Blog to Book and Podiobook

At the Association for Women In Communication conference last month I had the chance to talk with Tom Masters, author of Blog to Books and Beyond: A New Path to Publishing Success. His book gives a general overview of what blogs are and what makes them successful, and takes a look at specific cases like Julie Powell and The Julie/Julia Project — which also became a motion picture, and Diablo Cody, whose first blog Darling Girl led to a book about her life as a stripper, and eventually to her book, Juno. You know the rest of that story.

Tom is also president of Book Publishers Northwest, so he is particularly aware of some of the options in my region. He offers some advice for how best to structure a blog, and things to think about if you want to blog your novel. I’ve been looking at differences in blogs and blog strategies a lot because there is some interest in establishing one for my employer, so much of what Tom talks about is familiar to me. What was new to me was the idea of podcasting a novel.

He gives a brief case study of Scott Sigler, science fiction writer, whose novel EarthCore got picked up by AOL/TimeWarner, but they “scrapped the imprint” just before his book was to be printed. So, he decided to put his book out for free via podcast. He created 22 audio eposides, 45 mins each, by recording in a closet. Tom likens it to the old 1940s radio shows. Sigler had to provide all the character voices and generate enough drama to keep the listeners interested, but evidently was successful because he quickly built an audience of 5,000 listeners. His second novel Ancestor drew 30,000 listeners. I believe he had some help getting the word out via an online science fiction network.

I have not investigated this yet but I am intrigued by it. His podcasting success attracted a Canadian publisher which published both books. It comes down to the same story I’ve been hearing for a while — pubishers are reluctant to take a risk on an unknown author, especially in these economic times, so if you can prove to them you already have a sizeable audience, they’re more willing to give you real consideration.

Of course, podcasting is an investment. Maybe not as much as self-publishing a book, but you would have to create a quality product that people wanted to listen to, and then you have to promote it to people who know nothing about you or your work. Sigler used the Garage Band program on his Mac to create and edit his episodes, including background noises just like they do now for radio feature stories. Tom told me Sigler got criticized by one of his listeners who said a character voice in his second novel was too similar to a character in his first novel. You might need some help, like drawing in friends to be some of the characters. It could be fun, or, not so much if you are a demanding and exacting producer.

My characters would have to have Irish and British accents — which I’m afraid I’m not so good at.  But, I think podcasting would be a great option for historical fiction if done right. I’d love to hear from anyone who has tried this approach for historical fiction.

The Process of Discovery

My parents, on the right, with my mother's best friend Elaine at left, in 1970.

It’s amazing sometimes, where the pathways of thought will lead. This morning I was online researching currency in the 17th century. In my novel, a coin is a central icon throughout the story so I need to find just the right one. There is much to be found about Elizabethan currency, but so far not much that is specific to my time period.

Anyway, the word “sixpence” set me off. It reminded me of “Half a Sixpence,” the 1967 musical based on a novel by H.G. Wells and starring British pop star of that time, Tommy Steele – and the title song began to play in my head. I was cast back to when I was 11 years old and my parents went to this show. They came home from their date absolutely bubbling. They were happy. They were both singing. They bought the soundtrack album and played it frequently. And when my father sang it was a grand thing – not that he was a great singer (he wasn’t bad), but it meant there was happiness and joy in our household. When he was happy, we could all be happy. The converse was also true.

But then I remembered that this kind of happiness went from occasional to rare, and did not last. Over the next eight years things would tumble, my parents would divorce, and I would go off to college bewildered and distressed. It was the 60s and 70s – sex, drugs, rock & roll. Everything was bewildering. Our family of five exploded, each going our own ways, and our ties to each other became thin and fragile.

Then I began to consider my father’s viewpoint in all of this, which I believe was primarily one of disappointment. Probably from before he and my mother even married he had set his sights on having three boys. He must have imagined them as smart and good-looking, athletic – probably winning a slew of ribbons and trophies on the swim team, playing on high school and college football teams, and then more ribbons and trophies riding hunter-jumpers with power and finesse. Then those sons would go on to make buckets of money in their professions and sire grandson after grandson in their own image, establishing my father’s legacy forever. Was it God’s sense of humor that instead he ended up with three sensitive girls who loved dolls and pretty clothes?

