Dream Beta Reader

 

I am freakish in that I enjoy feedback on my writing.  Not the usual, "Oh my, are you sure you're not Harper Lee's daughter?" malarkey when I just read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time this past week (an appalling admission I know) but rather the honest, hard hitting, and valuable type of feedback that is a rare but treasured gift.





I was recently the recipient of such a review and I'm still giddy over it's generosity.

A few months ago I distributed the first three chapters of my novel The Child Clare to several select individuals. They were "select" in that they did not roll their eyes or cough nervously when I asked for their input.  Some were friends and a couple were relatives. One, a valued blog buddy in Ireland, did an excellent job of helping me see how a non-American audience might view my work.

 All of my readers returned comments and suggestions but surprisingly, the individual who knew me least, or so I thought at the time, returned the most extensive and useful review/critique. In fact, her input was spread over several detailed pages. One page of comments and suggestions for every page of text for just my first chapter. She continues to work on chapters two and three.

Before I go any father let me make one thing absolutely Dingle Crystal clear. I will not, under any circumstances, threats of harm or promises of cash share the name of my Dream Beta Reader. She is mine and mine alone and you may not have her and to further protect her anonymity she will from this sentence forward be known only as Scarlet.

Because Scarlet is one groovy name, that's why.

Now Scarlet and I go way back. We were good friends in high school, we swooned over many a Neil Diamond record, yes...I said record. Then we grew up and lost touch. About a year ago we connected again on Facebook and the rest is Dream Beta Reader (DBR) history.

I will admit when I first peaked inside the package she sent and viewed my first chapter slashed up in crimson, I thought there had been a serious vegetable cutting incident in her kitchen. But when I realized the red blotches actually spelled words...I calmed myself.

I put the document away for a few days, not unlike a present you receive wrapped in gold paper and a cream velvet ribbon, too striking to ruin by opening. I wanted to have plenty of time to really absorb it's contents. Finally, I took that time and a cold beer and settled in to read her comments.

I was not disappointed. Scarlet was tuned in and serious about my characters from page one. She held me accountable for actions I promised or even implied a character would take and did not let up until I followed through. She was akin to a hog with a scone.

An example: In the very beginning, my protagonist reminds herself to touch up her lipstick before meeting her escort, and yet it was several pages before I returned to that detail. Scarlet picked up on that right away. Did my character forget the lipstick? Why had she not yet applied the lipstick? Did I forget the lipstick? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LIPSTICK?!

It was this intense concentration, this demand for detail and follow-through that makes Scarlet shine as a DBR. She maintained this level of involved scrutiny throughout chapter one and made me quickly realize, she would not suffer fools and I best up my game.

Like the final page of Anne Enright's book The Gathering, I was borderline weepy to see Ms. Beta Readers comments come to an end. But I worked through that grief and the next day I began incorporating several of her suggestion in my, dare-I-say-it, sixth revision of The Child Clare. My preferred editing spot is now a damp piece of musky earth under our rural mailbox where I write and wait for DBR's wisdom on chapters two and three to arrive.

Thankfully it is summer here in Central Illinois and our rural mailbox is free of snowdrifts.

Printers Row Lit Fest Chicago. Not to Be Missed.

I attended the Printers Row Lit Festival  for the first time three years ago and was blown away not just by the sheer number of (big surprise) books, at this event (thousands and thousands, old, new, used and abused) but by the multitude of opportunities which bang into you as you round each booth.

Authors, printers, agents, publishers, TV and radio personalities, book store owners, and college representatives all within reach for an attendee to ask questions of, take cards from, inquire about, or just to learn more about how not to end a sentence in a preposition with.

This years 30th Anniversary festival lasts two days, June 7 and 8th, and takes place in several blocks around Dearborn and Polk Streets known as the Publisher Row Neighborhood, the South Loop section of the city once inundated with multiple publishing companies. Seeing the building architecture alone in that area is well worth the trip.

