Grammowrimo

Are you thinking of writing a novel? Everyone's getting in on the act it seems, especially in November for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Grammar checking software company Grammarly has decided to devote the month to coordinating a community novel. They're accepting submissions through October 25, 2013 from writers at all levels. Signing up with your email address will add you to the queue of authors planning to help write the novel, and Grammarly will notify you when it is your turn to contribute up to 800 words to your assigned chapter. At the end of NaNoWriMo, Grammarly is aiming to publish a book that boasts the largest number of authors of any novel ever written.

If you want to join in the fun, just drop by http://www.grammarly.com/grammowrimo/ and enter your email address. You can even help choose the plot, and enter contests to design the cover and name the book.  If you've been wanting to join in NaNoWriMo but don't have the wherewithall (or ability to drop out of your life for a complete month), then this is the perfect option to get your creative juices flowing. I'll be looking forward to checking out the result.

Photos from the Fellowship of Australian Writers Local Writers Showcase 2013

This morning I had the pleasure of participating in the inaugural Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) Local Writers Showcase. After a brief opening by MLS (Local Member of the Legislative Assembly) Greg Piper, and a lovely intro from poet Carol Heuchan, Beryl Mullard, Jaye Ford, Judy Johnson and I spoke to the enthusiastic audience about our different (and yet surprisingly similar in many  ways) paths to publication.

After that we had lots of questions from the audience about book publication and what to do if you don't like the way your publisher is editing your book, how to keep track of plot twists, on fitting writing into our lives, the legal pitfalls of writing (illegal!) nonfiction, whether there's an easy formula for genre books, and quite a bit more.  I suspect that we could easily have gone on for several more hours, and I was honored to be able to sit amongst such illustrious and capable company (and learned as much from their generous answers as the audience did).

I imagine that organising such a gathering, which included a whole day full of talks by a number of wonderful local authors, was a massive undertaking and big thanks to FAW and particularly Linda Visman and Victoria Norton who created such a valuable community event.  

Guest post: Dialog Tags by Aaron Paul Lazar

When I first started writing over a decade ago, I exulted in every new dialog tag I could think up. I preened over “he croaked” and purred over “she grumbled.” Finding new and inventive ways to say “he said” became my quest. My early works were peppered with gloats, murmurs, and barks. I even started a most coveted (only by me) list.

How many words can you think of to say “he said” or “she said?” Here are some, in no particular order:

Mumbled
Murmured
Expostulated
Grunted
Groaned
Whispered
Purred
Spat
Huffed
Croaked
Barked
Choked
Queried
Cackled
Harrumphed
Stuttered
Muttered
Moaned
Hissed
Grumbled
Whined
Sang
Twittered
Tittered
Griped
Yelped
Cried
Stammered
Shrieked
Crooned
Wheedled
Retorted
Pressured
Cajoled

How many more can you think of? There are probably hundreds. Okay, now that you’ve wracked your brain for tantalizing tags, let me share one very important lesson.

DON’T * EVER * USE * THEM

What? Such brilliance? Such innovative thought? Yeah. Sorry. Forget it.

Never use anything but “said,” “asked,” or an occasional “whisper” or “mumble.”  Once in a great while, if you feel you really need it, slip in a “spat” or “croaked.” But I’m here to tell you that dialog tags, for the most part, should be invisible.

 “Said,” is invisible. “Asked,” is invisible. “Barked” stops the flow of the dialog. Anything that makes your story stutter needs to be eliminated, including these juicy but totally distracting tags. 

Got that part?

 Now that I’ve encouraged you to use “said,” I’m going to retract it.

Forgive me, but that’s just the way it is. If you can avoid a tag altogether–through the clever use of action “beats”– then more power to you.

Here’s an example of changing a passage from lush useless tags, to he said/she said tags, to using beats instead of tags:

Case A

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth.

“Want me to take over?” Tony wheedled.

“Why? Am I making you nervous?” I retorted, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.

“Of course not, sweetums. You’re a great driver. Just thought you might want a break,” he crooned.

We rounded the bend and the road disappeared. The crater before us could hold three elephants. Big elephants.

“Whoa! Watch it, honey. Don’t wanna blow a tire,” Tony groaned.

***
Case B

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth. 

“Want me to take over?” Tony said, leaning on the dashboard. 

“Why? Am I making you nervous?” I said with a frown. 

All smiles, he said, “Of course not, sweetums. You’re a great driver. Just thought you might want a break.”

We rounded the bend and the road disappeared. The crater before us could hold three elephants. Big elephants. 

“Whoa! Watch it, honey. Don’t wanna blow a tire,” Tony said in a panic.

***
Case C 

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth.  Tony braced himself on the dash.
“Want me to take over?” My knuckles turned white.
“Why? Am I making you nervous?”
 “Of course not, sweetums.” He forced an innocent smile. “You’re a great driver. Just thought you might want a break.”
We rounded the bend and the road disappeared. The crater before us could hold three elephants. Big elephants. Tony’s frozen smile barely hid his panic.
“Whoa! Watch it, honey. Don’t wanna blow a tire.” 

Okay, so these examples aren’t beautifully written or perfectly rendered. But they should give you the gist of what I’m trying to illustrate about eliminating dialog tags altogether. Now,go forth! Search and destroy those ugly, story-stopping tags. See how you can make your prose slide down easily, without one stutter. Good luck! 

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. The author of three award-winning mystery series and more, Lazar enjoys the Genesee Valley countryside in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his website at lazarbooks.com and watch for his upcoming release from Twilight Times Books, SANCTUARY (2013).  

Click here to enter Aaron's Rafflecopter giveaway. 

Guest Post: Molly Cutpurse: Writing What Readers Expect

As a child, I possessed an unconventional and odious personality, matched only by my need to read and write. The problem was my education, which was hideous. Diagnosed with dyslexia, as a young adult, I wrote a novel; a rambling, self-indulgent and humiliating quarter of a million words.

With no guidance, I continued to embarrass myself, completely mystified as to why agents and publishers did not wish to take on my undoubted masterpieces. Eventually, I understood it was my lack of self-consciousness that was my problem.

