Stacy’s Comments (group member since Feb 14, 2010)

Stacy’s comments from the Q&A with Stacy Juba group.

My recent giveaway on Goodreads was so successful that I've decided to give away one more copy of Twenty-Five Years Ago Today. The giveaway will go through July 1, 2010, so if you haven't read the book yet, head on over to Giveaways and check it out!

Another question I was recently asked is, what else does an author do besides write? Plenty! I would suggest that any young aspiring writers take some marketing and business classes in colleges, as in addition to creativity and a finely honed craft, you also need keen business sense.

There really isn't a typical day, but a typical month might include:
- creating book trailer for latest novel
- uploading book trailer to various web sites and social bookmarking sites
- participating on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads
- networking and exchanging leads with other authors
- writing guest blogs and publicizing your blog dates
- e-mailing bookstores and libraries
- writing local press releases for upcoming signings or talks
- preparing your presentation for author talks
- ordering books from your publisher to sell at talks
- distributing press releases on the Internet about your book's release
- mailing out bookmarks to display at a conference or book festival exhibit booth
- maintaining author web site and analyzing your web site traffic - where are your unique visitors coming from?
- seeking cover burbs and endorsements for the next published book
- writing a teaser, synopsis and Reader's Guide for the next published book, to place on your web site
- doing an e-mail interview with a newspaper or magazine
- arranging giveaways on sites like Goodreads or Library Thing
- sending out email newsletter to mailing list

That was this month - next month, there will be new but similar tasks. It's a lot of work, and although writing the books is the fun part, I find the marketing a nice balance. The business tasks are grounding....it's like yin and yang.

I was asked at a recent library panel how long it took to get published. It's a complicated question. I had my first book, the young adult novel Face-Off, published at age 18 under Stacy Drumtra. It did quite well, but then my subsequent YA manuscripts were rejected over the years.

Finally, I tried my hand at an adult mystery novel - Twenty-Five Years Ago Today. Despite having an agent and some close calls, it took nine years and several rewrites to get that book published. All in all, it was 18 years in between Face-Off and Twenty-Five Years Ago Today.

Sink or Swim will be out in December 2010, and I've got lots of plans for future books, so it definitely will be a much easier path this time. But it takes persistence and a thick skin to be an author, and you have to believe in your work. You also have to be open to feedback and criticism - the written word is rarely perfect the first time.

Please check out my recent "Made it Moments" blog article where I recall attending a book club meeting where my novel was the main topic- quite a thrill after all the years of rejection! I also discuss positive thinking, and in the comments section, we discuss how to make a Vision Board to help manifest your goals.
http://www.jennymilchman.com/blog/?p=621

Thanks so much for reading the article, Darcia. It's definitely a crazy business! I think the hope of seeing my name on a book cover and having readers one day read what I had written was what kept me going.

I got a lot of form rejections, but interspersed with that were encouraging comments from editors and agents and some close calls. It's so hard to give up when you have hope. Then you reach a point where you've invested so many years that you can't just accept that it was all a waste, so you keep going. I'd love to be on the bestseller list, but I am grateful to finally have an opportunity to share my books with readers.

Please check out my guest blog on my friend Kadi Easley's blog as I discuss being on both ends of Goodreads First Reads giveaways, both as an author and as a reader, as well as my interest in self-improvement and positive thinking. Visit the blog at
http://bit.ly/bLGG7e

Having Reiki done on you is very relaxing. Learning to do it yourself, though, is amazing! You can actually feel energy coming through your hands.

The instructor passes on the ability to channel Reiki through a simple and mysterious process called an attunement. All it takes is one class to be able to perform Reiki yourself, and that is often just an inexpensive weekend workshop.

Learning the other two levels is also done via workshops, which are often held over a day or weekend. With level two, you can send Reiki long distance, and with level 3, you learn how to teach others. The International Center for Reiki Training (http://www.reiki.org/) is a wonderful resource and gives a broad overview on the Reiki FAQ section.

I am more plot-driven, as the plot or concept always comes to me first, then I have to think of a character to go with the story. It took me a long time to learn how to develop well-rounded characters. Now I do detailed character sketches for my main character and the most important supporting characters. That helps a lot.

Oh, I hate writing the synopsis! I dread it, like I used to dread writing book reports in school. For my novel-in-progress, I tried something different and wrote the synopsis first, and that has been valuable as it helped me to figure out the overall theme of the novel. It was a huge relief to get it out of the way.

Writing the outline isn't as daunting to me as I just scribble out a big list of events, clues, etc. and then type it into paragraph form. I don't have to slave over perfecting every word, since it's just a writing tool and not a marketing tool like the synopsis.

That sounds like a fun book, Darcia. I wish I had talent with styling hair! I just got my hair cut yesterday when I couldn't stand it anymore...

It could definitely cause hysteria, and understandably so! The newspaper would rerun the obit if a mistake was made, but it is the worst place to make a mistake in the newspaper.

The new series is about a psychic massage therapist and hands-on healer who co-owns a metaphysical shop. I'm working on the first book in the series Sign of the Messenger, which is a recipient of the William F. Deeck Malice Domestic Grant awarded annually at the Agatha Awards Banquet. I'm trained in Reiki (a form of hands-on healing) and am very interested in metaphysical topics and holistic treatments like acupuncture, so it's an excuse to explore topics than I'm interested in.

