couldn't pack the books too close together, but fanning them out and adding some pretty bookmarks made a display that would work on the coffee table or as a centerpiece (I was also thinking this would look pretty on an author's booksigning table.)

Mom is always sending me little bits in her letters, and this Current bookmark made me laugh out loud. If we are what we eat, squirrels should be following me around with lust in their hearts. But it also gave me a neat idea on how to hand out recipes for the holidays -- instead of using index cards, why not print them out on cardstock as bookmarks?

Using a slightly-oversize bookmark format would give you enough room to place a photo of your dish on the front side, along with a list of all the ingredients. Instructions on how to make the dish would go on the back. The recipient could then tuck the bookmark into the appropriate place in their cookbook at home (as well as sticking it in their purse or coupon holder when they go out to shop at the market.)

If you mail out Christmas cards every year and want to share a recipe with friends and family who aren't in your area, you could stick the recipe bookmark in the envelope (just use cards that have long enough envelopes so that you don't have to fold it.) This would also be a nice promotion item for authors who want to give out at booksignings the actual recipes for dishes from their novels (Alison Kent, I'm looking at you and all those lovely cupcakes.)

Added: I put together a quick example of a recipe bookmark and uploaded it to Google Docs here if you want to see how I'd do it; the box lines I drew around them didn't transfer during the upload but the front and back of the bookmark are side-by-side.

Reality Doesn't Bite

When I heard about our blogpal Alison Kent writing one of the first reality-based romances in HCI's new True Vows imprint, I admit, I imagined someone writing a book based on me and my guy. And laughed, because of all the love stories I've read, not one has ever come close to matching my very strange romance (although the title would have to be Surfer Boy, Story Girl.) I was curious as to how a writer as imaginative as Alison would handle writing a romance based in reality, though, so as soon as The Icing on the Cake hit the shelves I picked up a copy.

Here's a bit about the story: Marketing director Michelle Snow and tech consultant Todd Bracken meet through an online dating service (which was not the way we did it back in my day, so that was very interesting as well as exotic to me.) Lonely but wary Michelle is pressured into trying online dating by her girlfriends, and lonely but well-adjusted Todd is looking for someone to fill the gaps in his life, so they're already a good match before they exchange the first text message. When they meet, that lovely thing called chemistry kicks in, and the whirlwind begins. Not everything is instant Nirvana, however. Michelle dreams of opening her own cupcake bakery, which she puts off because of her dread of failure, while Todd is dealing with his Dad's battle with cancer and Michelle's wariness, which prevents him from sharing her dream.

Thanks to the scrumptious descriptions in the story I'm probably going to be baking a lot more experimental cupcakes in the future, but it's the emotional journey of this couple that really makes the novel a wonderful, deeply satisfying read. I never had to imagine this love affair really happening because it always felt real. It didn't need any artificial drama (aka car crashes, homicidal ex-boyfriends or heart-of-gold bounty hunters) to up the wattage; Alison's skillful retelling brought a terrific intensity to even the most ordinary of circumstances in the story.

I appreciate how much respect was shown the couple in the story, too. This book is about two real people and how they fell in love, and that is not something you want to trifle with or rewrite so it sounds more marketable. This book is going to be a legacy in their lives forever. Alison handled their characters with a balance of remarkable clarity and keen sensitivity; I never found anything in the book I'd consider cringe-worthy or embarrassing for the real Michelle and Todd. Even the cover art is gorgeous and evocative without going over the top (and if you're curious as to how the real Michelle and Todd feel about the book, you can read a neat interview with them about it here.)

The Icing on the Cake is also unique in that it creates a new niche among contemporary romance. As writers we try to invent people and worlds capable of whisking away our readers from their troubles for a few hours; with this novel Alison Kent proves that true love can be just as fascinating and uplifting as any invented fantasy.

But as always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, tell us what you would title a book based on your real-life romance (or if you're still looking for love, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Monday, October 4, 2010. I'll draw three names at random from everyone who participates, and send the winners an unsigned copy of The Icing on the Cake by Alison Kent. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something from PBW in the past.

Metaphorstory

This collage page from one of my journals uses art as a personal metaphor, one I put together for the beauty I find in writing. My computer is nowhere near as gorgeous as a peacock feather, but the feather represents both how I see and what I try to do with my writing instruments. Behind the feather is a torn fragment of a watercolor I painted that I wasn't happy with, to symbolize my vision of the story (and my eternal conflict trying to realize it.) The rough dark page is the world beyond my story; the audience I can't see, the void I want to fill.

Would you have known that if I hadn't explained it? Probably not. Does not knowing what the page means to me personally diminish your enjoyment of it? It could, but it doesn't have to. I think it depends on how you relate to symbolism and how often you engage your sense of wonder and curiosity.

It would be great to publish books as colorful and creative as my personal journals, but because everything I write as a novelist is published in black and white, words are my only medium. Metaphors are both paint and brush, mortar and brick, courier and message. Very often we respond on many levels to a story, and not all of them register right away, if at all. In an open mind, metaphors can gain access to many different levels.