 Stepping off my hedonistic high tower that prevented me from becoming that which I believed I ought to be was depressing yet illuminating. My feet only touched the ground when I was in my fifties, arriving at the conclusion that either I could write for myself or I could write for the pleasure of other people. That is, if I wished to earn a living from this writing malarkey.

Write what we know is common advice. However, it is more important to write as readers expect. Having little formal education, I wrote as I spoke, and that is not what publishers wish to read. If they want that, they can visit a pub and listen to people chat over a pint.

My task was to learn how novels with a proven history, the classics, were written. I choose authors whose works appeared in the top one hundred lists of the last century, and devoured them. I learned spelling, grammar and how to write. Not in the same voice as those whose work I admired, but at least with the same syntax and morphology. That was my first lesson.

Agents and publishers were still not buying my drafts though. What to do? I consider myself a little different. (Have a look at my web page!) It follows then that my writing is a manifestation of my experiences. And, I have written some strange novels. However...is that what the majority of the population want to read? I concluded, they did not.

There are not too many people who want to read about a peasant-devouring being called, Madgododa who comes from the starship, Plodgel and who possesses a magic shield called, Tersacal. I cannot identify with that.

I only began to sell in large numbers when I ceased to write what was a reflection of myself, and began writing what readers wished to read. You want to sell plenty of books? Then watch prime-time television. Those are the sort of stories the majority wants to enjoy. Producers have been in business for a long time, and they know what sells.

My life changed when I began a series concerning how a woman from the East End of London took her family through World War Two. Riding on that success, readers began to enjoy my other books. I am still unconventional, we must all possess a singular voice, but I have learned to play the game.

Molly Cutpurse

www.mollycutpurse.com

Guest post: Second Acts by Koethi Zan

This is a guest post from Koethi Zan, author of The Never List

Pieter van Hattem  © 2012

A little over a year ago, I was a Deputy General Counsel of MTV overseeing the business and legal affairs for series production on shows such as The Hills, The City, Teen Wolf, True Life, Buck Wild, and Catfish.  Now, switching gears mid-career, I’m a full-time writer with my first novel, The Never List, to be published in the U.S. on July 16. 

The process of going from professional executive to a creative type has been a strange one.  In my eight years at MTV, I dealt with issues as various as suicide threats, stalkers, nudity, plastic surgeries, and sex tape scandals.  I negotiated and re-negotiated talent, production company, and rights deals with big-time Hollywood agents.  Before that I worked at a boutique law firm, two major law firms, and as head of business affairs for an independent film producer.  I went to parties, premieres, openings and festivals and represented writers, directors, actors, and playwrights.  From the outside anyway, it seemed pretty glamorous, and in truth it was about as fun as a legal career can be.  But last June, after sixteen years as a lawyer, I walked away from it all.

I grew up in a tiny rural Alabama town in a family of scientists.  I was the black sheep, obsessed with literature and film, not chemistry compounds and electrical engineering.  And I wanted to get out of there, so I worked hard.  I was on the student council, the math team, the scholar bowl team, and ended up Valedictorian.  But I was also a “Goth kid” who dressed in black, moped in my room, and listened to Morrissey, the Cocteau Twins, and Psychic TV.  I stood out in a high school that had a parking lot filled with monster trucks decked out with rebel flags. 

And then I went to college.  Estranged from my parents by that time (a whole other story), I supported myself with scholarships and a small “cow fund” from my grandparents.  (When I was three they’d given me a Charolais heifer named Molly.  Every year, her spring calf would be sold and the funds put into an account for me.) In college, I hung out with the art students and we spent weekends in New Orleans, partying in the gay clubs.  I wanted to be a filmmaker or a photographer.  But I didn’t quite have the nerve.  The cow fund was all used up and I was afraid I could never be financially stable in a creative field.  And so I ended up at Yale Law School.

But I had this brilliant idea:  I’d be an entertainment lawyer.  I’d be close to the creative process.  I’d be surrounded by artists.  It would be practically the same thing!  Ha.  It was just like my favorite New Yorker cartoon:  a picture of a boy dressed in a cowboy outfit, looking at his father saying, “Well, if I can’t be a cowboy, I’ll be a lawyer for cowboys.”

I didn’t get to start out as even a lawyer for cowboys, though.  My first stop was at a major white shoe law firm in Manhattan.  I was in the banking group.  I worked on secured financings and revolving credit facilities.  I spent nights sending out two hundred page documents to eighty banks for a syndicated loan transaction.  And I cried in the ladies room almost every day.

I made it into entertainment law after a year, and learned that the “lawyer” part of “entertainment lawyer” was definitely first and foremost.  But I can’t complain.  Over the years I worked with many wonderful people and I have a lot of great stories to tell.  Or at least I would have them, if it weren’t for attorney-client privilege.

Then two and a half years ago, I started writing a crime novel.  I had never written anything before except some pretty bad high school poetry, but I was a huge reader and I had an idea that was nagging at me based on my long-held obsessions with, and fears of, sado-masochistic dungeons (that’s yet another story).  I gave it a try, using the Graham Greene method, more or less.  I assigned myself the task of writing five hundred words a day, five days a week, with the caveat that if I finished ten thousand words in any calendar month, I could take the rest of the month off.  I kept finishing earlier and earlier each month. 

While writing the book I was working full-time at MTV and renovating a house.  I had to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning so I could squeeze in one hour of writing before my kids got up.  I believed that if I ever missed my word count requirements, I wouldn’t finish.  So I kept going. 

And then somehow the fairy tale came true for me.  My husband, a writer, gave my manuscript to his agency.  They liked it, gave me comments, I revised it, and then we sent it to publishers.   It sold and then there I was with a second career.   I still sort of don’t believe it.

Then I had to make a decision.  My boss, who was General Counsel of Viacom Media Networks,

overseeing MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Spike, TV Land and Comedy Central, was leaving the company for another high-powered job, and I was in the running to step into his shoes.  It was a major fork in the road.  I knew if I pushed for the top job and ended up getting it, my life would change completely.  It would be impossible to write a second book under those circumstances.  And yes, I could have stayed in the same position, writing books on the side, but this dilemma forced the issue for me.  The universe was telling me the time had come to choose:  was I a lawyer or a cowboy?