In addition to the plays, live music, poetry reading, book hawkers, food and drink concessions, the festival brings in a large number of celebrity authors who either participate in discussion groups, interviews or their own presentations. The festival itself is free to attend, you can just walk right into the midst of the streets blocked off with hundreds of vendors but some of the author driven sessions require a pre -paid ticket. These tickets go on sale tomorrow May 27 and can be purchased on line.

To sort though some of these events and to purchase tickets just click HERE.

The Printers Row Lit Fest is very family focused with numerous events and entertainment for future writers and publishers of all ages but keep in mind the following:

**The Lit Fest gets PACKED with people. Being an ex-pat of Chicago I have no problems with crowds but if you do I suggest you take your full dose of Ativan on that day.

**Bring cash. Small bills are best and change as some vendors are not set up for plastic. Don't worry about pick pockets as there is good security evident. Just keep your moola close to your body. Well, as long as you have a middle aged multiple child birth body like mine that pick pockets tend to avoid just on principle, keeping it close to your body is as good as carrying a metal safe around your neck.

**Bring your business card to distribute to other authors, possible agents and publishing companies. Do not slap some of your return address stickers on post-its and call it good. Future contacts will call that trash.

**Dress casually, wear real shoes. You'll be walking, going up and down stairs within some of the buildings if you attend any presentations. This week in June is almost always hot in the city and since it's unlikely they will open up the fire hydrants like they used to when I was a kid on north Ashland you should wear hot weather clothing. Funky hats are always popular.

Photo: New England Journal Of Aesthetic Research

**Bring a large tote bag to carry all the books you'd better buy, business cards, water bottle and maps.

**Come early Saturday morning (by 8am) and you will have no trouble parking. The event does not start until ten but before the other crowds arrive you can enjoy the coffee shops and walk the neighborhood scoping out the best vendors as they setup for the day.

Women's Fiction Writers Association

I am a new member of  the  Women's Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and just learning about this group and all it's benefits. I only joined a couple of weeks ago but the number of woman who have reached out to me via email just for friend requests has been amazing and one day soon...I'll be responding to them.

I do not as a rule join many organizations. I've never been a sorority sister or part of the PTA. I don't do Tupperware or Pampered Chef Parties. I absolutely REFUSE to join AARP even though they've wasted several thousands mailing me all their brochures, and promises of great tote bags.

Like I need another tote bag.

I attend mass but have yet to get involved with the Rosary Club. Mostly because I am unsure if you have to have your own rosary first or do they give you one on joining or perhaps, like most things Catholic, will I have to earn my rosary? Furthermore if, it's OK to bring my own rosary what if it looks different than the other rosaries? Will I be shunned if I bring the red glass bead rosary my Aunt gave me when she visited Rome, because you know, it's too pretentious? Or will I be laughed at if I bring my dainty white necklace with the tiny gold cross from my first communion 1966?

Now, you understand why I don't join too many formal organizations, I am however planning to join the Illinois Rifle Association just as soon as I find out what kind of rifle most of the other members own.

Back to WFWA, the organization I actually belong to. It offers benefits. No, not health or life insurance type benefits but other equally cool benefits, like workshops, mentorship program, critique training and the opportunity to critique others work, contests, discussion forums and many valuable resources.

They even sell sports hoodies with their logo. I'm exercising regularly now so I believe I deserve one. In fact I am turning 55 in just 16 days so save yourself the trouble of last minute shopping and send me one now.

What I like most though about this organization is their commitment to writers of all levels, from the very new beginner to the well published shining stars. The organization is also fairly new, created in 2013 which means they are growing and exploring, rather than static and dull. You know, like those anybody-want-to-win-a-new-melon-baller? organizations.

So what writers organizations do you belong to? Why do you like or dislike them? If you belong to WFWA be sure and tell me how it's working for you. And oh, yeah, I'll take a size large in the hoodie.

The Prodical Student Returneth

The Senior Frampton      www.frampton.com

As if our lives were not busy enough.
As if our days were not short enough.
As if we SAID we were going to slow things down.

