My Blog

8/31/2010
The Kindle sales of my book are coming along, but I do constantly hear from people that they don't have a Kindle yet, and when is the book coming out in paperback? I'm happy to say that it will be available in paperback very soon, during September, and I will post that information here as soon as possible. I've had some nice reviews of the book on the Amazon.com website.

7/22/2010
Hurry up and Wait. That's the story of my Kindle experience so far. The novel was downloaded, looked fine in the preview edition, but when I got my copy on Kindle for PC, it was missing some crucial line breaks. SO...back to the drawing board. I'm not fluent in html, but my computer-savvy son-in-law was also confused by the lack of breaks. Meanwhile, I've ordered my own Kindle and once I receive it, will check to see how the story actually looks on a real Kindle. Once the bugs are worked out, I'll be sure to post a link to the novel on Kindle.

Meanwhile, the summer fiction writing classes are winding down - only two left. I think everyone has really enjoyed them and we're seeing some good writing. I find that preparing for the classes ups my own inspiration and I've begun work on another novel (my fourth, if I don't count the ones I abandoned along the way). I've been wanting for a long time to expand on a short story I once wrote about Camp Meeting, and so that's what I'm doing. So far, I know how it starts...

7/14/2010
My Kindle Experience - So soon I'll be in this new adventure, as a Kindle Author. The manuscript of my novel has been re-read, revised, proof-read and polished, and is now ready to go. Before I download it, there are some chores to be taken care of at Amazon, and then we'll be off to the races. As I have many writerly friends, I'm posting my experiences here so they can consider if this is something they might want to do.

First of all, the revision and proof-reading process. I had written this novel in 2003-04, so I wanted to review it first, and see if I wanted to change anything. I did end up trimming it by about 3000 words, which I believe is an improvement, and an online friend of mine, Michael Mendershausen, has been a HUGE help as a critiquer. You can always learn something new, and he's really opened my eyes about things like sentence structure and verb use. Thought I had those nailed! After all, I've had over 35 short stories published, but this is why I firmly believe in the need to have a critique partner. They can see things that you're too close to your story to recognize. Michael's been fab, and I'm returning the favor by critiquing his novel, A Night Devoid of Stars.

I've also sent the text to some friends to read, to get their responses and am happy to say, they seem to have really enjoyed reading the book. Something else happened that I didn't expect - a publisher from a small press contacted me and INVITED me to submit my work to her. Well, THAT threw me, being the opposite, or reverse-English, spin on the usual order of things. Kinda thrilling!

I'll be adding more to this blog as I continue the process of putting my book on Kindle.

6/23/2010
Writing class. Wow! When I first decided to offer writing classes this summer, I never knew how much it would rev up my OWN writing and aspirations. Delving into discussion areas such as plot curve, scenes, characters, etc., has really made me look much harder at my own work. Recently, I've been reviewing my second novel, EVERY LITTLE STEP SHE TAKES, preparing it for publication, and I've certainly seen places that need tightening. At the same time, I'm really happy to find these characters are still so alive for me after so much time has gone by. (I wrote the novel in 2003/04.) Within a few weeks, it will be available on Kindle, and if it sells reasonably well, I will be offering two collections of my short stories on Kindle also.

EVERY LITTLE STEP SHE TAKES is the story of a young ballerina who gets caught up in a dark affair with an older man. Scandals can be enjoyable to read about in the newspapers, but not so much if the scandal involves You. How does a person recover from publicly making such a mess of their life? How do they get past a colossal mistake? And how does their family survive and rebuild?

When 18-year-old Amanda Long, ballet student, meets Richard Gessler, the college’s benefactor and a high-profile businessman, he offers to take her under his wing and become her mentor. However, in a slow step-by-step seduction, Amanda is drawn further and further into a dangerous dance. The dark romance between the two takes an ugly turn, resulting in attempted murder and suicide. The spotlight’s glare drives Amanda further away from her home and family until she finds a way to start a new life for herself. Just when it looks as though Amanda and her family might reconcile, Richard steps in again and she must finally figure out how to stand on her own two feet.

EVERY LITTLE STEP SHE TAKES is a novel about the dangers of the wrong kind of love and the strength of true parent-child relationships.