Lawyers, however, aren’t known for taking big risks, and I was scared.  Financially, I could justify taking a break from the law, but it meant I would have to make the writing thing work.  Would this book be successful?  And could I write another one? 

Only time will tell.  But I took the plunge.  I left MTV last summer and have been writing full-time ever since, finishing the edit for the first book, and starting on the second.  Maybe I’ve given up a lifetime of steady paychecks and employer-provided health care, or maybe one day I will go back to it.  But for now I’m just happy to be out here on the range.

The Joy of Slow: Slow Writing and Close Reading

(I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because it's hard to proofread your own work and it's great to have an extra set of 'eyes'.)

I just finished reading Game of Thrones. Of course, I’m not really finished, but I’ve finished all the books that have yet been published. George R R Martin is still working on the last two novels, and by all accounts it may be a number of years before they appear. Along with millions of other fans, I will wait. When the next book is released, even if that is many years down the track, I will purchase it immediately, and read it hungrily. I’m part of a worldwide captive audience. My reading tastes don’t normally gravitate towards bestsellers. In fact, I tend to avoid them. There’s nothing quite like discovering and promoting a beautiful gem that others have missed. I was, however, heavily encouraged to read this series, and I’m not sorry. Nor am I sorry that Martin is taking his sweet time to complete the books.

Good writing is rarely fast writing. There is slow, hard work involved in creating complexity. There is world building (call it architecture if you want, or setting, or scenes), defining and developing each of the many characters, working up the extensive plot and all of the many threads that bind these people together – some overt and some quite subtle. In such a grand epic, weaving this kind of web can’t be done quickly. There is, of course, talent and skill involved, but above all, writing a rich, complex epic requires application – long, hard, brow-busting work. That Martin refuses to compromise on quality and rush his books out, even though his publishers will almost certainly be pressuring him to do so, is laudable.

Beyond this initial craftsmanship is the extensive, time consuming process of polishing. This ‘revisioning’ process includes ensuring that all of those subtle details are in the right places, foreshadowed correctly (or in a way that will undermine the reader’s expectations – one of Martin’s particular skills), that the underlying thematics are recognisable and that the story elements come together seamlessly. This can be a very time consuming process, involving working through every single word as if it were poetry and condensing, paring back and refining until there isn’t a superfluous word. When you’re producing seven novels, most of which have over a thousand pages, that kind of meticulous detailing is no small accomplishment.

None of this work is quick. There may be moments through the writing process when the author is ‘in the flow’ and things are moving rapidly, but mostly, and speaking from both personal experience and from what many other writers have told me, the writing of a novel is slow, difficult and often painful. Of course, it’s worth it.  At the end of the process, you’ve birthed (and the labour analogy is probably appropriate) something that is uniquely meaningful. Reading work like this is worth taking time over too. Paying close attention to detail or as Julia Alvarez says in her aptly named blog Slow Writing, to "listen patiently, to pay attention, magpie style, to the little details, left and right, to live, to read, to write slowly, the footprints making the path."

All this is to say, in a rather roundabout (call it slow) way, that, just as I’ll have to wait for the next book in the Game of Thrones series, you'll have to wait for my next novel, tentatively titled Tilda’s Song. It’s taking time! That’s time I can’t easily map out or predict, because every couple of paragraphs I’m back to researching. This is all part of the process of working out the story and delving deeper into the truth of my protagonists. It’s hard, slow, painful work, and though I’m not for a minute comparing what I’m doing to Game of Throne, nor do I think that my readers will be waiting as hungrily for my next work as Martin’s readers are waiting for his (in my dreams!), as a writer, I can certainly understand and relate to the difficulties and above all else, the time that Martin continues to put into his work.  Hopefully in the end, the outcome of my time will at least warrant pleasurable attentive reading from my wonderful readers who notice the little details and connect with me on that slow, but meaningful path towards the shared pleasure that only a good, slowly written book can provide.

Newcastle Writers Festival turns the page on a new era

The first chapter of what organisers expect to be an annual success story will be written in April when more than 50 Australian writers participate in the inaugural Newcastle Writers Festival. Many topics and literary genres, including crime, climate change, horror, romance, poetry and history, will be explored by some of this country’s best-known writers in a diverse range of mostly free events.

The weekend event, from April 5 to 7, will be launched at 11am on Wednesday, February 13, at the Lock-Up Cultural Centre, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle by volunteer festival organiser and Newcastle Herald journalist Rosemarie Milsom. Sixteen ticketed events will be announced, as will the internationally acclaimed keynote speaker.

Milsom said the diversity of local talent and the overwhelmingly positive response to the festival showed that Newcastle was more than ready to boost its literary profile. “I've attended writers’ festivals in Australia and overseas, and always wondered why Newcastle didn't have its own event given the depth of creativity in the city and beyond,” she said. “If you are an avid reader, keen to learn more about the writing process, or enjoy a lively exchange of ideas, there will be something for you in the festival program.”

The event brings together a diverse range of contemporary writers and established literary leaders. Award-winning author Robert Drewe, local crime writers Jaye Ford and Barry Maitland, media commentator and author Jane Caro and ABC radio presenter Richard Fidler are among those who will be participating.
The Newcastle Writers Festival is funded by Newcastle NOW and Newcastle City Council and supported by the University of Newcastle, the Newcastle Herald and ABC 1233. Milsom is working in partnership with the Hunter Writers Centre director, Karen Crofts.

Events will be held at a number of inner-city venues, including The Lock-Up Cultural Centre, Noah’s on the Beach and Newcastle City Hall.

Media launch details
When: 11am, Wednesday, February 13 at The Lock-Up Cultural Centre, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle.
Who: Local best-selling authors Jaye Ford (crime) and Deborah Challinor (historical fiction), NWF organiser Rosemarie Milsom and Newcastle NOW manager Michael Neilson attending.

