Back at the Keyboard

I haven't been able to get "out and about" like I normally do and was somehow still surprised when my pictures scheduled to social media ran out. That happens when you don't get out to take more! 

I finished my round of treatment Sunday and started feeling well enough to sit down with my characters again, who promptly informed me I was spending too much time on subplots and not enough time with the main story. Back to work. Digging into research and developing ideas. AND getting out and about to remember what fresh air feels like. 

I'm taking a blogcation for the rest of the year so I can concentrate on family, and the holidays, and getting this story written. 

Since there are so many different holidays in December, I'll wish you all 

Happy Holidays! 

(and if you see me, you can wish me a Merry Christmas 🎅🎄)

The odds are ever against you

If you don’t believe in vaccines, you can step away now. This isn’t a post you’ll want to read.

I’m of a certain age where doctors recommend more vaccines. The evidence of their effectiveness is demonstrated in the near eradication of polio and small pox. Yes, I’ve had my covid vaccines. And the flu vaccine. And shingles, because YIKES. For three years I’ve managed to avoid the plague, and right about the time I figure its safe to “go back in the water” (Jaws reference, in case you’re not aware), it found me. 

I’ve resumed traveling this year, and after flying to Spain with a young woman coughing nearby the whole way, I had confidence my immune system could combat whatever was out there. 

The odds are ever against you. 

We had company for Thanksgiving. Just two people. We went to Christkindlmarket and braved the crowds there. And last weekend, I went to a holiday breakfast. Monday, I woke up “not feeling right.” Just for grins, I took one of those tests. SURPRISE! Someone shared their germs with me. Not sure who, not sure where I picked it up.

I’m grateful to have had three years without contracting the disease, which means I’ve avoided the most deadly strains, but I tell you what… even though its more like the flu than it originally was, its never fun to be sick. I’m down for the count, so writing is backburnered until I can manage the fever long enough to form a cohesive thought.

What do you do when you’re sick? Hide in bed? Watch movies from the easy chair/recliner? 

The table's a little smaller now, but I'm still thankful

When I was little, we always traveled to visit family on Thanksgiving, until one year it snowed and we couldn't make the trip. Somehow, we stopped going after that. Might have had something to do with the fact us "kids" started getting older and it was harder to corral us all together at the same time.

After I got married, I made Thanksgiving dinner for my in-laws every year. Turkey. Stuffing. Potatoes. The whole nine yards. I love to cook, and it was the perfect opportunity to go nuts (figuratively speaking). One year, I think I even made a crown roast, just because. We had mountains of food and several desserts and a table full of people. Then we'd go to my parents' house and do it all over again with "my" family.

I traded in-laws a while back, and we stuck to just one Thanksgiving dinner. Kids get older. They move away. We have other in-laws to compete with (well, it's not really a competition, but you know what I mean). My kids and grandkids celebrate "Thanksmas" with us now, a compiled holiday where there isn't so much running around and who's house do I have to be at when. We switched to ham because nobody likes turkey, and in the past couple of years, the kids brought pizza. Easy peasy, right? But I do still try to cook on the holiday, even if it's just me and The Big Guy. 

This year, we're having company for Thanksgiving! I get to cook! As I started making my grocery list-- turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes--The Big Guy says he wants ham. Nobody likes turkey. (This after he'd just bought turkey lunch meat, but I digress...) So, we called his sister, our company, and consulted her and the great-nephew traveling with her. Ham it is. They're traveling to Chicago, and they want to go into the city. They're only going to be here a couple of days, which now creates the issue of which day do I cook? Realistically, either day is fine, and for the other day, they want Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza because they can't get that where they're from. Best of both worlds, right?

As I whip up dessert, their family tradition, I'm hanging loose on when I get to cook the meal. Ham's in the fridge, beans are ready, sweet potatoes are on the counter waiting to be peeled and cooked. We're planning a day in the Big City to see Christkindlmarket and the Macy's Christmas windows, and the tree in Millennium Park. The company? They want to see the museums. Museum of Science and Industry, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium--but those things take a full day. In fact, in my experience, you can't see all the exhibits at even one of them in a day. The Big Guy suggested they make another trip in the summer when it isn't a holiday to see the museum campus. As the "in-law," I'll let them sort it all out, who goes where on what day, but if you're traveling at the holiday, wouldn't you want to see the holiday displays that aren't there the rest of the year? I wish we had time to do it all... The museums in Chicago are pretty spectacular.