I envy authors like you, Darcia! I did a presentation with an author recently who said that he sits down at the computer and the whole story pours out. He doesn't know the ending until he writes it. That is the way I used to write when I was writing shorter fiction, but when I started writing novels, it was too intimidating to not have a road map written down. It's neat how everyone's process is so different, but we all arrive at the same destination!

Thanks for your comments, Darcia. I haven't noticed those columns lately in the local papers that I read either, though I mostly read weeklies and monthlies.

As I prepare for my library talk this weekend, I've also been recalling my days of writing obits, which influenced the writing of the book.

This was just before email was popular, so the obits would come in via fax, mail, telephone, and sometimes a funeral director would hand-deliver a write-up. They all had to be typed or re-typed. A handful was considered a "slow day" and my heaviest day was over 20. I was the only person typing them up, and I was also answering the phone and typing up other odds and ends for the paper, on deadline. Stressful! Though if I had over 15 obits, I'd start passing them around the newsroom and everyone pitched in.

I mentioned in the book how Kris once made a mistake in an obit and felt terrible. That happened to me a couple of times also. Sometimes the funeral directors even made mistakes, and I'd have to try to catch them. Because the obituary section is a very important section of the newspaper, the composing room staff would proof the obits on the page very carefully.

It was fun to write what I know with this book, but I also like to write about what I don't know and to learn new things - which is what I'm doing with my new series-in-progress.

Read my favorite excerpt from Twenty-Five Years Ago Today at http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.c...

A lot of readers ask whether Kris Langley, my main character in Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, is based on me. We do have a few things in common - like Kris, I started my journalism career as an obit writer and editorial assistant for a daily newspaper. We both used that job as a launching board to write articles and get into reporting. We both care about getting the story right and fairly showing all the sides of an issue. But, if Kris was exactly like me, then the book would be a little boring. I'm not about to put myself into jeopardy and go nosing around into a 25-year-old murder - no thanks! Kris does take on this case, however, and she needs motivation for doing so. I decided that she felt responsible for a childhood prank which led to her cousin’s murder and has punished herself for years. When she stumbles across the unsolved murder of Diana Ferguson, Kris obsesses over cracking the case and bringing justice to the victim’s family. She feels that if she helps this other family, perhaps she can redeem herself from her past mistakes.

I know many of you are writers yourselves, so feel free to share your own experience. How much of yourself do you put into your main characters?

Next weekend, I will be participating on a Sisters in Crime library panel, discussing the topic "Using What You Know (Or Don't Know) To Write a Mystery." One anecdote I plan to include is how I once had the job that my protagonist Kris holds - obit writer and editorial assistant for a daily newspaper.

One of my responsibilities was searching through the microfilm to compile items for the daily "25 and 50 Years Ago Today" column. I was young at the time, fresh out of college, and found it fascinating reading about times before I was born. Different presidents. Different movies and TV shows. But, the microfilm machine gave me eyestrain as it was a really tedious task. Sometimes it took awhile to find items that were newsworthy, yet not overly negative. It does put things in perspective - i.e. tempers often get heated at Town Meetings. Strange to think that something so animated at the time may someday be the subject of one sentence in a 50 Years Ago Today column.

One day, after I was promoted to reporter, I started getting the idea - what if an editorial assistant stumbles across a murder while compiling her 25 Years Ago Today column? What if she becomes obsessed with solving it? Hence, that was the start of my book.

If you'd like to read more about my job writing the 25 Years Ago Today column, check out this blog I did last summer for Jungle Red Writers, "The Treasure in Grunt Work." http://bit.ly/9VcXjz

Does anyone here read 25 Years Ago Today and 50 Years Ago Today columns in your local newspaper? Do your newspapers still have these columns?

Welcome to all the new members who have joined us and thanks to the members who have waited patiently for the chat to get going. I plan to post discussion topics of my own a few times per week through early April. Feel free to post questions or discussion topics of your own at any time. I hope you enjoy the group!

I'm very excited about the brand new, one-minute book trailer for Twenty-Five Years Ago Today on You Tube. Are Kris, Eric and Diana how you imagined them?
Visit http://bit.ly/d1q71I for the show!

Good luck with the plotting, Susie! That's great you were able to get a novel down during NaNoWriMo. There's definitely benefits to taking a certain block of time to get down as much as you can without self-editing interfering with the creative process and it's inspiring knowing that other writers are doing the same thing at the same time.

Thanks everyone for joining us and feel free to jump in with a question or comment at any time. Thanks for the information, B.J. I've heard other authors say that they like using index cards also as it gives them a visual sense of where the book is going. I'm a "list" person and have to-do lists and shopping lists all over the house, so I start out by writing a list of chronological events in the main storyline. Then I make a smaller list of events relating to the subplot and character development. Finally, I weave it all together and type it up into a chapter-by-chapter outline. I've heard some authors say they don't outline at all, but I need a road map or I'd get writer's block. It's interesting how all writers have different approaches.

To kick things off, I'll answer a question that I'm often asked - whether I use an extensive outline or make it up as I go along. I'm definitely an outliner. I need to know where the story is going. For Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, I planned about 5 chapters ahead, but for my current novel-in-progress, I'm working off an extensive outline that's roughly 20 pages. That helps me to track character development and subplots and saves lots of rewriting time later. A lesson learned the hard way! Although the outline isn't written in stone, having one takes some pressure off.