The Novel

Over the weekend I kept thinking, why am I writing this novel?  Who will give a damn about it?  I’m wasting my time. What’s the point?  Even if my agent likes it (unlikely) who will buy it, publish it?

Today I read what I have.  I think it’s good.  I liked it a lot.  The characters are interesting, the whole thing moves along quickly, I keep advancing the story and if I can pull off the main point I’ll really have something.  Whoopee!

Tomorrow I’ll start to actually write.  I can’t imagine that I’ll keep this optomistic view for long.  And even if I do, sooner or later I’ll go back to the questions above and probably add some.

Writers of other blogs sometimes mention that writers who blog are whining all the time about how tough this profession is.  I hope my postings aren’t mistaken for whines.  That’s not my purpose.  I’m simply trying to show what writers go through.  Ups, downs, highs, lows. 

I got my Kirkus review for Too Darn Hot.  Of course it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t that bad, either. Two picky, mean lines and the rest a synopsis.  It was annoying but it didn’t put me in a state or send me to bed with covers over my head.  Some will say I’m committing suicide with Kirkus to write that here.  If I didn’t write it I wouldn’t be playing fair as far as the purpose of this blog.  I have to mention the bad reviews along with the good and tell my reactions to them.  So sue me!

The Past Two Weeks

Due to circumstances beyond my control I haven’t written for the last two weeks.  To some degree I  liked it.  But now it’s getting to me.  So, once again I’ll have to read that damn manuscript (because I can’t remember anything) and get back on schedule Monday.

I look forward to it.  Whatever it is.  Who are those people?  Where do they live?  What are they up to?  Where are they going? 

Let's Call It Cheating

First we had one after another journalist making up stories.

Then came James Frey.

Now we have Kaavya Viswanathan at Harvard, who has admitted to plagerising parts of her novel from two of another writer.

What is going on?  If you can’t write a story or memoir or novel by yourself then perhaps you’re in the wrong career.  Writing should be an internal process that is original.

Original:

1. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual: an original play, not an adaptation.
3. Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive: an original mind.

Is that so hard to understand?

The mind boggles.

Quote

"Anything we fully do is an alone journey...you are alone when you write a book."

Natalie Goldberg

Advance The Story

I had a three day week again.  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.  Going to the movies today. I can do my Friday movies as long as I want because….well, you know why.  Nobody is waiting for me to deliver a manuscript.

My lastest book comes out at the end of June.  I only have one gig so far.

Anyway, what I started doing this week was to get it down and to stop thinking of other things.  Nevermind the same two words in a paragraph.  The justs, reallys, verys, and onlys can come out later.  Advance the story.  This is all I have to think about at this stage.  The rest can come in the rewrite and the rewrite after that before it goes to my agent.  I can’t imagine what she’ll think about this novel.  I know she’ll be surprised as I”ve never written anything like this.  But will she like it? I can’t worry about that now.  Advance the story.

Keep moving.  Push ahead.  Advance the story.  This can apply to any kind of book.  It certainly applies to crime novels.  That isn’t to say forget about character.  Never for me. But I can fix that in the rewirte and the rewrite after that.

Advance the story.

Writing Again

I went back to the novel on Monday.  It was a good day.  I zipped along.  Tuesday wasn’t as good, but I got down what I needed to.  I have to remind myself that I’m going to rewrite and not to worry that I have the same word in consecutive sentences.  No, not I, the or and.

Which reminds me.  I picked up a crime novel in the store the other day and glanced at the first page.  There were five “justs” on that one page.  I use my search tool to get out just, very and really.  Yes, there’s a place for them once in awhile.  And I don’t mind them in dialogue, depending on who’s speaking.

Back to my writing on Tuesday.  I finished the chapter I started the day before.  And I knew where I was going next.  I still do.  But I didn’t write today.  Life interfered.

I plan to write tomorrow.  I would rather sit and read Sarah Waters’ book, but I’m not going to indulge myself.  Even though no one is waiting for the novel I’m writing I still have to apply some of my discipline on my daily schedule or I’d never do any work.

I’m going to go read that book now.

Quote

"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible."

Vladimir Nabokov

Just Can't

I know I’m the first one to say that you have to sit in front of your computer (or whatever you use) for three hours a day no matter what happens.

Well, I’m not.

I don’t feel like writing.  I know, it has nothing to do with feeling like it.  But I don’t want to and I’m not going to.  I started.  Yesterday one paragraph.  Today two lines.

I’m not depressed.  Still, I feel sad.  You’d think I’d be happy today after getting that good review from PW yesterday.  Not.

I’d like to eat 4 or 5 Krispy Kremes.  Or a pint of  Ben & Jerry's Everything but…  It’s been a long time between pints.

So, more time to read.  I wish I knew why I feel so anti-writing.  I guess I’d better take off the rest of the week to think about it.

PW Review

I got my first review for Too Darn Hot today.  At least I think it’s my first.  There’s always Kirkus.  Usually that comes first.  But this review is a bit early this year, so who knows?

Is it good?  Yes.  I’m very pleased.  I just looked at this blog at this time last year and I was still writing the first draft.  One of my characters had done something I hadn’t expected.

I knew last week that this PW review was coming and then I kept forgetting about it.  This is new for me.  Last year I didn’t know when it was coming so I can’t compare.  I can only compare to early and middle days of being a published writer.  I’d be very anxious and then if it was bad I’d go to bed for the day.  Or week.

God, I’m glad I’ve grown older and maybe wiser.

A Hundred Pages

Yesterday my First Reader read the 100 pages I’ve done.  I got a resounding yes.  FR is very honest and would never steer me wrong.  I’m more than pleased about this.  I almost can’t believe I did it.  Especially using the method I did.

I’m taking a week away from it.  I have to do some reading and since I have no deadline I can do what I want.

I need to think about where I’m going next and how to get there.  I’m heading into Act Two now which is always the hardest.  Of course I’m thinking about the three act play.  That’s the way it used to be.  The well-made play had three acts.  I don’t know when it changed to two. 

No more picking titles out of the wooden box. I have my cast and I have their goals.  I even have a few tricks up my sleeve.  But I don’t know everything nor would I want to.  I read yesterday that neither Elmore Leonard nor Donald Westlake knows the end of a novel when he starts.  That made me feel great because, those of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning, know that I have no idea either.  Believe me, I’m not comparing myself to either of these men.  But it’s nice to know I’m not insane.

Last year when I was having trouble with Too Darn Hot a lot of writers talked about writing outlines and how they couldn’t do a book without one.  I’m just the opposite.  I’d rather do almost anything rather than write an outline or a synopsis.  So it was terrific to read that about two heavyweights in the crime writing business.

 

Quote

The kind of story a writer ends up telling is the result of the kind of person the writer is.

Chris Van Allsburg

First Reader

Last week ended up being okay and I thought I could finish rewriting the last part today.  I’d be caught up and could start new tomorrow with chapter 10.  The best laid plans, etc. I don’t usually say anything personal that isn’t connected with writing, but I have to.  I have a very sick cat and I’m waiting for the Vet to call.  Then I’ll have to take him about 45 min. away.  So I couldn’t write today.

I’ve been nervous about catching up with myself.  What if I don’t know where to go when I finish what I have?  Now that I’ve made important changes, shaping the book entirely, I should know what to do.  That doesn’t mean I will. 

I’m thinking about letting my first reader take a look at these 100 pages.  I don’t usually do that unless I’m giving that 100 pages to my agent.  Since I decided not to show my agent this book until I’m finished, should I give the first 100 to first reader?  I’ll have to think about this.

Hope I can finish up tomorrow.  Then I’ll read it and make my decision.

Books and Books and Books

I’ve had some news that makes me sick.  Yes, it has to do with publishing.  I’m not going in to it because there’s no point.  It would come out like gossip.  But it reinforces how this business has changed.

Yesterday I was totally discouraged about what I was writing.  Today I liked it.  Still, somewhere I know that I won’t sell it.  I don’t think I’ve ever written with that underlying knowledge since my first book.  It’s strange to be back in that position.

The world of print is overwhelming me.  I have the research books, new books from the library and the books that are coming in for the First Best P.I.  Also a book that I agreed to blurb.  And besides that I’m supposed to have a life.  I think the life has to go on hold.

Last Week

I rewrote the first four chapters this past week.  I think it makes everything better and is setting up what I want to do.  So why am I depressed?

I’m not sure.  I think I’m not staying in the moment, let alone the day.  I think about what will happen when I catch up to what I’ve already written and have to go forward.  I think about the fact that at this stage in my career I’m writing a book on spec.  I shouldn’t be thinking of either of those things.  It doesn’t help.

I am engaged in this book and find myself making notes as I read or watch TV or cook or whatever I’m doing.  But I’m not used to writing this way….knowing I’m not going to show it to my agent when I have 100 pages.  I have to write the whole thing before I show it to her.  This is my choice and I have to remember that.

I’m not whining! 

There is a new interview with me on Girl Detective.  See, there are some good things and some bad things going on.  The interview is a good thing.