What do I go and do?

I apply to the University of Illinois as a full time student.

And what do those misguided folks do? They accept me. Really. What have I done? I start as a Junior this August in the Creative Writing Program. I plan to continue straight though and obtain my Masters in the very same field.

Why not? I'm going to get old and die anyway, I might as well finally learn the correct use of colons and semi-colons.  If I really want to write and be published then I best learn the techniques. Besides, spending the day in a library trying to sort out the poetry of Yeats is a day well spent in my mind. (well it would be better spent at Galway University but I'm still wading through the Study Abroad requirements.)

The desire for this end result has been a very long time coming but ALWAYS in the back of my head, since 1976 when after a disastrous first semester at the same University I was non-ceremoniously expelled for a grade point average lower than the ground I was passed out on back in those days.

Seemed I love attending all those Peter Frampton parties a wee bit more than I actually attended class. Do you do?  Well I did. To say my mother was pissed, sorry there is no better term, when she made that 3 hr RT drive to collect my sorry (not enough) butt, is a gross understatement.

She brought me back into their home and said "You got two weeks Madame Butterfly, to get a job and find a lace to live." She had four other children who needed her and as far as she was concerned I had already flown the too crowded nest. I was 17, part of the problem. I graduated HS after three years and had no more enough maturity for campus life than a new born calf is ready to produce milk.

Two weeks later I was living in a rented trailer and working as a nurse side, which lead me to South Dakota and nursing school and marriage and kids, a divorce, a wonderful remarriage,  36 years in health care and a farmer and BAM! here I am at almost 55 and ready for a big change.

So , you might ponder, how does this fit in with our Poor Farm plans? Very well I hope. At first, until this farm is sold and new house is built it will indeed be insanely busy. But the University is only an hour away and classes can be scheduled for three times a week.  Since I plan to actually ATTEND classes this time it's likely I'll get better grades than oh say 38 years ago.

That will allow me, outside of study and travel time, and I'm a big believer in listening to classes on CD while driving, 4 full days to work with my Keith on our new place, and continue to write free-lance articles as I do now for additional income.

I still believe the only reason they have accepted me this time is that my records were so old they had returned to dust, unable to place blame where it was due. In fact my old immunization records are so ancient (1959) I have to have new measles, mumps and rubella shots, a health requirement of the school.

I just hope I get a nice bottle of something warm and soothing to drink right after, like any good baby would.

Of course being the most brilliant blog followers in the world you might wonder "How is she going to pay for this little venture.?"

I'm not. My parents are.

You see, due to a  limited scholarship which grants full tuition waivers to U of I for the children of war veterans whose parents served either in WW2, Korean Conflict, Vietnam , Southwest Asia Conflict, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I have been blessed with four years of paid tuition. I received notice of this award just two days ago. Here is the link in the event you are interested: http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/aid/scholarships/waivers_COV.html

Even though my parents, both veterans of the Korean Conflict, who have been dead many years, who were never able to attend college themselves, never made more than $16,000 a year.

I believe my mother is up in Heaven right now hysterically laughing at the irony of this more than anyone.

How I Write

There is this great regular feature in The Writer  magazine called "How I Write" where they focus on a well known author and his/her writing habits.

They will ask about their writing routine, how they do research, what PC writing programs do they use, who they rely on for sounding boards etc...and although I always read this entire feature every month, I am always left wanting MORE.

I want to know the really important stuff like, do they brush their teeth, feed the cat, start the dishwasher before they start to write? Do they bother to get dressed or do they write in old underwear and their husbands flannel shirt? Do they take breaks every 15 minutes to check EBAY for any new swimsuits available in size fat for this years summer vacation?

Do they sit at a perfectly organized solid oak desk complete with a stunning reproduction bankers light , Lucite files, and brand new laptop or do they create on something that looks like this?