PS, and just in case you're reading right down to the bottom, I will be participating in a big way, facilitating a number of sessions and doing a few readings too. This is going to be a wonderful event--I  hope you'll be able to join us!

Writing the Tough Stuff (Or Killing the One You Love)

A guest post by Aaron Paul Lazar

It’s not easy writing a scene where you kill the one you love.

Of course I don’t mean your actual spouse or lover. I mean the wife, husband, or sweetheart of your main character.

I’ve done it in FOR KEEPS. Thinking about it tears my heart out every single time.

That’s what I mean by “writing the tough stuff.” Sam Moore—a retired family doctor who is our resident hero in Moore Mysteries—is very much like me, except he’s twelve years older and retired with enough money to putter around in his gardens all day. Let me repeat that. All day!

I hate him for that.

Okay, so maybe that’s a little extreme, considering he’s fictional. Shall we say, I am exceedingly jealous of his lifestyle? Although Sam was a family doctor and I am an engineer, we’re still a lot alike. We both love to plunge our hands into the soft earth and grow things. We both love our grandkids so much it hurts. And we both have spouses with multiple sclerosis. There are plenty of differences, too. I cook, I write, and I take photos. Sam doesn’t. But of course, it’s not a competition. At least I don’t think so…

In spite of the fact that he’s not real (at least not in the traditional sense, LOL), I relate to this man and feel his pain when he’s hurting. Sure, you say, writers should feel ALL their characters’ pain. We have to, to get into their heads and nail the characterization. Don’t we?

But I’ll bet some characters are closer to your heart than others.

Sam’s wife, Rachel, shares many qualities with my dear wife, Dale. They both endure MS, they both love to read, they are both chair-caning artists. Some of their symptoms are the same, but that’s where they split apart. Rachel loves to cook (that’s my job in our marriage), she’s in a wheelchair, and she stays pretty upbeat, considering her challenges. They both adore their grandchildren and both love to read. Rachel’s a tribute to Dale, in all honesty. But she also has morphed into her “own woman,” too, and I love her deeply. Er... through Sam, of course. (Honey, don’t be jealous!)

In the first two books of the Moore Mysteries series, Rachel sticks by Sam’s side, supports him when he’s overcome with grief and is plagued by strange paranormal events, and loves him deeply enough to keep him sane.

That’s why it really hurt when I had to kill her.

In For Keeps, the third book in the series, life takes an awful turn. When Rachel is murdered by a serial killer, it puts Sam back in the psych ward, the same place he was thrown when his little brother disappeared without a trace fifty years earlier. Desperate to fix things, he calls on the power of the green marble, the talisman his little brother Billy controls from afar that whisks him back and forth through his past.

Unlike those of us in real life, Sam gets a “do over.” He flies back in time to desperately try to fix the problems that lead to this gruesome act, and over and over again, he attempts to tweak the past to bring his dear Rachel back to life.

How do you write such a scene without losing it? How do you make it feel authentic to your readers? How much is too much? And how can you be certain that your character’s reaction will ring true?

It’s not easy. Matter of fact, since I loosely base Rachel on my own wife, and since Sam and I are really quite alike, it was close to torture.

I called upon my darkest, most powerful emotions experienced when my father died and also when my own dear wife almost died several times in the past few years. I’ll never forget the time the nurse in the ER called the nun on duty to bring me to a little room where no one would see my reaction to her impending news that Dale might not make it. She carried a box of Kleenex under one arm and a bible in the other. She was so sweet. Yet it was one of the scariest moments of my life. Thankfully, my wife pulled through and is doing okay today.

That hollow-gut, black-sludge-in-your-heart feeling is horrible when you lose someone dear to you, isn’t it? It’s all encompassing. Sometimes you just want to deny that awful truth, and pull away—far away—like Sam does in the following excerpt. I tried to channel those feelings when getting inside Sam’s head. Let me know if you think it worked.

Here’s the setup. Sam just picked up his son, Andy, from the airport and they enter the house after arriving home. Andy’s just arrived from his second tour of duty in Iraq, and this is his long-awaited homecoming. Rachel’s been cooking all morning to welcome her boy home. All day, Sam has ignored the insistence of the green marble, which has been pulsing, glowing, and searing his leg all day from his pocket; little brother Billy—who communicates from beyond through this talisman—was trying to “warn” him that something was terribly wrong.

For Keeps is book #3 in Moore Mysteries, and is now available through Twilight Times Books and Amazon.com. The series can be read in any order.

***

Sam raced toward the laundry room in a panic. Rachel’s wheelchair sat abandoned in the hall, and his son froze in the doorway, hands clenching and unclenching at his side.

Andy’s voice thickened. “Maybe you shouldn’t come in here.” He spun and tried to hold Sam back.

One of Rachel’s shoes lay beside the doorjamb. The brown clogs. Slip on. With lambswool lining. She loved them so much she wore them even in summer.

Sam drifted closer, terror pooling in his stomach. As if in anaphylactic shock, his throat tightened and threatened to close off his air. His heart beat wildly now, in his throat, ears, chest.

Sam barreled past his son and stumbled into the room, his voice hoarse. “What happened?”
Rachel lay on a basket of laundry, her eyes wide open, looking with blank surprise at the ceiling. Sam’s garden shears protruded from her heart. The image danced before him like heat waves on tar, shimmering with unreality. Blood ran from Rachel’s floral print blouse to the sheets stained red in the basket, pooling on the white linoleum floor.

The room tilted. A series of screams of No No No No No resonated in his head. Or maybe he yelled it aloud. He couldn’t tell as he shoved Andy aside and collapsed beside her, checking for the pulse that evaded him like a cruel tormentor. Neck. Wrist. Ankles. No beating met his probing fingers.

“NO!” He drew the shears from her chest, sickened by the soft sucking sound it made, then wadded up a compress of pillowcases and held it over the wound to stem the flow. More blood dribbled from the wound and curled around her pearl buttons. He realized with a start that she was still warm.

He looked wildly about the room, as if a solution lay beneath the neatly folded piles of towels and linen. “Call 911. Hurry!” He cradled Rachel in his arms, smearing the blood between them, and feeling her arms dangle away from him, as if she didn’t have the strength to return his embrace.