Tomorrow I’ll continue rewriting.

Here I Go Again

Started writing today.  Or rewriting, I guess.  First chapter is finished for now.  I have it going in the right direction.  Other than that I have no idea if it’s good or not.  I’m not going to worry about that now.  I have to keep on going forward, making changes, shaping it.  Good or not can’t matter.

 

An Amazing Discovery

On Feb. 20th I ended my post saying I was going to read what I had written so far.  I didn’t do that.  I don’t know why.  Instead I continued to bluff my way through this novel.  That didn’t work.

On Feb. 24th I said I was going to read some books that might help me. So yesterday I sat down with some of the books that I’d ordered and received and my manuscript.  I thought, why not read it first.  So I did.

Part way through I realized that the key to what I wanted to write was a throwaway line in Chapter One.  I went back and looked at it again.  Yes.  This could work.  I went on and read the rest. 

I’d been right.  The small bit in the first chapter was what I’d been searching for.  I couldn’t believe it.  I can’t believe it.

Two things. 1. I’m still going to read some of these books.  I’ve already started that. 2. It’s not exactly what I thought I was going to write but it’s in the same vein.  And I like it better than what I’d started out to do.

I can’t say how excited I am by this discovery.  It means I have a lot of changes to make to what I’ve written so far.  Also a lot of inserts.  But that’s just fine.

I still don’t know how it ends, but I don’t want to know that.  This isn’t a whodunnit but it will come to an end and things will need to be sorted out, characters attended to, loose ends tied up.

I don’t think I’ll pick the chapter titles out of the box anymore.  But I might.  I’ll have to see how it goes.  Lots of work before the next chapter.  I probably won’t start writing until next week because I want to read some of the material I’ve collected.  I could move ahead now as the books I got don’t exactly apply to what I’m going to do.  But there are things I can learn, things I already learned about one of the character’s profession.

I find it completely amazing that I had it all the time and didn’t know it.  Will miracles never cease?

A Rotten Horrible Week

Nothing got better.  I continue to not know what I’m doing.  It’s frustrating and demoralizing.  I can’t get a real handle on this thing.

What I have to do is read a few books on the subject.  I’ve ordered some and hope they come soon.  Not fiction.  In other words, I have to take a course, a class. My own.  I’ve done this before.  When I was getting ready to write Donato & Daughter I read a lot of true cop books.  It was very helpful.  I couldn’t point to any part of the novel now and say “this is what I learned from blank blank” but the studying of the cop books gave me an understanding, familiarity and confidence that I hadn’t had.

Before I wrote my first P.I. I read all the P.I. books I could.  This time they were novels.

So, I’m going to try this method again.  It’s one thing to not know where you’re going in a form you know how to write.  Another to not know where you’re going with a form you don’t know how to write.

I hate having to stop to do this.  It gets me all off schedule.  But there’s no schedule to be on if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.  So if I’m going to give this book a chance to see the light of day, I have to go to school for about a week or two.

Good thing no one is waiting for this one.

 

 

What could I have been thinking?

I can’t write a book of this type.  Who do I think I am?  Just because I can write and I can get published doesn’t mean I can write this kind of novel.  I love reading them.  But that’s probably where it ends. 

Can I write a literary novel?  No.

A romance? No.

Science Fiction? No.

Fantasy?  No.

Historical (before 1900?) No.

Of course I don’t want to write any of those.  Still, just because I want to write what I’m slinging on the page doesn’t mean I can do it justice. 

I’m going to read what I have so far and if it isn’t completely awful I’ll continue to not know how to do what I’m doing.  If ya get my drift.

This Week's Work

I had a pretty good three day week.  Pieces and people are connecting now. 

Yesterday I was knocking it out and a friend called who was in trouble.  It was the kind of call I couldn’t not take.  The call lasted an hour.  When I turned back to my screen I realized I couldn’t go on.  My energy and my focus were gone.  Mostly my focus.

Today I picked up where I’d left off.  I was slow getting into it.  The energy I’d had the day before wasn’t there.  Not because of the phone call, but because it was a different day.  Eventually I was able to complete the scene and it wasn’t bad. When I finished I wondered if I’d not been interrupted yesterday, would I have written the same thing?  I’ll never know but I don’t think I would have.

It’s a new concept to me.  On different days we may write different things about the same material.  I never thought about it before.  Maybe I would’ve written something better yesterday.  Maybe worse.  But I’m sure it would’ve been different even though I wouldn’ve used the same people.  That’s not even true.  When I finished the scene I’d been working on before the phone call I put in a break and started on a new character and scene.  Would I have gone to that place, that person yesterday?

On the other hand, perhaps it was a good thing I was interrupted yesterday because what I wrote then might have taken me in a whole different direction that wouldn’t really advance the story or even be necessary.

This is what I think.  You have to wear blinders and earplugs and keep your eyes and mind on what you’re writing.  Let nothing interrupt you.

Tomorrow I’m going to the movies.

 

Update On TDH and How The Other One Is Going!

Yesterday my new publicity person at my publisher called me to introduce herself.  She was very bubbly and full of life.  I liked her.  My experience has been that this is the way publicity people are and should be.  The person I had on TDFH wasn’t like that at all. Perhaps that’s why she never got me a single signing, interview or reading.  But the new one sounds very gung ho about all those things.  It picked me up very nicely.  All of this is five months away but I know how quickly time goes.

Now the other thing.  The novel.  And, yes, it seems to be shaping up that way. I now have 60 pages.  Every one a gem.  Not.  Today the title pulled out of the box was Out of the Past.  Perfect for the direction I was going in.  As you can imagine from that title it could open many doors.  Probably does even if you’re reading this.

The first part of the chapter doesn’t reflect that title, but the second half, which I’ll write next week…Tuesday not Monday as Monday is a special day for me that I always celebrate…will definitely be influenced.  It’s amazing how the title gave me a whole connection of characters I hadn’t imagined before.

So today I don’t hate it.  I love it.  I think it’s funny and interesting and just exactly what I’d like to read.  But it hasn’t been easy getting here.  After my last mash note about it earlier in the week, I had some lousy days…one where I went from hate to love and back to hate all in the same writing session.  And you’ll read my complaints and hatred again.  Nice having one thing in your life you can count on.

I knew yesterday when I finished the chapter that I’d be all right today.  I didn’t know precisely where I’d be going because the pick of the title hadn’t happened.  Still, I felt it wouldn’t matter.  I got lucky.

I’m reading more than ever.  It’s almost a frenetic type of reading.  I don’t want to do much else.  The books I’m reading aren’t wiping out my own characters.  They’re helping.  I can’t explain that.

No movies today.  What’s to see?  Harrison Ford?  No thanks.  My celebration on Monday usually includes a movie, but I can’t think what I could stand to see.  I’ve seen all the good ones.  Maybe I’ll have to come up with a different kind of celebration.

But for now…excuse me while I go read.

 

Quote

"Writing is like crime. The page is about what you can get away with. We break and enter, transgress, autopsy the living and dead, rob, exchange identities, lie, confess, steal. The arts of writing and successful crime are the same. Opportunity. Robbery. Seizure. Con. Misdirection. Theft. Fiction is a form of fraud, the most elegant, exquisite and complicated forms of creative fraud."

Kate Braverman

 

What A Difference A Week Makes

I hate it. I don’t want to write it anymore.  It stinks.

Discovery

This was a three day week…including today.  Yesterday was a nightmare because of questions about Too Darn Hot from the assistant of my old editor.  I’m not going into it here because of the trouble it caused the last time when I got too detailed.  However, I’ll say this: it’s never over until it’s over.  When the book is between hardcovers then all you need fear are the reviewers.

Today I’m going to the movies as I so often do on Fridays.  This is a practice I had to give up writing the second part of TDH last year so I could make a deadline.  I have no deadline now (except in my head) so I’ll continue my Friday afternoon movie going unless there isn’t anything to see.

The three days I did work were terrific.  I was forced to rewrite chapter one because chapter four changed everthing.  I didn’t mind at all.  I don’t rewrite as I go along I just keep pushing ahead.  I used to have a sign on my bulletin board that said, “Advance the Story.”  And that’s what I try to do in the first draft.  But I had to rewrite chapter one so that I could write chapter five and have it make sense to me.

Chapter four has changed the whole tenor of the novel.  It’s even changed the title.  It’s now a type of sub-genre crime novel I’ve always wanted to write.  I hope I can pull it off.  I’m heading in the right direction but I’m still in Act One and that’s the easiest part. 

I find myself thinking about these characters all the time.  This is much more involving for me than the Faye Quick books.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t like those books or didn’t care, but this is a different type of project.  Writing Faye wasn’t a new sub-genre for me.  I’d done six P. I. novels before I began TDFH.  So even though I didn’t know who the murderer was when I started I still knew the form very well.

