I’m over on the Roses Of Proses website today blogging about how the season effects my writing.
Stop by. Here’s the link:
Category Archives: New Hampshire
A visit with Clair Brett
Hey all! I’ve chatting with NHRWA sistah Clair Brett today about falling in love in a love story. Stop on by and share your thoughts.
Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, New Hampshire, NHRWA, Romance, Romance Books, RWA
A new experience…
I’ve said many times on this blog how taking a risk or having a new experience is a worthwhile endeavor and yesterday I talked the talk, walked the walk. I participated in my very first Facebook release party. It was last minute thing. I was asked because one of the authors couldn’t make it so, my NHRWA sistah Susan A. Wall asked me to fill in and I was happy to.
Those 30 minutes went by faster than a speeding bullet (a head nod to Superman here!)
Apparently, a very large group of readers, fans, and fb followers attend these sort of things. Who knew?
I had to ask a few questions, answer a few, and give something away, because we all know folks like freebies and giveaways. ( Shameless self promotion coming) I’m actually doing a giveaway right now of THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME on Goodreads. Here’s the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/138470-there-s-no-place-like-home
So, anyway. It felt good to connect with some new people and to experience this new fangled way of promoting my work. This just solidifies in my mind that Social Media has changed the world. And the future. I simply can’t imagine ever going back to the old fashioned ways of promoting things like sending out postoffice mailers, flyers, postcards. Having book premier cocktail parties ( expensive!!) seem to be a thing of the past as well.
One thing that will never go out of style is meeting the fans, the readers, the people you write for. Giving a talk at a local library, visiting a book group, volunteering to be a guest lecturer at a school, even doing a physical book signing at an actual book store are all things I want to keep doing to promote my work, and will.
That’s a promise from me to the people who read and support what I like.
But this virtual stuff is pretty cool, no?
Filed under Characters, Dialogue, New Hampshire
An interview and an Anniversary with author Susan A. Wall
Fellow NHRWA member, Susan A. Wall is visiting me today, talking about the one year anniversary of her third Puget Sound book, The Sound of Suspicion. Susan is a multi-published author, the number 1 Bon Jovi fan, and one of the greatest cheerleaders I know for fellow authors. Stick around after you read the interview: Susan is doing a giveaway. It’s an honor and privilege to host her today.
Susan, it’s the 1 year anniversary of the publication of your third PUGET SOUND book The Sound of Suspicion. First of all, congratulations! Tell us why you are so drawn to this setting. What does Puget Sound – itself – mean to you as a woman and as an author?
For our third wedding anniversary, my husband took me to Seattle (he’s from eastern Washington). I instantly fell in love with the city, the water, the mountains, all the green (they call it the Emerald City for a reason), the casual nature of the people. I knew someday we would live there and we did for a year (2003-2004). We plan to move back after the kids are all grown up.
We met your Hero and Heroine for the first time in book 1, The Sound of Consequence. Why did you decide to continue telling their story in book 3?
When I wrote the first book, I knew then it would be a three book story for Owen and Stacie because each of their pasts are so complex and have had such a tremendous impact on the people they are. At that point, it was only going to be a three book series, but then I fell in love with Jenny, Bryan, and Morgan and knew the world needed to hear their stories as well. Right now the series is mapped out to include 9 stories because those secondary characters keep wanting to be the center of attention. So we will be seeing Owen and Stacie again in the fifth book, The Sound of Circumstance, out later this year – that story finally gives Stacie closure on her past.
The title of your book, The Sound of Suspicion, informs the reader right away issues of trust are coming their way. Owen and Stacie both seem to have this problem with trust in spades. How did you decide how each character would handle their issues? Did any personal past experiences guide you in how they dealt with their concerns?
How did I decide? Haha. You’re funny, Peggy. My stories are very character driven and the characters like to control the outcome from the get-go. I like to write strong women because that is the kind of woman I am and I have so many strong women in my life. But even the strongest woman faces challenges. Stacie is mature and responsible, but with the traumatic brain injury, she’s lost some of that and it makes her very interesting, but her strength still shines even in the worst situations. She is exactly the kind of woman Owen needs to help him get through his ex-wife’s manipulations.