Then I arrived at the next layer, focusing on the disappointment. And I always seem to come ‘round to this. None of his daughters were very athletic, and I’m pretty sure he thought we were destined to become housewives, secretaries or school teachers rather than captains of industry. I focused on journalism, and the memory came upon me of one morning when I was visiting him while on break from college and we were having breakfast. He told me, if he was ever to write his memoirs he would start it in a particular way. I can’t even remember now what way that was – probably because my young and disappointed mind was preparing to lash out. Instead of encouraging him to write his memoir and offering to help – which is what I would like to do today if I could – I smirked and said “That’s probably what they would tell you not to do.”

I think the conversation pretty much ended after that, not that I recall the rest clearly. My punishment is that my father wrote no memoir, and when he died I realized (with the impact of a brick squarely between the eyes) that I knew almost nothing about him, his life as a young man, his dreams, his turning points. My husband says if my father wanted to write his memoir, he would have written it – my stupid comment did not have the power to stop it. But then, he probably felt he did not have a legacy he could be proud of.

Before he died my father once said to me he had reached the top of the mountain and was now descending the other side. He did not like it. He had nothing to show for his life. I said, “You have three daughters.” This elicited barely a shrug. He was disappointed. And I was disappointed. Perhaps it was not so much disappointment in his daughters, as I had until now believed. We know he loved us. Maybe it is just that he was ashamed he had not done more with his life, and so chose not to write about it.

The trick for a writer is to follow this thought process through, discover some perspectives that might not have been clear before, and figure out how to turn it into story. My first novel was about the life of a man of my father’s time – I did not have my father’s history, so I simply made it up. It was a satisfying process, and I was able to inject much of the feeling I had experienced in our family life (write what you know, as they say).

Still, I wish I could give a sixpence for his thoughts.

Connecting the dots

After a long walk on the beach today, I find I am connecting some pretty significant dots. If my post gets a little lengthy I apologize — but the dots are important. I may need to read them to myself later.

Today I’m at a convention in Galveston, TX, looking out over the Gulf of Mexico from my hotel room — yesterday it was through the pouring rain, and at times I found myself standing in a corner, at a loss for what to do. Today the sun shines and I have more clarity. 

Galveston is significant because Hurricane Ike came to visit here a year ago September, and you cannot drive down Seawall Blvd. without seeing the clear evidence of destruction. But there is also evidence of rebuilding and recovery. A very cool site shows photos immediately after the storm, and then one year later. 

Because I am here and have actually been to some of the places it has more meaning for me than it might have, but also I have seen in the faces and heard in the voices the sorrow and resilience. There was another hurricane of similar power in 1900, when about 8,000 people were lost — so this little community has a history of weathering some of the most destructive forces our nation has seen, and not only surviving but thriving.

At the convention this morning there was a performance of local talent that included a short video of Dan Rather, who brings his family to the island for summer retreats. It is a beautiful, peaceful place to walk along the sand and be relaxed and refreshed, he said, but it is also a place “that is always on the razor’s edge of danger.”

And speaking of danger, later we heard from Commander Kirk Lippold who was at the helm of the USS Cole a decade ago when the USA took it’s first deadly strike from terrorists. He spoke of leadership, of having to act in the now but still think ahead. After they realized what had happened to their ship and medical triage was active, the captain’s number-one goal was to save the ship. But then the all-important generators that ran the ship’s pumps gave out and could not be restarted. “What do you do?” he asked. “You don’t quit.”

The reason these things are connected for me is because, as I’ve been saying and as so many writers have experienced, I’ve been on the razor’s edge of giving up writing for good. It’s hard. It’s time consuming. It is life consuming. At times it feeds my soul, but if it has no audience what good is it? Is my time not better spent in any of a thousand other ways?

I think I’m over the bruising I took from the agenting process. I took the risk, I put myself out there. If I didn’t make the cut I take responsibility for it. But am I up to the task of saving this ship?

For the people of Galveston, I’m sure there were some who gave it up and walked away. But what I’m seeing here is a core community that is unwilling to give up to the elements that which they feel they belong to. That’s right, they do not feel the island belongs to them but that they belong to the island. In such a condition, there would not seem to be a choice but to clean up, rebuild, regenerate, reenergize, and never give up.

I’m not sure if I’m the community, or the island, or if my ship is even sinking. I’ll be back to read this later!