Once it's available on Kindle, I'll make note on the homepage of this website. You'll be able to read the first chapter on Amazon for free, so check it out and see if you're interested in reading the rest!

5/6/10
Myrtle Beach. Fabulous place to tan and write. We spent Thursday through Sunday there last weekend. My husband had to attend a seminar, I got to go along for the ride. I LOVE the beach. I wish I owned a house there.

And I got a lot of writing done! It was so easy - get up early, have breakfast, walk on the beach, write. Go outside, get some tan, walk on the beach, write. Have lunch, walk on the beach, write. Go outside, get some tan, walk on the beach, write. Loverly.

We also got to be dancing fools on Friday night, doing the Carolina shag to the Fantastic Shakers. I can do boogie legs with the best of 'em.

Oh, why is it so difficult to find time to write once I get back home, though? The weather is beautiful, I have a lake right outside my back door, but somehow, too many chores come calling. Well, I have a half hour available right now - so see you later!

4/15/10

Writerly stuff. That's what I've been doing lately. Advertising the writing classes I'll be offering this summer. Signing up for a writers' conference in Greensboro, NC. Researching agents. Trading reciprocal critiques with another writer who I met through Facebook. And thinking about the next novel.

Now that "The Pleasure of Your Company" is finished and nearly ready to send out to a few alpha readers (any takers?), I'm thinking ahead to what I want to work on next, and leaning heavily toward a sequel featuring the same characters at Camp Meeting - a local phenomenon which is one part religious revival, one part family reunion, and one part old-timey courtship ritual. I think it would be a lot of fun to write and, hopefully, fun to read. Two of my sisters own a 'tent' at the nearby camp meeting site (really, a wooden shack with a tin roof) so it would be easy to hang out and pick up lots of inspiration for details.

As to the story, I've got some ideas that need developing. Can't wait to get at them.

4/9/10

Serendipity. I love the meaning of that word. (I don't love the SOUND of the word so much, reminds me of 'dippy'.) But the meaning is 'the lucky coming-together of chances', or 'making lucky discoveries by chance'. As a writer, I depend on serendipity.

Think about it. In trying to write a novel, you must constantly come up with inspiration. You rely on everything you think, hear, see, taste, fear, enjoy, smell, read and experience to keep your inspirations fresh and your writing filled with enough realistic detail to ring true. So when something comes along that you can use in your current writing, it's like manna from heaven.

That was my experience this past week, when working on the denouement chapter. (Yes, chapter. Turned out to be bigger than just a scene.) I knew what was needed 'technically', to fulfill the plot line and create the right tension, but knowing what's needed still doesn't tell you how to write it and sure doesn't help you figure out how to bring the reader along with you emotionally.

That's where serendipity comes in. There's nothing like a little vehicular terror and a lot of family angst to help you write a good chapter. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

3/31/10

Well, I went to check on my blog this morning and found it had disappeared. I don't know how. So today is a fresh start.

For the past two months, I've been working on revisions to the novel I'm currently writing, "The Pleasure of Your Company". I'm nearly finished. The thing is, I'm also working on plans for teaching a series of ten classes on writing fiction for this summer and while thinking about the class on Plot, I've realized that the plot of my own novel has a weak point. It's not HUGE, I can fix it, but it made me realize how important it is for me (and I suspect most writers) to develop a good critical eye by critiquing and evaluating other writers.

We're too close to our own work to see it clearly. We have no perspective. When we write, we know what we MEANT, but we don't know if we've achieved that. But when we evaluate or critique someone else's work, we've got a 'stand-back' perspective, like at an art museum when you stand back to get a better view of a large painting. It's easier for us to spot weaknesses, vagueness, sections that are unclear or that give a different effect than the author meant. And THEN, we might be more able to see weaknesses in our own work.

So today, I'm working on that scene. I know now what's needed, I just have to figure out how to get there without breaking the rhythm of the story and making the change seem obviously grafted on. It requires thinking things through first before writing. I suspect I will end up doing a lot of housework today (such a handy activity requiring almost no brain cells). Wish me luck!

Created on 05/26/2005 08:33 AM by cagosta
Updated on 08/31/2010 09:07 PM by cagosta