This book is new territory for me.  And it’s not a whodunnit.  I don’t know anything.  The book is telling me everything, leading the way.  The titles I pick from the box are also leading the way.  It’s amazing how well that is working.  This is turning out to be very exciting.  Don’t think that means it isn’t work.  It is.  But, so far, I’m look forward to getting on with it.

I also need to do some research.  I enjoy that.  The novel is set in present day, so the research is different from what I did with the Faye Quick books.  This has more to do with a character’s line of work.  It’s something I know nothing about.  I’ll be reading about it over the weekend. 

Monday, unless some horror greets me, I’ll write again.

 

Quote

"If you are a writer you locate yourself behind a wall of silence and no matter what you are doing, driving a car or walking or doing housework you can still be writing, because you have that space."

Joyce Carol Oates

It Worked

I am writing chapter 3 from the viewpoint of the victim’s wife.  She will become a main character.  The homicide detectives are still there, but they’re minor characters.  We don’t know anything about them, except what a reader might learn from dialogue and the main character’s observations.

This works very well for me.  I’ll finish chap. 3 tomorrow and start on 4 if all goes well.  I feel so much better about all of this.

Quote

"As I keep saying, fiction is truth. I think fiction is the truest thing there ever was."

Arundhati Roy

Ready To Throw in the Towel

Today I slogged along hating what I was writing.  I decided this method wasn’t working.  Not only didn’t I know what was going on, I wasn’t comfortable with it at all.  Some days may be hard, but I have to feel comfortable. They’re two different things.

I called it a day.  Answered some email.  Went for the real mail.  Picked up the book I’m reading and then it came to me.  I hate the people I invented in this latest chapter.  They’re homicide detectives.  I don’t want to write about cops again.  At least not as major characters. 

The chapter reads so differently from the first two.  This one is stilted and slow and who cares?  Certainly not me and it shows.  I’m killing these cops.  Out they go.  I can keep some of this chapter.  I like the wife of the victim.  I like the dead guy's enemy.  I can do fine with them.

I have to think about this more and I’ll start again on Monday. Maybe the method will work afterall.  I was writing about these cops for two days.  Funny how blind I can be.  At least it’s not a total fiasco. 

I’m going on.

 

The First Week

Those readers who’ve been through TOO DARN HOT with me know that it takes me awhile to get on my regular schedule of writing five days a week.

And the fumbling was true this past week.  I wrote on three days.  One non-writing day was because I hadn’t slept enough the night before.  The other, which began on Thursday was when I tried to back up to my CD drive and it wouldn’t take the new pages.  So Friday I spent dealing with this…I didn’t mean to get so involved and I didn’t mean to get on the phone with support, but I did. 

I have always been able to backup to a CD-RW so that it took my additions.  I’d get a question that would say: There is already a Chapter One on the disc do you want to over write it?  And I’d click yes.  Simple.  Now suddenly I couldn’t do it.  It was saying the disc was a read-only.  It made me insane.  The support person said he never heard that a CD-RW would do what I wanted to do.  WTF?  He said it was my software.  I knew this couldn’t be true but I tried it with another program.  Same thing.  Finally I backed up on a flash drive.  But I woke up this morning thinking about it, wondering what I could do. 

What has this got to do with writing?  Everything. It ruined my Friday work day.  Yes, I’m compulsive about a thwart.  Why couldn’t I write and deal with it afterwards?  Because.

Even so, I have two main characters and wrote 13 pages this week.  A pretty skimpy output for me.  But considering that I have no idea what this book is about and who these people are, not bad.

For anyone just beginning to read this blog, I’ve said before that when I start I know who the protagonist is, the place, and who gets murdered.  I never know who the murderer is until the characters tell me.  I don’t write outlines because I would find that boring.  I want to be surprised.

I may have taken the surprise factor too far.  This time I started knowing nothing.  Those little pieces of paper with titles on them are leading me into a story.  It’s scary but it’s also fun.  I hope next week I’ll get at least four days work done.  The Golden Globes are Monday night so I’ll get to bed later than I usually do, but I’ll let myself sleep later and I’ll sit down at my desk later.  Now that’s really scary. And Friday, if a good movie opens, I’ll have to go.  That means driving for an hour as our local theater doesn’t have matinees except in the summer.  So that inteferes with work. I did this all through TDFH and TDH, except with TDH I had to give up the Friday movies at some point so I could make my deadline. And I did.

But now I don’t have a deadline, which is one more scary thing.  Still, it’s freeing if I don’t think of the financial end of things.  I’ve been used to selling a new book on 100 pages, but I don’t know if I should try that with this one.  I guess by the time I get to 100 I’ll know more and if I think my agent can sell it.  On the other hand, it might be nice to have a whole book for her to shop around.  Of course, maybe she’ll hate it.  Stop it, Sandra.  Stay in the moment.

And this moment, or the next, is going to be about me reading a novel. A MILLION LITTLE PIECES.  Just kidding.

 

First Day

I did it.  I started a new … what?  Let’s call it a book.  I picked a title out of the box.  It was Asphalt Jungle.  That is chapter one.  I wrote four pages.  I have no idea what this is about. I’ll continue this chapter tomorrow.  I know the name of at least one of the characters (this novel may have multiple points of view) and will go on with him for now.

The galleys for TOO DARN HOT arrived today.  They aren’t like the galleys for THIS DAME FOR HIRE.  That one looked like the eventual book.  This is the usual galley which signifies nothing to booksellers except that this is another mystery by Scoppettone.  I can’t say that I’m surprised by this, although it would’ve been nice to have a galley that was the same type as the first book.

Tomorrow

I’m going to start.  For sure.  As sure as anyone can be about anything.

Not Yet

Thursday is no day to start a novel.  Those of you who’ve been keeping up with me know that I never start anything except on a Monday.  It was foolish to think I could begin this past Monday.  I think in the week after the holidays it’s hard to leap into action.

So, this coming Monday I’ll try my gimmick and see how it goes.  There’s a touch of excitement to it.  I’ve never tried anything like this before and it’s always exciting to do something new.

Anybody else ever kick-started themselves with a trick like I have in mind?

 

 

A Gambit

No words on a page yet.  So I’ve decided to try something unusual, to me at least.  I think I made it up.

Yesterday I found a list of fifty noir movie titles on the Internet.  I copied them and then pasted them in my Word program.  I printed the list, then cut them up into one title strips.  I put them in a box. Today I had nasty little errands, but tomorrow I’ll pick one of those strips and make it my first chapter.

I have no idea if this will produce anything worthwhile, but I’m going to try to just take a flyer on this.  Who knows.  It may amount to nothing.  But at least it’ll get me writing something. 

More will be revealed.

First Writing Day of the New Year

It wasn’t.  Didn’t sit in front of the blank screen as I said I would.  But I’m thinking.  Reading bits of things here and there and hoping something will catch my fancy.

I just read on James Reasoner's Blog that he’s written 185 books.  I’m astonished.  We all have different rhythms and no two people write in the same way.  But I’m in awe of this man as I sit here trying to think of an idea for the 20th book in my career.  I think he was born in 1953, which makes him 53.  Much younger than I.  I don’t know when he started writing but let’s say he was 18.  So that’s how many books a year? Oh, you figure it out it’s too much for me.

Then there’s Bob Randisi who has written over 300 books.  And Larry Block and Ed McBain and Georges Simenon and Ed Gorman who have all written many, many books.  I don’t see myself listing any women.  I can’t think of any who’ve written lots and lots of books.  Maybe I’m not remembering.  Oh, yes.  Ruth Rendell has written quite a lot but I don’t think she’s up there in the 100’s.

At any rate, I’m simply not that kind of writer.  I don’t mean anything pejorative by that.   I just can’t write that much.  Or that fast.  As I said on Reasoner’s blog, I don’t believe that speed has anything to do with quality anymore than lack of speed has anything to do with "literature."

But I do wish I could’ve written more in my life.  I didn’t and I’m not going to.  That’s not who I am.  I remember when I first started writing novels my goal was to write 20 in my career.  And here I am on the threshold of 20 with a totally empty brain.

That has to change.  Doesn’t it?

 

A Time for Lists

Everybody else seems to be making a 10 best book list so I decided to do the same. I read 61 books this year and I came up with about 20 bests, which surprised me.  But I had to narrow it down.  Very hard.  So I’ve made my list only fiction. They aren’t all crime novels  and they aren’t in order.  So if anyone cares, here they are.

1.) Case Histories – Kate Atkinson

2.) Die A Little – Megan Abbott

3.) The Washington Story – Adam Langer

4.) Magdalen Martyrs – Ken Bruen

5.) Strange But True – John Searles

6.) Bitch Posse -Martha O’Connor

7.) Deadfolk – Charlie Williams

8.) Taming the Beast – Emily Maguire (pub. US Jan 2006)

9.) The Bright Forever – Lee Martin

10.) The Wheelman – Duane Swierczynski 

 

Mistakes

The email below came to me today. 