You are an extremely prolific writer. Tell us a little about your process. Do you write every day? Do you have a certain word count that needs to be completed before you are satisfied and call it a day?
Thanks. I write in layers, so when I sit down to write a book, I write fast and furious and generally have word count goals each day. Drafting is my favorite part of the process, which is probably why I do it so quickly. Once the book is drafted, I go back to add details such as setting, physical details of the characters, the five senses, etc. This part of the process takes longer than drafting. Then I go into editing mode and polish (obsess) until I’m happy with the story. Once I’m happy, I ship it off to my editor and deal with the self-doubt that plagues every writer. Fortunately, my editor is as good at stroking my ego as she is at finding holes in my plots. I generally write every day, but sometimes I get into a slump and you can tell when that is because I’m antsy and irritable. Writing makes me happy and easier to live with.
You are a big NANOWRIMO fan and participant. Did the Sound of Suspicion start as a NANOWRIMO production?
I LOVE NANOWRIMO, the challenge of hitting word count goals every day, how quickly the story comes together. I’ve participated and won four years in a row, but The Sound of Suspicion was written before I started doing NANOWRIMO. Owen and Stacie’s next story, The Sound of Circumstance was my 2nd Nano book and I wrote it in 12 days (really, the book wrote itself). The sixth book in the series is my 3rd Nano novel. I plan to have that book out this year too!
I know you are a big music fan, Hallahhh! Bon Jovi!! Did any music inspire you while writing The Sound of Suspicion? What do you usually listen to while writing?
With every book I write, I create a playlist. Certain lyrics grab me and just speak to the story and the characters. There are 30 songs on my “Suspicion” playlist. A few of them are: You Save Me by Kenny Chesney; You Had Me From Hello by Bon Jovi, Hard to Love by Lee Brice, Every Road Leads Home to You by Richie Sambora, Your Arms Feel Like Home by 3 Doors Down, Glitter In the Air by P!nk, Undo It by Carrie Underwood, Phantoms In the Night by Blabpipe.
Not only are you a prolific writer, you also do all your own graphics and designs on your books – which, BTW, are great! How much time do you devote to the covers and designs of your books, and how do you KNOW when you’ve got it just right?
Thanks. I’m fortunate that my background in instructional design has helped me develop graphic design skills. I spend a tremendous amount of time on covers because I tend to be a perfectionist and a bit obsessive. I send it out for people to give feedback and when I can just sit there and not find anything to nitpick, then I know it’s right. I love doing my own covers because it is such an intimate connection to the story and the characters.
What’s next writing/publication-wise for you? What are you working on?
I plan to publish books 5 and 6 in my Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love series this year (The Sound of Circumstance, which is Stacie and Owen’s final story and The Sound of Reluctance, Holly and Keith’s (Stacie’s brother) story). They are both drafted, so just need to go through the revision and editing process. I’m also polishing a women’s fiction story titled Too Many Daughters (my first Nanowrimo novel) and hope to pitch to an agent at the RWA National Conference in July. And, I’m writing Worth the Fight, the next story in my Fighting Back For Love series – those books will be on sale Feb 3- 5 to recognize World Cancer Day.
I love quick fire rounds, so here’s yours. One word answers ( if you can):
Favorite color: purple
Favorite band: Bon Jovi
Favorite character in literature – not your own!: Colleen O’Rourke (Kristan Higgins)
Best date night location: Pub
Boxers or briefs: boxers
Sweet or salty: Salty
Favorite word: Wicked
Least favorite word: die
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
Patriots or Seahawks: Seahawks
Best song ever written: The Star Spangled Banner
Susan is doing a Goodreads giveaway. Here’s the link for those interested:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/124533-the-sound-of-suspicion
Following is a complete list of places you can find Susan’s work and visit with her. Stop by and send her some love!
The Sound of Suspicion (free at Amazon Jan 30 – Feb 3) http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Suspicion-Puget-Alive-Love-ebook/dp/B00I56PSLW
Website (and blog): www.susanannwall.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/susanannwall.author
Twitter: (@susanannwall) https://twitter.com/susanannwall
Tsu: www.tsu.co/authorsusanannwall
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/susanannwall/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/susanannwall
Relay for Love and A Flame Burns Inside will be $.99 Feb 3 – 5 to recognize World Cancer Day (Feb 4).