 

 

 

Yes, that is my writing desk. It is crammed into a corner of our guest bedroom upstairs where our granddaughters sleep when they visit. The typewriter on the left is just for show. I have never, not once, taken a typing class in my life. The desk was made for my husband by an uncle of his over 40 years ago. I painted it green over 20 years ago when I put it in this room (then belonging to our son who is now 25 and long gone from the room)

 

I hate that shade of green.

 

The memos taped on the shelf above contain a few inspiring quotes from other but mostly remind me to do laundry and buy more of those cool blue writing tablets. Yes, that is a picture of my mother towards the back of my desk, and those are wooden fruit crates on the left propping up more books. One day I'll get a real bookshelf.

 

So lets go on as if I am the well known author being interviewed by The Writer.

 

 

So Ms. O'Shaughnessy what is your writing routine?

 

"I'm very structured. I write every day between 8-10 am unless there is farm paperwork to be done, then I write every afternoon between 12-3 unless we have piglets to castrate then I write every evening from 10-1am unless I have fallen asleep with my head resting on the keyboard and drool dripping into the letter B. Then I write during the night when I get up to go to the bathroom. I always keep a copy of my manuscript next to the toilet, except when I forget"

 

What is your revision process?

 

" I always write an entire chapter before I revise. I think it is imperative to get the entire scene nailed down before you start playing with muse interrupters like grammar and spelling."

 

I see. How long are your chapters ?

 

1-2 pages.

 

Who is your biggest influence?

 

"That's easy. Mother Teresa, and Joan of Arc. Only real martyrs understand what writers go through.

 

What are you working on currently?

 

"Well I started to clean the frig yesterday but when I found the 1/2 onion I put in there last week wasn't all that mushy I thought I might as well dice it up for an omelet since I've been eating way too many carbs lately and my hind end is really showing it..."

 

I meant WRITING, what writing project are you working on?

 

"Oh that. Well I am still editing  and revising my first novel, even though I have sent it out to a few agents it could be so much better and I figure the longer I keep playing with it the longer I can put off starting my second novel which is about 4 sisters traveling in Ireland and will most likely tick off my siblings even though its FICTION I will tell them. "

 

 

 

So there it is. My future interview with The Writer magazine. And you didn't even have to pay the subscription price.

 

"You get what you pay for."

 

Hey! Who said that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



My First Rejection,

of my writing that is. At 54 I've had many rejections in my life which makes this one quite tolerable to bear. I queried this particular agent just two weeks ago, they did not want any chapters of my book only the query letter which involved just two paragraphs about my novel. I had to leave room in the one page query to talk about my past accomplishments, and the genre of the book as they requested in their submission guidelines. I am very pleased with their rapid turnaround since they said to expect 4-6 weeks before a response.

So you can see for yourself what a real rejection looks like, I've copied the email below removing of course the agents name.

Dear Ms. O'Shaughnessy,

Thank you for querying......................about your book project. We have evaluated your materials and regrettably, your project is not a right fit for our agency. We currently have a very full clientele and must be highly selective about the new projects we pursue.

Thank you again for thinking of us. Please know that we wish you much success in all of your future writing and publishing endeavors.

Sincerely,
......................... Literary Associates

So now what? Well I'll continue to do what I've been doing. Constant rewriting and revising and I will send out several more queries this week. If I receive more rejections then I will send out more queries and so on and so on. In my reading I have learned that an agents rejection can be due to multiple variables. They don't see a market for my work, or my book just sounds dull, or perhaps they have all the stories they need that are similar to mine, or they did not feel a connection with me through my query letter.

But I do believe in my book and will continue to polish and improve. I will also be starting my second novel soon so that in the event an agent is interested in my novel The Child Clare, and wants to see more of my work, I will have it ready.

With that said, I did have some fun looking at other famous rejection letters of the past. They were grand to read, at least for me. I'm sure the authors on the other end were not so thrilled to receive them, especially poor Miss Gertrude Stein, bestselling author, when she opened up this little gem in her mailbox.



flavorwire.com

 With all the right things said you might wonder, how do I really feel?