Sometimes metaphors are intensely personal, and without shared experiences, can be inexplicable. For example, while trimming trees last weekend we accidentally made this preying mantis temporarily homeless. We moved the mantis out of harm's way to a smaller tree, and now every time I mention a mantis to my guy, he'll remember everything that happened when we saved this one. If I use the mantis as a metaphor while talking to my mom, she'll just think I'm talking about a bug.

Metaphors invoking very common shared experiences can be recycled so much that they morph into a cliche, and it's easy as pie, and like taking candy from a baby to overuse them. Creating your own personal metaphors means really thinking about how your story symbols relate to the experiences of others, and what sort of response they will invoke in readers who have a good working sense of wonder. Employ your senses (colors, sounds and tactile sensations are good metaphor building materials, as we all share the world on the same basic sensory level.)

See? Piece of cake.


Related Link: Literary zone.com has a good post here defining different types of metaphors and gives some examples, if you're interested in reading up on them.

Letting Go

When you're a series writer, the two words you never want to see are The End. Although like any novelist you finish every series book you write, by the time you type the last paragraph of one story you're already thinking ahead and planning the next. Until you reach the finale, the last book in the series, and you know there won't be anymore. Then you spend a lot of time second-guessing yourself (Maybe I could do a Next Generation series?) or sulking (it's not fair. I never got the chance to write Book X, Y or Z.)

You may get the writer version of series separation anxiety. You ask yourself Was it really worth it? a couple thousand times. You probably spend a few hours digging through old boxes of series memorabilia: the letter from the Big Name who thought your first novel was dazzling and gave you The Blurb to End All Blurbs; the first glowing fan letter; the dried flower you saved from the big bouquet your spouse brought to your first booksigning, that non-hatchet review published in the glossy publishing trade (then you re-read the hatchet jobs that promised your series would tank by book three, and yeah, you glance at your ten-novel series and smirk a little.)

At some point during this resentful, teary-eyed self-pity fest, you know you have to begin the process that will allow you to let go and move on. Because if you don't you will never write anything else, or you'll quit Publishing, or you'll spend the rest of your years doing something else while trying to forget what was or wallowing in tragic seclusion over what might have been and blaming everyone but yourself for it.

I've ended enough novel series now that I feel like I should know every inch of this particular emotional rollercoaster. I ought to; I've already built and ridden it six times (it seems weirdly appropriate that StarDoc would be the seventh series I've ended or had to end.) I'm fortunate in that I have other, ongoing series to write and keep me productive, and a couple of new prospects that are starting to look pretty solid. It still hurts to let go, but it's the only way to move forward.

In the end, nothing should get between you and the writing. Not even the writing.

Advizine

Aside from the market and agent listings in the back pages, the October issue of The Writer was pretty much another waste of dime. Short version: Vampires are over, zombies are the next big thing; craft way-cool characters with only 4, count 'em, 4 steps; self-publishing's all right for nonfic or niche; bitching over the worth of writer blogs; plus the usual roundup of successful Names to tantalize us with their success. Right. Thank you.

My issues with this issue: Vampires have been over for what, two, three years now? And zombies, well, if you're the author of a how-to on writing zombies, sure, you'd want them to be the next big thing (I want genetically-enhanced superhumans to be the next big thing; should I write an article saying they are?) And apparently there is zombie erotica out there, and I need that phrase soldered out of my brain, immediately. Seriously, I say write whatever makes your readers happy, but if reanimated rotting corpses getting it on truly are the next big thing, then PBW is going back to ghost writing. Or maybe ghosts will be the next big thing. Somebody, go check with Jennifer Crusie, see what she thinks.

Know what? I'm tired of the next big thing. I say let's figure out what the next little thing is going to be. Or the next weird thing. Or the thing that has no buzzword. That would make a cool opening pitch line, wouldn't it? "Enclosed please find my proposal for The Vampire Brotherhood vs. The Promiscuous Zombie Chicks, which I believe will be the next thing. What that thing is, I can't really say. It's a closely-guarded secret. You understand."

But I digress.

I regret to say that in my experience (which is fairly extensive) it generally takes more than four steps to create a decent character. I've never counted but I think it takes somewhere around 4,967 steps. Maybe 4,968. On a good day. And sure, there is promo and platform and fanbasing in blogging, and of course, there are a gazillion blogs and there is no money in blogging. Evidently there is money in writing generic articles about the pros and cons of writer blogs, but I'll guess the market is glutted now.

Naturally I could be wrong, but then again, I just do this for a living. I do know that when I find myself arguing out loud with the articles I'm reading, it usually means I must stop renewing the subscription (or, in this case, quit picking it up from the newstand.)

You guys reading any writing advice 'zines out there lately that aren't leaving your eyes blinking in disbelief?

NaNoWriMo

As October will be arriving on Friday, this week I'm going to start gearing up to (unofficially) join in National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, which takes place every year for the entire month of November. During this annual novel-a-thon, writers all over the world will attempt to complete a book (to win, it must be 50,000 words in length). It's storytelling without a net, a deadline without mercy, and very real practice at what it takes to be a pro.

