Working Titlez

Author Lander Marks takes The SPQ. Ms. Marks is the author of Artist’s Proof, a debut novel filled with mysteries, plot twists, and shocking secrets that keep the reader trying to guess how the story will end. An automotive industry executive, Marks is also the author of Reservations Required: Culinary Secrets of Las Vegas’ Celebrity Chefs (Huntington Press).

1. How long did your manuscript take, start to finish? Eight years.

2. Did you do special research? I traveled to Europe, New York City and contacted experts in the most specific areas of the books content, i.e.: Holocaust art restitution, Vatican, cruise business and art auction professionals.

3. How long before you held the first copy in your hands? One year two months from contract signing.

4. How do you write? When the mood strikes or certain time of day for writing? Word count goals? I am a sporadic writer but constant note taker, article clipper and outline modifier.

5. Do you outline first? Yes, and constantly revising.

6. Do you listen to music while you write? If so what type of music? I listen to music (all kinds) when meditating which often leads me to thoughts and feelings about my writing projects.

7. What is your favorite adjective and verb? Be creative. Think. Create.

8. Which book have you read again and again? My own.

9. What is your favorite book title (not the book, just the title)? STICK

10. Which author would you most like to meet, living or dead? Walter Mosley or Lillian Braun.

11. Would you rather get paid to read or get paid to write? Paid to write.

12. What is the strangest comment or experience you’ve had about your book or writing? The ultimate ending to my recent book, Artist’s Proof. I discovered the painting by Hungarian artist Bela Kadar among my art collection, after the book was completed and at the printers. It was as if Bela had been haunting me for eight years to get this story finished and only after it was done did the painting reveal itself, and another chapter in the tale of Artist’s Proof became a legacy to this period of art, literature and heritage. Amazing.

13. Your best advice for novice writers? Plan your story and really think it through before you begin. Outline, outline, research, research. Begin with the end in mind. Otherwise you will waste seven years!

14. Your best marketing techniques? Face to face appointments with meeting planners and bookers involved in the subject matter of the book.

15. The future of printed books . . . ? Good stories or great timely information will always be in demand. A printed book will always be treasured. The Bible is a great example. Still the Number 1 bestseller every year, since record keeping began.

16. What piece(s) of fiction gave you that “Ah ha, I know this is what I want to do” realization? MetroGirl by Janet Evanovich.

17. What are you reading now? Buddhism without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor.

18. What is your biggest reader pet peeve? Predictability! Cliché storylines, lack of character development.

19. What is your biggest writing pet peeve? Lack of time and solitude.

20. What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever received? Kill your babies.

21. What writing tool can you not live without? The EDITOR!

22. Many writers say that until they decided they didn’t care what their mommas would think, they held back. And when they let go of that concern, they felt free to write. Did this ever apply to you? It didn’t until I published a book and began to wonder if my perceived audience didn’t appreciate my character’s language and attitude.

23. Do you have a website/blog where readers may learn more about you and your work? www.readartistsproof.com

Congratulations and good wishes to Geoff Schumacher, Lewis Kimberly and Jorge Betancourt Polanco — their books have been named FINALISTS in the Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year awards. The competition was established to bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors. ForeWord is the only review trade journal devoted exclusively to books from independent houses.

Geoff is the author of Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue while Lewis the author and Jorge the illustrator of Granny McFanny. Granny recently received two silver medals from the Mom’s Choice awards, one for humor and another for illustration.

The prestigious Foreword awards process brings readers, librarians, and booksellers together to select their top categories as well as choose the winning titles. Their decisions are based on editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, author credentials relative to the book, and the value the book adds to its genre.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America at the Javits Center in New York City on May 29. The winners of the two Editor’s Choice Prizes will be awarded $1,500 each.

Keeping our fingers crossed!

My long-time friend and colleague Bruce McAllister has just launched a newsletter for writers. You can view the first edition and subscribe at this link: McAllister Newsletter.