Attention Sandra Scoppettone

Hi,

I don't know if it is bad etiquette, but I have to draw your attention on a "faute de fran�ais" in your book "This Dame for hire" on page 91. It should read "ma�tre d'" with the "accent circonflexe" on the i and not on the a. Since the mistake is repeated four times (pages 91, 92, 93 and 97) the honneur of France is of course at stake. "Ma�tre d'h�tel" is a French name. You may want those mistakes to be corrected in the additional prints which this very good novel will surely have.

Please disregard the above if it has already been pointed out to you.
Sincerely, Jean-Fran�ois Landeau

 

I’m sure that’s the way I wrote it, but shouldn’t someone have caught this mistake?  Someone like a copy-editor?  A proof reader?  The writer of the email is kind to think there’ll be further printings.  There won’t.  Except for the paperback.  Should I send this email to my new editor and be considered a pain in the ass, or should I let it go and continue to appear uneducated to readers?

 

Fifteen years ago this would never have happened.  That is why I’m less than happy about some of the things that now go on in publishing.

I hope no one suggests that I should be so grateful to be published that I shouldn’t  care about so small an error.

 

 

Writer's Block

Some very nice people have weighed in with their ideas on how they get ideas.  Someone said something about me having writer’s block.  I don’t.  I’ve had that and this isn’t the same thing.

I’ve had it twice, in fact.  The first time was in the 80’s.  When I’d go to the typewriter I’d get a panic attack and I’d hyperventilate which made me feel as though I was going to faint.  Not exactly conducive to writing.  So I stopped going to the typewriter for a year or two or three.  When I went back I’d become Jack Early.

I published the last of my Laurano series in 1998.  I wrote one book between then and 2004.  The book in between those dates was rejected all over the place.  This was partly because I was doing something I always warn writers against.  I tried to write for the market and not because it was something I wanted to write or in the way I’d normally write.  It wasn’t a good book.  How could it be?

Over those 7 years I’d say I had a form of writer’s block.  I didn’t hyperventilate or faint when I’d sit down at the blank page of Word on my computer because I didn’t go at all.  Some of that was due to a clinical depression that went on for a full year until the right medication clicked in.  But some of it was because I didn’t want to write.  And I felt I couldn’t.

All of the above was very different from what I feel now.  I want to write.  I can’t afford to take time off.  The days dwindle down.  I don’t have a writer’s block, I just don’t have an idea.  Yet.

And I’m so glad people are leaving comments about how they get ideas.  I find it interesting and I might just try some of the suggestions.

Ideas

I keep thinking about the question that so many readers ask when I meet them.  “Where do you get your ideas?”  I’ve always answered glibbly,  “Sometimes they come from a radio talk show, a newspaper article, something someone says, a line in a book I’m reading, etc.” 

So why can’t I use those things to get an idea now?  I’ve never gotten an idea for a book when I was actively looking for one.  Usually they’ve come to me when I was writing a novel and it made me anxious to finish said book and get to the new one.  I think it’s somewhat like looking for a partner when you’re alone.  I never found one while actively searching.

I’m trying not to think about it, but as you can see by this post, I’m not doing too well.  Some people count the days until Christmas, or Christmas shopping is over.  I now count the days until January 2nd, my self-imposed start date for beginning a new novel.  Eleven days.  Not even a full two weeks. 

Yes, it makes me anxious.   Aside from the finacial worries this gives me, writing is what I do.  I’m not at all happy when I’m not writing, even if while I write I complain and can’t wait until the novel is finished.

I have to remember that I didn’t have a contract when I started my latest series.  But, of course, I had an idea.  My agent has been able to sell my books on a 100 pages for quite awhile.  So that’s all I’ll have to write.

But I can’t write 100 pages if I don’t have an idea.  As I’ve said here before I don’t write outlines so she can’t sell it on a four page synopsis.  Even if could write those four pages, I can’t do that either without an idea.

As always the idea has to come first.  That sounds simplistic and it is,  but it doesn’t feel that way.  Let’s face it, I’m in idea hell.

How do you get your ideas?

Page Proofs

I finished them.  The timeline, which worried me, was fine.  The proof reader obviously missed a day and therefore thought the days were wrong.

Because the day missed is very clear, I didn’t need to change it.  At the beginning of a new chapter I wrote, “The ringing phone was my alarm clock.”  If you somehow miss that line and the one that comes next which makes it clear that the protagonist is getting up out of bed, then you could confuse the days.  I can’t see why a reader would miss this.

I was pretty sure my timeline was correct because I paid particular attention to that.  The other questions were easy to answer and 3 or 4 were good catches and I changed them.

I’m glad it’s over.

On Tess Gerritson's blog she writes about the grueling schedule of a book a year.  She also points out that if you miss a year it can be bad for you.  A book a year is very hard.  But I’m not going to have that problem because my publisher is holding off on giving me a contract.  I am, however, going to miss a year and should I get a contract for one or two of my series it won’t be a good thing.

I doubt that I will get a contract and I don’t believe another house would want the series.  My feeling is that this will be a series of two books.

The thought of starting a new series doesn’t interest me right now.  But that could change.  I’d much rather try a stand alone.  I’ve done many of those.

I’m not anxious yet that I don’t have an idea.  I wonder when that will start?  Anxiety, that is.

The Last Step

I’ve received page proofs and the questions that go with them.  There are a lot of questions.  The kind I would’ve expected from a copy editor.  But these are from the proof reader.  I’m beginning to think that this part of the publishing experience has changed.

Obviously the copy editor no longer does the questioning of eyes blue on one page and those same eyes brown on another.  Or the timeline.  Or clothes that miraculously change from morning to afternoon on the same day.

This is now the bailiwick of the proof reader.  When did this change?  Or am I forgetting.  I have to have these in by 1/5/06.  I’ll try to tackle it tomorrow.

I’m very surprised that there are mistakes in the timeline.  When I write I try to keep careful track of that and write Sunday or Monday or whatever day it is at the top of the chapter.  I haven’t looked into it yet, but from my glance at the questions either I got it very mixed up or didn’t clarify.  If the proof reader got it mixed up then I didn’t make it clear, I guess.

I’m glad this is the last thing I’ll have to do on this novel so that I can have a free mind for what comes next.

Right now it feels as though nothing will come next.  Yet I know something will.

Good News and Bad News

Which do you want first?  I think good news should always be first because it tends to carry one through the bad news.  Of course in this case, both good and bad pertain to me so it doesn’t really matter to the reader.  Still, here’s the good news.

I’ve been assigned a new editor.  She seems very nice (we’ve only spoken on the phone) and she’s exactly who I would’ve chosen for myself. 

The bad news is that Ballantine is not going to give me a new contract until they see how well Too Darn Hot does.  Remember the numbers post?  It’s all about the numbers.  That means how well you sold.  Nothing to do with getting audio sales or book clubs and definitely nothing to do with reviews.  It’s how many copies of your book were sold.  As respectable as the numbers reflect my sales for the first book in a mystery series as I see it, it wasn’t enough for my publisher, and that’s who the boss is.

Since TDH will be published in late June, 2006, I probably won’t know anything before this time next year.  A little more vacation time than I wanted.  Or needed.

I don’t have a “dying to write this” idea now, but I plan to start hitting the keys on January 2nd. It’s a Monday, which is when any self-respecting author should begin a new novel.  I hope I don’t have to insert a smiley face everytime I make a little joke, because I don’t plan to.

At this stage in my career, I don’t have a lot of time to waste.  I’ll be open to a new idea and hope that something comes my way.  Even if doesn’t happen by Jan. 2nd I’ll sit down at this computer and face the blank page in Word on my monitor.  I’ll sit there my usual 3 to 4 hours even if I don’t type anything.  I can’t write if I’m answering email or surfing the web or reading  a book. 

For now I’ll read, blog, go to the movies and see friends. But I’ll be at my post on January 2nd, 2006.

I may be down, but I’m not out.

Update

I had a computer crash last Friday and ever since I’ve been dealing with the nightmare we all dread: reinstalling.

I didn’t want anyone to think I’ve abandoned my blog.

I lost my email addresses so anyone who has previously given me their email address privately, would you please do so again.

I have some news and I’ll be posting it here soon.

Quote

"Close the door. Write with - no one - looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer."

Barbara Kingsolver

My Last Word On This

In the past two days I’ve been called: a nitwit, pretentious, angry, mean, sour, a whiner, crazy, suicidal, insulting, a nightmare author, difficult, and have been told to shut up.

I’m sure I’m leaving some nasty name calling out, but I think any reader will get the general idea.  A lot of this bad-mouthing came from a blog called Miss Snark, the literary agent.  She/he might as well call him/herself Miss Anonymous. I doubt very much if this person is a literary agent.  I know my agent would never have the time to write a blog.  Not to mention the inclination. 

I had no idea what I posted would create such a brouhaha.  I was simply continuing to do what I state above this post.  All along I’ve taken the reader with me on this last book.  Losing my editor was another step.

I’ll continue my blog as before.  As of this moment this tempest in a teacup is over for me.

