The LadyKillers

One Day at a Time...

When the word "persistence" arises, I must admit that this AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) saying is one of the first things that comes to mind. I'm not AA myself, but know some about the organization, and I'm willing to bet that most folks have heard of and/or followed a "one day at a time" philosophy at one point or another.

It's a great philosophy for encouraging persistence. You don't have to complete that "to do" list in one marathon session, you don't have to climb that entire mountain in one enormous leap, you don't have to sit down and write your way from beginning to end of a writing project in one fell swoop... You simply take your list one item at a time, climb that mountain one step at a time, write that project one word at a time.

You don't live life all at once: all of its joys and sorrows, the triumphs and defeats. It's moment by moment, day by day.

And now, here's a low-key YouTube video (with some relaxing music) about the power of persistence. Enjoy! 

The Interactive Way to Write Your Next Book: Crowdsourcing!

 

 

 Recently, I was at a meeting with my new publisher and several of the authors from Harper Davis. We discussed “Branding,” and my need to redo the way I brand myself as well as my blog, website, and name. I tend to use Pat Morin, and not the Patricia L. Morin signed on my books and short stories. When discussing the use of name, one of the marketing people suggested I crowdsource an opinion of which of the names I should use. I had never heard of it. Several of the authors had explained that authors are now using crowdsourcing to write their novels. With the help of their fans, their new stories are being created.

 Wow! First let me define crowdsourcing (and if some/all of you know, please forgive the repetition).

 Crowdsourcing is, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a

large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. The general concept is to combine the efforts of crowds of volunteers where each one could contribute a small portion, which adds into a relatively large or significant result. Crowdsourcing is different from an ordinary outsourcing since it is a task or problem that is outsourced to an undefined public rather than to a specific, named group. Although the word "crowdsourcing" was coined in 2006, it can apply to a wide range of activities. Crowdsourcing can apply to specific requests, such as crowdvoting, crowdfunding, a broad-based competition, and a general search for answers, solutions, or a missing person.

 There is even a new platform for writers all over the world launched by CrowdSource, LLC. The new portal, called Write.com, aims to recruit new writers to enrich Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing marketplace.

 Authors are able, through this new format, to change endings and rewrite books, as was discussed on LadyKillers Blog before. But now, we can include our fan base to help create the story from the start.

Out with the outline, out with the plotantsers, out with the 1,2,3. In with the new group interactive process: crowdsourcing!

What do you think? The wave of the future?

 

 

 

Just Give Me a Second, Here...

Ann Parker here, pausing in a crazy packing sprint as I prepare to fly from East to West (NYC to SFO) on Saturday. After all, here it is, Friday night, and I am scheduled to have a post go live at LadyKillers in about 1.25 hours from now.

I'll admit, I've been mostly MIA for the past few weeks from LadyKillers-land. Honestly, I didn't given "second chance" even a second thought until this afternoon, when I was walking down (? up? I never get the directions right) Fifth Avenue, saying my mental goodbyes to the city. I was wondering what the heck I was going to write about for this post as I paused to take this photo of the front of the main library at 42nd and Fifth...

... And then, I turned around to face the street...

And I laughed in surprise, and then gave thanks to the serendipity of the Universe.

There it was! My second chance! I guess even buildings can have second chances and a new "lease on life," right?

 

Rejection and resilience

                                                     

  
 

What interested me the most about the rejections that authors received from publishers and agents, beside the types of letters, and diversity of the language in the negative responses (some very positive, also), was the reaction of the author. I know when my reject slips started flooding in, I felt angry, defensive, bewildered, and sometimes indignant (usually not all at the same time). I worked hard to keep my spirits up, and push through a bit of despair to send my stories to the next publisher, hopeful of an acceptance.  

We’re resilient. We’ve bended, adapted, shifted, sometimes in ways we never thought we could. I most certainly did not handle all my rejections effectively. I cursed out several agents (the one who sent the fortune cookie size response). I even wrote to one agent and told her how rude she was in her rejection letter, and would suggest no one hire her—since we do have to pay them for services. 