It's also more fun than you can imagine, because other than the target wordcount there are no rules. You just write a novel -- any novel you want -- exactly the way you want to write it.

I always have a couple of stories percolating in the back of my brain, so my first step is to create a dream list of ideas. Right now the ideas that are clamoring the loudest for some attention involve:

Valori, Ethan and Nathan (you'll meet them in January when Frostfire hits the shelves)
Kyan and Melanie from Twilight Fall
Lucan and Samantha (will they ever leave me alone? Probably not.)
Alex Davidov from Omega Games
Kari and Connor from After Midnight
Rainer and Farlae from Evermore

The list will probably get longer. It always does.

Last year I wrote something I'd never tried, an experimental genre fusion novel that I later finished and is at this moment making the rounds in NY. The departure from my usual work was a little scary at first, but once I hit my stride with the story the energy that came out of it was amazing. I couldn't wait to get to the keyboard every day -- and that was something at the time that I needed to recapture; that wild, get-out-of-my-way kind of writing.

NaNoWriMo isn't about getting published (or staying published), it's about us, what we do, and a whole month to celebrate it. Don't get me wrong, it's hard work, but with the right mindset it can also be a month-long party at the keyboard. All you have to do is dive in and start storytelling.

So tell me, how many of you are going to NaNo this year? Are you planning on doing anything new, different, or unusual with your November novel? Let us know in comments.

Quirk Ten

Ten Things to Give Your Characters More Character

Birthday: Unless circumstances prevent it, decide on a date of birth for your character. Research his or her respective astrological sign, any famous people born on or historic events that occurred on the same day, and incorporate into your characterization some aspects that fit well and appeal to you. Create one event that is significant to the character that happened on one of their birthdays.

Collection: Almost everyone in real life collects something, so why not choose a collectible item tailored to your character's personality? Or give your character a hobby that creates a collection of handmade items. Decide how your character feels about their collection, how the collection reflects an aspect of their personality, and work it into the story accordingly.

Fan Items: This is a sub-class of the collectible, only something that is definitely from the realm of RL fandom. For modern novels, think about big fandom trends (Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, etc.) If you're writing a story set in a historic period, check out what forms of fandom there were in that time. A character who wears a Frak Me T-shirt makes a certain statement about themselves as well as their love for Battlestar Galactica. So does a character who collects death masks of famous Victorian poets.

Habit: Characters who have habits often reveal through them interesting personality quirks. These can be simple rituals, superstitions or largely unconscious repetitive behaviors, such as always checking all the doors and windows before going to bed, avoiding walking under a ladder or tapping a foot when they're feeling impatient. Think about your character's daily routine, and see where a habit might logically form.

Journal: I don't know many girls who didn't keep a diary when they were teens, and certainly plenty of adults of both genders keep personal journals. Characters who aren't the writer type often chronicle their lives in other ways, such as with home videos, photo albums or saved letters.

Library: I love books where I get to see what a character likes to read. You don't have to set up an in-house library, either; maybe toss a couple paperbacks on the nightstand. Who and what your character reads always says a lot about them to your reader, especially if they've read the same books.

Lucky Charm: Not every character is superstitious enough to hook a rabbit's foot on their key ring, but most of us have little good luck charms (I carry a pair of engraved stones in my pocket, and have another pair in my car.) A lucky charm can be a habit or ritual as well as a physical object.

Music: What sort of music does your character listen to? Do they hum along with the radio while driving, or sing in the shower? If you choose a type of music for your character that you don't listen to personally, check out some albums, read up on what fans of the music have to say about it, and create a musical persona based on your research.

Pet: Unless your character has allergies or is living under circumstances that don't allow pet ownership, incorporating a pet into the story helps the reader know more about your character through their need or desire for animal companionship. It's also fun to decide if your character is a dog, cat or other type pet owner and then give them a companion with their own personality quirks.

Vehicle: What sort of car does your character drive, and why? Are they sporty, sedanish or truck-minded? Did they settle for what they could afford, or save up to get the car they really wanted? What is your character's attitude toward their vehicle? What's in the back seat, the trunk, the glove compartment? For extra realism (if possible) see if you can arrange to borrow or test-drive the same vehicle your character owns, or get some insight from someone who has a RL version of it.

Follow the White Rabbit

Benjamin Lacombe's Il Etait Une Fois (Once Upon A Time) is one of the most visually gorgeous book videos I've ever seen (video link swiped from The Presurfer, which also just turned ten years old. Happy Anniversary, Gerard.)

Winners

My list of ideas of things to do for fun this fall has gotten a lot longer, thanks to all the great plans you guys shared. You can also count me in for NaNoWriMo in November; taking part last year and blogging about it was a blast.

We dusted off the magic hat tonight, and the winners of the Forecast: Early Frostfire giveaway are:

Kris S., who is planning to: "Learn to knit or crochet better, focus on more time just for me and planning a garden for spring." (Thank you for reminding me, I need to start planning next year's garden.)

Jamie, who despite having a chilly spring in Oz is planning to listen to audiobooks while take some long walks on the beach. (I've never tried that; will have to give it a go next time we hit the sands.)