Never Write Scripts

Not the movie kind.  The ones in your head or that you write on a blog or tell your friends.  The best reason not to do this is because you are always wrong.

On Friday my editor called me.  I was surprised to hear from him as it was a long weekend and he doesn’t call me socially.  We chatted for a few minutes about Thanksgiving and even then I was writing a script in my head:  he was calling me to tell me they weren’t going to offer me another contract.  Again I was wrong.

The reason he was calling me was to tell me that he was leaving the publishing company. Not because he was moving on to a new job, but because he’d had it with the business.  He said he hated to use the term burned out but that’s what he was. I was stunned.  I told him I understood and I do.  He worked too much and he wanted a life.  He doesn’t know what he’ll do but whatever it is won’t be in publishing.

I asked him if this was the reason I hadn’t been offered a contract.  He said no.  It was because they wanted to see how Dame performed.  I know that can’t be the reason because Dame has done her performance by now.  If he’d been staying on he would’ve pushed for a new contract (if that’s what he wanted) but it wasn’t up to him, since he was leaving, to make deals.

This coming week he was going to sit down with the head of the company and talk about what authors should be with what editors.  That doesn’t say anything about my situation.

What worries me is the new book, Too Darn Hot, which will be published in June.  Even if a new contract hadn’t come my way, this editor would’ve still been on top of things and moved the book as much as possible.  As the book is finished and there’s nothing for a new editor to do on it, it’ll lie there like a lox.  Unless there’s a new contract and then it’ll be different.  At the moment my book is an orphan.

When I called my agent and told her he was leaving she said, “This is very bad news.”  Then she said she was very close with the head of the company and she’d call that person on Monday.

This doesn’t put paid to my earlier anxieties as everything I worried about still applies and in fact adds to my worries.  Who will my new editor be, if I’m going to have one?

Not to insult anyone, but this editor is the last of a certain breed…a gentleman and a man of experience.  I don’t know for sure, but I’d say he’s in his early fifties.  He mentioned the possiblitity of one editor and I asked how old the person was.  Twenty-nine.

I know any editor is probably going to be younger than I, but twenty-nine?  He/she could be even younger, not only at this publishing house but almost everywhere.  I’m not saying an editor of that age has to be horrible, in fact I know that someone so young could be the best editor I’ve ever had.  Still, it gives me pause.

So that’s it.  The next step will be hearing from my agent after she talks to the head of the company. 

I’m going to try to use this extension of my “vacation” to enjoy myself.  I’ll also allow my mind to be open to new ideas.  I won’t search but I’ll be open.

So, as you’ve already gathered, the moral of this story is, thinking you know all the possibilities is stupid and useless and makes you a bigger asshole than you already are.

Pardon me while I stand in the corner.

Galley Pages

I’ve finished doing them.  Not many mistakes at all.  I felt very cranky having to do this.  What will I be like if I have to go back to work again?  And what will I feel like if I don’t have to go back to work?

Still no news.

 

The Weekend is Here

And I’ve heard from no one.

Next week begins the countdown to the holidays.  Unless something is decided in the first part of next week I feel it’s unlikely that I’ll know anything before the 1st of the year.  Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it’s my feeling.  Yeah, I know: feelings aren’t facts.

The  Reader’s Digest sale made back in the spring for  This Dame came to life today when a copy was sent to me.  It’s strange to see my jacket cover on the book with three other authors.  And at the end of my novel there’s my picture and a bio.  Also they’ve taken material about me from my blog and website.  Of course there are mistakes.  I didn’t graduate from Columbia University, for instance. I guess they couldn’t believe it was Columbia High School. But that’s fine. Columbia University is a terrific school.

My galley pages have arrived but I’m not doing anything about them until Monday.  And I’m not going to think about the contract thing either.  It’s bad enough that I have to have a root canal tomorrow.

The Next Step

Email from editor:

This afternoon we'll place in the mail to you the loose galley pages of TOO DARN HOT.  I'm crossing my fingers that they'll be in tip-top (or close to tip-top) shape and that you'll breeze through them with very few corrections. 

However, whatever those corrections are, could you send them to Paul and me by November 28?  You need return only the pages on which you make changes.  In fact, if the changes really are few, you can just e-mail us:  page number, paragraph (or line number), and what the change should be.

Anyway, expect the package to arrive to you either tomorrow or Friday.

Waiting.

 

 

The Wait Goes On

Still waiting.

I got the cover art back…the latest with the wrong hemline.  They corrected the problem by moving the figure down on the jacket so that you won’t know where the hemline is. Puhleeze.

However, I think it’s a nifty jacket.

Waiting some more.

 

Oh, Okay

January, the online magazine, gave me a great review.  I sent one to my editor and one to my agent.  I told my agent I wanted her to be armed when she talks to the editor.  This is what she wrote back to me:

Hey, thanks for sending this.  And stop worrying.  love, Agent

I wrote back and said I couldn’t change my whole personality at this point in life.  Laid back I’m not.  Surprise!

 

The Email

Hello, Agent

I got your voice message.

Hereabouts this week is jam-packed with launch meetings for next year--both the preparations for the meetings and then actually giving the presentations; so every minute is precious.

Once the dust settles next week and I can get people focused on something other than the launch, I'll set in motion the Sandra Scoppettone discussion.  Thanks for your patience.

Editor

Nothing

No phone call.

No email.

No nothing.

Still Waiting

At 3:40 the phone rang.  I rushed to answer.  It was the trashman’s wife to tell me the pick up will be on Sat. instead of Thurs.  It’s now 10:20 pm and that phone call never came.

Target Day?

Yesterday I spoke to my agent and reminded her that it was November.  She said she’d call my editor today.   Six more hours to go.  Do I believe this will happen?  No.  And even if it does that might not mean my editor is waiting for the call so he can offer a deal.  Or the deal will be so hideous I’ll have to work at the library.  I guess there could be worse places here to work.  Now that I think about it, the library is looking good.

 

Quote

"No one says a novel has to be one thing. It can be anything it wants to be, a vaudeville show, the six o'clock news, the mumblings of wild men saddled by demons."

Ismael Reed

Promotion

A comment was left on my blog with this question:

In today's publishing climate where it appears that publishing houses themselves do very little promoting of most authors and their books, what role do you think writers themselves take on? Ellen Hart said that writers have to be their own promoters and take to the road. Could you address this? 

My answer to the first part of this question is that writers have to take on whatever they’re comfortable with and what they think will sell their book better than the publisher can.

In the past I’ve been sent on book tours (twice with Ellen) by my publisher and although parts of it were fun, I couldn’t see that it sold more books than if I hadn’t been in a bookstore reading, or on a panel discussing where we get our ideas.

There’s no data that says touring will sell books.  In fact, I’ve heard that it really doesn’t payoff.  If I had to go on tour because my publisher felt it would help I’d do it.  But I wouldn’t be happy about it.  I certainly would never finance my own tour.  That has to be a losing proposition.

Perhaps tours help bestselling authors, but I’ve never understood the need for those people to go on tour.  Just as I’ll never understand why publishers take out ads for books that are already on the bestseller lists.

Publishers say ads don’t do anything.  Really?  I think an ad in the right place might let readers know that a book is out there.  However, I know of an author who took out ads three days in a row to prove to his publisher that that would sell more books.  It didn’t.

Janet Evanovich writes her books, Random House publishes them and then her entire family becomes a production company, according to an article in the NYT’s. On her website there’s a cornucopia of things to buy…T-shirts, hats, key rings, and things to do…like puzzles, contests, casting the characters for movies.  There are even photos of reader’s pets.

I’m not making a judgment here.  It’s simply that I wouldn’t have the energy or desire to do anything like that.  I have this blog and I have a website. Nothing on my website moves or makes a sound or morphs into anything else.  It’s mainly about my writing as this blog is about my writing and writing in general.

If I did what Evanovitch does I wouldn’t have time to write because writing isn’t only the time I spend in front of that screen. It’s a full time job which requires me to be still when I’m not actually writing. This is so that I can think.

Evanovitch  goes on extended tours.  The longest one I ever went on was two weeks and I was exhausted afterward.

Maybe it’s me.  I didn’t become a writer to travel, sell things other than books, be an actor, or have webcams watching me work. I became a writer to write and because I couldn’t not write.  I’d love to sell as many books as those bestselling authors who tour and appear on morning television shows, but I’ll never sell that many books no matter what I do and television adds ten pounds.

So back to the original question, what role do I think writers have to take on to sell books?  This writer has to write a book and cooperate with what the publisher would like me to do.  That’s it.

 

 

Waiting

I spend my days buying tunes from Itunes to fill up my Ipod Nano.  Get out my CDs to transfer them to the Ipod.  I don’t write much email.  Haven’t felt like it.  Read.  Not as much as I plan to each day.  Stay in my pj’s until noon.  Talk on the phone.  Go to the library.  Then the library cottage…buy books…more books.  Order even more books from Amazon or through Addall.  Read blogs.

But mostly I wait.  For the phone to ring.  No, I’m not waiting to be asked to the Halloween party.