Andy cried out, his anguish pinging across the small room. He squeezed between his mother’s body and the washing machine, holding his hand out to his father. “Dad. It’s too late. She has no pulse. I checked, too.”

“NO!” Sam’s mind reeled, his vision clouded, and the scent of blood tasted metallic on his tongue. “Who did this? Is he still here? She’s still warm, Andy. Find the bastard!” He stiffened when his brain repeated a phrase he’d heard during some of Rachel’s favorite shows.

Don’t disturb the evidence.

Panic slewed over him, boiling inside his head, freezing his arms and legs.

My garden shears. The killer took them from the barn. Used them on my Rachel. And my prints are all over them.

A great gulping scream filled his throat, tearing out of him like a primal scream. “RACHEL!”
Her head slumped sideways when he moved away, as if she was rejecting him. He checked her pulse again, muttering under his breath. “No way. No. No.” In a sudden manic thrust, he stood and reached for the marble, searching his pockets, patting madly at his pants and shirt. “My God. Where is it? What did I do with it?” Sam asked aloud. “Billy! Why didn’t you warn me?”

Inside the double-stuffed world that batted him between reality and nightmare, he remembered the marble’s insistent throbbing all morning. Billy had tried to warn him, had tried hard.

“Dad, come on. You can’t help her now.” In spite of Andy’s two tours of duty in the heat of battle in Iraq, the bodies he had seen and possibly created, and his soldier-toughened soul, he wept. Loud and strong, he wept and choked on his words. “Dad. Please. Leave her be. It’s over.”

Andy pulled him to his feet. Sam stared at his son as if he’d never seen him before. His eyes widened, trying to piece together a puzzle. Who is this nice young man? And why does he look so familiar?

Andy took him by the elbow and started to shuffle him toward the living room.
“Come on, Dad. Let’s go sit down.”

“No. Please. My wife needs me. She has multiple sclerosis, you know.”

Andy’s eyes popped open. Tears still streamed from them, and he shook his father’s shoulders as if he could not only snap him out of it, but maybe bring back his mother, too.

“Dad! Come on. Hold it together. Don’t do this.”

Sam stopped and stared at his bloodied hands. His legs weakened to jelly. He stumbled, then braced himself against the wall as sobs wracked him in waves of increasing amplitude. He slid to the floor and buried his face in his hands.

Rachel.

Dear God.

Not Rachel.

***

Thanks for reading! I hope you were drawn into Sam’s world, and that you might want to see how our favorite retired family doctor gets out of this one.

FREEBIE! The FOR KEEPS Kindle eBook will be free to all readers on Sept. 14^th, 15^th, and 16^th 2012, as well as on October 12^th and 13^th. Please stop by for your free download here. Also, all of my other books in my three mystery series will be priced at $1.99 during this sale. Check them out at http://www.lazarbooks.com.



Aaron Paul Lazar
www.lazarbooks.com

National Year of Reading: Three Paths to Print Event

 Today I participated in a wonderful group event at the Toronto Library with other local authors Jaye Ford and Wendy James.  The session was titled Three Paths to Print and we did indeed talk about our paths to print, our publishing and writing experiences, and the whole notion of what's in involved in having a novel published.  Thanks to the promotional efforts of Macleans Bookshop and Lake Macquarie Library, the session was well-attended with a lively, interested audience that asked us some terrific questions, took notes, and generally kept us talking past our allotted hour.  We talked about such things as the need for and role of agents, on editing and keeping track of timelines over a full novel, writers conferences, critique groups, rejection and tenacity, what our average writing day/schedule was like, and a lot more. One of the things that really struck me was, not so much the differences in the paths that we 'took' to becoming published authors, although of course our experiences did differ in many respects, but the similarities in terms of our interests, our writing processes, and our senses of what it means to be a professional writer. 

Characters that insist on having their story finished

This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Barry "Storyheart" Eva on his radio show "A Book and A Chat".  Barry and I talked about many things during our half hour (which went rather fast!), but one of the more interesting things we talked about was the way in which a character will often assert his or herself during the writing process.  I don't think this is an unusual occurrence. Once you're deep into a character's life, what seems to work in the context of the happening - the conflict and events that your character is dealing with, might not be what you planned.  They take unexpected turns. And, as Barry so deftly put it, they often won't let you leave them alone in the half life of a short story or poem.  It isn't quite the scenerio (which we discussed) of the wonderfully acted and conceived Will Ferrell/Emma Thompson/Dustin Hoffman film Stranger Than Fiction. I've never had a character show up on my front door asking me to change my book's ending, but I have had them stick about, reminding me on a regular basis that I've left their story unfinished, and antagonising me with a reminder that I had more work to do. This is good I think. It means you've got something.  Here's the entire interview:

 

Listen to internet radio with A Book and a Chat on Blog Talk Radio

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 10: From the Mundane to the Sublime

Today on my Black Cow blog tour, I'm visiting Jessica Bell's excellent Alliterative Allomorph site (in Greece! Boy am I clocking up the frequent flyer miles) to talk about turning the mundane to the sublime. Here's a sample: "As a writer, I've always been intrigued by the mundane. By mundane, I'm thinking, not of dull or tedious, but rather of it's alternative meaning of being 'of this earthly world', secular, temporal. These are the details of our lives - those things that other readers will recognise - the day to day world that surrounds us." Drop by Jessica's blog to read the rest, and don't forget to comment, retweet or share in some way to get in on the draw - not long now!  Thanks to all of you for following me around the world!

Marketing Workshop: Creating and Building Your Author/Writer Online Presence

The Free Muse Online Writers Conference is just about here: October 3rd through October 9th, and Karen Cioffi and I will be presenting a week-long workshop for the conference.

Here are the details:

Workshop Title: Creating and Building Your Author/Writer Online Presence:
From Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales
Presenters: Karen Cioffi and Maggie Ball
Date: October 3 -9
Register today at: http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/

Description:

As an author or writer, it’s a certain bet that you have something to sell; it may be your book, your skills, or your experience and knowledge. In order to sell what you’re offering, you need to create and build your online presence. Join Maggie Ball and Karen Cioffi and learn: how to create an effective website; how to create effective content and what to do with it; a bit about SEO and keywords; how to create a podcast; how to create an e-book; how to create Buy Now buttons on your site; and how to attract customers.