Here are the Amazon links (they are available at other ebook retailers too):
http://www.amazon.com/Relay-Love-Fighting-Back-Book-ebook/dp/B00ICVK7JS
http://www.amazon.com/Flame-Burns-Inside-Fighting-Back-ebook/dp/B00ID7XNC4
Filed under Characters, New Hampshire
Location, Location, Location. It’s not just about Real Estate
We’ve covered plot driven books, and character driven novels. But what, exactly, is a setting driven novel? It almost sounds wrong when you say it out loud, as if the words don’t make much sense put together. Setting driven novel. All novels have a setting don’t they? They don’t occur in a vacuum, but in a place. Or more than one. But a setting driven novel?
I’ll probably take some heat for this along the line, but I can think of several novels with their setting as the main imeptus of the story. Sure, there are characters in it, and a plot or two along the pages, but the book was set – or placed – in this particular area to tell the story from that location and that location alone.
James Michener, for one author, was a prolific writer who used the settings of his novels as major roadworks. Hawaii, Chesapeake, Alaska, Iberia, are just a few of the titles of his novels. Yes, these books were sweeping family sagas that told generational tales, but where they occurred was a huge factor in how the story was told.
James Lee Burke, Pat Conroy and Annie Proulx are authors who use their settings to weave out their story lines. You can’t really image the Prince of Tides taking place in any other setting than the South, can you? Or The Shipping News taking place anywhere else but the Newfoundland coast?
All these authors know the value of having the proper setting to tell their tales.
Now, the argument I can feel forming is this one: Yes, these are books with setting as a major factor in them, but they are really not about the South, or Hawaii, or any of those places. They are stories about the people in the books.
Well…yes. But… imagine if Tom Wingo in the Prince of Tides had come to New York to see his sister from, say, Seattle. Would he have been the same person? Would his background – his deep southern background, in which he was stepped in traditions and culture indicative of that place – have proven to be such a driving force in the book with regards to his actions, non-actions, and how he handled his sister’s most recent suicide attempt?
This is a topic that requires a lot of thinking on the writer’s part. I can imagine that all of the characters in these novels were shaped and formed BECAUSE of and DESPITE where they are from. I could easily write a story about apple pickers in the Northeast. But would The Cider House Rules have been such an effective book if it had taken place in California? ( I don’t even know if they can grow apples in California, but you get my drift!)
Where you place your novel, where you set the characters into place, is a huge part of the story you want to tell.
Choose wisely and well.
Filed under Characters, New Hampshire
Exercise your writing muscles…
At the recent RWA 2014 conference, Nora Roberts made a statement that resonated with me as writer who currently has a different, full time, paying job. When asked if she ever took a vacation or time off from writing, her response was, “Writing, to me, is like exercising your body. If you go a few days without doing it, your muscles start to get weak and break down and then you need to start building up again to where they were when you left off.”
Wow.
Read that statement again. It’s such a simple declaration, but it makes so much sense.
Because I can’t write all day everyday due to my work obligations, there are sometimes days that go by where I won’t write anything more than a few emails. On the days I can devote to my writing, I find I need to reread and edit what I’ve done before I can go forward. This is because I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing the story. Life intervened, work took over, and my time was not my own to devote to what I love.
Several years ago I broke my ankle and wasn’t able to go to the gym for 8 weeks. When I finally did get back there, all the progress I had made in my arm and stomach muscles before the accident, went the way of the dinosaur and I was a hot flabby mess again. I needed six weeks to get back to the point I was at before my ankle sidelined me.
Not being able to write in a timely fashion does the exact same thing. I loose the progress I’ve made and need to refresh my writing muscles – and my brain and creativity – in order to move forward.
I always knew Nora Roberts was my writing mentor – even though she doesn’t know it – and this point drove home just why she is such a special woman. Not to mention an AMAZEBALLS writer!
My goal for the next month is to write something everyday in my WIP no matter how much time I can devote to it. 30 minutes or 8 hours. Anything is better than letting my writing muscles go slack.
If this resonates with you, drop me a line and let me know. Visit my new page on Facebook : Peggy Jaeger, Author too.