I’M WAITING TO HEAR ABOUT GETTING A GODDAMN BOOK CONTRACT!

Ladies Who Lunch

I just had lunch with my agent.  Besides having a good time, which we always have, she reasurred me about being offered a contract for the next two Faye Quick books.

“What are they waiting for?” I knew, of course.

“The numbers.  They need to know what to offer.”

“You mean they might offer less?”

“No.  The same or more.”

I’m home now and I know I’ll never be offered a contract for any book ever again.

Quote

"Unconsciously, you write to be read. If you want to write for yourself then you keep a journal."

Bapsi Sidhwa

So Much For What I know

Back in 2004 or early 2005 (I’m too lazy to look it up) I said I had on good authority that publishers were going to phase out mass market paperbacks.  A few people read that and were upset by it and hoped it wasn’t true.  Well, guys, I guess it wasn’t. 

But I did read an article that said mass market pbks were going to be a different size.  A little larger.  So maybe that’s what my impeccable source heard and managed to screw it up in the telling.

The reason I know I was wrong is because my own book, This Dame for Hire, will be published in June/July in mass market.  I’m glad about that.  I have to confess I wouldn’t pay 12 to 14 dollars for a trade paperback mystery unless that was the only version published.  In fact, I never buy any book in tpk unless it’s the only version available. I love the way they look and feel and, as stated before, I wish all books were published this way instead of in hardcover.  But I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.  I didn’t get that from any source, it’s only what I believe.

Quote

“When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."

Raymond Chandler

Arrival of Cover Art

The envelope arrived by FedEx yesterday morning. With great trepidation I pulled the tag and slowly reached in to pull out the two paste ups on black board. One was immediately discarded. I won't bother explaining why. Trust me.

The colors and background are great. An obvious New York street scene with period cars, etc. It’s all in red the way Dame was in turquoise…see below….and the font is the same with the same colors. That might sound awful but it’s not.

Obviously they’ve decided to keep the silhouette of the woman with the gun on every jacket. Every…will there be more than this one?

So guess what? The art director didn’t remember. The skirt length. Way down below the knee. And a flowing skirt that no self-respecting PI would wear to work.

What is wrong with this art department? Even though they don’t draw they must have stock photos from the Forties they can use. And once again they’ve put the gun in her left hand. She ain’t left-handed!

I wrote my editor this morning and gave my complaint about the skirt and the gun in the left hand. I also included a photo of a woman in the Forties wearing an everyday dress…hem just below her knees. He wrote back and said he’d pass my note about the skirt length and the photo on to the art deptartment, but said nothing about the gun in the left hand. I might have to let that go. It’s less important than the hem of the skirt.

Maybe if I’m lucky they’ll get the skirt right in one take, so to speak. Cross your fingers.

Cover Art

Yup.  Here we go again.  I think tomorrow my editor will be sending me: specifically two proposed covers--both variations on a theme (apparently two different silhouettes of Faye). 

I can hardly wait.  After last year’s fiasco I can’t imagine what this will be like.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of them was good?  Last time it was the length of the skirt I had to yell about for months. I wonder if the art director remembers that the skirts were short in 1943?

I can’t believe there won’t be some egregious mistake.  You see, they don’t draw anymore in art departments.  They have stock drawings and they put them together.  There’s nothing original.

The final jacket art of This Dame for Hire was great.  But nobody drew anything.  I guess that shouldn’t matter, but somehow it does.  It’s another example of how everything has changed in publishing.

——————

On another topic that turned up on a listserv I belong to called DetecToday, people were writing about the fact that series writers have begun to leave out the mystery in their mystery. It seems to be happening in their 8th book or so.  I haven’t come across this in my reading but I stay away from long series because I think they become anemic.  And if writers are leaving out the mystery (also called plot) I think I’m right to avoid them.  The longest series I wrote was five books.  I believe the fifth book was the weakest even though I had a mystery. And if for some insane reason I was writing a 10th I’d sure make an effort at including a plot.  Anyone else notice a mystery series that doesn’t have a mystery?

Quote

"There is a difference between a book of two hundred pages from the very beginning, and a book of two hundred pages which is the result of an original eight hundred pages. The six hundred are there. Only you don't see them."

Elie Wiesel

Delta and Numbers

I got word this week that Delta Airlines has bought an excerpt of This Dame for Hire for their inflight magazine.  No, I’ve never had this happen before.  And I wonder if somehow they believe this will keep them out of bankruptcy.

My worry about a new contract was not completely paranoid.  Here is an exchange between my agent and editor.

Agent to editor: Do you want to talk about another 2 book deal? 

 

Editor to agent:  As for talking about another deal, yes!  I want to talk--but I'm told I have to wait another month (at least) for a clear picture of sales on Book One.  Can we make a date to talk at the end of October?

 

Didn’t I say that it was all about the numbers?  I did.  And this is what is meant above.  I will probably be offered a 2 book contract, but the offer will be dependent on the sales.  So they could offer me less money than what I got before.  If that happens, what will I do?

 

It doesn’t matter that all the reviews were positive; that the Mystery Guild bought it; audio bought it; Reader’s Digest and Delta weighed in.  Only the numbers count.

 

I’ve been publishing long enough to remember when numbers had nothing to do with a contract. 

 

So what will I do?

 

I have no idea.

 

Fun

I recently got a fan email in which the writer said, “ I'm interested in writing a mystery strictly for fun”.

Fun?

Anyone who thinks it’s fun to write any kind of novel should be disabused of that notion right now.  Writing is hard work.  Research might be fun.  But even that, depending on what you’re digging for, can become difficult.  But writing fun?  Never.

Sure there are those days when everything goes right and I feel ecstatic.  But I never say to myself, gee I had fun at the keyboard this morning.

What one produces might be fun to read.  If you’re writing a novel that intends to be fun and succeeds, that’s a bonus.  But that novel took work.  It might look easy and breezy (and that’s credit to the writer) but it’s never easy and breezy to write.

A produced playwright once said to me, “I love mystery novels and I think I’m going to write one so I can give back something after all these years of reading pleasure.”

Have you ever heard anything more arrogant?  Well, yes, I have, too, but that’s right up there.  Incidently he never wrote a novel.  This was a case of a writer thinking he could write in any form because he’s a writer.  I’m sure he’d never be that cavalier about writing a play.  But a mystery novel is just so much fun because it’s not really writing, is it?  It’s fun.

Guess what. It really is writing.  And to write a novel you have to want to do it more than anything.  You have to know that it’s hard work and takes discipline.

Some of the finest  writing I’ve ever read is in mysteries and crime novels.  It doesn’t matter what kind of novel you set out to write…it’s damn hard.

Copyeditor

There were no yellow post its.  I’d forgotten that they don’t do that anymore.  The marks were on the manuscript.  And what a nightmare those marks were.

This copyeditor took it upon herself (and it was a she) to make everyone talk the same.  And she changed the spelling of words like: whaddaya to what d’ya.  This was in dialogue.  My main character often says yer for you’re and ya for you.  But many times, for reasons of awkward pronounciations, I don’t do that. She changed them.

I’ve had three days of putting everything back the way it was.

She did pick up on repetition from one chapter to another.  That’s what she’s supposed to do.  She is not supposed to change my dialogue in any way.

I complained to my editor and he said he’d certainly speak to the person in charge of hiring these freelance editors.  There was nothing we could do about it now.  I knew that, of course.

I got so confused by her changes that I’m not sure things are consistent now.  I wrote a note to my editor about this and sent it with the manuscript.  I hope he’ll take a look or have someone with a brain do that to make sure things are consistent.

Now I’ll have to gird myself for the inevitable argument about the jacket.

No new contract yet.  My agent said she has to check on the sales ( the publishers have these figures every week because of computers) before she goes into negotiations.

Why do I feel they’re not going to give me a new contract?  Paranoia? Pessimism?  Reality? If the book didn’t sell well it’s perfectly possible that they won’t give me a new contract.  My thinking is how could people know the book was out there when they didn’t take an ad anywhere?  But then maybe it just didn’t sell well, despite good reviews.

What will become of me?

 

It's Here

The copy-edited manuscript of Too Darn Hot arrived this morning.  I’ve put it on a table in my office, unopened.  It will stay unopened until Monday.

A reader left me a comment on my post in which I said I knew it was coming, I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I wasn’t wary because the last time I got the copy-edited manuscript from Ballantine it was fine.

Mapletree7 asked, “Fill us in.  What’s to dread?”

Any writer reading this probably knows.  For years I would get the copy-edited manuscript back and go nuts.  They put little yellow tags on a page when they’re questioning something.  When you open the package there seem to be hundreds of them.  And the questions they ask, for the most part, are ridiculous, annoying, stupid and enraging.  Example: What is an out building? What is a rep tie?  Who are Nick and Nora?  On and on. Some even rewrite your sentences.