Here is the breakdown of the daily topics from October 3rd to the 9th:

3A. The Bare-Bottom Basics (Creating a Website)
3B. Creating Content
4. Article Marketing
5. A Bit About SEO and Keywords
6. Podcasting
7. Creating e-books for Freebies and for Sale
8. Creating ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s
9. Attracting Customers Through Informational Marketing

The week-long conference is free and this will be an information packed marketing workshop with an extensive workbook and lots of goodies. I hope to see you there. And, there will be lots of other writing and marketing workshop, live chats, and manuscript pitching opportunities - it's really an event all writers can benefit from.

So, click on the link and register today:
http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/

Guest post: Basic Flash Fiction Writing by Dianne G. Sagan

My guest this month is Dianne G. Sagan, author and speaker. One of her books is a collection of 100 word flash fiction tales. She and four other women from her critique group wrote these stories over a matter of months. Each set of stories shares four or five common words 

Basic Flash Fiction Writing

Flash fiction is a term for short stories that are no longer than 1,500 words. Some are even termed micro- or mini- stories because they are no more than 100 words. It’s important to remember that each story must have all the same requirements as a longer piece – characters, scene, conflict, resolution.  Each flash fiction story must include the story elements that are included in longer pieces: setting, plot, characters, conflict, and resolution. Have fun with it. 

STEP I: Decide what you want your flash fiction story about. If you have a favorite genre like mystery, thriller, or romance, then write a story in that genre.

STEP 2: Write down some notes to get your story arc started. It can be an informal list of ideas to include in the story. 

STEP 3: Write a short bio of your main character and antagonist or villain. This helps you develop your characters.

STEP 4: Write a first draft of your story. Allow yourself to write whatever comes out for this first draft. Then, put it aside for a little while so you can come back to it with fresh eyes.

STEP 5: Read your story and see what works and what doesn’t. Clarify anything that seems confusing. Be sure to check for spelling or grammar mistakes. Share it with some fellow writers for feedback.

STEP 6:  Now, rewrite your story with the revisions and corrections you decided on from the original draft. Remember the key is to use a few words and still tell a good story.

For another interesting author interview, drop by Virginia Grenier's blog where Darcia Helle will be talking about her latest book.

Karen Cioffi's Day's End Lullaby

Day's End Lullaby
By Karen Cioffi and Robyn Feltman
BookSurge Publishing
Paperback: 28 pages, September 2, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-1419691577


Routine is the heart of any good sleep routine for young children, and reading a ‘wind-down’ story is perfect for that. It’s a moment of closeness and warmth that children take with them into the night and can provide the kind of security that not only leads to a good night’s sleep (every parent’s ideal), but to a broader sense of general security that underlies so much of the insecurity that comes with growing up. So a book that facilitates the end of day routine for young children like Day’s End Lullaby, is more powerful than the simple rhyming text and soft images might suggest. One of the things I like most about this storybook is that it ends with the text in sheet music – a song that you could sing to your child after reading the book and looking at the pictures. Sing it softly, in a voice that fades out towards the end, and a goodnight kiss is all you need to send your child off to a delicious slumber. The images themselves are in marker, crayon and acrylic, and effectively convey the transition between the high energy of day and the delicate rest of night. The use of rhyme, colour and music is perfectly proportioned, making this a lovely gift book for any young child.

Karen Cioffi is a published author, ghostwriter-for-hire, freelance writer, and reviewer. She is the creator and manager of VBT Writers on the Move (a marketing group of authors utilizing cross-promotion and a number of promotional strategies); co-moderator of a children’s critique group; on the team at DKV Writing 4 U (offers professional and affordable writing services, blog and basic website creation); and an acquisitions editor intern. More information about Karen can be found at her website: http://www.karencioffi.com

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Tommorow, Viriginia Grenier is hosting Margaret Fieland at her blog The Writing Mama. 
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The View From Here makes an agreement with top houses

In what's got to be an incredible first, online literary magazine The View From Here has signed an agreement with 14 highly regarded publishing houses including Random House Bloomsbury and Penguin Books.

Under the Publishers' View Agreement The View From Here will work with key people in the industry from around the world to help publishers identify fresh new talent.

"We look forward to working more closely with The View from Here, a creative, forward-thinking magazine that will help us spot and promote new talent."
Alessandro Gallenzi – Publisher and Managing Director, Alma Books

Each publisher has entered into an agreement whereby they will appoint a key member of their staff to read the printed edition of The View From Here every month, with a view to looking for talent they'd be interested in working with. The Publisher's that have entered into the agreement are:

UK: Random House, Bloomsbury, Canongate, Penguin Books, Fourth Estate, Faber & Faber, Little Brown Book Group, Legend Press, Alma Books and Tindal Street Press
USA: Unbridled Books and Milkweed Editions
Australia: Text Publishing and Allen & Unwin

Mike French, the Senior Editor of the magazine, said, " We want to build on our reputation for championing and encouraging the best emerging writers and poets and the Publishers' View Agreement gives us the means to achieve that. Historically, literary magazines have been a way for talented writers to get their work out there and get noticed by Publishing Houses but we wanted to build on this and have a clear structured channel so this process wasn't left to chance."

In a climate where literary consultants advise writers to avoid the slush pile at all costs this is a new and exciting way to get noticed. And unlike many routes to bypass the slush pile, it doesn't involve hours of networking every day to get noticed and more importantly the process does not take a fee from authors at any stage of getting their work infront of the editors, and in some cases, directors of the publishing houses. In a climate where access to those with influence normally comes with a price tag ( literary consultancies will often take a cut from an author's advance if they represent them ) the Publishers' View Agreement means effective help for writers without seeing them as a source of income. And as the majority of writers earn comparatively little we believe this is a socially responsible scheme.