Filed under Editors, New Hampshire
Say it isn’t so…
One of the workshops I attended while at RWA 2014 was one on writing dialogue, taught by fabulous Julia Quinn. Julia writes mainly historical romantic fiction and does very well at it, thank you very much. She’s appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list over 18 times and has a very faithful fan base. Her class on how to write effective dialogue was a goodie.
I realized ten minutes into the class that I had been doing a lot of things incorrectly with regards to my dialogue tags and beats. She showed, through simple placing of breaks, beats, and tags, how to establish a dialogue chain and keep it fresh and moving on the page without the reader having to go back a few lines or pages to see who, in fact, was speaking. By the use of well placed TAGLINES, those little informative lines or words that indicate who is speaking, other than the standard “he said, she said” ones, you can keep the dialogue moving across the page at a pace that is easy for the reader to follow and comprehend. Remember, reading is not a visual media, like watching television or a movie is, where you can visualize ( read, see) who is doing the speaking. Your reader must have total comprehension each time a line or chunk of dialogue is spoken in order to know to whom to attribute the words to.
ACTION TAGS are simply that. Little snippets of description that let you show the reader the tone of the character’s voice, the movement he/she is making and even how another character perceives him/her. Action tags always allow you to show rather than tell what your character is thinking and doing.
EMOTIONAL TAGS are again easily defined. They show what your character is feeling, or how your character is reacting to something in the scene. Showing character emotion is an excellent way of letting the reader know what is in the character’s head, why he is reacting the way he is, and what he is thinking. When interspersed with action tags and attributes, this allows the reader to fully comprehend the scene and understand the subtext in the dialogue you are writing.
Another great part of Julia’s workshop was the nuts and guts part of writing dialogue, such as where to place the punctuation, the correct way to do it, and the tricks you can use to convey a visual scene in a non-visual media.
All in all, the class could have gone on for hours, there was so much useful and professional information in it. Maybe at the next RWA conference she can do a master class and give us more than an hour of her wisdom. I actually wrote that request on the course survey.
Let’s see if the powers-that-be listen to me!
Filed under Dialogue, New Hampshire
Conference Countdown
In a little under two weeks I will be off to San Antonio, Texas for the yearly RWA conference. It’s my first RWA event and I am literally shaking in my Manolo’s! Can’t wait.
The conference has its own Scheduling app this year and WOWZA did that make it easier for me to figure out what events to attend. The two events I’m looking forward to the most? A CHAT with Nora Roberts ( OMG!!!) and a session with Jayne Ann Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This entire week is a dream come true for a neophyte writer like me. Just to be in the same area breathing the same air as the hundreds of amazing writers at this conference was worth the price of admission and everything else added to it.
I know I am gushing like a little kid on Christmas morning, but this is truly one of those bucket list items for me. Ever since I made the life changing decision to devote more of my time and efforts into writing and hopefully getting published, I have been waiting for an event like this come around. I’ve attended numerous conference over my lifespan – usually medical ones – but this is the first of it’s kind for me – an RWA sponsored event so big, they need a week to get it all done. Amazing.
Several of my “new writing friends” in my local RWA chapter are also attending the conference and by some wonderful coincidence, we are on the same flights into and out of San Antonio. This makes the conference even more wonderful for me because I will see familiar smiling faces wherever I go. Like I said: WOWZA!
I’ll be blogging from the event, detailing ALL the amazing and informative things that I learn and I’ll let you know who of my fan-girl crushes I happen to meet. And my phone will be set to camera-mode the entire time!!
Like I said (AGAIN!) WOWZA!!
Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, female friends, New Hampshire, Romance, Romance Books, RWA
All it takes is one “yes.”
Recently, I was a guest blogger at NHRWA author Mary K. Stone’s blog http://marykstoneblog.com/ I decided to upload that entry to my site as well, so check it out here and then visit her website to see what she’s up to.
I’ve loved crossword puzzles since I learned how to spell, probably because I love words so much. My favorite birthday present when I turned 8? A dictionary.
So, what’s a 9 letter word for: refusal, dismissal, forsaking?
Here’s a hint: the answer starts with an r, ends in ion and can make you cry your eyes out and eat an entire package of Milano cookies in one sitting. Make that 2 packages.