But with my last book, This Dame for Hire, that didn’t happen.  The copy-edit was sensible and modest.  So I don’t dread it the way I have.  Still, you never know. It’s doubtful that  I got the same copy-editor I had last time.  If, when I open the package, I see a plethora of yellow tags my stomach will churn.  But I’ll try to be reasonable until I find something unreasonable.

I hope this answers the question.  I’d love to see outrageous edits from others.

 

Explanation

My agent called my editor about the advertising of This Dame For Hire that was promised on the back of the galley.  He called me.

He said he knows it’s a problem and he’s talked about it at meetings.  Not just my book, but the whole process.  He’s even said, “Why can’t we be honest?”  I’m surprised he wasn’t fired for that.

Apparently it’s a practice that’s widespread and the feeling is that the bookstore owners will never remember.  Maybe that’s true.  Or maybe, since it happens all the time, they pay no attention to what’s on a galley.

It had never happened to me before, which is why I wrote about it in the first place.  But I have to say that my agent was on the case when she returned from France, and my editor felt I was owed an explanation.

I appreciate them both.

Waiting for the copy-edited manuscript of Too Darn Hot. I think it will arrive tomorrow.  If it’s anything like the copy-edited manuscript of This Dame, I don’t have much to worry about.  I don’t look forward to it, but I’m not wary the way I was the first time.

What kind of fool am I?

 

Another Step

Yesterday my editor sent me the flap copy for Too Darn Hot. Part of it was good, but some things gave too much away. I emailed him about this (he’d asked for my input) and wondered what he’d think.

Same day he emailed me back, “I’ll make all the changes.”

I find it so strange that Ballantine does things so far in advance. Next week I get the copy-edited manuscript and I’m sure I’ll be getting jacket designs in a month. The book isn’t scheduled until summer 2006.

I would imagine that next week or the next, the negotiations for a new contract will begin.

Basically, This Dame for Hire is over until it comes out next summer in paper. Shelf life is incredibly short unless you’re a big name. It’s been two months and I’ll be lucky to get a few more weeks before the stores start sending the book back to make room for the Fall releases. On Amazon there are 52 used & new of my book. I’d buy one of those, wouldn’t you? And that, of course, brings me 0 royalties. I can hope that someone paid for all those books originally.

Writing for Television

Two people have asked that I say more about my television writing days. I didn’t do a lot, but I’ll try to remember what I did do.

A drama program named Playhouse 90 was on between 1956–61. My then agent got me a deal to write a tv play for the anthology show. It was a step-deal. I’m sure Lee Goldberg could explain this better, but I’ll give it a try. You were paid something on signing; when you handed in the script; then the rewrite (and there always was at least one); last on production. I didn’t get that far with this deal.

I did get to many meetings. The final one was in some upper east side restaurant with the director they’d chosen. He was Fred Coe. A very nice man. However, within weeks of this meeting the whole project was dropped. I never knew why. That’s the way it happened.

My soap writing experiences were awful (except for the money). The first was a short-lived soap called WHERE THE HEART IS. It had nothing to do with a novel by that name that came much later. The soap was on during the Sixties. I can’t remember a single thing about it. I don’t know who the head writer was except his first name. Bob.

The name for what I did escapes me. But I would get what was known as a breakdown for the script I was to write. Scripts were divided in five acts. Each act was outlined in a paragraph. I’ve since learned that most are pages long, but not on this show. I think I was given a week to do this, but somehow that seems too long. Maybe it was a week when I did 2 scripts per week.

I was meant to fill out each act in dialogue. And god help you if you tried to be funny. I felt I wrote pretty good dialogue, but it was always sent back to me with copious notes.

In the end I was fired. Everyone was fired. No one ever lasted. I did another later on and I can’t even remember which one it was, but it was one that was very popular. The head writer was a fairly well-known playwright but I’ll be damned if I can remember his name. When I quit he threatened me with a blackball so I could never write a soap again.

That was fine with me because I never wanted to write one again. Writing for a soap made me anxious, depressed and plain unhappy. I didn’t like the pressure and I didn’t like the idiocy of the whole thing.

One of the reasons I quit was because I got a deal for my last foray into writing for television. And that was for ABC’s The Wide World of Entertainment. This show came on at eleven and tried to compete with talk shows. My show aired the night some crisis (can’t remember what) happened in the world so it was bumped to a later time that night. As I said in another post the title was the best thing about it: A Little Bit Like Murder. I just tried finding a reference to it by googling the names of Elizabeth Hartman, Nina Foch and Sharon Gless who were all in it. Nobody listed my show. Getting the picture?

So that’s it.

My last experience of having a play mounted was in 1976. It was called Stuck and played in a theater way off-off Broadway. It was a strange part of New York City I wasn’t familiar with. It was called SoHo, but it didn’t mean anything to me then. In a few years I’d live there. Anyway, even though the last experience was a good one, I realized the collaborative life was not for me. And it was a good thing I was writing novels and enjoying it, because women playwrights were not sought after, and even though we’d had Lillian Hellman, no one broke that glass ceiling for years. Certainly not on Broadway. Even now the theaters on B’way are not filled with plays by women. Why is this still the case? I have no answer. Do you?

Quote

 "Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal."

T. S. Eliot

Television Possibility

Had a good talk with the woman from the TV channel.  She called it a preliminary talk. I liked her, but I count on nothing.

She asked if I wanted to adapt the books should they want to do it.  I said no. I have no interest in anything like that.  Once I would’ve.  But now I’m strictly a novelist.  The idea of writing for movies or TV is a nightmare to me.

I wrote a spec scipt long ago that was optioned.  Went to Hollywood.  Got bounced around like I was in a rough ocean.  Nothing happened.

I had a TV script actually made for a late night drama show. The network was trying to compete with talk shows.  It was the first time I actually saw my words come to life on television.  Dreadful.  The only good thing was a woman in a very small part at the end.  She turned out to be Sharon Gless.  I have to admit it wasn’t a good script.  The only good thing was the title.  A Little Bit Like Murder.

I also wrote for a few soaps.  That was hell.  But it paid so well.  Still, I always got fired like everyone else.  The last time I quit and never looked back.

And now I’m at a point in my life where I don’t have the interest or the stamina to write for TV.  I would like to see these books made into a series, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

 

Maybe

Yesterday I was sent an email from a man at heretv.com.  He asked me if I’d send my phone number so the VP of original programming could speak to me. I’d never heard of this place.  But I looked it up, saw that it was real. 

Normally, I would forward a request like this to my agent.  But she’s in France.  So I sent the number and within moments the writer of the email called me.

The company is interested in my series of Lauren Laurano books.  He said she wanted to ask me some preliminary questions.  We set up a phone conversation for today at 11:30 am.

I don’t get excited about these things.  My friends do, if I tell them.  I’ve been at this juncture all too often.  It would be nice if this happened.  More than nice.  I’m sure it wouldn’t mean a lot of money, but I’d like to see that series on TV.  What writer wouldn’t?

I’ve always felt those characters would make a good series and would be different.  I knew the networks were out, but at one time I thought HBO might be interested.  They weren’t.

Now comes this nibble.  I hope she doesn’t ask me who I’d like to see play the main roles as I never cast a book in my head.

We’ll see.

Promises Promises

On the back of my galley for This Dame for Hire it states that there will be ads in The Strand Magazine, Mystery Scene and the NYTBR. None appeared. When I asked about it I got a bit of a runaround.

It’s too late for the magazines now as they publish 5 or 6 times a year. In fact, it’s too late for the NYTBR. I wouldn’t have expected an ad for the first book in a series, but I believed what the galley told me. Naive of me, I guess. You’d think I’d know better at this stage of my career.

One of the answers given me when I asked about it was, “The advertising department waits until there are reviews.” This excuse seems disingenuous, to say the least. What more did they want than a starred PW, a starred Library Journal and a good Booklist for starters?

Then I got print reviews from many places and they were all good. Call me crazy, but promising those ads to booksellers and then not delivering seems like lying to me. That’s who they’re aiming at when they print those words on the back of a galley.

Some things never change.

Quote

"I have written a great many stories and I still don't know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances."

John Steinbeck

I'm Back

I have to confess I’ve been back for a week.  But I was exhausted and didn’t want to post.

There have been some comments that asked me questions.

When will TDH be published? 

Next June or July.  Ballantine wants to publish the paperback of TDFH to coincide with the hardcover of TDH.  And I still have to deal with the copy-edited manuscript.

Will you have to do fresh background material for each book in the series?

Not really.  I plan to stay in 1943 for awhile.  Which means I might have to look up songs or movies, but not much more.

What’s next?  Do you wait till October to start your next book?

As I may have mentioned, I don’t have a contract for another book. When agent and editor get back in September I imagine negotiations will begin.  Or they won’t.  Perhaps Ballantine won’t be interested in another two book deal.  But maybe another publisher will.  I’d like to stay with Ballantine because I like my editor there very much.  Still, I’ll have to go with whoever wants me.  But that might turn out to be no one.

It’s hard to imagine that no one will be interested because of all the favorable feedback I’ve gotten.  The reviews have been great. But publishing is mysterious.  So who knows?