Anyway, the resilient person does not always handle refusal of their work well. However, we rebound. We do not end the journey. According to Robert Brooks, Ph.D, there are four concepts that help people when confronted with rejection. All four have been touched upon in The Ladykillers Blog this week at one point or other. I’m just putting them all together:

1.  Avoid self-defeating assumption. Rejections do not indicate a basic flaw in our personality.

2. Don’t magnify the rejection in terms of the impact it has on your life. It is not a forecast of your future. After about 75 rejection slips, I sorta had a hard time believing this one.

3. Don’t allow the rejection to derail your dreams. Persevere.

4. Learn from the rejection, even if there is no suggestion for change. Seek helpful feedback from others.

5.  (Mine) reevaluate the agents and publishers, the people you are hoping to win over--they my not be right for you. I’ve had to change my list several times.

6.  STAY RESILIENT!

 Can you add to this list? What has helped you stay resilient? Cat buddies that purr on your lap are acceptable.

Well.

What a week this has been... We've seen some of the worst of humanity's behavior, and some of the best. I think I'll leave it at that, except to take a moment to tip my hat and send a cheer to first responders and brave souls, and another moment of silence and sorrow for the victims of this week's events.

May you and yours be well, in all senses of the word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Braking away from the rules

Sedona, AZ--Pat Morin

Like in nature, rules are constantly broken. You can have rain, and sun, and clouds, and thunder storms, all at one time.  

I, as the novice writer, don't even know all the rules I've broken. But I have read many books on the art of writing, and have learned we need rules to free us from the onslaught of those unendng waterfall of images and thoughts, and runaway mental scenes that go on and on, and then split into other scenes until the first scene is forgotten. Sometimes I say to myself: Put a period on that run-on thought, will ya?

I can do that more easily than I do in my everyday life. The escape of writing and being in that made-up world with its many rules is more freeing than having to deal with the stresses of everyday life. I cherish being in that rule-filled world.

It's okay to break the rules of my dieting (more than breaking the rules of my writing), sometimes I break the rule of calling a family member, like should I every-single-day. Sometimes I break the rule of not giving the ultimate review about a fellow author

(because I have to run my dog to the vet), and I haven't read all the books I should for fellow writer (because I have all those test I have to take at Kaiser, my insurance co.).

I have to break the pattern of breaking the rules so I can get on track for, at least, a little while. It's my mid-year-goal rule. Try to get the imagined-world rules at least a bit closer to the real-world rules.

DIY Pep Talk

Ann on Saturday...

Hey. Need a pep talk? Take a look over the past week's posts on the LadyKillers to get some killer encouragement and pepping up.

IWhen I need a pep talk, I turned to family or good friends, tell 'em what's up, and they always come through with the good advice and supportive words.

But, ya know, one of the best places to get a pep talk is from your very own self. When I find myself stuck in a vicious "woulda-shoulda-coulda" cycle, or regretting not doing this, or turning left instead of turning right, I tell myself one of two things:

"I'm doing the best that I can." (or past tense: "I did the best that I could.")

and/or:

"Take it a step (or a word) at a time."

So need a pep talk? Sometimes, DIY does the job. And if you need a little inspiration for facing the mirror and doin' it yourself, check out this somewhat-famous YouTube in which five-year-old "Jessica" gives herself a pep talk to end all pep talks.

Final POV

"Point of view is the place from which a writer listens in and watches. Choosing one place over another determines what can and can't be seen, what minds can and can't be entered.” Kidder and Todd, Good Prose

The main choice between the third and first person, (and the rare second person) as we have seen this week, for some, is made before sitting down to write. Some writers feel obliged to use the third person, others writers, by contrast, seem to adopt the first person (especially for a series characters). But choosing a point of view really is a choice, and does carry a strong effect on the writer as well as the reader. There is no obligation to use either first, second, or third person, in their many varieties. Most of us have used all three at some point. Whether we like the intense emotionality of the first, to better feel the experience of our protagonist, or the cool, subjective third, to unfold the life and thoughts of several characters, POV effects us as well as it does our characters. Reflecting on POV seems to make us take a longer and harder look at ourselves, and ask: So why am I writing in this POV? I know I’ve given a lot of consideration to this topic. But I have also evaluated POV as a playwright and the effect that it has on the characters I create on stage. More food for thought. But hey, Larry just poured me a glass of wine, so I’m done with thinking about this for now. ☺