Revision and remodel

When I was in college and wanted to avoid the hard work of studying for an exam or writing a research paper — I suddenly discovered that my bathroom was in desperate need of a deep and thorough cleaning. So, it should come as no surprise (although somehow it did) that since I’ve matured, so have my habits. Now that I am facing a major revision of my novel, I suddenly and desperately need to remodel the entire guest bathroom. I will not be dissuaded.

Unfortunately, my desires in remodeling are turning out to be as difficult to attain as the chapter revising. Is is just reflective of my brain patterns in general?

With the novel, I have tried to follow advice (believe me everybody has some and one must pick through for what will make the work better, not just different), and now I have reached the brick wall that forces me to turn a different direction. Do I go back to my original idea, and recast the voice of the protagonist? Or, do I stay where I am now and simply add more character depth and maybe more historical scenes and references? Do I set the whole darn thing aside and start on the next idea bubbling up?

With the bathroom, do I do the electrical first, or the toilet? And if I do the toilet should I get the round bowl so I have more room? But if I get the round bowl, I can’t get it in the color I need. Do I go with an older model toilet to get the round bowl and the right color, but sacrifice the original idea for a quality upgrade?

Well, you get the gist by now. I’ve been told, when you don’t know what to do you should do nothing until direction naturally comes to you. But there is that other school of thought that it’s best to stay in motion, keep the energy high so you are more receptive and more likely to be in the right place at the right time. Plus, my sister is coming for Christmas and I want my new bathroom by then. Never mind the questionable wisdom of spending that kind of money before Christmas!

Oh, bother. The thing is, I want what I want, and I want it all now. Somewhere back in time  I remember being in a kindergarten play, dressed up as a fairy princess with a magic wand, and I got to tap the toy soldier on the shoulder to make him suddenly come to life. I’m pretty sure that is the first and last time a magic wand has worked for me.  It has, in fact, turned into a toilet brush!

Thank you Ann Curry

I appreciated Ann Curry before, but after hearing her speak at the Association for Women In Communications’ national conference Saturday night, I am a true fan.  It is not because she is gorgeous — though she is. Her face absolutely glows, and when she mentioned she grew up in the 50s like my friend and me, my friend who is contemplating a facelift leaned toward me to say “I think I’ll just kill myself right now.”

I am a fan instead because Ann spoke about something that is often my own struggle — looking for ways to make sure your work, and in fact your time here on earth, has meaning and value.

Ann was in Seattle to receive the Matrix Award, the highest honor bestowed by the national AWC. She won over the room of about 300 attendees immediately. After showing a video of her coverage of brutality in Congo, she said she was embarrassed to say her biggest concern at the moment was her hair, and then did a funny imitation of her Japanese mother criticizing her for looking “crazy.” It was a simple connection among women, and a demonstration that we can and often must handle the traumatic alongside the trivial. And her voice, which former Seattle news anchor Margaret Larson called “silky-smokey” was as soothing as it was engaging.

But she won me over even more with her words. She never once referred to notes or a script. She spoke from experience, probably from much practice, and from the heart. She talked about her Congo coverage of an 18-year-old girl who was forced to watch her parents be murdered and then was brutally and repeatedly raped and left for dead. When Ann talked to her in the hospital, she asked the girl if she was angry and wanting revenge. Ann, and all of the listeners in the room, were inspired by the girl’s desire not for revenge, but just to be whole again, to regain her childhood.

Ann said adversity and horrible situations are our opportunity to rise up, to make changes. We, as women, have made many changes before and we have proved our ability to do it.

The audience included many of the past national presidents of AWC, my own boss among them, and these are the women who worked hard, shoulder to shoulder with other women’s groups, to open the doors and opportunities for women who sought their profession. All you have to do is watch an episode of Mad Men to know what kinds of things women were up against, and believe me not all of it has changed. But much has. AWC membership includes all kinds of communicators, from journalists to TV and radio producers, to public relations and advertising pros, to marketing professionals and small business owners, and the list goes on and on.

Ann Curry was once told she could not move up in her profession because women don’t have any news sense.

When we are faced with opposition, with obstacles, when anyone tells us we can’t, Ann said the voice inside our heads should be saying “Oh yeah? WATCH ME.”

As a writer I struggle with that voice frequently — the person telling me I can’t is sometimes coming from outside, but more often it is an old tape inside my head that was recorded many years ago. I keep having to erase it and replace it, but when I’m feeling weak or get a rejection of some kind it comes back with a shattering roar.  Ann’s words, her delivery, her sincerity and her personal journey have inspired me, and remind me it is up to me to change my life. It is up to me to step up to my own goals, and to step around the obstacles that are really only there to test my resolve.