If you're a writer and are interested (and if you're a writer, you should be interested!) then visit The View From Here's submissions page:
http://www.viewfromheremagazine-submissions.com

Winners of the Visual Arts Junction Writing Contest

 Winners of the Visual Arts Junction “Bedtime Story” Writer’s Contest (April 2010)

Professional Category: Donny’s Friend by Salvatore Buttaci

Salvatore Butacci

If Donny could’ve somehow unraveled the wires in his brain so that thinking came easily, he would have eventually forgiven them.
All those barren years they had prayed for a child, until finally in disgust Donny’s father had decided, “No more prayers.  What’s meant to be will be. No more knocking at Heaven’s door.” If Donny could have, he would have taken pity on the two of them: his proud, exasperated father and his brokenhearted mother.
“Keep this up, Tina, and I’ll get on the horn and call the ones in the long white coats and let them haul your skinny ass out of here!”  Then, realizing his cruelty, waved his hand as if to erase the threat, and said, “I’m sorry, Tina, but you’ve got to pull your pretty self together.  No kid?  Okay, we live with it.  We still have you and me, right?”
And Tina smiled at Milt, but they both knew it was insincere.
Autism.  Donny at three. The pediatrician explaining how it wasn’t the end of the world, but the diagnosis fell on Donny’s parents like a ton of lost dreams.
Donny sat still on the white table. When Tina walked over to the table and affectionately squeezed him, he did not react. His brown eyes scanned the room, jumping from the desk to the ceiling to the doctor to his parents to the white walls hardly visible behind the twenty or so framed degrees and awards that told the story of Dr. Peterson’s career. What those eyes saw never made it back to Donny’s tangled-up brain.
Dr. Peterson explained autism to them, but neither was listening.   All those years waiting.  Then this. It wasn’t fair. But what was even less fair came later. Milt and Tina gave Donny hardly any attention. He could not speak except for grunting whatever he was feeling but could not communicate. It especially unnerved his father while his mother would try to speak over those sounds till it got so that Milt did more and more overtime at work, not for extra money but for some quiet peace.
Most of Donny’s grunts were responses to the stuffed bunny Donny’s Aunt Meg had brought him, the one that suddenly one day had come to life.  “A troll in the woods knew some magic, so I asked him to change my cotton stuffings to flesh and organs, let blood run through my veins. You know, be alive!  And that little man made me real.”
Bunny paused and said, “Hey, care to be my friend?” Donny grunted, then held the white bunny against his chest, and grunted some more. “Yeah, kid, I know what you mean. Humans ain’t big on listening.  Things turn sour, they give up. But you and me, we got each other now.”
Without knowing why his eyes were filling up with wetness, Donny brushed the beads away and grunted. “Oh, that?” said his only friend.  “They call them ‘tears.’  It just means you’re one happy little boy!”

Salvatore Buttaci is an obsessive-compulsive writer who plies his craft everyday. His work has appeared widely.  He was the 2007 recipient of the $500 Cyber-wit Poetry Award. His collection of 164 short-fiction stories, Flashing My Shorts, is available from All That Matters Press or from Amazon.com. He lives with his wife, Sharon, in West Virginia.

NOTE FROM SALVATORE: Aggie, the good news of my contest win comes on the same day I will be taping an interview on our local NBC-TV station to run this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. here in southern West Virginia. The show is called “In Focus” and I will get the opportunity to speak about my writings, especially about my new book Flashing My Shorts.

Amateur Category: Paint my Dreams by Lubna Kably

Lubna Kably

Ann’s eyes sparkled when she saw this book lying on a corner table in the attic. What was next to it? It looked like a magic lamp. A few other interesting bric-a-bracs lay scattered around.
Ann inched closer towards the table. Her grandmother had recently expired and she had accompanied her mother to this rambling old house. The assets were to be divided and the house sold.
She could hear Uncle Neil and Mama arguing again. Ignoring the shrill voices emanating from the living room downstairs, she looked closely at the book cover. “The Velveteen Rabbit”, it read. Ann always wanted a pet rabbit, but they lived in a tiny cramped flat in a crowded city.  A rabbit will not be happy in a tiny cage, her mother had patiently explained, over and over again. Yet, whenever she passed a pet shop, Ann could not help halting, even if, to just peer through the windows.
Ann dusted the book and opened it. The childish scrawl on the front page was faint with age, perhaps it said: Hazel. “Oh, this is Granny’s book”, said Ann to no one in particular. Hugging the book tightly to her chest, she ran downstairs. “Mama, Mama, I want to keep this book”, she pleaded. Uncle Neil roughly pulled the book from her, flipped open the pages, said it was a worthless piece of junk and that she could have it.  Mama had smiled and told her to run out and play.
Back home, tucked in bed, Ann began to read the book. It was about a toy rabbit who wanted to be a real rabbit and whose wish came true. “I wish my wish would come true, Mama”, she said, as her mother kissed her goodnight and switched off the lights.
Ann was lonely. Her mother caught up in her work and household chores was never around.  She used to meet her father over weekends, but now he had moved away to another city. Phone calls from him were getting less frequent. A silent tear rolled down Ann’s cheek as she fell asleep.
The days rolled on, the book lay on a shelf, quite forgotten. Till one day, Mama told her that they were moving to a large house in the suburbs. Some art which Granny had in her house had fetched a good price. Ann didn’t then know what art was, she didn’t care. She was so excited about the move.
She remembered that she had rubbed hard on the magic lamp in the attic and had made a wish – for a fluffy white rabbit.  Her pet rabbit – Velveteen and she would now play in the front yard of their new home.
Today, twenty odd years later, as a struggling artist, holding a temporary part time job to make ends meet, Ann looks back on the day she walked into the dusty attic. She knows there is no place for pessimistic disbelief in her life.
“You need to tread on the path of wonder, joy and trust and you don’t need a magic lamp to achieve your dreams”, she tells her friends.  She knows that someday soon she will be a success and she heads back to her tiny studio to paint her dreams.