Me? I'm ready for whatever gets decided. I get to cook a holiday meal. The table's a little smaller these days, but I'm thankful for the extra seats at the table this year. 

Developing Characters

I recently had a conversation with my buddy Bobbi about where my characters come from. The answer? Everywhere.

They usually start as an inspiration from someone I knew or have met. I need to add another thought here - a fellow author recently lamented he needed to make sure his characters had their own thoughts and not reflections of his. To quote him during his editing process, "I'm struck today by noting the difference between MY voice vs. the CHARACTER'S voice." I hear ya, buddy.

I wrote a character once based on a "bad friend." Unfortunately, I'd written her as my heroine's best friend. People commented. They didn't like her. I'd given this friend too many of my bad friend's attributes and not enough good friend attributes. I did manage to tone her down in that book - LIVING CANVAS - and then decided I needed to give her her own book to address the unlikeability. Find out WHY she was so unlikeable. This is also where I point out she was "based on" and not a direct characterization of a person. Moving on, I made Cinda her own person, no longer "based on." In RETURN TO HOFFMAN GROVE, people got a different look at Cinda. She has a VERY strong personality, but her friends aren't afraid to call her out on it when she gets out of line. She needed a very strong hero, another characterization I borrowed from real life and added artistic license to. The resulting characters are much different from the original models.

In future books, I often got stumped on my characters - why they acted the way they did and the undeveloped parts of their personalities. To "round them out," I looked up enneagrams and used a method my editor recommended to me that provides personality traits, how they're developed, what makes someone respond the way they do, the good, the bad, the redeeming, the damning. The book and the process it offers have helped me multiple times.

The other thing to consider is that each character needs an arc. They have to evolve from one thing to something else. I'm writing my third Elspeth Barclay novel. She had to face her fears in Book 2, and in this one, I've had to give her a new challenge. However, she was whiny about some things in Book 1, which escalated in Book 2 (this woman is neurotic, I'm telling you!), and in this book, she's absolutely driving me crazy with all the whining. She doesn't like change, and she's being bombarded by it. I almost feel sorry for her, except I'm tired of listening to her complain. With that being said I'm hoping to tone her down a tad before she reaches you guys, but in the meantime, she's making me nuts! The goal here is to develop her arc. Among these changes is one that will settle her neuroses. She isn't alone in this anymore. This, too, is an example from real life. 

Once upon a time, I knew someone who was very insecure. (Elle isn't insecure, but some of her responses are similar.) That person was difficult and responded poorly in certain situations, but they reached a crossroads and made a life change that transformed them. I'm hoping to use that same sort of situation to calm Elle down. 

Have you read a book with a character that annoyed you? Were you able to stick around until the character found their way to being sympathetic?

Don't Try So Hard

Quite often when I start a new book, I get stuck with "what am I doing?" "What happens next?" Then, when I sit to write, I struggle with words. I generally know what's going to happen in the story, but the words just won't come. 

Writing a novel is NOT easy. 

I knew I was going to write a book around my trip to Bar Harbor before I left Maine. In fact, my buddy Jennifer was asking me what the story might be, and I told her what was taking shape inside my head. I also told her about my stumbling block (there's always a stumbling block when I first get going - how am I going to get around "this"?). She suggested a workaround, one that made a lot of sense, and I was ready to start writing when I got home.

Here's another pointer which I've covered before. As with anything you want to be good at, you have to practice. Every day. It had been a month since DEMON FROM THE CRYPT had gone live, and I'd been waiting to start the new one until after my trip. Which means the only writing I was doing was here at the blog. Which means I was developing rust. Not to be deterred, I dove into the new book (with the catchy, placeholder title of "Elle 3"). Creative juices are dammed up. Still, I started writing.

As I wrote, I found myself getting sidetracked with subplots. Words were making it to the page, but they didn't belong there. So the day after they were written, I'd go back at the chapters with a seam ripper and remind myself "this isn't the story." Then I'd press onward, trying to break the dam to get those juices flowing. Let me tell you, it has been a struggle. Some books are like that. 

