Celebrating!

It's release day! Do you have your copy of HORNED OWL HOLLOW? No? Need a taste test?

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Soap Operas

Remember the days? Early afternoons and midafternoons, there were soap operas on every station. Stories, one of my friends calls them. Gone are the days of All My Children and Ryan's Hope. Days of our Lives and General Hospital are still running, and a couple others. Dating myself here, but I remember people videotaping the shows so they could watch them when they got home from work or from school.

In my efforts to learn Spanish, I'm watching a telenovela called Tanto Amor (So Much Love). So far, it's anything but. Greed. Infidelity. Murder. Mayhem. The first episode was somewhat shocking, and I wondered if I should look for another show, but I've stuck with this one. After all, there were bad guys in All My Children, too. Anyone remember Marco Dane? (Or am I dating myself again?)

The telenovela has all the intrigue. Murder. Stolen inheritance. A secret will. Arson. Cheating partners. Attempted rape. Do I understand the Spanish (which is the goal, after all)? Mas o menos. More or less. I'm not sure if it's helping with my comprehension or not, but several Spanish speakers have said it's the best way to practice listening. That's how many of them have learned English - by watching television, or so they tell me. The unexpected side effect, getting caught up in the stories! Mia saves Alberto after a motorcycle accident, and he's indebted (and slightly besotted). Except Alberto is engaged to a female toreador, who is cheating on him. The toreador pushes Mia down a staircase before she knows Mia is Alberto's salvador after his accident, but he sets her straight. Trigger the cheating fiancée's jealousy. Oh, and then there's Alberto's murderous brother Bruno, the arsonist who killed Mia's mother to prevent her from disclosing the new will to ensure his and his mother's inheritance after they killed their grandfather - the patriarch of the family. One thing I haven't figured out is whose baby Mia's blind sister Mary is taking care of. I get the idea the baby is Mia and Mary's sister, although that's quite an age gap. A fault in my comprehension, surely, but as I left off today, some evil man is holding the baby and Mary is cowering in the corner. The baby's father? Or more of the bad guys coming to ensure compliance with their evil schemes? I'll have to watch the next episode to find out...

I haven't watched a soap opera in a number of years, much less several episodes (or capitulos) in a row. They all end with a hook, much like authors need hooks at the end of chapters to keep their readers engaged and turning pages. "Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens!" In spite of the fact I don't understand all of what they're saying, I get the general idea/gist, and my ears always perk up when I catch words or phrases I understand. 

So is daytime drama - in Spanish - helping? Well, it is entertaining. If nothing else, it's giving me the confidence to use the vocabulary I have. I even held a conversation about pets in my bilingual class last week! 

Do the soap operas suck you in? Do you still watch?

Constructive criticism: comments from the editor

Too often, people will say "what do I need an editor for?" I know I've addressed this before, and as someone who was a copyeditor at the day job for a lot of years, I can tell you without a doubt that reviewing your own work means overlooking things. You know what's supposed to be there, and so your mind fills in the blanks. Or you skip over that misspelled word because you know how to spell, for heaven's sake! 

The thing most authors who are starting out struggle with most is criticism. As if imposter syndrome isn't bad enough, now you have someone telling you what you've done wrong! That will put you in one of two camps. Either they couldn't possibly understand what you're trying to convey, so they're wrong, or their comments prove out what you've been telling yourself, that you don't know what you're doing. 

I've often told the story of my first encounter with an editor who was recommended to me. She's highly thought of in many circles, but my experience with her was a horror. She started in nitpicking, going so far as to tell me the names of my characters were all wrong. I might have lived with the nitpicking of the small, inconsequential grammar errors that I would have caught on my own on final readthrough, but when she went after my characters, I held up my hand and put a stop to it. Fired her which, of course, she disagreed with. Our biggest obstacle, I think, was that she didn't edit my genre. Clearly, she and I wouldn't see eye to eye. I was lucky enough to stumble upon my current editor, who I was much more in tune with, and who I've been working with for many years. I immediately felt the synchronicity.

Whenever I get my comments back now, my first reaction is always, "Oh good Lord. I don't know if I can fix this. This is going to take me forever to correct." Imposter syndrome never goes away. Then I take a deep breath, put on my big girl pants, and dive in to address her comments one by one. They're always constructive, helpful feedback, interspersed with the occasional "I love this!" and in the case of HORNED OWL HOLLOW, one of my favorite comments from her was "heh, staying in your best lane." (Interpretation: she likes when I write the spooky novels.) In addition to the "you need to fix this" spots, she includes the pats on the back about why this book is "distinct from the Epitaph series, so good work."