The first issue is loaded with tips, advice and resources for writers of all types from poets to novelists, short story and flash fiction writers, non-fiction authors, and folks just flexing their writing muscles. Bruce is a writing coach based in Southern California, but we go way back to the days when he’d place interns from his writing classes at the University of Redlands with my ad agency. Bruce is the real deal, and we’ve published some titles of his coaching clients.

Author John Michael Stuart takes The SPQ. His first book, Perfect Circles: Redefining Perfection challenges each of us to face our own disabilities, what he calls our “imperfections,” by rethinking the real meaning of perfect. With humor and humility, John’s own personal experiences will motivate you to not only accept others, but also accept yourself.

1.     How long did your manuscript take, start to finish?

The actual manuscript took me about nine months to complete.

2.     Did you do special research?

The research for my book, Perfect Circles came through the rich accumulation of insights from living with a physical disability, Cerebral Palsy. Much of the information was also drawn from the professional experiences I received while working as a social worker in both hospice and rehabilitative settings.

3.     How long before you held the first copy in your hands?

Being that Perfect Circles is my first book; it took a year after completing the initial manuscript to get it published. I did a lot of research of different publishing options before finally deciding on a publisher that accepted the manuscript. It took about five to six additional months to get the finished product from Stephens Press that I was quite pleased with.

4.     How do you write? When the mood strikes or certain time of day for writing? Word count goals?

I wrote a lot of my book while at my family’s mountain house in Lake Arrowhead, California. A good walk in nature sparked my creativity.  I wrote up to 4,000 words on some days. Sometimes I wrote as little as 300 words and sometime none if there was writer’s block. I tried to write five days a week.

5.     Do you outline first?

Absolutely! I wrote a complete outline before beginning the actual writing of the book.

6.     Do you listen to music while you write? If so what type of music?

Yes! I listened to all types of music from Classical, Jazz to New Age depending on what I was in the mood for.

7.     What is your favorite adjective and verb?

“Beautiful” and “Being”

8.     Which book have you read again and again?

A Course in Miracles

9.     What is your favorite book title (not the book, just the title)?

Man’s Search for Meaning

10.Which author would you most like to meet, living or dead?

Viktor E. Frankl

11.Would you rather get paid to read or get paid to write?

Getting paid for writing would be nice.

12.What is the strangest comment or experience you’ve had about your book or writing?

It’s funny how creativity always came while in the shower.

13.Your best advice for novice writers?

Start with writing down ideas/thoughts, holding nothing back. Think creatively, outside the box! Believe that there’s a book within you just waiting to be written and that your message/story is important to your future readers.

14.Your best marketing techniques?

I’ve written small articles for magazines. This gives readers a sample of your writing both on style and subject matter without actually giving them your book. Always give the website or other information at the conclusion of the article, directing them where they can purchase your book.

15.The future of printed books . . . ?

People love to hold a book and technology will never take that away. There will always be printed books.

More information about John, speaking engagements and Perfect Circles can be found at www.ReadPerfectCircles.com.

Who WOULDN’T want to get paid to speak? Find out how and much more when Stephens Press hosts the remarkable Judi Moreo for a WORKSHOP FOR AUTHORS. Judi has traveled the world, speaking at conferences, conventions, and corporate gatherings — and been properly rewarded for entertaining, educating, and inspiring audiences large and small. BOR (back of room) sales at speaking engagements can be most rewarding for authors, so getting booked for gigs is important. Getting PAID to speak — plus selling books — is the best! We’ve only got 40 seats available for this workshop and when they are gone, they’re gone, so contact Krissy asap if you want to attend. workshop flyer can be downloaded here.

Today I’m interviewing author Betty Auchard. Betty’s first book, Dancing in My Nightgown, the Rhythms of Widowhood is her memoir of losing her husband of 49 years, getting through the grief, and learning to live again—in a whole new way. Far from being a morose downer, Betty’s stories are touching, inspiring, upbeat, and even funny. Betty had a lot to learn having married at 19, and never having lived as a single person before. Betty’s quirky, loving, and funny personality makes her one of my favorite authors to know and to work with. In this interview she shares her thoughts on the writing process:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started writing. Did you always have a secret desire to be an author?

