We CAN, we DO, and We WILL judge a book by its cover!

Finally, my first novel has the cover it deserves!

After working with Lynn Andreozzi to design the cover for Thunder in Yellowstone, I knew I had found the designer I needed to recreate the cover for my first novel, Clean Sweep. What do you think of this?

I think it is gorgeous, meaningful, and appropriate. I also know it bucks the trend for covers in the literary fiction genre. Yes, most in this genre rely on illustration rather than photographs to convey the message and feel of the story, but I wasn’t deterred. And I am not backing down!

These days, I often read eBooks or listen to audiobooks as I drive long distances. In fact, I find the contrast between light and dark of the text and background makes an eBook easier to read these days, owing to aging eyes. This doesn’t mean I don’t swoon every time I see a great cover and put my hands on a paper book. I enjoy seeing physical covers, studying them for their meaning, finding their warmth and intrigue, and embracing their colors, fonts and subtle messaging. They are such a vital part of a book. So yes, we can, we do, and we will judge a book by its cover, as we should!

My golf game is suffering! I’m okay with this!

It’s January. It is alternately spring and winter in my neck of the woods. Yesterday, I took a break from writing as I had a wonderful opportunity to play golf. My final score was lousy, as I should have expected, given my complete lack of play, but golf always brings great expectations to the tee box, and I had a wonderful day!

What’s more, we had a fabulous sunset across the course at the end of the day!

Here’s the thing… I could be out playing golf and doing all sorts of other activities, but I CHOOSE to write! Why? Because I love writing. I feel compelled to create and share. I can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing in this stage of life. I want to give readers stories that entertain and bring emotional and intellectual connection to the characters and the lives on the pages. So, for now, my golf game is going to suffer. But I am still going to relish every moment I force myself away from my computer and put clubs in hand.

Here’s to finding your happiness, to being fulfilled by your work, your family, friends, and personal passions! If you happen to play golf, good luck!

Done! Thunder in Yellowstone meets readers!

With my second novel - Thunder in Yellowstone - out into the world of readers, I am (a) drinking champagne (b) drinking another cup of hot tea and savoring every sip (c) working on novel #3 or (d) all of the above. I’ll let you take your guesses.

Let’s just say, I am not long for celebration. I love writing. I love creating stories. I love connecting with readers. I am, in fact, researching and drafting outlines and story arcs for my next two books, all while spending holiday time with family, keeping up with the dog, and watching college football bowl games. Life is good!

Here’s wishing you a wonderful season of love and joy as we welcome in 2024 and bundle in our winter layer of life.

Late nights. Blurry vision. Hot tea. Dog by my side!

When last I wrote, I shared details of the intricate dance of the writer and the editor. Wouldn’t you know, the music played on. Editing would require another spin around the dance floor. I was ready!

Always by my side!

Yes, editing is a process. Revisions can be many. Upon receiving first comments and suggestions from my editor, it is again up to me to evaluate and revise. I have found this can often take me late into the night. In fact, a great deal of my focused writing and revising takes place while darkness peers in my windows. It all comes down to the dog. Yes, the dog. The one who likes to play, explore, walk, play, snuggle, present a toy, and not sleep during the day. She is a toddler, though she is fourteen. I am her built-in fun. I must wait for her to settle for the night. Then, I begin.

For the past few weeks, I have gone through manuscript revision and proofreading. The latter, like the concept editing and line editing, is another dance, with a different partner - a professional proofreader. Each time a manuscript returns from a proofreader, I question if I ever had a grammar class in school. It is shocking how strong a grasp of the English language my proofreader has, and how much weaker is my grasp. I am grateful beyond grateful for input from my amazing proofreader. The proofreading dance is a multi-step process. Questions are posed. Precise meaning is discussed. Changes are made accordingly. I, once again, revel in the excitement of working with another professional and expanding my knowledge. I also spend hours on task. Vision blurs. Sleep slides across the room. Hot tea cools as fingers tap upon my laptop. The Little Brown Dog checks in with me from time to time. Finally, the last change is made. It is time to prepare the manuscript for release! It is time for me to rest.

It Came Back! With Suggestions, Comments, and other Editorial Feedback

It returned. As expected. My manuscript, that is. It wore a heavy coat of editorial comment, despite the hot autumn sun. Let me tell you, it takes nerves of steel to open these emails. Nerves of steel!

Just as bulbs return with beautiful blooms, after a season of rest, a manuscript returns with editorial comments, awaiting an author’s infusion of creativity and energy to bloom boldly!