Well, I am curious. I would love to know the following: did the agent feel anything when she read my letter? Was there the slightest bit of interest? Did she walk down the hall to her colleague and say "what do you think", only to be reminded that they printed a story like mine two years ago and it still isn't selling well? Or did she really, really want to represent me but her schedule was so full and they were representing so many authors she knew she couldn't do my project justice?

Yeah. That one makes me giggle too.

But I will never know. And that is just fine. Really, I am fine.

Fine.

OK, I feel slightly, just slightly bruised. As if someone ran into my shopping cart at the grocery store causing my apples to fall out of the basket and well...bruised them, But they are not bad apples in their entirety. They are still firm and red and shiny with a couple tender spots that if not cared for right away will turn bad. So, I'm going to take them home, peel them and make a nice pie with a brown sugar topping.

Then I will take a piece up to my desk with a big carafe of black coffee and I will keep writing.



For more great rejections take a side trip to: Famous Rejection Letters

Genre? What Genre?



Genre Free Cover

 

When I started writing my first novel I thought it was about a husband and his wife their family and their extended family. Then I believed it to be about a couple and their family. Then I thought it was about the couple and their child. But when it came down to it after several revisions, the story was simply about a woman and her child.

In basic literary terms the genre would be Women's Fiction, a story about  woman written by a woman. (Keep in mind some experts in the field think Women's Fiction can be written by men, but that's a whole 'nother post.)

Seems simple enough. But what type of Women's Fiction? Is it Women's Contempory Fiction?  Women's Historical Fiction? Women's Literary Fiction? Women's PMS Fiction, Women's Commercial Fiction? Or just the fun and sassy Chic Lit?

I know. It gets very confusing.

To complicate it even more, the Women's Fiction genre is just one of approximately 150 fiction genres. I won't even go anywhere near the NON-fiction genres.

Some of the most popular fiction genres are:

Adventure Novel
Children's Literature
Comic Novel
Erotic Fiction
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Memoir
Political Fiction
Pulp Fiction (I know, I thought that was just a movie too!)
Religious Fiction
Horror
Fantasy

And then within those, are subcatagories of fiction.

Under Horror, for example you have: Gothic Horror, Southern Gothic Horror (What is that? Banjo playing Zombies with dark smoky eyes and pierced tongues?" Followed by Supernatural Horror, Cosmic Horror, Body Horror and something called Splatterpunk Horror.

I don't even want to know.

Oh OK, yes I do. Seems Splatterpunk Horror (according to Wikipedia) is —a term coined in 1986 by David J. Schow at the Twelth World Fantasy Convention and refers to horror fiction distinguished by its graphic, gory, depiction of violence. "Hyperintensive horror with no limits"

Yikes. I don't think those authors will have to worry about any competition from me in that arena. After reading Stephen Kings, Pet Sematary almost 30 years ago, I am still unable to sleep all night without at least one nightmare. To make it even more difficult, prospective agents expect authors to have a good idea what genre their book will fit into and whether or not it meets any cross- genre criteria. Say for example, could you call it a Psychological Romance or is it best defined as a good old Legal Thriller?

So where does a new author or inexperienced writer go to learn more about genre? Wikipedia for starters and then a google search for each genre listed. You can also do some old fashioned research. Get your can out of your chair, dust off your library card or GET ONE and go trouble a very well educated librarian.

Tell her you'd like to check out five books in the Ergodic Literature section. You'll have a blast and she/he will feel needed. (See what I did there? No link. You'll have to work a bit to look up that term.)

The point is...it is our job as authors to be able to label our work. We spent weeks working on the setting, years refining our voice and months tweeking the dialog. We developed the characters, their arcs, their flaws and their intentions. I mean really, if we don't know its a Paranormal Lesbian Historical Romance Tragi-Comedy who will?.




To read more about Genre please check out K.M. Weilands guest post on the topic at
Suite T  The Author's Blog of Southern Writers Magazine.