My secret desires were to be invisible, to fly, and to play the piano. My unconcealed desires were to be a movie star and an artist. I became an artist, so I still have time to become a movie star. But all my life I loved writing letters and telling true stories because I saw, and still do see stories in everything. And I’ve always jotted things down that I didn’t want to forget—sort of like a grocery list for my life.

Becoming a widow at 68 when I had never been single before meant I had more to write about than ever. I wrote about everything that was happening to me because life felt like the twilight zone. It was unreal. I had no way of knowing then that writing was my tool for healing.

Grief recovery was the hardest work I’d ever done in my life and grievers must be allowed to babble about the same old things over and over. It’s the only way we can accept that our loss is real. Writing was like talking to paper. If I felt good I wrote about it. If I felt bad I wrote about it. One day I saw that Postum (Denny’s favorite beverage) was on sale and I almost put a jar in my cart. I was so blindsided by that unconscious act that I had to abandon my grocery cart and run outside to cry. Naturally, I wrote about it. I knew that someday I would look back on my experiences and realize how far I had come.

Writing was more important to me than eating. Naturally I lost weight, but gradually, I regained consciousness and the act of writing took on a life of its own. I became aware that my journaling on junk was starting to use a lot more paper and my writings were becoming pretty good stories that I liked a lot. One thing led to another and I started taking writing classes. This all happened over about six months. By six months I was in love with telling about life from my point of view which sometimes made me cry, but it felt good; like vomiting from my eyes. Sometimes my quirky point of view made me laugh at myself. As hard as I tried not to come off as a widow I always revealed that I was one. It made me feel vulnerable. I may as well have worn a talking T shirt that shouted, “This Lady Lives Alone.” But, to be honest, I liked my stories so much that I practically forced strangers to read them. I knew then that Betty, the Writing Beast had been born.

2. Tell us about your writing habits. When you write do you need music? Or quiet? Is there a special place, time or ritual you use to get in the groove? And has this changed over time? For example from the time you wrote the first draft of the first book until now as you work on the second?

Eleven years ago when I wrote all day long in my nightgown, I didn’t know how to use the computer so I did a lot of writing in bed where the light from the window was perfect. If not there, then I wrote in my lounge chair where the good lamp was located. I wrote on a lined tablet on a clipboard, and used only a fine tip Pilot Precise pen. My thoughts landed on paper as easily as I talk.

Once I learned how to use the computer I relocated upstairs to what used to be my art studio and is now my computer room. I first TELL myself the story out loud a few times and then I start typing without stopping, typos and all. It’s still a lot like free writing but it’s on the screen and I feel as though I’m still talking.  I write best in the mornings when my brain is awake and lively. But I still write at night or any old time I’m in the mood or when I know I won’t be interrupted.  Sometimes that’s into the morning hours. I let other things go unattended, which is slothful but true.

My best writing time was two months ago when I treated myself to a hotel room. I checked into a Holiday Inn Express, 25 miles away so I wouldn’t be tempted to dash home for any reason. I told my children not to call or e-mail unless it was really important and a request for a recipe was not important. It was wonderful. I stayed one week, went home for one week, and returned for one more week. I ate sparingly and used the small fridge and microwave in my room for simple food.  I managed to get ahead on my second manuscript. The cost? About $2,000, but I told myself that I deserved it.

When I think a story is finished, it’s imperative that I read it aloud. Only then do I hear what is clunky or awkward. The sound of the words and the cadence of a sentence are critical. A radio is distracting and never on when I write, which means that it is never on. I watch TV only when I eat something or to watch Dexter or The United States of Tara. The truth is that I sit way too long at my computer because I’m in love with it. And where the day goes I’ll never know. Time just races by when I’m in the writing zone.

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The C-SPAN Civics bus will be in Las Vegas on Wednesday, March 4th and the producers are looking for local authors who would like to talk about government, politics and how the local economy is sending folks to libraries to take advantage of free services. If you’d like to participate, show up at the Clark County Library at 1401 East Flamingo between 2 and 4 PM.