Renee, who loves making all the great foods of fall: "Nothing better than making a pot roast, pumpkin soup, pie, cookies, hot chocolate...okay I'm just getting fat typing this." (No, no, the typing burns off the imaginary calories, lol.)

Donna, who is waiting for the weather to cool down enough to "clean out our back storage area, not air conditioned." (Donna is making me eye one of my messy closets now. I love to organize.)

Nicole, who is going to try to "make it down to Disneyland with my bf in time to catch the Halloween Time festivities" as well as work on a theatrical production and join in NaNoWriMo. (I want to know what Nicole eats for breakfast.)

Hello Jack, who will be moving and "can't wait to find a new place and make it my own...also, more cooking, being with loved ones, and more reading." (Food, family and fresh books -- you can't go wrong with that combo.)

Stephanie Shaver, who will be planning her wedding (what lovely news, too -- congrats, Stephanie)

Leslee, whose fall plan is to "hang out with my kids as much as possible without electronics involved" (Amen, lady. Any time you can unplug the youngsters is a great time.)

Margaret Fisk, who is hoping to get a friend to visit and might pick up her guitar again (I'm jealous; I always wanted to learn to play an instrument, but I'm tone-deaf . . . *sigh*.)

Sherry, who has started scrapbooking and going to scrapbooking events with family members. (Last fall I started a photo e-book for my daughter's high school band to put together all the shots I took of their performances and competitions. Lots of fun; must get back to work on that.)

Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get these books out to you. My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Scribd.com Apologizes

It's been almost a month since a reader informed me that Scribd.com had begun scamming their users into paying to download the e-books I've provided for free for the last ten years. Much uproar followed.

If you missed the debacle, it was pretty short-lived on this end. I don't associate with scammers, so I yanked all my e-books off Scribd.com and deleted my account. I also went through my entire blog archive to mark every single post where I've mentioned Scribd.com with a link to my post about the scam. Then I paid for a file storage account with Google Docs to temporarily host my library while I explore other options. Took me about a week to get it all done -- and that's all I did.

News of people getting ripped off by an online publisher tends to go viral, and so my post started making the rounds. I understand that Scribd.com responded to it indirectly by soft-selling their scam on the Huffington Post. GalleyCat evidently also defended them. Disclaimer: I've not read the posts. I was not interested in Scribd.com's excuses for ripping off readers. I was done with them.

Since I'm now being regarded as the one who blew the whistle on them, however, it's only fair that I post a link to Scribd.com's public apology for their greed. Here's the gist: they have not shut down the scam, but they've provided some ways for their authors to opt-out of it, and they are very sorry we misunderstood their intentions.

I'm not buying it. If daily operations actually have gotten too expensive for Scribd.com (this was the excuse they gave me when I e-mailed them about why they were using my content in their scam), they should have come to me and asked me to pay for the space I was using. I'd have been happy to pay them a reasonable annual fee for hosting my little online library. I now pay Google Docs $5.00 a year for 20 gb of file storage space; I pay Photobucket $40.00 a year to host my online photo archive. But instead, they chose to violate my copyright and non-profit distribution notice in my e-books to rip off readers for something I have always given away for free. They are very sorry about it, though.

And now I am done with Scribd.com.

Readerhoods

Yesterday I went to BAM, my favorite readerhood, and took some considerable me-time to amble through the aisles and soak up all the good vibes. It's like being in a library, a church and a candy shop at the same time; I tiptoe and meditate and drool a little. On this trip I probably spent as much time watching people shop as I did browsing; force of habit from my bookseller days.

In bookstores, there seem to be two types of shoppers: those who can't wait to leave, and those who never want to. I can actually pick out parents looking for Cliff Notes or homework assignment books for their kid; they leave an almost visible wake of high annoyance behind them. Mall bookstores have become the waiting rooms of husbands who need to kill some time and noticed the wall of magazine racks, random weary elderly folks who couldn't find an empty bench out in the mall common areas, and resentful teens whose mothers wouldn't let them get that really cool piercing at the kiosk of self-mutilation.

You don't really notice the people who actually want to be in the bookstore because they're usually on the move, prowling the shelves and circling the remainder tables while they look for hidden treasures and quick bargains (the 75% off remainder bins like this one get shuffled through regularly.) Unlike the gotta-get-outta-here customers, they make a grand tour, starting at the front co-op realm of bestsellers and working their way back through every aisle. When they reach the spot with their favorite form of fiction, they will stand for as long as thirty minutes in one spot while examining spines, studying covers and reading back copy before shuffling down to the next chunk of the author surname alphabet.

Genre readers at my BAM seem to have interesting common habits. All romance readers seem to read copy first; every time I go into that aisle I see a woman standing and reading the back of books. They are the friendliest/most talkative readers, too. SF/F buffs like to stand and skim the first couple chapters in their book of choice, and they ignore everyone who comes near them. They seem to be the surliest; if you need to reach in front of them to get a book and ask them to move they take it like a personal affront. Mystery readers are usually the oldest shelf browsers (and the biggest complainers to store staff); Manga readers are some of the youngest, and because they're the poorest, usually plop down on the aisle floor to read the whole book versus buying it. I've yet to see a teenager browsing in the YA section (lots of middle-aged ladies haunt it, though.)