The answer to the October question is not possible now. I won’t start a book without a contract.  We’ll have to wait and see.

 

Leaving

I leave tomorrow for a week.  Not taking laptop.  Bye.

Finished

The edit is done.  As I expected, there was very little to do. I’ll mail it tomorrow.

Now I’m really free.  No contract.  I’m not worried.  I’ve been getting good reviews. I think Ballantine will want two more books.  But I don’t have to think about any of it.  It’s now in the hands of my agent.

I’m reading STRANGE BUT TRUE by John Searles.  So far I like it a great deal.

Tonight Yankees and Red Sox.  I can stay up.  Yes, I can.

 

It's Here

The manuscript has arrived.  I was out all day so I haven’t looked at it.  I’ve taken it out of the envelope that leaked the hideous gray stuff all over me and my floor, but I haven’t taken the rubber bands off the manuscript and I won’t do that until tomorrow.

I don’t feel great apprehension because I don’t expect to be asked to rewrite whole chapters or even great chunks of a chapter.  I think my editor would’ve indicated that if it was the case.

The really good news is that I received a check today which is the last payment for TDFH.  Except when the tons of royalties start rolling in.  Right. 

I do hate the thought of having to go to bed at 10 and up at 7 even if it’s only for a few days.  I’m so spoiled.

This and That and New Rules

Saturday I did a reading and a Q&A at the Westhampton Library in New York.  It was a gorgeous day and I didn’t expect much of a crowd as it’s a beach town.  But a lot of people attended.  Not that it was standing room only, but there were a respectable amount of people.  I hate doing these things, but once I’m into it I like it.  I wish I could remember that before hand. 

My editor called on Friday to say I’d have the edited manuscript back by Tuesday.  He also said there wasn’t much to do.  That was the case with the first book so I tend to believe him.  Still, I didn’t want to see that book so soon.  They do everything very fast at Ballantine.  I’m going away next week for about five or six days and then looking forward to a vacation in August.  By that I mean a vacation right here where I live.  But I bet the copy-edited manuscript will wing its way to me sometime in August.

I’m enjoying my freedom now,  and not looking forward to having to do anything with TOO DARN HOT.

The reviews in various newspapers and in online magazines are beginning. So far there was only one lousy one where the reviewer went on and on about Hammett and said that I didn’t measure up, and that my PI was no Sam Spade.  Really?  Why compare me with Hammett in this way?  I don’t understand that.

It didn’t bother me because I thought it was so stupid.  Bad reviews in newspapers or magazines, or blogs that I respect are a different animal.  That certainly can make me feel bad.

As I said in an earlier post, I don’t have a contract for future books in this series.  So at this moment I have no plans to start writing in the fall.  That may change if a contract is made with Ballantine, or some other publishing house.  I hope the latter doesn’t happen.  I don’t want to leave my editor.

One thing I didn’t have time to mention during the gruelling days of the final draft, is that Ballantine sent out a new style sheet to all authors.  I had to change my font and one couldn’t have two spaces between sentences (as most people my age were taught to do.)  So I had to think of that as I went through my revision.  And a CD had to accompany the final manuscript.  I use a computer and back up on a CD, but what about writers who still use a typewriter?  Or those who don’t have a CD drive. 

Call me crazy but I don’t like the feel of it.  I liked my font and I like two spaces between sentences.  But when I write the next book, if it’s for Ballantine, I’ll have to use a font I don’t like.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, and I suppose it isn’t, but it annoys me.  I’ve never thought of myself as part of the corporate world. What orders are going to come next?

 

 

From My Editor

Dear Sandra,

A quick note, post-lunch, to say that TOO DARN HOT is Too Darn Good.  And if I ever get free of these endless Group Meetings, I'll phone you to sing your praises.  Meanwhile, congrats on a great sequel!!!

Love,

Joe

Quote

"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip."

Elmore Leonard

Hooray!!!!

Printed.

Mailed.

I Can't Believe It

The damn thing is finished.  Think of all that we’ve been through.  And now it’s finished.  Tomorrow I print it and mail it to my editor.

And then…..he reacts….he sends it back with his suggested changes.  It’s not finished.

But for me…on this night and for the next week or so…that thing is done. 

It's June 28th, 2005

My publication day.  The big non-event.  Don’t believe me?

My day so far:  Got up, ate the usual breakfast. Read part of the NYT’s. Gave one cat her pills.  Cleaned the litter box. Made the bed. Got dressed.  Came into my study and began working on this book that you’ve heard so much about.

Tonight? The usual. Regular dinner.  Ball game.

No call or anything from my editor.  But there may be a good reason for that.  Yesterday I made a huge fuss about the title.  I didn’t want to use the one we’d settled on.  He was not pleased.  Some tart emails back and forth.  Then a phone conversation.  He made a strong case for the title.  I gave in.  Still, I don’t think he’d be too inclined to wish me anything today.

My agent is in France so no word from her.  Even if she was in NYC I wouldn’t hear from her about it being Pub day.  Listen to what I’m telling you: Non event.

I think I’ll finish this book tomorrow.  Then I have to print it out.  And get it the hell out of here.

The title is: TOO DARN HOT

On and On

End of another week of this line editing.  Lousy mood.  Tomorrow is a day off but it won’t be enough.  Still, I’ll entertain myself by reading THE BURNING GIRL-Mark Billingham.

Monday it’ll all start again.  If I finish next week I’ll be amazed.

What will tonight be like?  We’re angry and tired.  We have the Yankee/Mets game. We have our dinner from the great take-out place that opened about a year ago.   We have a movie.  At least we won’t have to speak.

Why didn’t I get a dessert? 

 

 

It Never Ends

That could mean a lot of things.  And it does. The rewrite goes on and on.  And the rewriting of my dialogue by my in house editor continues no matter what I say or do.  But what I’m really referring to is the title of the next book.

I thought I had it.  I thought they were lyrics from a song. Now I’ve discovered that it’s the title.  So what? you say.  My last series used song titles tricked up. I don’t want to go near that again.

Now I’ll have to argue with my editor on Monday.  And I don’t have a replacement. Maybe I’ll find one this weekend, but the way things have been going I have my doubts.

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh.

 

 

Title

I finally got the title for the book I’m working on.  This is a great relief.  As I’ve said I’ve never been in this spot.  I almost always have a title before I begin.  But here I am halfway through the final rewrite and I only had the title come to me today.

And my editor and the janitors love it.

 

State of Emotional Health

I feel I may go insane working on this book.

A Day of Rest

On the seventh day I rested.

Tomorrow I start the line edit again.

Quote

"Rewriting is like scrubbing the basement floor with a toothbrush."

Pete Murphy

The Irritating Line Edit

Started this on Monday…the line edit, that is.  Although I don’t take everything that’s suggested by my first reader (I don’t have a second reader) she’s very helpful.  She’s also irritating, annoying and a pain in the ass.  So why do I let her do this?  Because ultimately she helps me make my book better.

She catches things I don’t see because I’ve been too close.  She questions things I’ve tried to get away with. 

I have one rule.  Don’t touch my dialogue.  Does she adhere to that?  No.  She tries to get  around it by suggesting dialogue above mine.  I pay no attention.  Mine is better.

Do I enjoy this process?  Yes and no.  So far (I’m on page 103 of 500) we haven’t had a screaming fight.  Perhaps we’ve grown up? 

There are about 400 pages to go.  I’ll keep you posted on the maturity level.

Quote

"There is no royal path to good writing; and such paths as exist do not lead through neat critical gardens, various as they are, but through the jungles of self, the world, and of craft."

Jessamyn West

Rules Be Damned

For all my rules and good intentions, the big talk didn’t go too well.  First reader liked the book a lot.  But then she dared to make suggestions and criticise which led to arguments, then sulking.  It is a process from hell.

Tomorrow starts real editing and by nightfall, if things go as usual, we won’t be speaking at all.

Meanwhile, I have no title for this book.  This has never happened to me before.  I need one soon.  Like yesterday. 

Today is my last day of reading, watching the Yankees do who knows what, and generally enjoying myself for about the next two weeks.  And then I will hand it to my….oh, no.  I think I’ll stay in the day.

The Big Talk

First reader has finished.  She likes it.  But now we go over the novel with her questions which she’s written on a yellow pad.  I’ve yet to see that and I fear it.  I know there will be pages and pages.

I’m trying to get myself in a mood that isn’t defensive.  Not easy.  I tell myself to simply listen.  I don’t have to do anything she says.  Who does she think she is anyway?

Not a good attitude.   I am taking a deep breath.  Here we go.

 

The Reading Continues

My first reader is still at it.  A death disturbed life and so everything has been delayed.  The reader will resume today.

Probably the BIG TALK will happen tomorrow.  Then I’ll start the third and final draft on Monday.

Meanwhile I’ll tidy up my work room.  I think I’d rather write.

2nd Draft

I just finished printing it out.  And now my first reader is reading it. 

Panic grips my heart.