Got it yet? Yup. REJECTION.
Some other words used to define rejection include: turning down, spurning, repudiation, and, my absolute favorite: the brush-off.
As a writer I have experienced my fair – and unfair – share of rejection from everyone from editors to literary agents, to publishers. I‘ve had synopses discarded, proposals denounced, queries snubbed, and outlines slighted.
I’ve been rejected in person, in print, in emails, in snail-mail, via phone and even once in a text.
I’ve experienced rude rejections (Ms. Jaeger, please do not query us again as we do not accept what you write) and form letter rejections ( Dear Writer: Thank you for your submission. We will not be asking for any further work from you)
Being a writer is fraught with enough problems without adding rejections to it. Finding time to write, liking what your write, having other people like what you write; editing, revising, restructuring; plot arc construction, motivation, goals and conflicts for the characters; deciding on a setting, theme, names of characters. The list is as long as my ingredients list for fruitcake!
The first time I ever got a piece I ‘d written rejected by an editor, I was 25. I’d already had over a dozen fictional story stories published in literary magazines, and had been writing non-fiction articles concerning health care and nursing for several years. I’d sent an article proposal based on my master’s thesis to a well-known nursing journal that had already published me twice before. I thought the topic was very timely and felt it would make a great addition to their monthly publication. I waited three months for a reply. Just as I was about to call them – this was eons before email was available and we were ALLOWED to call editors, I received a form rejection letter. Not even addressed to me personally, just “Dear Writer…” The editor stated the topic for the article was not relevant for their publication and that they were not going to ask for the article in its entirety.
Was I crushed? You betcha. Was I pissed off? To say the least. Did I want literary revenge? Hell, yeah! Did I do anything about it? Of course I did. When I finished the gallon of Cherry Garcia that I kept hidden in my freezer for emotional emergencies, I queried another nursing journal, telling them everything I’d told the first one. I got an actual phone call (remember, no email, no texting, no cells phones in the 80’s) from the Editor-in-Chief who wanted the article for their July issue, which would be featuring my UBER-RELEVANT topic from other health professionals.
The takeaway I got from this experience? Not everyone is going to like what you write. But someone will.
Flash forward several years to when I started writing book length fiction. When I was done with my first masterpiece, I began the literary agent query route. I sent out over 75 queries to agents all over the U.S. who specialized in representing what I wrote at the time: medical thrillers. Over 95 % of the responses I got back were form rejection letters addressed to “Dear Writer…” Three agents actually addressed me by name and told my why the weren’t choosing to represent my work, and two asked me to change the book completely around to what they thought might sell, and then they would consider – maybe –representing me.
When the box of Dunkin’ Donuts was gone, I picked up one of the responses I received that actually had been positive. I still have this rejection letter in my file cabinet today. The part that stuck out so plainly to me read: “While I do not feel I can devote the time and attention to representing this work that it needs, please be assured, you are a very good writer, and it only takes one person to say “yes” for you to be published. Unfortunately, I’m not that person, but I believe she or he is out there and that you will connect with them. Good luck, and I know I will see your name on a book jacket some day.”
This was without doubt the nicest rejection I had ever received up until that time, and, to this day. If all rejection letters could be written this way, I believe we would have a lot less depressed authors milling about.
Now, the takeaway I got from this letter? You got it; same as before: not everyone is gong to like what your write. But someone will.
It only takes that one someone – be it an agent, editor, or publisher, and all those rejections that have been lining your file cabinet drawers will seem inconsequential and irrelevant. Or they will even seem like what they really are: the dues you’ve paid for persistence and perseverance.
As a writer, rejection of your work is part of the road you will travel on your way to publication. Yes, it hurts for someone to tell you they don’t like or want your work. Yes, it blows big time to have someone in a position of literary power tell you what you’ve written is not pertinent or that they don’t know how they could market it effectively. And yes, it destroys your soul when you’re rejected flat out, with no reason why, in a dry worded form letter.
But…
It only takes one editor, or literary agent, or publisher to say “YES.”
Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, Life challenges, New Hampshire, NHRWA, Romance, Strong Women
Peggy Jaeger, Author 