Any writers in the store are usually in the cafe letting their foamy lattes go flat while they scowl at their netbooks and laptops and scribble down notes in untidy spiral bound notebooks. Most of them are there to be seen, not to write, and I tend to think of them as performance writers. If you want to really mess with them, walk behind them, pause, and glance over their shoulder at whatever they're typing. Then raise your eyebrows, smile, and move on fast (or you may end up spending the next two hours listening to a rambling description of some over-complicated Starship Troopers/Naomi Novik knockoff complete with orcs and dragons.)

I'm loyal to my local BAM for a couple of reasons: they almost always have the latest releases I want (today I went to see if they had Alison Kent's Icing on the Cake, her first reality-based romance, and sure enough, it was on the shelf.) I found another novel I wanted to read but that I didn't think was supposed to be out yet, thought I had the wrong date in my head, and took it up front. As soon as the bookseller running the register scanned it, she apologized and said that it shouldn't have been shelved, she couldn't sell it to me, but offered to hold it for me until October 1st. Lay-down date enforced! Right in front of my eyes! I felt like kissing her, but settled for a smile and an "okay."

I've had some cool experiences at this BAM, too. During one visit I got into a discussion on Harlequin novels with a lifelong reader who knew who Margaret Rome was and had the same set of handblown lavender subscription bonus wineglasses I'd collected back in the eighties. Blew my mind. My favorite thing to do still is hand-sell to a talkative browser, or walk up to a confused-looking shopper and ask them what they're looking for, and then find that book. Sometimes all I have to go on is what they think the title was (inevitably wrong) and they're always a little stunned when I find it for them.

There's only one bookstore in my area that I've been steering clear of, and it's one of these giant warehouse clearance monstrosity that sets up temporary shop to get rid of overstock remainders. The first and only time I went to the one near me I saw this mess. The weekend sale they had going let you buy any book under the roof for two bucks, and there were big art books and scholarly tomes that retailed for $50.00 + or more new. They had empty shelves all around the store, but instead of shelving the books the help left them piled in the shipping boxes. Any that had fallen on the floor were just left there to get stepped on and soiled by indifferent feet. It killed me to see books being treated this way.

One bookstore memory that has stayed with me for years was crossing paths with a lovely older romance author in a Chicago Borders. She was wearing a gorgeous suit, but I recognized her at once because she's one of those rare authors who actually looks exactly like her bio pic. I thought she might be there for a signing or an event, but while I watched from a safe distance she picked up a couple of books to buy and then faced out her novels. Some of her books were on one of the lowest shelves, and she was wearing a skirt so it should have been awkward, but no, she did this graceful genuflection that spoke of years of practice. I didn't bother her, but seeing her there by herself, just quietly performing one of the more mundane of authorial tasks, made my heart melt (perhaps because I was there for the same reason.)

I keep hearing people say book stores are an endangered species, and it worries me. I realized how much it hurts to lose a readerhood; last year one of my favorite mall haunts closed and became a home decor shop. We don't have all that many book stores in my area to begin with, and to see them close one that I'd shopped at so often, where I'd made friends with the staff and talked books with so many other readers, made me feel a little betrayed and lost. And I still can't walk past the idiot shop that replaced it without feeling a pang of grief and an intense desire to go in there and kick over some overpriced lamps.

Online shopping is convenient, and will probably shut down a lot more of the brick-and-mortar stores, but it's largely sterile and disconnected. E-readers, while even more convenient, also eliminate the fun of those bargain book hunts and hidden treasure novels quests. Getting out there and visiting your favorite readerhood takes time, but there is nothing to equal the experience. I love my BAM, and shop mostly there, but this fall I'm going to make a point to visit all of the other bookstores in my area to spread the love around. I really don't want to see stores end up becoming remainder maulers who just toss books into huge cardboard bins and leave them to be picked over by the price vultures. Books merit better treatment than dollar store items.

Now it's your turn: what's your favorite readerhood like? How often are you getting out to shop for books versus ordering online? Which do you enjoy more? Let us know in comments.

App Goes PBW

Probably the most popular bit of humor I've ever written on PBW were the two posts that became The Devil's Publishing Dictionary, my homage to Ambrose Bierce and the industry. I still get e-mail about it, and tonight one request ended up turning it into this:



Brian Sawyer has taken the DPD and used the content to create an Android app, which looks very cool. Brian is also looking for folks who own Android phones to help him beta test it, so if you're interested, click on the link to go to his blog and download the app.

I don't use cell phones, but I'm going to forward it to my college kid (he understands all this stuff, plus I gave him a Droid as his HS graduation gift.) Now I wonder if this will finally make me seem a little more hip than the Amish . . .

Forecast: Early Frostfire

Fall has arrived here at Casa PBW, and while I love summer best I can't say I'm sorry to see this one go (aside from my woes, if it didn't rain, the humidity left me feeling distinctly soggy.) Now the dogs and I are practically wallowing in the lovely cool mornings on the porch. Just the other day I had to put on my heavy fuzzy socks because my feet were cold, which they haven't been since like April.