Point of View-Philosophical Meandering

Harvey Robinson (“The Historical Point of View”) wrote: “It is clear that all our information in regard to past events and conditions must be derived from evidence of some kind. This evidence is called the source. Sometimes there are a number of good and reliable sources for an event … Sometimes there is but a single, unreliable source.” He continues to explain that we not only lose a sense of reliability of the event, but what do we truly learn from just one source?

Sarah Cooper, a history teacher wrote “Making History Mine …Personal Primary Sources.”Sarah Copper had her class define primary source as point of view. The students, middle grade, knew that a primary source was something written by someone who was at the event, (single point of view) or an eyewitness. Sarah brought in a jade lion and asked the class to tell her about the person who owned this jade lion and the society around it. The answers varied as can be expected: “A lion trainer owned the real lions, a zookeeper, and a tourist bought the lion.” Three different perspectives.

This got me thinking: Philosophically speaking: Do we as writers deny the reader a deeper essence of knowledge (of a character, or scene, a lion statue) of the story by limiting the story to single POV? Doesn’t the multiple POV give the reader more perceptions into the story, therefore touching more of the readers’ own beliefs—helping them see a richer and different perspective by showing them multiple views on one subject? Should we even worry about that?

 

 

Finding New Writers, oh boy!

Ann Parker here, comfortably enscounced in my hotel room at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort for the 2013 Left Coast Crime convention. Mystery conventions are definitely one great place to find new authors to read ... at least, new to THIS reader! And, as other LadyKillers pointed out earlier this week, to be a "new author" simply means a reader has not read him or her before.

Left Coast Crime has two early morning events: The New Authors breakfast and The Established Authors breakfast. Convention attendees stagger in at 7:30 a.m., gorge on a darn nice breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit galore, little tasty pastry things, coffee, etc. etc.) and get to hear about 20 authors (each morning) give a quick one minute spiel on their latest books. At the New Authors do Friday morning, I sat next to an avid reader who was faithfully scribbling down name and title of each speaker. She informed me that she would turn the list in to her local library so they would be sure to order the books.

And then, there are the "presents before Christmas" otherwise known as BOOK BAGS. When you go to the registration desk to register, you usually receive a nametag, a program, and then A BAG OF BOOKS. It's like Christmas! You just never know what's going to show up when you open the bag!

Here are the books that I received in my Left Coast Crime bag this year:

And the book I brought with me to read on the plane is an ARC (advanced readers copy) that I received from some convention in the past. I have a stack of such books, and I just grab one that looks interesting (and that fits into my carryon) when I get ready to travel:

I'm enjoying THE SHERLOCKIAN very much... the author, Graham Moore, is new to me. If the book continues enjoyable to the end, then I will keep him on my radar for future books.

But conventions aren't the only place to discover new authors. Belonging to book clubs is another way to be introduced to authors that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Finally, someone mentioned something today, a place on the internet where you can put in the name of an author you like, and get a "cloud" of names of other authors that like-minded readers also enjoy. I didn't get the site down, but some thrashing around on my part turned up Gnooks. The descriptor: "Gnooks is a self-adapting community system based on the gnod engine. Discover new writers you will like, travel the map. of literature and discuss your favorite books and authors."

Well, shoot, I have to give this a try. In the box that says "Type the name of a writer to find" I typed "Ann Parker" (well, why not)?

Only to get this screen:

Huh. Okay. Let's try someone more... famous.

I entered Martin Cruz Smith (a fave of mine) and BINGO! I got a literature-map!

Down in the lefthand corner, it says "The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them."

Looking over this map, I do believe I have a whole bunch of new writers to explore!

If any of you try Gnook or know of other sites like this, please share your results and suggestions. I find it all quite fascinating!

And, of course, there's always going to a knowledgeable bookseller or good friend, and asking: "Read anything good lately?"