Excitement courses through me. But it periodically smolders under a blanket of dread. And another blanket of fear. Nerves of steel, like I said. A writer MUST be brave to open this sort of email. There is no knowing what lies within.

Receiving professional editorial input is one of the most invigorating parts of writing, but a writer must be willing to overcome the fear of having someone else comment on words, ideas, story structure, plot choices, and anything else. I have found this input to be an amazing springboard for strengthening both my writing and my stories. I am grateful as all get-out that editors do the work they do. From putting an eye on everything from big picture to line details to word selection, an editor helps shape a book for the better.

Now that my manuscript has returned, I am back to work. It is my turn, again, to evaluate and amend. My turn to reconsider many things I had taken for granted in my story or characterizations. I am on it! I usually begin with a gentle read-through. Then, I ponder, considering different possibilities than I had considered only a few short weeks back. Then, I revise! It is not with any dread that this occurs, but rather with new-found life and energy. I grow, as a writer, once again.

What do I do With Myself Now?

I was down to the wire. My editor was expecting the first draft of my manuscript. I ended up working late two nights in a row to make the deadline.

When I say late, I mean “all-nighter” type of late.

The late that brings bird songs through the window and a glance at the clock tells you it is 4:30 AM. Quinn, the dog, slept on, but restlessly, as she periodically roused and wanted to know why I was not asleep.

Victory! I finished. Manuscript sent.

I know it will return. The manuscript, that is.

And I will be invigorated by comments, considerations, suggestions, and questions. They will energize me and send me into another round of thought and editing, one influenced by a sage professional editor and fresh set of eyes.

In the meantime, I am spending a week in the gardens, completely ignoring my writing.

It is strange to not write.

I want to open up the laptop and do something.

Anything.

I will not do it.

I must take a step back from the manuscript and await comments. I will be more objective for giving myself time away. In another week, I will turn attention to the nitty gritty of publishing. I’ll set an advertising plan, work with my designer on the future cover, and attend to details of keywords, categories, and other information required for publication and sales.

I am also already mentally moving into my next novel. Yes, the next juicy exercise of crafting a story to share. But, for this week, I am on vacation. I am not permitting myself to write or be a writer. It is a good exercise, but not an easy one.

Please, sign up for my newsletter, if you wish to periodically hear more of my writing and life thoughts, and wish to receive the first news of my next publication. I rarely send more than monthly, and usually less frequently, unless I am close to book release.

Stay well, dear Readers.

ROAD TRIP WITH THE DOG!

Little did I know, when I downloaded six audiobooks to listen to as my dog Quinn and I drove from North Carolina to Montana and back this past week, that I would be so enthralled with our landscape and country that I would not listen to even one word of ANY of them.

Nebraska!

What a country! What landscape! What history.

I have driven cross-country before. Not this time of year. It was planting season in the middle states. Calves stood with mama cows further west. Train tracks and rivers flowed parallel to many of my east/west roads. Snow still encased upper elevations. It was grand.

This was a long-awaited journey back to Montana, Wyoming, and the Yellowstone National Park region. It is where my next novel is set, and I wanted to refresh my thoughts on landscape and setting. I wanted to feel my surroundings again. It was perfect.

One day, I hope to circle through again to take more notice of our land’s history. So much has happened over plains, along riverbeds, in harsh climates, both hot and cold, as well as dry. So many lives have shared these lands. And not shared.

Traveling with Quinn, my constant pal, was heartwarming. Watching her sniff new scents, feel new breezes, and walk on new soil brought incredible joy. We have our travel routines down pat. I drive. She rides. She explores. I follow. We sleep and repeat.

I can’t wait to share this landscape in my upcoming novel. Expected release is in September 2023. Please join my newsletter group to learn more as I know more. I only send news once a month at most (and sometimes much less frequently) unless I am close to releasing a new novel.

Be well, dear Readers!

Missing Another Deadline. Bummer.

My deadlines are usually self-imposed, but it still feels crummy to miss one of them. In particular, I am missing the deadline I set to finish editing my second novel before sending the manuscript to my editor.

Oh well. I can’t change it.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you pedal, you don’t make the progress you’d like.

So, why am I such a derelict?

Because the story is fighting me, and I am not presenting my editor with something half-baked.

My second novel has been fighting me nearly its entire lifetime. Who knows why. The title has changed. The format has changed. Characters have changed. Story has changed and expanded.

It has, however, improved tremendously.

I would love to plot out a novel, start to finish, and then write to the detailed outline and feel no stress. I don’t work this way. I am a “pantser” as they are called – and write by the seat of my pants. I layer my stories with an idea here, a character there, another nuanced passage, a redirect of some kind... on and on until, finally, I feel I have properly completed my novel. Then I send it to my editor, and the fun begins again. More on this in a later post.