I also like this chunk of the calendar because for the next five weeks it's almost deadline-, birthday- and holiday-free. That gives me a nice oasis of time to splurge on things I normally have to ration, like getting more creative with my blogging, cruising book stores for as long as I like, trying new recipes, experimenting with art projects and test-driving writing ideas.

Kate Meyers has a good article titled The Power of Play in the October issue of Cooking Light magazine that gave me a nudge in this direction, too; she discusses the importance of making time to do things other than work, worry and wear yourself out. We get so caught up in the business of life that we rarely if ever allow ourselves to play, and yet that's usually what we need most to dispel stress, avoid burnout, and pull ourselves out of the pits.

My publisher kindly sent me some ARCs for my next book, and I think a great way to kick off my online fall festivities is to give some away here. So what are you guys planning to do this fall that is something fun or just for you? Let us know in comments (or if you're still looking for your oasis, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, September 24, 2010. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates, and send the winners a signed ARC of Frostfire, my new Kyndred novel (which will not be hitting the shelves until January 2011.) This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

3 Nonfic Books

Read: Journal Bliss ~ Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric by Violette, softcover

Why I picked it up: I've had my inner eccentric on a tight leash for a while, and it needs some exercise. Also the book is very colorful and almost entirely hand-written, which I found encouraging and charming.

What I liked: When she says bliss, she means it -- this is without a doubt the happiest book I've ever read. There's so much positive energy coming off every page I think it reversed my magnetic field. It's also a lot of fun, packed with interesting ideas and suggestions, and not like any other how-to I've ever read. The author even made me laugh with the only depressing prompt (how would you spend your last day on Earth?) by writing Don't forget to put on a clean pair of underwear on her own list. I also liked that the author only uses one name; it's a terrific trademark, and I'll never think of the word violet again without remembering this book.

What I didn't like: It was hard to find anything I didn't like about this book. It's pretty basic in some places, but I really didn't mind the beginner stuff. For a well-rounded how-to, your content really should be suitable for all ages and skill levels. This is a book for everyone.

Reading: Journal Revolution ~ Rise Up and Create by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, softcover

Why I picked it up: I read their book The Visual Chronicles a couple years ago and enjoyed it.

What I like: The book includes lots of popular techniques that are explained well using photo examples and text.

What I don't like: Journal Bliss is a tough act for anyone to follow, but the contrast between this book and Violette's seems pretty stark. The writing prompts and suggestions so far don't appear to be revolutionary or even especially original (or maybe I read too much into the title, or it gets better.) In the first chapters the authors are giving me the impression that truth in art journaling is ugly, distressed and/or unfinished, and imply that those who do otherwise are doing it wrong. I don't agree; if perfect pink pretty journals covered with sparkles and rainbows make you happy, I say go for it.

Will Read: How to Make Books ~ Fold, Cut & Stitch Your Way to a One-of-a-Kind Book by Esther K. Smith, hardcover

Why I picked it up: My coptic stitch is a little rusty, and I wanted to check out some new book-making techniques.

What I think I will like: The emphasis on craftsmanship, innovation and different levels of difficulty (seems to have a nice range on the latter.) I do want to teach my daughter coptic stitching, and from the section devoted to that I think it's a great teaching aid. I flipped through the pages and there are some really interesting and new-to-me book making ideas, as well as some facts about bookmaking like the origins of chapbooks that I didn't know.

What I think I won't like: Already I don't like the cover; it's basically a printed book board with a wraparound fiber tape spine (yellow, no less.) The cover made me think twice about buying it; fortunately I looked through the pages and was sold on them. I'm sure the cover theme was chosen to give the book a handmade look, but it's not attractive and it doesn't match the lovely pages inside at all. I think even the beautiful blue typo end papers would have served as a better cover.

Some final thoughts: the current trends in journal how-tos are all about self-discovery through art, but I've noticed that more often than not the emphasis is on one's baggage and what I think of as the never-ending self-pity party: My Pain/Struggle or Who Did What Damage to Me or the ever-popular Why You'll All Be Sorry When I'm Dead approach.

I used to think this was a good thing, but now I've seen via personal experience how it can get out of hand. During my recent sabbatical I spent two solid weeks venting every day in a personal journal. By the time I reached the last blank page I was ticked off because I wasn't even halfway through my private bitchlist. I also didn't remember it being that long when I started, so I flipped back through the entries and read it from the beginning. I found myself kind of horrified to see how cancerous my negative emotions had become, feeding on my self-pity and growing bigger and uglier every day.

Maybe the best way to find balance in journaling is to not only explore your bitchlist, but also take a good look at your blessedlist (things that inspire or motivate you, celebrations of the beautiful moments in life, and thoughts on the gifts you've been given.)

When journaling you should also think about what you're leaving behind (don't automatically assume you'll be able to destroy your personal journals; you could get hit by a bus tomorrow.) What if your heirs decide to read them? Or worse, publish them? Are you okay with the world knowing what's on your bitchlist? Will the chronicle you create of your life be genuinely interesting and well-rounded, or simply read like a nonstop parade of lousy Post Secret submissions? And if someday one of your descendants who never got to meet you reads your journals, are they going to think Wow, I wish she was still alive so I could talk to her or God, what a whiny self-absorbed twit, glad she's gone?