I trust my editor. She isn't afraid to call me out when something doesn't work. Harkening back to the Epitaph series, there was a character in one of those books that she didn't like. The heroine, to be precise. The character just wasn't likeable, and while that might not be a deal breaker, there has to be some redeeming quality for the audience to appreciate why she is the way she is. An anti-hero, if you will. A reason to rally behind her, even when she's unlikable. That book was a challenge, but with Kelly's help, it turned into something better. THAT'S why I hire an editor. She sees the things I'm missing. The details. Which brings me to...

She also sends me tidbits of information I might have missed in research. Kelly is a wealth of knowledge. I had been wrestling with one plot point in HORNED OWL HOLLOW that I wasn't sure how to prove. I did boatloads of research, and managed to craft it such that the proof wasn't necessary in the end, but wouldn't you know Kelly found something I didn't? She sent me a link to an article that would provide the proof I'd been frantically searching for. At the end of the day, even that proof might have been falsified, so my path forward stands, but the information she provided gives me more depth to play with. They can prove it if they have to.

As I unwrapped her comments one by one, I discovered the task wasn't as daunting as it first appeared - which is generally the case. I still had some frayed threads to pull together and some continuity issues that I swore I'd addressed (and clearly hadn't). That second set of eyes is more than just looking for typos. It's seeing the things you just know you were watching out for and yet still missed. It's finding the issues you missed altogether. It's the editor making your work better, not by telling you what to do, but by highlighting the hiccups so you can fix them (sometimes with helpful suggestions).

Constructive criticism isn't just telling you what a screwup you are. By definition, the constructive part is there to help you turn something good into something better. Yes, sometimes it's going to sting (your heroine is not relatable), but in the end, the reward is a better product.

The new book is on schedule for release day in less than two weeks. Have I mentioned you can preorder it? 

Get your copy here

The Rest of the Job

Whether an author is traditionally published by one of the big houses or independently published, they are expected to do the marketing. Help to build the buzz around a new book or promote the backlist. It's part of the job if you expect to be a professional. Traditional publishers aren't going to throw any weight behind you if you don't do your part, and if you're independent, well, the only weight you'll be throwing around is your own. 

I've been spending the time before Horned Owl Hollow goes to market trying to generate ideas that will entice readers to buy it. I made a trailer! (You can view it here if you haven't already seen it on my social media.) I've created graphics with teasers (again, which you might have seen if you follow my social media). I've scheduled ads to run and I've been looking at snippets to share (you'll see one of those next week after I get edits back from my editor). I also plan to contact the mansion that inspired me to see if they'd be interested in hosting an author event.

I just want to say, marketing is not my strong point, but it's a necessary part of the "authoring" process if you want to garner interest in your product. Hey - watch Shark Tank once and you'll hear about all the ways the entrepreneurs try to build sales. I'm trying to get the marketing scheduled and out of the way so I can focus on edits when they come back, and get the book to market on time. 

Once Horned Owl Hollow goes live, I'll start the work on the next book, which requires research I have yet to do. When I wrote my first book (The Treasure of St. Paul/Touched by the Sun), I didn't visit Italy, but did intensive research. After having visited it years later, I did a creditable job, but seeing it with my own eyes, there are other things I likely would have included. With that being said, I'm pretty proud of how much I "got right." The book has since been remaindered (out of print), having been published more than 20 years ago. It didn't stand up to the test of time, and I've honed my craft quite a bit since then. My next book will take place in Spain, at least partially, and this time I plan to rely on personal experience rather than travel guides and books and personal interviews. I still remember interviewing one woman about Pompeii who said there was absolutely no way I could write about it without seeing it. She read my book when it was done and said she was very impressed that I could capture it as well as I did. That's the thing about research. Half of it ends up on the cutting room floor, and the other half is molded with my own unique spin. Still, you have to get the basics right, even when you're making stuff up.

So, while you're waiting with me for the final "polished" product, you can still preorder (because that's part of the marketing process, doncha know). Preordering reserves your copy, the final version, which will be available on release day (February 21). Just click on the book cover below and it will take you to my webpage and all the buy links. Oh, and the other marketing tool that would really help me out here - word of mouth. Tell all your friends!