And she reminded me about the quote I have taped to my refrigerator, but still forget to look at. It was from Pierce Brosnan after Daniel Craig was selected to replace him as James Bond. He said, after the pain of rejection “I’m free now. I can do anything I want…It’s up to me to have the guts to make my life exciting.”

Thank you Ann, for coming to Seattle to remind us that individuals and women in particular have a powerful place in the world. Thank you for being such a luminous example of what women can do. And thank you for continuing to fight the battles for women in places most of us can never go.

Beyond the jellyfish forest

The other day I found myself flat on my back watching “Finding Nemo” on the Disney Channel. It was Labor Day weekend. I could have been doing anything with my time, but the fact was I couldn’t write, couldn’t research, couldn’t edit, didn’t even want to read. And it wasn’t just that day. It has been a feeling persisting for weeks.

Then, in the middle of the movie there was  scene when Dory (with the Ellen DeGeneres voice) and Marlin (Nemo’s dad, voiced by Albert Brooks) have to go through the jellyfish forest to get to the Australian Current and then to Sydney, where they hope to find Nemo. Dory gets stung, but Marlin saves her and then the two of them are stunned to paralysis by the venom.

That’s when it hit me. I’ve come through my own jellyfish forest and I’m still reeling from the sting of my last rejection. It’s not like I haven’t had my share of them! I’ve been marketing a manuscript for about a year now. I’ve had some really positive comments and great support, but this last rejection nailed me. Maybe because it came after I had cycled through most of the agents who represent historical fiction. I’m about at an end of my path and need to either turn left or right.

I knew this last rejection was coming from the beginning. We met at a writers conference and did not really have chemistry, but she asked for my manuscript anyway. I had another signal when, immediately after receiving my manuscript she questioned (incorrectly) my word count — she had a formula and mine did not fit into it (I did not bother to inform her that I had simply used the word count function so she could take it up with Microsoft). Still, I waited for it and indeed it came. She liked the story, liked the detail, but did not like the protagonist “or even the writing.” (There it is: STING!)

This was a nasty one from which I am of course recovering. The poison wears off as it did for Dory and Marlin. And eventually, they found their current, got some great help from some really cool turtles, and eventually found Nemo. I should note, Marlin’s father gave up first, certain that Nemo was already dead. What’s that old line we often hear? Don’t give up before the miracle happens.

And try to avoid those dangling streamers when traveling through the jellyfish forest!

Standing tall 100 years: AWC

My professional group, the Association for Women In Communications, is celebrating its centennial this year. And, because it all started with a few like-minded and determined women at the University of Washington, the UW School of Communications is co-sponsor for the AWC National Conference in October that will draw writers, editors and communicators of all types from across the nation.

I’ve attended two of these conferences in the past, and always have come away with knowledge, tips for success on the job as a corporate communications manager, and ideas for stories, strategies and new tactics to reach audiences. Plus, it’s fun, and this year in Seattle I believe it will be better than ever. I’ll be just a 10 minute drive from all the activities, but those staying in the downtown Sheraton will be just steps away from outstanding shopping and restaurants, plus all the great sights of the city.

AWC was a lifeline I grabbed onto when I first moved to Seattle. I didn’t know anyone here, I knew there were professional opportunities here but I did not really know how to access them. The connections I made helped considerably, especially when I needed references, but the friendships I made have been lasting and very rewarding.

If you work in the communications field — and are also an author of fiction or non-fiction — come. You will get something out of this. And for me, the idea of supporting an organization that has supported the rise of women in a profession typically reserved for men makes me feel part of a larger stream that makes good things happen. Some days, that helps get me through!

No time for sociopaths

I had to put down Phillippa Gregory’s The Wise Woman the other day. I hated doing it. I like to see stories through to the end. And this is one of the two books I selected from a big box of freebies offered by the organizers of the Historical Novel Society for volunteers at the June conference. I had not read this one and love Gregory’s work, so I was all set for a great read.

And, for the most part it was. Gregory is a great storyteller. Her knowledge of the history and her descriptions are hard to beat anywhere. And this story was published, I believe, in 2001, so maybe I should have given her a break. But there were two things that really annoyed me. The first I could have lived with, but the second I could not.