Six and a Half Weeks

So you don't think I've been lounging around watching soap operas and eating bon bons for the past month and a half . . .

What I Did While I Was Unplugged

Outlined a new novel and wrote draft synopsis

House-trained Skye

Answered angry reader mail about Dream Called Time

Got depressed

Wrote another novel

Answered nice reader mail about Dream Called Time

Got more depressed

Went to hospital to visit sick family member

Got even more depressed

Revised another novel

Dealt with another family member's funeral

Despaired

Worried my friends

Corrected another novel's proofs

Filled an entire hand-written journal with unhappy/unproductive thoughts

Moved my college kid to college

Cleaned the entire house top to bottom four times

Turned down invitations to write for three different anthologies

Missed my college kid

Moved most of the clutter on PBW's front page to other pages

Rescued hurt baby snake from road; buried it when it died of its injuries

Cried

Wondered if it's possible to drown depression in tears

Shipped four boxes of books to soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan

Stopped crying (ran out of Kleenex)

Spent a week dealing with Scribd's scam

Found a troll in my comments

Laughed

Seriously thought about deleting the blog (twice)

Quilted

Asked myself "What's the use?" about a thousand times

Despaired some more

Gardened

Made four road trips, discovered how much I dislike driving through fog on the most dangerous part of the interstate

Painted six terrible watercolors

Hurt my foot while avoiding stepping on Skye (she's fine, I'm still limping)

Saw prototype cover art for the first book in my new trilogy (quite attractive)

Considered writing my very first writing manifesto

Quilted

Remembered while quilting all the stupid writing manifestos I've read

Laughed

Decided my first writing manifesto is "Sorry, no manifesto."

Despaired

Got Skye all her shots

Answered 78 annoyed reader mails demanding to know the reason why my publisher has not converted the entire StarDoc series to electronic format, and when I'm going to make them do it

Laughed

Moderated 172 comments, about 100 of which were SPAM

Seriously considered shutting down the blog and retiring from Publishing altogether to take unexpected/great job offer from old friend

Survived shopping with the other kid for school clothes, her practice driving my car, and the first day of tenth grade

Found out unexpected/great job offer requires relocation of household, politely turned down old friend

Went to two high school football games

Started writing new novel

Stopped despairing so much

Plugged back in for a couple hours here and there

Lurked

Remembered why I do this

Laughed

Started writing this list

Watched the last roses of summer bloom and



Missed you guys. A lot.

So what's up with you? Let me know in comments.

Scribd.com Gets Greedy

It's been brought to my attention that Scribd.com has begun charging people to download my free e-books hosted on their site. To get around my copyright and the free distribution notice I've placed in each e-book, they are using an archive subscription scam to make their money (this also neatly avoids them having to pay me any royalties on the profits they make.) Evidently all the money they've been raking in from the Google ads they've posted on my e-book pages hasn't been enough for them.

I was not made aware of this new policy by Scribd at all; a reader kindly brought it to my attention. If you have free stories or documents hosted on this site, chances are they're doing the same to you.

I immediately contacted Scribd.com and demanded an explanation, which they provided at their leisure. Basically they washed their hands of any liability and ethics by telling me it was my problem, not theirs. In order to prevent Scribd from further profiting from my free books, I have to remove each e-book individually from their archives (for instructions on how to do this, see Scribd's instructions here.) As I discovered this morning this is going to take a considerable amount of time for me to accomplish, and it's not a permanent solution; they tell me I'll have to check the documents regularly to see to it that they aren't arbitrarily returned to the archive, where Scribd can then again start charging people to download them.

I find the situation particularly ironic, as anyone can bootleg my work on the internet with no problem, yet when I try to give it away for free, greedy people still try to make a buck off it. Writers just can't win.

Honestly, I do not want to deal with this garbage right now, and I'm tempted to delete the entire library this morning and say the hell with it. However, I've been giving away these books for ten years, and I'm not going to allow the greed of others hoping to make a surreptitious buck off my name to defeat me.

I may still have to take down my library of free reads. For now I will be researching other options, removing my free e-books one by one from Scribd's archive scam, and see if I can find a solution that doesn't cost my readers anything or make my head explode.

In the meantime, please do NOT pay Scribd.com to access or download my free e-books. If you are asked to pay ANYTHING for any of the thirty e-books I have on Scribd, and you can't wait until I find a solution, contact me at LynnViehl@aol.com and I will personally send you a free download of whatever you'd like.

Added: I think I've found a solution, but I still have to test it out and make sure it works. Unfortunately I have to finish some revisions to meet a deadline first. Please be advised that I will be removing my library of free e-books and documents from Scribd.com as soon as I get everything transferred over to the alternative site and make sure the links work. This will happen probably within the next couple of days.