Writer’s block is NOT the problem.

I do not stare at a blank screen or piece of paper, unable to put words to it. Instead, I am faced with a changing, evolving story, sadly of my own doing, and I must follow along, create, harmonize, and grow the thing. Do you have children? Work in progress is work in progress.

This novel – expected to be released in September 2023 (but no promises) is now called Thunder in Yellowstone; A Novel. Its working title, from the outset, had been Bison Hunter; A Novel. I initially planned on telling the story in the form of a diary or journal. I now include a journal, and its entries are paramount to the story, but I have shifted away from journal format in its entirety. 

What has NOT changed is the beginning, the end, and what I hoped to show and accomplish by writing TIY.

It seems, I always know my beginning and end, but have to work in movement from point A to point B. In the case of TIY, I also had to face the fact that the story was failing to excite when it was in its previous journal format. I HAD to pivot. Scary, but essential. Similar to my first novel, Clean Sweep, my main character remained the same, but some of her relationships with others had to change. All of this was for the betterment of creating a fun, intriguing, thought-provoking, and entertaining story. Let me tell you, it has been torture. And pure joy. I love solving the problems of writing a novel and creating a story. I can’t wait to share this one with you. Stay tuned. I believe this year-long arm-wrestling with TIY is winding down!

For fastest updates on how Thunder in Yellowstone is coming along, please sign up for my newsletter. I rarely send news more than once a month, unless a book release is imminent.

Camelias in My Life

Once upon a time, I was born and raised in Connecticut, spent years after marriage in Connecticut, and had never seen a Camelia. It’s a type of plant.

These days, I write a better part of the year in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and Camelias are a charming part of my life.

Who couldn’t love a plant blooming in the fall, as Thanksgiving comes and goes, or coloring the gardens in December and January, with lovely red, white and pink blooms? While we’re at it, why not swoon at the image of lovely light and dark pinks, and glorious white blossoms heralding the start of spring in February and continuing through March and into April?

Camelias – so many varieties – abound in the land of the pines. Spring-bloomers and fall-bloomers are the two major groups (species). All are lovely. I hope, dear Readers, you either live in an area with Camelias, or can visit an area with these outstanding blossoms. They are one of life’s treats.

You know I am a former flower-farmer, right?

It doesn’t take much to bring me nose- or hand-to a flower or plant. And ... one of my middle names is Flora, the same as one of my grandmothers. What can I say, I thrive with the beauty of flowers. I also find it particularly relaxing and invigorating to take walks among the evergreen camelias and evergreen pines, holly, and southern magnolias during the cooler months of the year, when my mind has tired of writing. How lucky am I?

In between glimpses of Camelias, I am currently editing my next novel, with hopes of sending it to my professional independent editor for review shortly. To learn more about my writing and upcoming book releases, please sign up for my newsletter. I rarely send news more than once a month, unless a book release is imminent.

Cover Up

Clean Sweep, my first novel, is dressed in a new cover.

Why?

Because it was best to create a cover that, in a moment’s look – which is all it gets as readers scroll through possible new reads – says, “I am contemporary fiction.”

Although we humans think we want something new and different, truth be told, we usually gravitate to familiar. While there is variability in covers for contemporary fiction, there is also uniformity. When we see colors that look like those on books we have read, fonts that look like others we know, or placement of graphics in familiar locations, something inside tells us to take note. It is like a blinking light, drawing our attention.

This is why Clean Sweep has a new cover.

I loved my novel’s first cover, but it didn’t scream, “Contemporary Fiction Readers, READ ME!”

My revised cover has already brought more readers to Clean Sweep. For this, I am most grateful. I truly want readers to pick up my book. I want to reach others with my ideas and words, story and characters, life elements that resonate with readers’ minds and hearts. I am not writing for myself.

Writing my first novel was all new to me. I made mistakes. I had successes. I have come to meet others who know the craft of indie publishing. While there will always be exceptions to rules, I am grateful to many people who have helped me to grow as an indie writer and publisher, by opening my eyes to certain unspoken and spoken rules. I am excited to be editing my second novel, and soon will work on a new cover with professional designers and with a better understanding of cover creation.

To hear more about the progress of my second novel, and other writing and life news, please sign up for my newsletter.

I usually only send out news once a month, at most, unless I am closing in on a book release. I’m busy. You’re busy. I do, however, love touching base with my readers, and I love hearing back from all of you, always.