My training is both in literature and journalism, but it is in journalism that I got the real workhorse experience — like 25 years of it. In journalism you learn very quickly that your work is limited by space and time: The space alloted in column inches, and the time the reader has over cereal and coffee. Gregory’s dialog in this book was good, but I found in many instances it was repetitious. A question would be asked and answered, and then in the next few paragraphs it would be asked and answered again. It was almost as if she had written it two ways and could not decide which one she liked best, so she kept both of them. Unfortunately I can’t quote from the book directly because I got rid of it. That’s how annoyed I was.

But the real thing that caused me to get rid of the book was the protagonist herself. As fiction writers, we learn that the reader must relate to or at least empathize with the main character, because this is the person he or she has to spend the most time with in the book. If they don’t like that person, it’s a tall order to expect them to stay. Well, I could empathize with Alys in the beginning chapters, even though she left her mother and sisters (nuns) to die in a fire. She’s allowed one character-forming flaw/mistake, right? Something that drives her choices later in the story? But as I moved through the book with her, I lost track of her redeeming qualities. She would turn on anyone, and in fact began to betray everyone, even those she needed the most. They happened to be the maternal figures in her life. (Wonder if Gregory was working out some of her own mother issues?)

But Alys had no remorse. She was, in fact, a sociopath.

Now, I know there must be a dark side to everything in order to have the light. There is ying and yang, there is full moon and new moon, there is good and evil. In novels, bad things have to happen or you’ve got a dull book. And, I saw the word “horror” on the back cover. Normally I would have already put the book down. Horror is not for me. But it was Phillippa, so how bad could it be?

But that brings me back to my own time/space issue. In this world that seems to abound with sociopaths, do I need to spend time reading about one? Do we need to create another such creature to inhabit the spaces of our minds?  I want a character I can care about, a story I can learn from, a message of hope even if it ends in tragedy. I believe that some of this negative imagery takes up mental spaces to our detriment, just as violent scenes in movies are sometimes indelible. I don’t know whether this book did in fact offer hope in the end, because I did not have time in my life to keep looking for it.

When inspiration attacks

My husband has discovered he loves writing. Not historical writing, but the other kind. I’m talking about the kind that, you know, comes at the expense of someone else — like your spouse! Last night as we were brushing our teeth, a mosquito settled on the bathroom mirror. Of course, it would have feasted on our flesh all night if it was not swiftly dispatched. But my husband insisted he was the spider killer (I hate spiders!), and mosquitoes were my problem. So I did what I had to do. I’m a woman of action when I have to be.

Then he got tickled. Really tickled. He had to stop what he was doing and start writing immediately. He kept it up while I went to bed, then he came in just about to bubble over, so pleased with himself he was with what he’d written so far. (Okay, damnit, it was funny. Not fair!) So, he tried to go to bed but kept fidgeting and giggling to himself, then he asks, “Will it still be there in the morning if I don’t write it now?

“GO WRITE!” I said. Gently, of course. And so he did what he had to do.

It’s funny. I guess it’s funny. I mean, it’s about spiders so it can’t really be THAT funny, can it?

You be the judge:
Arachnids: How to use them effectively…

Mapping History

At the Historical Novel Society earlier this month, there was a session called “Research methods on a budget: What to do when you can’t go there.” This was particularly timely considering the economic climate in which people everywhere have lost  their travel budgets and a lot more. The best solution, which comes as no surprise, is using maps. Any maps of the area you are interested in will be helpful, but of course if you can find a map from your target time period you are golden, and quite possibly better off than being there because the landscape you might find today could bear little resemblance to what it looked like way back when.

In my case I’ve used a lot of maps. Some came in books about my topic, others from when I toured Ireland. I have not found a map (yet) that depicts the west of Ireland in detail in the 1650s. Maybe if I could scour the library in Cork I would find it, but for now I’ll have to be content with what I have. For the island of Montserrat, I came upon the report of an archeological dig at a sugar plantation that had existed around my time period, so this was enormously helpful, not only because of the maps but because of what they found during the dig. And it helped confirm my idea of what the plantation house would look like. (Thanks, University of Washington Library!)

Some resources recommended during the conference:
Yahoo directory for historical maps
Perry Castaneda Library map collection

And, the Pallas guides – these are paperback guidebooks to particular areas. You can find them on amazon.com.

Here's a pretty cool map I found of Dublin, 1610.