Yesterday, I was brainstorming with my critique partner and she proposed some additional subplots to write toward to kickstart "the rest of the story." I'd reached the end of my writing day, so I made a note of them and saved them for today. Then, when I went to bed last night, I let my characters take over my subconscious and they showed me something fascinating. While I'd been struggling with getting them to do what I want, they've been playing out the story. One of the things my critique partner had suggested had already been foreshadowed. Well, something similar, anyway. Conflict has already been established. Possibilities have already been suggested. 

Despite my best intentions to sabotage myself, I was writing a cohesive story. Sometimes I think my brain is just wired that way. How many times when I've been writing a story have a struggled with "I don't know where this is going?" only to discover I'd already foreshadowed my path forward? My problems come when I think too hard. When I'm trying to force things one direction while my creative subconscious has already laid out a clear path the other direction--usually, the right direction.

The dam has broken. My creative juices are flowing again. I've been trying to write every day, too, which makes a big difference. I'm letting the characters tell me their story and not trying so hard to force them into places they don't belong. 

Gee. Maybe Elle's neurotic influence is rubbing off! LOL 

Have I mentioned the new audiobook is live? Shout out to Jude Erin who did a fantastic job with THE DEMON FROM THE CRYPT. Have you listened yet? I'd love to hear what you think.

All Saints Day

Yesterday was Halloween (in case you didn't know). Years ago, my oldest sister made me this house. The roof has an opening in the back for handing out candy. I have been using this house, even when it's just for decoration, for decades. 

This house has more meaning to me these days. Now it also serves as a remembrance of my oldest sister who is no longer with us. She was "my person."

She was creative and had such a positive outlook and touched the lives of everyone who knew her. As this is All Saints Day, I wanted to remember her on my blog. 

I was blessed with three older sisters, and as I think of how much they have all influenced me, I'm grateful to have them as part of my life. It helps me appreciate my own children in a different way.

Sometimes, when FOMO hits or I'm missing my kids, I'm grateful to know they spend time with each other, expanding on their sibling bond. No one knows you like your sisters/brothers. Not even your parents. The sibs know secrets your parents don't (or do, but don't let on to). They share a piece of your DNA, the one that says, "I get you and I know the things that shaped your life." Built in empathy.

Something the world needs a lot more of these days.

Taking a moment to remember those souls who are no longer walking with us, and extending peace to those doing the same.

Producing an audiobook

I have worked with a couple different narrators and have gone through the process myself, narrating my own work. 

My latest narrator has just completed work on the audiobook for THE DEMON FROM THE CRYPT. When she did the first book, HORNED OWL HOLLOW, she checked in when she had questions about how something might be pronounced, but ultimately, she recorded and mastered the whole thing before I was able to listen to it. 

When I commissioned my first audiobook, the narrator sent me chapters as she finished them to review. I appreciated that, mostly because I was able to catch something that didn't work right away and save rerecording later on down the line. I did discover working with her that there were more pickups - corrections - as we went. She did a second book for me and I think the one big thing I had to have her fix was the way she read one of the characters. She read his part with a sharp twang instead of a drawl that gave him a completely different sound from the previous book where his dialect had been very understated (as it was meant to be).

I used someone else for a different series, and she, too, did an "all at once" approach. She was a "professional," a member of the Screen Actors Guild. With the "all at once" files, there weren't as many pickups because she'd already reviewed the files, mastered them, and worked with someone else to error check her. She did, however, have one major hiccup for me - "that's not what this says." Inflection is everything. But that's what pickups are for. The opportunity to make a correction before the book is finalized.

I've discovered I like doing the interim "listens," if only to spot check voices or pronunciations, but I suspect narrators aren't as happy doing that because it interrupts their flow. Knowing they have to stop to make a correction slows down the process. However, if I'd had the benefit of interim checks for Horned Owl Hollow, I might have corrected how she pronounced some of the last names, and also asked for a different take on two of the voices. At the end of the day, it wasn't critical to the performance. With the files coming to me as a finished product, I let those things slide. Maybe that's another reason the narrators prefer to send it all at once.

With "Demon," there was a significant mispronunciation when I got the files back. I had to request "re-dos" for 34 instances of that word throughout the performance. There were other minor corrections to be made, and I have to admit that when I got the "sample" from her, I passed on pointing out the pronunciation of one of the character's names, which I should have done. Not worth correcting. Overall, she did an excellent performance of the story, and after going through the pickups, the audiobook is now slogging its way through the final production process. A newsletter will be going out once it is live.

Do you listen to audiobooks? What are some of the things that jump out at your during the narrator's performance?