Added 9/2/10: I've temporarily transferred my free library over to Google Docs, which allows anyone to read them online or download them in .pdf format for free. I tried to delete my documents and account on Scribd, but despite numerous attempts their web site was unresponsive, so I've contacted them and told them to take it down. Hopefully they will do so quickly; in the meantime please use the Google Doc links listed on the Freebies page here and please do NOT pay Scribd.com anything to access my free e-books.

Unplugging

I'm still working on the rush job. I also need to spend a little quality time away from the internet, so I'm going to unplug until I'm in better shape to provide you with the kind of content that is helpful (versus the kind I want to write at the moment, which would only make you as blue as I am.)

I don't know how long it will take, and it's nothing to do with you guys, honestly. More like I've hit too many creative speed bumps lately and now my soul shocks are shot. While I've got the downtime I'll probably be tinkering with these new pages and continuing to rework the sidebar. If the blog disappears no worries; I'm backing up everything in case I wreck it in the process.

While I'm gone, I hope you write often and well, help each other out whenever you can, and read a great book or four.

Off To Rush

Create a sticky note online for your blog at Wigflip.com's sticky note generator, Superstickies (link swiped from Gerard over at The Generator Blog.)

Question

It seems that Blogger is now providing up to ten satellite pages for static content (Theo gets credit for the heads-up; she mentioned it in comments):



While I appreciate the extra space, I don't know what to do with it. I'm not what you'd call an "About Me" writer. I have the stories blog for excerpts and fiction stuff, and the photoblog for pics. My public bibliography is posted and linked to the sidebar; so is everything else I think is interesting (and I think I already have more than enough stuff on PBW.)

Before I pass on it altogether, I thought I'd ask you guys: is there anything I don't already have on the blog that you'd like to see me post on these pages? Let me know what you think in comments.

Added: I'm going to be tinkering with the sidebar today while we discuss the possibilities.

Series Ten

Ten Things I've Never Told Anyone About StarDoc

Beyond Varallan's cover art is still my favorite from the series, which is lucky because I also own the original painting. I paid for it with some of the wages I earned moonlighting as a bookseller.

Cherijo originally had a middle name (Ten) but it made the whole thing sound disjointed when spoken out loud. I decided everyone would have to wait until Shockball to discover that she was the tenth clone Joseph created.

Dream Called Time originally ended on what is page 355 in the print edition. After talking about the series with you guys here on the blog several times, I decided to add what is now Chapter Twenty (disclaimer: I mentioned it to Shiloh Walker after she read the book, and she says it was definitely the right decision.)

Endurance is the only book in the series that I've never re-read since I corrected the original proofs. I've tried, but the memories involved with writing it are still too painful. Whenever I needed to check or use something from that particular book, I've always consulted my original notes.

Joren represents several different personal metaphors, including my vision of what I considered the perfect world. Still do. It has also appeared regularly in my stories since 1974, when it came within one typewriter key's distance of being called Goren (fortunately I found my brother's secret stash of Gor novels, and prudently decided to alter the spelling.)

Maggie's character was named for my Great-Aunt Margaret, who for every Christmas and birthday gave me a new Laura Ingalls Wilder novel until by the time I was eleven I had the entire Little House series. Those were the first books I ever owned, and motivated me to become a ferocious reader.

Nine of the titles in the series are either the original titles I came up with or alternates I thought up when my first titles were vetoed. The exception is ClanSon, which was retitled Plague of Memory by my publisher. I always tried to limit my titles to one or two words, although I planned far in advance to call the final novel Dream Called Time (and fought hard for that title.) The biggest disappointment to me was having to give up Drednoc, which I thought perfectly suited the eighth book, and go instead with Omega Games.

Reever is the character who has escaped death by author more times than any other member of the StarDoc cast. At least once during the writing of every single book I've wanted to kill him; I usually write my way through it. As a result I have a rather massive collection of unpublished Reever death scenes, which include succumbing to the Core plague, losing a challenge to Xonea, being eaten on Catopsa, being eaten by Catopsa, coding on Joseph's operating table, being blown up during the Jado Massacre, dying on the battlefield during the Akkabarran rebellion, bleeding out on Vtaga and, my personal favorite, being stabbed in the heart by Jarn at the end of Rebel Ice.

Squid Lips, Cherijo's nickname for Squilyp, is a chiding nickname one of my guy's oldest friends uses for him (I guess we kissed a lot when we were dating.) Typical writer that I am, the first time I heard it I thought, "God, that would make a great SF character" and Squilyp evolved from there.

Xonea's name is an anagram of "one axe" with an e dropped (mainly because Xoneea looked a little weird on paper.) His character was inspired by a Frank Frazetta painting I fell in love with in high school.

Cherijo Arrives

It's here.



Dream Called Time, the tenth and final StarDoc novel, is now available online and in stores. If you enjoy science fiction, would like to know how I wrapped up the series and support PBW in the process, I hope you'll check it out.

The novel is dedicated to the people who kept me and StarDoc going, and today I'd like to share that dedication with everyone:

This book is for
all the loyal StarDoc readers out there.
It took ten years for us to make this journey
through constant hardships
and endless heartaches,
but while I chose this path,
you never once let me
walk it alone.
Thank you.