Lubna Kably is based in the busy city of Mumbai, India. While she is a number cruncher by profession, she loves writing – especially travelogues which appear occasionally on various portals. One of her submissions was accepted by Traveler’s Tales in their compilation of funny gut-busting misadventures: The Thong Also Rises. She is currently experimenting with Haiku and this is her first attempt at writing something unrelated to travel or taxes.

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VAJ Writing Contests Sponsors

1. Visual Arts Junction: http://www.visualartsjunction.com
2. Rightfully Mine http://www.aggiev.org/rightfullymine/contest-winners.html
3. Carol Langstroth: The Frontpage http://www.carollangstroth.com
4. Linda Yezak: 777 Peppermint Place http://lindayezak.wordpress.com/contest-winners/
5. Cindy Bauer: Authors Resources http://authorresourcesbycindy.blogspot.com/
6. Nanci Arvizu, Page Readers: http://pagereadersbtr.blogspot.com/p/vaj-contest-winners.html
7. Nanci’s Thoughts http://www.nanciarvizu.com
8. Kim McDougall, Blazing Trailers: http://www.blazingtrailers.com/
9. Melinda Elmore, Pen to Paper: www.melinda.essentialwriters.com
10. Fran Lewis http://gabina49.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/congratulations-to-the-winners/
11. Fran Lewis http://bertha160.xanga.com/718608585/valle-pintado-writing-contest-congratulations-to-the-winners/
12. Amber Rigby Grosjean blog: http://amberrigbygrosjean.blogspot.com/
13. D.K. Christi , Consultant and Author: http://www.dkchristi.com
14. Jhonny Thermidor, Unexplored Oceans of Wisdom: http://jhonnythermidor.webs.com/poemscontests.htm
15. Robert Appleton: Mercurial Times http://robertbappleton.blogspot.com/
16. Chelle Cordero’s Promo Page: http://cce613.xanga.com/
17. Abe F. March: http://www.abemarch.com/apps/blog/
18. Paidra’s Pen: http://paidraspen.blogspot.com/
19. Sandra Kay’s Musings: http://www.sandrakayauthor.blogspot.com/
20. Jo Fulkerson: Writer’s Life http://www.freewebs.com/thedesertwriter/
21. Elena Dorothy Bowman, Book Blog:  http://elenadorothybowmansbooks.blogspot.com/
22. Hank Quense: http://hankquense.com/blog/?p=734
23. Mark Stephen Levy, Overland: http://authormarklevy.blogspot.com/
24. Jay Heinlein Publishing Professional: http://heinleinpubservices.blogspot.com
25. J. Michael Orenduff, Pot Thief series: http://www.ThePotThief.blogspot.com
26. Yolanthaiti Harrison-Pace YOLANTHAITI http://www.yolanthaiti.blogspot.com
27. Maggie Ball, Magdalena Ball: http://www.magdalenaball.blogspot.com

Guest Blog: Perfecting Poetry: 12 Tips for the Beginner

Today's guest blog is by my writing partner Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  Although we've never physically met (we live on different continents!), that hasn't stopped us from collaborating on a series of poetry chapbooks designed to replace trite greeting cards with real, deep sentiment.  We think it's a new concept for inexpensive holiday gifts. The chapbooks include Cherished Pulse, a book of love poetry, with beautiful artwork from Vicki Thomas, and She Wore Emerald Then, for mothers on your gift list, with photographs by May Lattanzio.  A new book titled Imagining the Future will be released shortly, just in time for Father's Day 2010, with further books in the works include a Christmas collection and one with a women's lib slant.   But enough from me, here's Carolyn, the poetry maven, to tell you how to perfect your own poetry.

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I encourage my writing students to use some elements of poetry in their other writing and some elements of fiction and nonfiction in their poetry. The genres really aren't isolated. But mostly, I encourage them to try their hand at poetry, real poetry, the kind that comes from the heart. The first step is to make it less scary so they'll feel comfortable with it and these are my Twelve Tips for the Beginner.

1. Try free verse (no intentional rhyming).
2. Write dense, poetic prose, then divide it into lines—or not. If you don't, you'll have a prose poem.
3. Break lines after important words. If you scan down the last words in each line of a poem, you should have a good sense of what the poem is about.
4. Eliminate as many adjectives and adverbs as you can and strengthen your verbs. You poem will be more powerful.
5. Eliminate as many of the clutter words as you can. Articles, conjunctions, even some prepositions.
6. Try making different pictures on the page with the words. Your poem can be in triplets, couplets, indented unusually, even be set up in shapes. Try to make the design fit with the subject of your poem.
7. Avoid long, Latinate words.
8. Use images rather than explaining.
9. Know metaphors, similes, assonance and alliteration. Play with them. Don't strain.
10. If you want to rhyme, try to use uncommon ones. No moons and Junes.
11. Read and write poetry even if you don't think you want to. You may be surprised at how much you like it. It’s changed a lot since your high school English Lit days.
12. Buy a poetry book or chapbook at least once a year.  That gesture supports your learning curve and the arts and you may get inspired.  

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Carolyn took up poetry late in life. After she wrote her award-winning novel This Is the Place, she realized she enjoyed metaphor, simile and symbol more than other aspects of fiction. She also found it easier to squeeze short periods of time for poetry into her writing schedule than large chunks of novel-writing time.

Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, the Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award and her community's Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly's list of 14 women of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen."

The author loves to travel and has studied at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and journal with her wherever she goes.  Her website is: http://carolynhoward-johnson.com and www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

Are you living creatively?

I've been taking a fascinating course on Overcoming Creative Anxiety from creativity maestro Eric Maisel (could this be procrastination?).  Time management is more of an issue for me than anxiety (I'm anxious that I'm struggling to manage my time though), but I have to say that I've been finding the course fascinating, especially about carving out, and honoring the creative space (you know, that time you put aside to write your novel that keeps getting interrupted).  Perhaps allowing and even inviting those interruptions is also driven by a form of anxiety and avoidance.  There are plenty of excellent no cost podcasts by Eric (who is, above all, intelligent and articulate) over at: http://creative.personallifemedia.com.  "On Being Too Nice" is my current favourite (and I guess a personal issue for me).  A very motivating form of procrastination.